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THAYER, AUTHOR OF " FROM LOG CABIN TO WHITE HOUSE," "PIONBBK BOV,' "CHARLES JEWETT," ETC, ETC The conditions of success are Tact, Push and Principle. Samuel Budoett. TWENTIETH EDITION. TORONTO : WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING ST. EAST. MONTREAL: C. W. COATES. HALIFAX: S. F. HUESTIS. 1886. -re. 2 <'j ' I'^Ua COPTRIOHT, 1880, 3y James H. £akl^« CONTENTS. VAGI Introduction • • • 9 ^ . I." Success ••• 13 ' ^-"'; - ";__'.' TACT. ■" n. : ^- / ■ .: What is it? •••••37 Self-Madb •••»•••. ••5^ ' IV. ' •■;\ ' TUOROUGHNCSS • ~ * • • t « • . 7^ ^ ■ V. . - :■ • SiNGLEN&SS OF PURPOSE. .•••••• 97 VL Observation • • . ii8 PUSH. * ^^ VII. Decision and Energy ...••••. 138 VIII. Pbksbvbrancx • . • • 157 s CONTENTS. Industry •••••. 179 X» Economy of Time ans Moiicy • • • • • 198 XI. Punctuality ••••• 333 XII. Order •••••• 337 PRINCIPLE. ' " XIII. Character • • • • • 355 xrv. Conscience ..•••••••• 376 - ' " * XV. ^ '^ Honesty .••••.•••.. 37; . XVI. Benevolence ....•••••. 314 XVII. The Bible • • • • . 338 ^ XVIII. Religion mt Busnntst ••••••#. $44 )c INTRODUCTION. The following extract from the private letter of a business-man of considerable literary culture and known excellence of character will explain the origin of this work: " My interest in the young men of our city has given rise to these thoughts ; and my knowledge of your writings leads me to make the suggestion to you. Your popular and widely-circulated books have been in this line ; and your studies must have been largely in this direction for many years. My idea is, that out of the s?:udy you have given to the elements of success in life, you could readily p'-epare a volume for young men, that would be what they need, and what the times de- mand. Such a work should be liberally illustrated by facts and incidents from the lives of successful men, living and dead ; and I know not, if the thing be prac- 7 ''^m^' INTRODUCTION, ticable, but facts from the lives of men who have been conspicuous failures, would serve a good purpose by way of warning. The fact is, a multitude of young men in our day make shipwreck, because they do not know enough of the true philosophy of success to steer clear of the rocks. Many of them attach more impor- tance to money and display than they do to character, and would choose to be doorkeepers in a palace, rather than men of uprightness and honor in a cottage. The delusions of the times ought to be exposed, and young men made to understand that /nV/^^^/f wins, in the long run, instead of luck or unscrupulous scheming. Many of them do not believe it ; and many of them think (whether they admit it or not) that success cannot be achieved on the basis of strict integrity. I have been astonished and mortified by the loose and pernicious views I have heard advanced upon this subject As if the devil and his emissaries could outwit the Almighty, and tottle the Gibraltar of truth by human trickery ! ** Think of it, and see what you can do. Perhaps you can accomplish more good in this way just now than by any other use of your pen. May the Lord guide and bless you." For many years the author has been persuaded that by far the most practical way for young men to learn INTRODUCTION. the elements of success is to study the lives of suc- cessful men in the various departments of human labor. Accordingly, in his former works he has drawn largely from that source, both to establish his position and to illustrate his theme. Biographical studies, therefore, have been a necessity in this line of literary effort. Next to seeing the successful man, is reading the faith- ful record of his life. Indeed, to the young man the biographical sketch may make qualities clear and im- pressive, which passing observation might not unfold. Those biographies, especially, that were written with the definite purpose of developing the philosophy of the subject's success, are eminently instructive and profitable to this class. In this volume the results ( f the careful study of biography, for many years, are yzed and appropri- ated, showing that the same elt.ac s of character will achieve success, under similar circumstances, in any honorable pursuit. Not that the same person may become successful in all occupations ; for the human mind is not sufficiently versatile, nor life long enough, for such vast achievements. It is enough that success is won in a single occupation, or course of study ; and he who accomplishes that deserves well of his fellow- men, and may justly respect himself. While he has drawn without stint from the lives of 10 INTRODUCTION, ^\ V-. eminent men. he has also drawn freely from the opin- ions of those whose careers have made their opinioiss of substantial value. Precept and example are thus brought to the front, both as a means of entertainment and instruction. From the lives and opinions of several hundred prominent men, lessons and thoughts are gath- ered and woven into this volume for young men, in order to make the positions taken impregnable, as well as " to point the way." Among the examples adduced are Washington, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Hamilton, Jay, Ciay, Patrick Henry, Franklin, Bowditch, Eli Whitney, Benjamin West, Webster, Lincoln, Channing, Everett, Irving, Sumner, Wilson, Grant, Garfield, Prescott, Motley, Burritt, Amos Lawrence, Abbott Lawrence, Appleton, Brooks, Chickering, Safford, Horace Mann, Samuel Budgett, Dr. Arnold, Buxton, Wilberforce, Pitt, Burke, Peel, Brougham, Gladstone, Canning, Wesley, Hugh Miller, Nelson, Wellington, Lafayette, George Stephen- son, Spurgeon, Chalmers, Bright, Thiers, Cobden, Burke, Alexander, Caesar, Columbus, Luther, Newton, Arkwright, Ferguson, Watt, Pascal, Dr. Johnson, Scott, and many others we need not name. In addition to conveying important information, these excerpts from the lives and opinions of the successful will guide young men to other and ampler sources of INTRODUCTION. II knowledge relating to the issues and aims of life. Hence, if disposed to prosecute their inquiries further upon any one or more of the lines of thought pursued in this volume, they can find here a key to the rich treasures from which we have drawn to the extent of our plan and space. \ ' these [ssful Is of i \ 1^ ,{il '■\ nl :n'- TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. *~ '' . J- I. SUCCESS. OUT of the THREE MILLION young men in our country on whom the burden of a nation's life will rest, thirty years hence, and to whom we are to look lor our future presidents, governors, senators, judges, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, merchants, and mechanics, how many will achieve success ? How many will make a failure of life ? The destiny of the nation is in their hands. How can they become " men of mark " to bear its burdens ? The following pages will seek to give some answer to these questions. What is success ? It is not the mere gratification of personal ambition. To accumulate wealth, to win the highest office, to become famous for learning, elo- quence, or statesmanship; may not be success. One or all of these objects may be gained, and still life be substantially a failure. Wealth acquired at the ex- pense of principle, honors won by chicanery, learning and political distinction used for personal emolument 13 14 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. instead of usefulness, do not constitute success. At best, it is only partial success. The highest success is achieved by making the most of one's powers and opportunities. A man with five talents and small opportunities may improve them so as to be of more real service to mankind, than one who was born with ten talents, in the midst of great advantages. The former is more successful than the latter. In accom- plishing the controlling purpose of life, he has made the most of himself. Out of the material furnished he has made higher manhood than his neighbor has with ten talents. Herein is superior wisdom ; and high authority declares that, " It is better to get wisdom than gold ; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." John Jacob Astor possessed a passion for money- making, born with him, no doubt. He belonged to a family of conceded business tact. At twer.ty years of age he came to this country from Germany, and settled in New York city. Within sixteen years he was worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; and this was but a mere fraction of his wealth when he died. That he possessed many elements of success in his character, such as industry, economy, perseverance, and observa- tion, is quite evident His great aim in life was to be rich ; and these qualities enabled him to accomplish that purpose. With his millions, however, he was only partially successful He was really only half a man. The noblest p^t of him was not brought to the front in the race for riches ; and it could not be. In the SUCCESS, 15 end, he could own a palace of gold ; but his character was earthern ; and this is not success. Horace Mann put it thus : " If a man labors for accumulation all his life long, neglecting the common objects of charity, and repulsing the daily appeals to his benevolence, but with the settled, determinate purpose of so multiplying his resources that, at death, he can provide for some magnificent scheme of philanthropy, for which smaller sums or daily contributions would be insufficient, then he becomes a self-constituted servant and almoner of the Lord, putting his master's talent out at usury, but rendering back both talent and usury, on the day of account ; and who shall say that such a man is not a just and faithful steward, and worthy of his reward ? But the day is sure to come which will test the spirit that has governed the life. On that day, it will be revealed, whether the man of vast wealth, like Stephen Girard, has welcomed toil, endured privation, borne contumely, while in his secret heart he was nursing the mighty purpose of opening a fountain of blessed- ness so copious and exhaustless that it would flow on ' undiminished to the end of time ; or whether, like John Jacob Astor, he was hoarding wealth for the base love of wealth, hugging to his breast, in his dying-hour, the memory of his gold and not of his Redeemer ; griping his riches till the scythe of death cut off liis hands in the twinkling of an eye, from being one of the richest men who ever lived in this world, to being one of the poorest souls that ever went out of it." In striking contrast with Astor, the late Amos Law- rence of Boston is an eminent example. Like Astof I6 TACT^ PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, ■■:i he was born on a farm, and began mercantile life in the city at about twenty years of age. Both commenced without capital or the assistance of friends. Both possessed energy, industry, economy, tact, and great perseverance. But there was this difference : money was not an idol with Lawrence as it was with Astor. He had something else to live for. " Character before wealth," was his motto. On his pocket-book was in- scribed this text, " What shall it profit a man if he gain thewJwle worlds and lose his own soul?" That tells the story. Instead of making everything subser- vient to money, he made money subservient to charac- ter. A fortune was incidental to the great purpose of his life. Once he sent i note to his partners for six himdred dollars, in small bills, for charitable objects. A few days afterward he sent lor more, quoting, in his note, the following from some quaint writer: "The good there is in riches lieth altogether in their use, like the woman's box of ointment ; if it be not broken and the contents poured out for the refreshment of Jesus Christ, in his distressed members, they lose their worth. He is not rich who lays up much, but he who lays out much. I will therefore be the richer by charitably laying out, while the worldling will be poorer by his covetous hoarding up." Lawrence was emi- nently successful in business. He became a merchant- prince, contributed seven hundred thousand dol- lars to charitable objects during his life, and left a fortune to relatives at his death. Stated briefly, his rule in money-making was that of Wesley ; " Make all you can / save all you can ; give all you can!^ Astor SUCCESS, '7 followed the advice of the first two clauses full as closely as Lawrence, but discarded that of the last clause altogether. Lawrence emphasized the last clause, thus rallying industry, energy, and the whole train of virtues around the highest and grandest aim of life, the outcome of which was, not only wealth, but true man- hood — the highest success. Elihu Burritt was an example of true success. His father was a shoemaker, and Elihu's boyhood was spent in that occupation, with only three or four months* schooling annually. When he was sixteen his father died, and he was thrown upon his own resources. He resolved to be a blacksmith, and ap- prenticed himself to a son of Vulcan. From child- hood he was a great reader, and, for lack of volumes, read the Bible and a few books that his father and neighbors owned, over and over again. The parish library, under the rules, would loan him but a single volume a month, and this only sharpened his mental appetite for more. Mark, that his aim was knowledge instead of money. To his trade and the acquisition of knowledge he brought as thorough devotion as Astor to money-making. His industry, enthusiasm, courage, and persistent effort, were fully equal to the same qualities in the famous millionnaire. Under their t; ans- forming power he made both a good blacksmith and good scholar. For a time, after he attained to his ma- jority, he worked at his trade in the summer (some- times doing the work of two men for weeks) and studied in the winter. Between the forge and his books, under the direction of Christian principle, hii 4^r-, i8 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, physical, mental, and moral natures developed in hai- monious proportion. He mastered fifty languages, became well versed in the natural sciences, distin- guished himself in editorial and philanthropic labors, and unwittingly attracted to himself the attention of scholars in almost every part of the world. His pro- gress in knowledge alone was not the highest success, although it was marvellous. At the same time, he trained his physical and moral powers, so that head and heart united to mould his character and life into a beautiful and symmetrical whole. At one time he visited England, and Mary Howitt said of him : " He is not merely rem^.rkable for his knowledge of languages, — a knowledge which is perfectly stupendous, and which, having been acquired under circumstances which at first sight would seem to present insuperable barriers to anything beyond the most ordinary acquirements, may naturally excite our surprise and admiration, — but he is remarkable in a high moral degree ; and this it is, com- bined with his great learning, which entitles him to our love and reverence He has not read Ho- mer and Virgil, and the Sagas of the North, and the Vedas of the East, to admire only, and to teach others to admire, the strong-handed warrior, cutting his v/ay to glory through prostrate and bleeding thousands ; he has read, only to learn more emphatically, that God made all men to be brethren, and that Christ gave, as the sum total of his doctrine, that they should love one another. This is the end of all his reading and learn- ing ; and better by far to have learned thus, with hard hands and a swarthy brow, over the labors of his forga SUCCESS. 19 and hammer, than to have studied in easy universities, to have worn lawn and ermine, yet to have garnered no expansive benevolence while he became a prodigy of learning." This is not a modern view, or a novel view, of suc- cess. It may be novel to the popular notion, but it is familiar to justice and right, and as old as either. Many years ago Osborne said, in the Merchant's Mag- azine: ''Success in life consists in the proper and harmonious development of those faculties which God has given us. We have faculties more important to our welfare than that of making money, — faculties more conducive to our happiness and our health of body and soul. There are higher and better modes of activity than those which are exhibited in multiplying dollars. Men can leave to their children a better pat- rimony than money ; they can leave them the worth of a good example, good habits, a religious faith, a true estimate of the desirable things of this life ; resources of mind and a heart that will shed sunshine upon ad- versity, and give a grace to prosperous fortune." Another excellent writer puts it more concisely: " It is not wealth which is deserving of homage, but the virtues which a man exercises in the slow pursuit of wealth, — the abilities so called forth, the self-deni- als so imposed." There is one factor always to be recognized in the problem of success, viz. : the young man may not owe society money, but he does owe it the best use of his abilities — character. If for no other reason, he owes society this debt, because, as Mill says, " The i #■ 20 TACT, PUSHj AND PRINCIPLE, worth of a state in the long run is the worth of the individuals composing it." The young men of to-day enjoy far better opportuni- ties than their predecessors of any former generation. Wider doors of thrift and usefulness, in the highest and noblest sense, are open before them. We know that this sentiment is denied, and that it is common to speak of the avenues to success as being closed now to the mass of young men. Croakers say that the time for young men to compete for the prize has passed, — that the coveted places of thrift and honor are over-cro .vded, and that now young men must con- tent themselves with a back seat and small acquisitions. But the plea is false. There never was so much room for the BEST as there is to-day ; and this class possesses such facilities for conquest as Providence did not vouchsafe fifty years ago. The field is not now the "potato patch " of the farm ; not the narrow limits of our little New England, no bigger than a man's hand in comparison with the great national domain. The field of exploits stretches beyond the " Father of Waters " to the shores of the Pacific, from Hudson's Bay on the North to the Gulf of Mexico on the South ; and Providence invites every young man to this vast arena of action extending from sea to sea. Already the pioneer is found at the utmost verge of this territory, trading, mining, farming, surveying ; already commerce has appropriated the products of its soil and the minerals of its mountains to swell the nation's wealth ; already learning has built her temples where the wild savage was but re- cently the only humr^n denizen, and religion reared her SC/CCESS. 31 altars far out upon the frontier where the march of enterprise is arrested only by the sea. And a fourth of a century hence one hundred million people, and possibly more, will inhabit this wide domain, with wealth and commerce, art and science, toil and trade, learning and religion, enlarged in like proportion, to make the land a spectacle for work, thrift, and power. The young men of to-day will come into the posses- sion of this rich nheritance. These immense inter- ests of territory, commerce, manufactures, mechanic arts, political and civil institutions, schools, colleges, churches, and benevolent enterprises, will be under their special supervision and control Slender opportunity ! Nay, verily, the opportunity is golden. Let golden aims and efforts seize the crisis, and the noblest manhood and highest success wiL reward the aspirants. The poorest boy may become the richest man. The obscurest youth may win the brightest fame. The untaught child may grow into the ripe and honored scholar. Quicker, surer than ever before, aims and efforts that are equal to the grand occasion, will triumph over obstacles and achieve signal success. Cookman was once asked, in what country and age of the world he would prefer to live ; to which he promptly replied, "In America, in the nineteenth century." Dr. Benjamin Labaree eloquently expresses the same thought : " The aven?ies to the highest places of au- thority and distinction are free from all artificial impedi- ments in our country, are open to competitors of every name and condition. A field most ample and inviting If ' ( I, 2i TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. is presented for the exhibition and employment of every variety of talent and of every degree of mental culture. Thus; an appeal, silent but effectual, is made to the youth of our country, and awakens to life and action their intellectual and moral en ,^. The plough-boy at his daily task hears the appeal and feels the inspira- tion ; he searches until he discovers the path plainly marked, through which he can ascend to a position among magistrates and statesmen. The young lawyer, unknown beyond the limits of his native village, or the commander of a platoon of militia, may, in a few years, be elevated to a station more honorable and dignified than that of marshals and emperors." , Grant that it is more difficult to succeed in the pur- suits of life to-day than it was formerly ; young men possess greater facilities now than ever. The wisdom, example, inventions, discoveries, thoughts, labors, and progress of the preceding ages, are theirs in an impor- tant sense. These furnish helps to which former gen- erations were strangers. With these aids, the resolution that triumphed half a century ago, may overcome the greater difficulties of to-day. When Napoleon was told that the Alps were in the way of his army, he replied, " Then there shall be no Alps ; " and he built the road across the Simplon. Nothing is impossible to such resolution Difficulties simply test its promptness and power. If the sword is too short, it adds a step to it. If the way is more and more hedged, it adds more will. Great resolution can make a road over the Alps as easily as little \ ^solution can fling up a common high- way. srccEss. ^3 Young men are apt to undervalue education in this problem of success. They make it synonymous with going to school and college, when it may have little to do with either. Webster defines education to be " that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations." The original root, from which the word ' education ' is derived, means, to conduct, fashion, forge. The whole process of forming and developing true manhood and womanhood is edu- cation. A college graduate may be poorly educated, while a self-made young man may be well educated ; that is, he may be better fitted for usefulness in his "future station." Washington was one of the best-educated men of Revolutionary times, though many were better scholars than he. Abraham Lincoln was better edu- cated at thirty years of age than three-fourths of our collegians when they are graduated. It is because the farm, shop, and store may fit one for the practical duties of life as much, if not more, than the academy and college. " Business makes men," it has been said. One way or the other it disciplines both head and heart. It may do something even to make men more familiar with science and art. Lawrence knew more of arithmetic and philosophy after he made a fortune than he did before. Stephenson had a better knowl- edge of mechanics and natural science than ever, after he made his first locomotive. The carpenter who builds a house understands the laws of mechanics better ^>r that experience. The operative who weaves a piece "A 24 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. cloth is more familiar with its quality and value thaF the merchant who sells it. The intelligent farmer knows somewhat more than the number of bushels of corn or oats to the acre ; he has learned something of agricultural chemistry in raising these crops. He has been thinking as well as ploughing, sowing, and harvest- ing. Work, honest and well directed, has made him more of a man, physically, mentally, and morally. In this way " business makes men," — practical men ; thor- ough men ; successful men. Labor is a university that does more for its students than Oxford or Yale. The matriculation fee is industry and perseverance, and the curriculum inevitable practical duties. There would be greater success in all the occupations if the occupants made more " business " of them. But too many pur- sue them only for a livelihood, with no thought that they may contribute directly to true manhood and womanhood. The Pall Mall Gazette said : " There can be no question nowadays that application to work, absorp- tion in affairs, contact with men, and all the stress which business imposes on us, gives a noble training to the intellect, and splendid opportunity for discipline of character. It is an utterly low view of business which regards it as only a means of getting a living. A man's business is his part of the world's work, his share of the great activities that render society possi- ble. He may like it or dislike it, but it is work, and as such requires application, self-denial, discipline. It is his drill, and he cannot be thorough in his occupation without putting himself into it, checking his fancies, SUCCESS. »5 restraining his impulses, and holding himself to the perpetual round of small details, — without, in fact, submitting to his drill. But the perpetual call on a man's readiness, self-control, and vigor which business makes, the constant appeal to the intellect, the stress upon the will, the necessity for rapid and responsible exercise of judgment, — all these things constitute a high culture, though not the highest. It is a culture which strengthens and invigorates, if it does not refine, which gives force, if not polish, — the fortiter in re^ if not the suaviter in tnodo. It makes strong men and ready men, and men of vast capacity for affairs, though it does not necessarily make refined men or gentlemen." This view is confirmed by the fact that the use- ful occupations are mutually dependent, and each plays into the hands of the other. The mechanic aids the philosopher, and the philosopher aids the me- chanic. The farmer renders essential service to the statesman, and the statesman helps the farmer. The miner in his El Dorado at the west assists the faithful teacher at the east, and the teacher in turn assists the miner. Thus human labors interlace each other, and are bound together in one bundle of weal or woe. It may be said of the useful arts and sciences, as of the members of the body, " whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it ; or one member be hon- ored, all the members rejoice with it." A single illus- tration will make this point still clearer. The astron- omer is as far removed from the ordinary pursuits of life, apparently, as any scholar or scientist who can be named. To the superficial ob.<5erver he appears to be 9 I 26 TACr, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, wholly independent of the mechanic and uncultured laborer. But let us see : He must have a telescope. Without it he can make little progress in astronomical science. Little progress was made in it until the tele- scope was invented. But how will the astronomer get his telescope ? He himself cannot make it. The glass- maker, brass-founder, carpenter, mathematical-instru- ment maker, and other artisans, must come to his as- sistance. The first named must have a building and furnace ; and he must depend upon the carpenter, blacksmith, stone and brick mason, to furnish the necessary skill and labor. Nor can these artisans come to his aid until the woodman has cut the logs, and the teamster hauled them to the mill, where they are sawed into timber and boards. Even then the building cannot be framed and put together unless the* miner digs the iron ore from the bowels of the earth, and, having subjected it to the smelting process, trans- fers it into the hands of the tool-manufacturer and nail-maker, who convert it into hammer, saw, adze, and nails for immediate use. But the tool and nail makers did not construct the wagon on which the iron was brought to them : the wheelwright did that. Or the iron may have been brought by rally the history of which takes us back to the crude material in the mine ; thesmelting establishment and foundry that transformed it into rails ; the hard work of Irish, Germans, French, and other nationalities, who prepared the bed of the road ; the remarkable genius of inventors back to Ste- phenson, father of the locomotive engine ; together with the labors of the car-builder, machinist, painter, SUCCESS, 27 engineer, road-master, and brakeman, to the least im portant employ6 ; the handiwork of all so interwoven that it is difficult to tell where that of one ends and another begins. Then the mason who build.> the glass- maker's furnace, does not manufacture the bricks nor burn the lime he uses, nor even draw the sand that he moulds into mortar ; nor does the brick-maker cut his own wood, or prepare his coal, or haul either ; nor did he manufacture a single tool that he uses. His pump was made by another, who knew little or nothing con- cerning the prinicple of atmospheric pressure that led to pump-making ; that was discovered by Torricelli many years ago, in the city of Florence. When all these industrious and skilful hands have united their labors, the glass-maker has building and furnace com- pleted ; and then, when other hands have furnished the manufactory, and a complete outfit of glass-blowers and other necessary assistants start the business, the astronomer has secured the glass only for his tele- scope. That is all. Scores and hundreds of the best thinkers and hardest toilers, for eight centuries, have had an agency in furnishing him with that glass. But his telescope is far from being made yet ; nor have we space to follow the multitudinous ramifications of brain- work and manual labor which antedate the skill of the brass-founder and mathematical-instrument maker be- fore the telescope is mounted to sweep the heavens. So here is a scholar and thinker who lives, apparently, as independent of his fellow-creatures as though his abode was in the "empyreal sphere," confcssin:j him- self to be a co-worker with the humblest laboicr and / 28 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE i mechanic, and totally unable to prosecute his re- searches unless the latter rally to his aid. It is not possible to conceive of a more intimate connection be- tween science, the mechanic arts, and the commonest and hardest manual labor. We may add, briefly, that the farmer, mechanic, miner, mariner, and other toilers, are equally dependent upon the astronomer. The almanac, that occupies such an important place in the family, on the farm, in the workshop and manufactory, and wherever the measurement of time, knowledge of the heavenly bod- ies, and state of the weather, together with the many practical uses to which it is adapted, are serviceable to man, would not have an existence but for the persist- ent studies of the greatest astronomers and philoso- phers who ever lived. Its tables, so simple to us now, are the result of the profoundest researches of a long line of philosophers whose fame is world-wide. The shipmaster would be well-nigh helpless upon the sea witliout his compass and Practical Navigator, the latter of which contains tables which the highest at- tainments in astronomical science alone have furnished. The sailor who works a lunar observation, in order to learn the longitude of his vessel, employs tables that are really compilations of the most remarkable discov- eries and calculations of Galileo, Newton, La Place, Franklin, and Bowditch. Even the watchman who goes his nightly round through the mammoth fac- tory, the servant who depends upon the alarm-clock to wake her at four in the morning, and the traveller sur- prised by darkness on the western prairie, all have sirccEss. 29 reason to express their profound gratitude to the astronomer and his coadjutors. This illustration shows how labor becomes education, capable of producing the noblest manhood ; that it is not confined to the school-room and college, but is de- rived as well from the common things of life. The reason is obvious ; for, in all the complex intercom- munication of employments that we have seen, it is mind that rules, and not muscle. Whether in the investigations of the philosopher, the labors of the mechanic, or the severer toils of the miner who delves in the earth, it is mind that controls and directs. Muscle obeys its behests. The latter is servant to the former. Hence, mind is the real object of education. Mind is the man. Improve that, — make it stronger, nobler, greater, — and man himself is improved. He can make no essential advancement except as his mind advances ; and the means for the latter are at hand, viz., thinking-, whether the occupation be tilling the soil, or making observations among the stars. It is the birthright of all men — to think. No opposition or law can hinder, if they persist in the act. So that their education may be going forward all the while, even with no book but nature or the warehouse, and no teachers but experience and observation. How true that " the mechanician, and not the magician; is the master of life I " Edward Everett beautifully expresses this thought as follows : " Our whole country is a great and speaking illustration of what may be done by native force of mind, uneducated, without advantages, but starting up, I" I 30 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, under strong excitement, into new and successful action. The statesmen who conducted the Revolution to its honorable issue, were called, without experience, to the head of affairs. The generals who commanded our armies, were most of them taken, like Cincinnatus, from the plough ; and the forces which they led were gathered from the firesides of an orderly and peaceful population. They were arrayed against all the expe- rience, talent, and resource of the old world ; and came off victorious. They have handed down to us a country, a constitution, and a national career, affording bound- less scope to every citizen, and calling every individual to do for himself what our fathers unitedly did for us all. What man can start in life with so few advan- tages as those with which our country started in the race of independence } Over v/hose private prospects can there hang a cloud as daik as that which brooded over the cause of America 1 Who can have less to encourage, and more to appall and dishearten him, than the sages and chieftains of the Revolution } Let us, then, endeavor to follow in their footsteps ; and each, according to his means and ability, try to imitate their glorious example ; despising difficulties, grasping at opportunities, and steadily pursuing some honest and manly aim. We shall soon find that the obstacles which oppose our progress sink into the dust before a firm and resolute step ; and that the pleasures and benefits of knowledge are within the reach of all who seek it." The absolute necessity of intelligence to success was well put by the late Judge James Hall to the young SUCCESS. 31 merchants of Cincinnati ; and although his remarks related to mercantile life only, their application can readily be made to other occupations. " The merchant," he said, "should cultivate his mind, and acquire knowledge as an element of power. Dealing in the products of various climes, and of all the arts, and engaged in an intercourse, personally or by corres- pondents, which extends to all the marts of traffic throughout the world, he should be well acquainted with the geography of the globe, and with the productions, resources, habits, financial systems, and coramfircial usages of all nations. He should know thoroughly the composition and history, the mode of production, cost, and all other incidents connected with every arti- cle in which he deals ; and should be versed especially in the moneys and measures, the exchanges, the commer- cial laws and regulations of the various places to which his business relations extend. This much we insist upon as actually necessary to the respectability of the mer- cantile character, and to enable the merchant to wield his capital to advantage. But the intelligent merchant should aspire to something more than this. His posi- tion in society demands that he should place himself upon an equality with the most cultivated of his fellow- citizens. As a class, the merchants are the most wealthy men of our coimtry. In social intercourse they mingle with the most refined, with those who are highest in intellectual standing and official position. There is no place in society, no post in government, from which the merchant is excluded. On the con- trary, his command of money, and the facilities afforded : That Davy was not entirely unconscious of hii latent powers appears from a record in his diary kept at the period in question. " I have neither riches nor power, nor birth to recommend me, yet if I live, I trust I shall not be of less service to mankind and to my friends than if I had been born with all these advan- tages." Abraham Lincoln was born in a log-cabin in the western wilderness, and died in the " Executive Man- sion," at Washington. This uplifting power of the soul, of which we are speaking, took bim from the comfortless cabin to the " White House." Without school, teachers, books, or opportunities, he rose by his own exertions, and carved his name upon the highest tablet of fame. It was beciuse he possessed this marvellous power to use his abilities, acquisitions, and opportunities to the best advantage. He turned everything to the best account. He made the most possible of himself and surroundings. As a pioneer boy of the forest he felled trees, cleared land, raised crops, made carts, fashioned tools, drove team, and did the manifold things belonging to such a life with con- summate skill. Later he went down the river on trading trips to New Orleans ; established a new borne in another state by erecting a log house, fencing TACT: WHAT IS ITf 43 and stocking his farm ; engaged in mercantile busi- ness ; mastered arithmetic, grammar, and other studies, by the improvement of leisure moments ; learned and practised surveying ; taught school, stud- ied law, and represented an honorable constituency in the legislature ; organized and commanded a company in the " Black Hawk War ; " distinguished him'^eif in the legal profession as well as in political affairs ; went to Congress, became a champion of liberty against Douglas, and was made President of the United States within thirty years from the time he quitted pioneer- work for a wider field. He was Davy's equal in resort- ing to expedients and manipulating events to his advantage. Henry Wilson, late Vice-President of the United States, was " bound out " to a farmer in New Hamp- shire at ten years of age. Early and late he toiled, farmin ■; in summer and logging in winter, with only a single month's schooling in a year. He excelled other youths in the quantity and thoroughness of his work ; and at the same time, by the improvement of odd mo- ments and limiting his sleeping hours, he mastered geography, arithmetic, and other studies of that day, and read nearly a thousand volumes of history, biogra- phy, and general literature, by the time he was of age. For one year after he was free he worked on a farm at six dollars per month. Then he tied up his scanty wardrobe in a handkerchief, and walked to Natick, Massachusetts, more than a hundred miles, to become a cobbler. He planned his route through Boston, that he might visit Bunker Hill and the office of the 44 TAC2\ PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. m North American Review, all the numbers of which (loaned to him by a neighbor) he had read. The trip cost him but one dollar and eight cents ; proving that he knew how to use money as well as to work. With- in two months from the time he began to learn to make "brogans" he made more pairs in a day than any other workman in the town. A year later he was the leading debater in the village lyceum, and in eight yeais from that time he represented his adopted town in the state legislature, where he made one of the grandest speeches against slavery to which an audi- ence ever listened. A little more than ten years had elapsed from the time he entered Natick with his bun- dle of clothes under his arm, a stranger, before he was a member of the state senate, a leading public man of the commonwealth, and a participant in the councils of the nation. In twenty years from the time men- tioned he was a member of the United States Senate, standing shoulder to shoulder with Charles Sumner in the mighty conflict against slavery. His achievements there won for him the second office within the gift of the American people. From boyhood to the close of his life, the ability to make the smallest advantages stepping-stones to something higher was manifest. Whether farming, teaming, reading, studying, making shoes for another at so much a pair, or manufacturing them for the market With a hundred employes moving at his beck, commanding the militia of the state, or at the head of military affairs in Congress during the civi) war, a legislator for his state or the naticn, a philan- thropist laboring for suffering humanity, an orator plead TACT: WHAT IS ITT 45 ip^ the cause of the oppressed, and a statesman grap- pling with the political problems of the hour, — he was ever the practical man, making every event, advantage, and attainment subserve the grand purpose and aim of his life. These several illustrations, drawn from different departments of human effort, show better than words what TACT is. Under its controlling power, the farm, the shop, the miU, the store, the leisure hour, the lyce- um, the legislature, all become educational as really as the academy and college, and even of greater force in qualifying the parties for the practical duties of life It does not appear to make much difference whether the youth of tact starts upon a farm or in a workshop, in a village or wilderness, this remarkable faculty, con- joined with a high aim, leads him to success. This is the lesson taught by such lives as those rehearsed, and hundreds of others equally instructive. The biogra- pher of George Stephenson, the renowned engineer, says : " There were many highly educated engineers living in his day, who knew vastly more than he did, trained as they had been in all the science and learning of the schools, but there were none so apt in applying what they kneiv to practical purposes as he!* There was the secret of his success, the same as in the exam- ples cited. "Talent is power; tact is skill. Talent knows what to do ; tact knows how to do it." Men conceived the idea of a steamboat before Fulton did, but he nlone possessed the tact to reduce his concep- tion to practice. Without this quality the steamboat might still have existed only in the brain of some pro- found thinker. ,av •i.«r.vi-'^. _ 46 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. m The reader will learn from the examples given, that a man may possess tact to aid him in a single direc- tion. An all-absorbing passion may possess his soul, — love of knowledge, desire for position, superiority of attainment, philanthropic achievements, wealth, honor, or power, — and to that particular purpose tact may subordinate everything. Thus a passion for mechan- ical and scientific investigations characterized Fergu- son and Davy, and to that one purpose every opportu- nity and effort ministered. Girard was a born trader, and money-making was the study of his life. He ma- nipulated events so dexterously that " he found a dollar under every stone he turned." Abraham Lincoln and Henry Wilson had a passion . r knowledge, and they found it even in the floorless cabin and on the farm. Their tact converted all things into knowledge for provi- dential careers, as that of Girard transmuted everything into gold. The operation of this faculty often appears marvel- lous in consequence of its successful achievements against great odds. When success seems ' a be well- nigh out of the question, it often snatches it from the jaws of failure. The celebrated William Cobbett's career is an eminent example of this sort of triumph. His remarkable tact caused even poveny, hardships, and seemingly insurmountable difficulties, to minister to his thirst for knowledge. He tells his own story thus : ** I learned grammar when I was a private soldier on the pay of sixpence a day. The edge of my berth, or \^ it of my guard-bed, was my seat to study in ; my TACT: WHAT IS IT? 47 knapsack was my bookcase ; a bit of board lying on my lap was my writing-table ; and the task did not require anything like a year of my life. I had no money to purchase candle or oil ; in winter-time it was rarely that I could get any evening light but that of the fire, and only my turn even of that. ... To buy a pen or sheet of paper I was obliged to forego some portion of food, though in a state of half-starvation ; I had no moment of time that I could call my own ; and I had to read and to write amidst the talking, laugh- ing, singing, whistling, and brawling of at least half a score of the most thoughtless of men, and that too in the hours of their freedom from all control. Think not lightly of the farthing I had to give now and then for ink, pen, or paper ! That farthing was, alas ! a great sum to me. ... I remember — and well I may ! — that on one occasion I, after all necessary expenses, had on a Friday made shifts to have a half- penny in reserve, which I had destined for the pur- chase of a red herring in the morning ; but when I pulled off my clothes at night, so hungry then as to be hardly able to endure life, I found that I had lost my halfpenny ! I buried my head under the miserable sheet and rug, and cried like a child ! And again I say, if I, under circumstances like these, could encoun- ter and overcome this task, is there, can there be, in the whole world, a youth to find an excuse for the non- performance ? " Yet this man became one of England's most re- nowned authors and political essayists, " Spite of Webster or Clay." . *. It is not strange, therefore, that tact is often mis- taken for ^^;//».f. Its brilliant trinrnphs over difficul- ties, and its apparently superhuman achievements. i (■• m\ I 48 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. liken it thereto. The definitions that have been given to genius, also, very correctly describe what tact does. Dr. Johnson defines genius to be " a mind of large general powers accidentally determined in some par- ticular direction." John Foster said, " Genius is the power of lighting one's own fire ; " by which we under- stand him to mean, that true genius condescends to do anything that must be done on the road to success. Buffon said, " Genius is patience ; " meaning, no doubt, that it accomplishes its brilliant deeds by accepting toil, obstacles, and delays, continuous and great, as a part of the price. Other writers volunteer other defi- nitions of genius, but all of them involve, more or less, manifestations of tact. The definitions of Johnson, Foster, and Buffon are simply the operations of tact in certain directions. We are not denying the existence of GENIUS, which means to most men " great mental powers," although we believe that it is often located where tact only exists. The fact that so-called genius sometimes fails where moderate endowments succeed, proves that the former is not always found where it is supposed to be. We believe that the highest genius knows not only '* what to do, but also how to do it," thus possessing tact as a factor of its wonderful self. Tact is born with some people. It is not to be inferred, however, that only those with whom it was born can possess it. It may be cultivated. Of course, it will be most conspicuous where it is the inheritance of birth. Great talents are more conspicuous than moderate talents, though the latter may become re- nowned by persevering improvement. Dr. Chalmers h P TACT: WHAT IS JTt 49 was a dull, stupid bo} , and was expelled from the St Andrew's school as too much of a dunce to command his teacher's time. Dr. Isaac Barrow was equally un- promising in his early life, discouraging his instructors, and causing his good father to say that, ** if it is God's will to take away any of my children by death, I hope it may be Isaac." Even the Duke of Wellington gave no promise in boyhood of what he would become in thirty years. Both at Eton and the French Military College he was the last pupil of whom great things were ex- pected in the future. But these youths, and others like them, developed superior tact when forced by the prac- tical things of life. This, together with other qualities not less important, grew, strengthened, and ruled under the discipline of stern and rigorous duties. On the other hand, some wise men who know what to do, never learn how to do it. Adam Smith wrote some of the best things upon finances ever given to the world, yet he could not manage even the finances of his own family. The same was true of Goldsmith, who understood what financiering was, but could not financier. It was said that one of Napoleon's generals understood military science better than he did, but how to use it on the tented field baffled his powers. He might almost as well have been ignorant of the science — a fact that shows how important tact is. To pos- sess knowledge, wealth, or power, without knowing how to use it, is next to possessing neither of them. Bunglers in all departments of labor and traffic may become more or less efficient by striving earnestly for success. One of the most successful business men of 11 ^ y 50 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, our acquaintance was a youth of no promise v/hatever. He was not only dull, but was lacking in common sense. Associates laughed when he made his first venture in traffic in a very small way. They had not the least expectation ihat a stripping like him could make even a moderate trader. But he developed wonderfully, and turned the " honest pennies " more rapidly than any of his associates. An elder brother, into whose store he was introduced in his verdant youth, was so ashamed of his stupidity and clownish- ness, that he hesitated to call him "brother" in the presence of customers. Yet within twenty years that awkward youth was one of the rich men of the city ; and the " elder brother," who was ashamed of his rela- tive in youth, became proud of him as an upright, suc- cessful business man. For years, too, he has ranked as high in the social and Christian circles of his city, as he has in the marts of trade. We have been told of a merchant in New York city whose youth was bar- ren of promise, especially in the direction of mercan- tile life. He could not keep money ; he spent it as fast as it came into his hands. " He does not know the value of a dollar," was frequently remarked of him. But he passed on into business, became the financial clerk of a large warehouse, in which position he distin- guished himself as a financier, was promoted to the headship of the firm, and now for several years has had enough to do in the management of his own finances as a retired merchant of large wealth. Time and persistent effort developed practical ability, until he seemed to be master of circumstances, and compelled TACT: WHAT IS ITf 51 them to contribute to his treasures. Another fact, in a different line, has come to our notice, equally suited to illustrate the subject in hand. A farmer became heav- ily embarrassed. He had failed to extract a living from his broad acres, and year by year his burden of debt had increased. He was compelled, at forty, to sell a part of his farm to relieve himself of debt. A young man of enterprise and industrious habits wa.s the purchaser. Fifteen years later the aforesaid farmer was again embarrassed, and was compelled to sell the remaining half of his farm to the young proprietor of the first half sold. " How does it happen," inquired the original owner of the purchaser, on receiving his money, " that you are able to get a living off one-half of my farm, and lay up money enough to purchase the other haY, when I could not get a living from the whole farm ?" The purchaser answered, "You have no tact." Such examples show that tact, like other qualities of mind or heart, may be cultivated. We do not affirm that tact alone explains the real philosophy of the illus- trations cited, as other elements of success are clearly manifest. Yet these were so allied to tact, or so iden- tified with its operations, as to justify the position we ascribe to the latter. The elements of human power and efficiency lock and interlock, like fibres of flesh, so that the office of one cannot be accurately defined with- out encroaching upon tl at of others. It is so with tact particularly. It commands, in favorable circum- stances, the noblest faculties of the soul, and forces them into its service. What men call " shrewdness " and *' com^uun sense ** 52 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. usually signify no more than tact. Dr. Emmons said, "common sense is the most uncommon kind of sense ;" and a better definition of tact, from one standpoint, could not be given. Tact enables us to do the right thing at the right time and in the right place ; it adapts us to circumstances, and makes us equal to the occa- sion ; and the most genuine " shrewdness," or soundest "common sense," can do no more for us than that, lie who lacks either ** may say even his prayers out of time," and may aspire to take the second step before he has taken the first. Such foolish acts are common where there is a want of ** common sense" or tact. For this need, Dean Swift nearly starved in an obscure country parish, while Stafford, his blockhead classmate, by his tact, revelled in wealth and popularity. Bee- thoven, the great musical composer, exposed himself to ridicule when he sent three hundred florins to the store to pay for a pair of shirts and six handkerchiefs. He lacked " common sense " in common affairs, which is not true of a man of tact When a merchant acts like a statesman, it is proof that he possesses great tact ; but when a statesman acts like an inferior mer- chant, it is proof that he has none. Wellington "never lost a battle because he was a good business man," one of his biographers said ; that is, he knew how to use his knowledge of military tactics. He had " common sense." It was equally genuine tact, in a smaller way, and in every-day affairs, that led Gerritt Smith to set- tle a difficulty between two of his laborers about milk- ing a cow, by taking the pail and milking her himself. It closed hostilities on his farm as effectually as Wei- TACT: h'HAT IS JTt n .»» lington's skilful tactics closed the conflict between the English and French at Waterloo. ^ In some respects this is a national trait, one nation- ality possessing it in a higher degree than another. When the Hindoo saw the steam-engine in England, he remarked, " The English are very cunning ; we Hindoo catch horse, ox, elephant, water, wind, and make him all work, but they catch fire and make him work, too." The Hindoo saw the point. From time immemorial the Chinese were acquainted with the art of printing and the mariner's compass, yet without de- riving any of those advantages therefrom which have changed the aspect of the modern world. They lacked the practical wisdom necessary to apply them to ad- vance civilization. Perhaps the " Yankee nation " ex- cels all others ii this trait. Their tact is proverbial Cast upon their own resources, compelled to work their own way upward, inured to difficulties and hardship, their necessity becoming the parent of invention, this element of success is made conspicuous. At the South, where aristocracy drew its support from slavery, there was always a surprising absence of this quality. An American author, who travelled much through that por- tion of our country in the time of slavery, rehearsed the following incident, among others, to show the marked difference between the Yankee and South- erner in this regard, — the fact universally recognized by the Southern people : — The stage came to a deep slough in the way, such as were common in spring. Leaping from his box, the driver began to remove the fence. " What are you doingi driver ? " asked an outside 54 TACT, PUiiH, jiND PRINCIPLE. 'I passenger. " Going through this oat-patch to avoid the slough," the driver answered. Our author saw at a glance that he would make a bad matter worse, and he ventured to say, " Driver, you can't go through there ; you are safer in the road." ** I drive this stage, if you please," was the caustic reply. The horses " shot in," and in five minutes " the wheels sank until the bottom of the coach rested on the ground, and we were anchored." The passengers alighted, and our author said, " Driver, leave my trunks here. I see a house yonder, and I am going there to stop until the next stage comes aL^ng." "No, no !" vociferated sev- eral passengers ! o the driver ; " if the Yankee leaves us we shall never get out of the trouble." " I don't expect you will," responded the author, " for you don't know how in the first place, and if you did^ you would think it a disgrace to do the necessary work." The driver, piqued by tbis revere reflection, remarked, con- temptuously, " I reckon we can get along as well with- out your company as with it." * That is not so, driver. The Yankee must stay ; wc want him to plan for us ; we can't do anything without him," said one of the passengers, to which all the others assented. The author finally consented to "boss" the job, the driver being somewhat cowed by the uncomplimentary re- mark, "The Yankee has more ingenuity than forty drivers like you." In one hour the stage was extricated from its perilous situation, the passengers reseated therein pursuing their journey, congratulating them- selves on having a live Yankee to relieve them by his well-known tact. TACT: WHAT IS ITf 55 This trait is doing its part to enable our country to outstep the Old World in art and manufactures. A London journal recently said : "American clocks and watches are sold for less than those of English and Swiss manufacture in England and in Switzerland. And yet the skilled labor in this business is not cheaper in America than with us. Therefore, by sheer superiority of intelligence and of perfection of machinery, we have been cut out by the Americans of a trade in which we formerly held our own. The same may be said of a dozen other trades, in which we have stood still while the Americans have progressed." It is plain from the foregoing, that tact is not a sin- gle faculty, but a combination of faculties. Its exist- ence implies the possession of other powers, as well as discriminating knowledge of the conditions under which they perform their parts in the drama of life. Our purpose requires the consideration of these in this con- nection. And first of all is the undeniable fact, that " man is the artificer of his own fortune." Tact achieves only where this truth is realized \i N 5<5 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. I III. SELF-MADE. ** O ELF-MADE, or never made," is an old maxim ; %J meaning, that by his own personal exertions the young man succeeds, whether his advantages be great or small. The best college cannot make a man of learning out of the idle student, while the poorest col- lege will help the studious, persevering youth to fame. The largest and most renowned mercantile house will do no better for the inefncient clerk than the smallest and most obscure one. Indeed, the active, quick-witted, and aspiring clerk will gain more advantage from the small, unknown warehouse, than the shiftless and negli- gent clerk will from the large, famous one. It is be- cause a young man must make himself what he desires to become, whether mechanic, merchant, scholar, orator, lawyer, physician, clergyman, or statesman. No insti- tution can do it for him. No man can do it for him. The best opportunities are nothing to laziness. Ordi- nary opportunities are everything to application and tact. Dr. Arnold, the great English teacher, used to say, " Never do for a pupil what he can do for himself." He claimed that the best teacher in the world could not make a scholar out of a lazy boy, but that the boy SELF-MADE, 57 could do it for himself. For this reason be " worked not for, but with his class, and strove in all his meth- ods of instruction, not to teach directly, but simply to guide in efforts for self-education. He considered the office of the teacher to be like that of the guide-board % by the wayside, to direct to the path, which was to be trodden with diligent footsteps. . . . He often said it was not knowledge, but the means of gaining knowl- edge, he had to teach ; that he desired not so much to impart information, as to prepare the minds of his • pupils to use to advantage subsequent acquisitions ; to learn how to study, and how to start aright in the life-loving work of self-culture'' Dr. Arnold did not attach much importance to the popular notion of ge- niuses ; but he believed and taught what Kitto affirmed thus : *• I thought, then, and think to this day, that all the fine stories about natural ability, &c., &c., are mere rigmarole, and that every man may, according to his opportunities and industry, render himself almost any- thing he wishes to become." it is absolutely necessary for the young man to un- derstand this. Unless he realizes that he must be self-made, tact will fail to make the most of advantages. His mind, too, must be divested of several " popular delusions," if he indulges them, as- many at his age do, or all the tact in the world, inherited or acquired, will be of little service. It is popular with youths to call success luck. A "lucky hit," a "lucky fellow," a "streak of luck," are common expressions with many. They mean, evi- dently, that the successful person happened to become Nr 58 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, •i\ rich, learned, or great without forethought, plan, or pur- pose ; that there was no real cause of his success ; that it was not the result of his own well-directed and per- severing efforts. A strong delusion this ! There is no such experience as luck among men. There cannot be in a world of law and order. If there were no God and no Divine governmcjil, and chance a: i chaos ruled the hour, there might be a place for luck some- where in the universe. As it is, there is no nook or corner for it. Generally, the young apply the word luck only to the acquisition of wealth. But why should not luck make a man wise or learned as really as rich ? Why should not a man happen to be a renowned phi- losopher, a great statesman, or a famous general ? Is it more difficult or strange for luck to make a Newton, a Webster, or a Wellington, than to make an Astor ? Such questions expose the folly of those who believe in " lucky men " or " lucky days." When the time comes that idleness reaps rich harvests, and industry begs bread ; that economy goes to the poor-house, and prodi- gality to the palace ; that temperance invites want and woe, and drunkenness revels in thrift ; that virtue is condemned and imprisoned, and vice extolled and crowned ; then, and not till then, can a sensible man countenance the popular delusion — luck. What did Juck have to do with the career of Girard, or Franklin, or Clay, or Fulton, or Roger Sherman, or Lincoln, and the host of other men who have wrought, triumphed, and died? Nothing ; absolutely nothing. Away, then, with folly so barefaced and repugnant, and bend every nerve for the prize I SELF-MADE. 59 The gifted author of " Thrift " says : " It is not luck, but labor, that makes men. Luck is ever waiting for something to turn up ; labor, with keen eye and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed, and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines ; labor whistles. Luck relies on chance ; labor on characler. Lack slips downward to self- indulgence ; labor strides upward, and aspires to in- dependence." Another popular error witli young men is, that nter- cantile success is easy. Few appreciate the hard labor, perplexities, and trials cf even those merchants who succeed. Few understand that a very large majority of merchants fail in business. General Dearborn, who was collector of the port of Boston more than twenty years, said, in an agricultural address : " After an ex- tensive acquaintance with business men, and having long been an attentive observer of the course of events in the mercantile community, I am satisfied that among one hundred merchants and traders in Boston, not more than three ever acquired an independence. It was with great distrust that I came to this conclu- sion ; but after consulting with an experiimced mer- chant, he fully admitted its truth." A gentleman who listened to General Dearborn's address, doubted his statement, and, in consequence, instituted an inquiry. After thorough investigation, he made the following public statement : 6o TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. I " The statement made by General Dearborn appeared to me so startling, so appalling, that I was induced to examine it with much care, and, I regret to say, I found it true. I then called upon a friend, a great an- tiquarian, a gentleman always referred to in all matters relating to the city of Boston, and he told me that in the year 1800 he took a memorandum of every person on Long Wharf; and in 1840, as long a time as men usually continue in trade, ox\\y Jive remained. AllthQ others had failed, or died in destitute circumstances. I then went to the director of Union Bank. He said the bank commenced business in 1798, when there was only one other bank in Boston ; that a few years ago they had occasion to look back to the first of its his- tory, and they found that of one thousand persons with whom they opened accounts, only six remained. In the forty years nine hundred and ninety-four had failed or died without property. * Bankruptcy,' said he, * is like death, and almost as certain : they fall single and alone and are thus fOi^ gotten; but there is no escape from it, and he is a fortunate man who fails young." Such facts warn the reader against 'le foolish senti- ment that mercantile success is easily won. '*Tha battle of life," in by far the greater number of cases, must necessarily be fought up hill ; and to win it with- out a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties, there would be no suc- cess ; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved. Difficulties may intimidate the weak, but they act only as a wholesome stimulus to men of pluck and resolution. SELF-MADE, 6l '' I Another delusive dream of some young men is — dependence upon others for influence or capital to help them into business. They scarcely believe that it is possible for them to command the business position to which they aspire, unless a rich father or uncle will furnish the necessary capital. Possibly the reputation and personal influence of the same parties might an- swer to lift them into the coveted niche. One or the other, or both, they deem indispensable, and so wait for " dead men's shoes," or live men's timely succor, to launch their barques for the voyage of life. They de- spair of success without some assistance of this kind to give them a start ; and it often proves a start in the wrong direction. We do not affirm that capital or influence, furnished in the way described, is never proper or beneficial. But they seldom or never help young men whose tact, industry, economy, and force of character would not succeed without them. To the class of enterprising and efficient young men, both capital and personal in- fluence may prove a God-send, introducing them into a larger sphere of business and insuring earlier suc- cess. But they are worse than useless to the aimless and easy-going class, who have too little enterprise to accept the maxim we have quoted, namely, that "Man is the artificer of his own fprtune." They who are competent to achieve fortunes by their own unassisted exertions, will find the capital and influence of others highly beneficial ; but on the opposite c!s.ss they are worse than wasted. They who cannot make them- selves, can never be made by any amount of goU ir I 62 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, I ancestral honors. Buxton once wrote to his son : "You are now at that period of Hfe in which you must make a turn to the right or the left. You must now give proofs of pk inciple, determination, and strength of mind ; or you must sink into idleness, and acquire the habits and character of a desultory, ineffective young man ; and if once you fall to that point, you will find it no easy matter to rise again. I am sure that a young man may be very much what he pleases. In my own case it was so." Still another delusion that hinders tact, and jeopar- dizes the interests of many young men, is, that money is the great object of life to be secured. That wealth is both a blessing and a power, we shall not deny. That it is truly desirable, we admit. That it is indispensable, in an important sense, is unquestion- able. But that money is " the chief end of man," as multitudes appear to believe, is notoriously false. It is no more the true object of living than the " golden calf" was the true God to the children of Israel. Says Lynch, in his " Lectures in Aid of Self-Improvement : " ** In morals, a penny may outweigh a pound, — may represent more industry and character. The money that witnesses of patient, inventive years of fair deal- ing and brave dealing, proves * worth ' indeed. But neither a man's means nor his worth are measurable by his money. If he has a fat purse and a lean heart, a broad estate and a narrow understanding, what will his ' means ' do for him } what will his * worth ' gain him ? " The discipline of industry, frugality, and hon- esty that money-making may secure, is worth more by SELF-MADE, 63 'f^th \ far than the wealth itself. It is a disgrace to any man to be dishonestly rich ; but it is honorable to be hon- estly poor. Young men should appreciate this truth in the outset, that their views of wealth may be correct. The idol of Americans is money, A millionnaire is greater than a veritable saint with the multitude. *' There goes Astor ! " *' There goes Stewart ! " The crowd swells and jostles and cheers at the announce- ment. No wonder that many young men desire to be rich above all things. This false estimate of riches causes them to appear more valuable than usefulness or character. A perilous delusion ! " A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold." Others delude themselves with the idea that pleas' tire is an indispensable factor of success. Many young men covet money as the means to the end — pleasure. The rich, honored, and great, are happy, they think ; their pleasure is largest and best. Like all radical errors, this one is well-nigh fatal. Pleasure, at best, is but accidental or incidental. It is no part of the real purpose of life that commands and elevates a human soul. He who has amassed a million dollars for the sake of the pleasure it will purchase, has made a com- plete failure. He began with a small soul, and ended with a smaller. He started with a contemptible pur- pose, and he has gotten what he bargained for — infe- rior manhood. Obedience to the behests of Duty and the ruling desire to be useful, and not a thirst for pleasure, are among the cardinal elements of success. It is a trumpet-call that Duty sounds, at which all the nobler attributes of humanity spring into life. 64 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. The delusions named, and all others akin to them, hinder self-culture^ They discourage tact, and render its development impossible. They must be completely f radicated to give the natural powers fair play. They are nothing but rubbish, that must be cleared away be- fore the young man can make himself. Perhaps the reader cannot command academic and collegiate advantages, or even the full benefit of the common school. What of that .? Many of the most useful and distinguished men of the past won their positions without these aids. Many educationists be- lieve that slender intellectual opportunities, wii^h the necessity of toil much of the time for a liveliho ^, secures better results than study without work. Sir Humphrey Davy laid the foundation of his renown as a chemist while at work by the month in a drug-store. Hugh Miller became a geologist of note while working in a quarry as a day-laborer. Abraham Lincoln edu- cated himself for the legal profession while following other pursuits as a necessity. Henry Wilson was a farmer and shoemaker when he qualified himself for a statesman. Elihu Burritt was a hard-working black- smith when be mastered fifty languages, and made himself one of the most remarkable men of the nine- teenth century. This class of men — self-made men — is numerous to-day, and they exert a mighty if not a controlling influence in the counsels of the nation. Sir Fowell Buxton claimed that he could do as well as other men, provided he put " double the work into the trial that they did ; " for he had no faith in any genius except " ordinary means and extraordinary application." SELF-MADE, tely hey be- 65 Any young man, with this sentiment in his heart, can enroll his name among the distinguished, self-made men of the country, though his opportunities be mea- gre indeed. Perhaps the reader does not possess remarkable tal- ents. You were never called a " genius ; " perhaps you are nothing more than tolerable in the schoolroom. What of that ? The world is not governed to-day by the men who were so-called geniuses, thirty, forty, or fifty years ago. A great many of the most " preco- cious '* youths have dropped out of memory, while some of the plodding, but untiring and persevering ones, are holding the reins of government or guiding the counsels of school and senate. Sir Joshua Rey- nolds said : " If you have great talents, industry will improve them ; if you have but moderate abilities, in- dustry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied to well-directed labor ; nothing is to be obtained with- out it" Richter was complimented for the position of influence and usefulness he had attained, to which he replied : " I have made as much out of myself as could be made of the stuff, and no man should require more." . The spirit that animated his life will always give triumph to moderate abilities. But, after all, the real issue is not settled in the schools, or by the amount of talents. Young men need to be qualified for the industrial pursuits of life. Each one will follow some chosen avocation. The proper use of his time and powers will discipline him for any pursjit. This can be accomplished, though intellect- ual aci vantages be small. It is possible to perform the 4^ ^ 01 66 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, business of life without schools, though these add dig- nity and value to it. Some of the revolutionary pa- triots, who were efficient men both in daily duties and in the struggle for independence, knew very little of books and schools. In England, Magna Charta was secured by men who signed the deed with their marks. We speak more of a preparation that comes from ac- tion than study, such as the mass of young men in our land must possess, or be ciphers through life. It is an old saying, " If some men would spend half of their fortune to learn how to spend the other half, it would be money extremely well laid out." Now, if young men must qualify themselves to practise the art of spending money, how reasonable that they must fit themselves by observation and experience to do the other thousand-and-one things of life equally impor- tant. If the use of half their time will teach them how to em; 'oy the other half so as to make the most of themselves, their living will not be in vain. George Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive, is an apt illustration of the subject in hand. His fa- ther was an " engine-man " in a colliery, so poor that his family occupied a single room, though he had four sons and two daughters. When a mere boy, George worked for a woman who lived in the neighboring farm- house of Dewley, watching her cows, and using his spare time in manufacturing clay engines with Tom Thirlaway. They took clay from a bog near by, and used hemlock sticks to imitate the pipes. He was in- troduced into the colliery, however, when seven or eight years old, where his energy, observation, and SELF-MADE. 67 tact soon made him master of each branch of labor to which he was successively promoted. At seventeen years of age he had charge of an engine, and his fa- ther fired it for him. He could neither read nor write, but he could study his engine. What books, teacher, and school are to pupils, that was the engine to him. On Saturday afternoon, every two weeks, the workmen were let out, and most of them attended dog-fights and cock-fights, or wasted time and themselves in liquor- shops. But our young engineer embraced that oppor- tunity to take his engine to pieces, clean and study it. Before he could read or write, he had made himself a skilful engineer, and was on the road to future renown. The colliery was his school-room, and the engine his teacher. Without other school or books, he qualified himself to act a conspicuous part in his country. "Business makes men ;" and so it was with Stephen- son. Labor did for him what all the schools in the world could not have done. Afterwards, reading and study did their part ; for, by close application he learned to read in early manhood, and by the study of books dignified and polished the philosophy, mechanics, and learning which the engine had taught him. A large company celebrated the triumph of his genius, by riding after his locomotive over the road he had constructed ; and, at the conclusion, he said in his speech : " Well do I remember my career as an engi- neer, and the great perseverance that was required of me to get on. However, I was trusted in some small matters, and succeeded in giving satisfaction. Greater trusts were reposed in me, in which I also succeeded. ' *} ' &B%^- 68 TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, Soon after, I commenced making the locomotive en- gine ; and the results of my perseverance you have this day witnessed." That labor did more than learning to make Stephen- son the practical man that he v/as cannot be denied. That the same was true of Eli Whitney, the inventor of the Cotton Gin, although he enjoyed school advan- tages, is equally true. He was early inured to labor on the farm, snatching therefrom every moment possi- ble to indulge his inventive genius. He was yet a youth when he began the manufacture of nails, a busi- ness that he pursued with untiring industry. He enjoyed no higher literary advantages during this pe- riod than the very short and poor common schools which that day afforded. He was twenty-three years old when he decided to fit for college, and was nearly thirty when he was graduated at Yale. Then he went South, where his collegiate education does not appeal to have been of any special advantage to him, except to introduce him into more intelligent and influential company. Its culture and refinement added attrac- tion? to his personal appearance and society. But he continued in the same line of inventive and mechanical labor after his career in college that he did before ; and the cotton-gin was the fruit of his application. His tact, labor^ and industry did more than college to educate him for the place in which he became re- nowned. The lives of Arkwright and Whitney, which repre- sent the lives of a large class of self-made men, prove what we have said, that pleasure is not a factor to be CO 4 SELF-MADE, 69 '^e en- have considered in the problem of life. We can discover no provision which they made for///;/. Such a thought does not seem to have entered their heads. As if they never heard of such a thing, their plans were laid, and their persistent and abundant labors performed in the interests of usefulness and duty. They calculated upon no future time when they could live without work, be idle, command a fine turnout, sport diamonds, and cut a dash at famous watering-places. Neither did one of the " popular delusions " named find favor with them. "Luck" and "legacies," "money-worship" and " easy " living never troubled their brains. Arkwright and Whitney are examples of the great benefit many self-made men have been to the world. To these two men the nations are indebted for the present facility of raising and manufacturing cotton. Southern lands were especially adapted to the produc- tion of the " short staple " cotton, but the difficulty of separating the cotton fibre from the seed wrapped up in it, made the cultivation of it expensive and unprofit- able. The cotton-gin remedied this evil, and thus opened the Southern States to such large and rapid production of cotton as to insure wealth, and, at the same time, provide cotton goods cheap enough for the masses. Arkwright invented the spinning-machine, whereby the cotton could be manufactured into cloth with astonishing rapidity. The two inventions to- gether have proved of inestimable value to the world, scarcely second to any invention, discovery, or work- manship, that has pushed the race forward in the prog« ress of civilization. I J 70 TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. Self-made men govern the world now as they ever have governed *t. That is, a majority of the leaders of humanity, in art, science, legislation, and government, are not the graduates of colleges. They are men who have worked their way up from obscurity and poverty, through difficulties and hardships, by their own per- sistent efforts. The qualities that enabled them to overcome obstacles made them leaders of public opin- ion and public measures. This class are eminently practical men, and practical men easily become lead- ers. The mention of a few names that adorn history will establish the truthfulness of this remark. Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning-jenny and founder of the cotton manufacture in Great Britain, was a barber till he was nearly thirty years of age. Shakespeare; the son of a butcher, was a wool-comber, and held horses for gentlemen at the theatre for a pit- tance. William Gary, the renowned missionary, and Roger Sherman, the American statesman, were shoe- makers. Sir Isaac Newton was the son of a poor farmer at Woolsthorpe, and, with Sir John Hcrschel, was " master of the mint " in early manhood. Wel- lington, the conqueror of Napoleon at Waterloo, was the son of a poor clergyman, whose circumstances forced him to make a sailor-boy of the lad. John Fos- ter and Dr. Livingstone, the missionary travellers, were weavers, and earned their bread by hard toil. Milton was the son of a London scrivener. Washington was a farmer ; and General Jackson's early life was spent on a farm under trying embarrassments. The same was true of Robert Fulton, Henry C'ay, Abraham Lin* SELF-MADE. 71 coin, and many other American leaders. FrankliR was a printer, though his boyhood was spent in the still humbler pursuit of a tallow-chandler. And many of the most influential Americans of to-day, engaged in shaping the destinies of the nation, — merchants, in- ventors, scientists, clergymen, teachers, lawyers, phy- sicians, and statesmen, — have made themselves what they are by the best improvement of their time and abilities. The success of this class illustrates the remark of a distinguished writer : " It is not that which is done for a young man that is most valuable '^o him and others, but that which he is led to do for himself." Their youth and early manhood, also, answered to the view of Lord John Russell, who said : " Instead of assisting a young man with money, we should say to him, ' You have your own way to make, and it depends upon your own exertions whether you starve or not.* " One reason why self-made men are so successful is, that i/iey are not afraid of work. Dirt and drudgery do not frighten them. Necessary work must be done, however humble it may be. Louis Philippe said, that he was the only sovereign in Europe qualified for his position, for the reason that " he could black his own boots." So the only man who is able to make himself a name, is he who can do any necessary work. He puts in no plea for " a ten-hour law ; " for he often may be obliged to work eighteen or twenty hours in a day. He has an object to accomplish, and he knows no relief until it is done, though it take him as lon^^ as it might General Grant to fight his way to Richmond — " all summer." His heart is set upon accomplishing, not \ TSf- HiOi 72 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, upon the easiest way of " getting on," nor upon the smallest amount of work that can be done, and live. His whole soul is absorbed in doing. When the phy- sician besought Sir Walter Scott to abridge his exces- sive literary labors, the great worker replied, ** As for bidding me not work, Molly might just as well put the kettle on the fire, and say, *Now, kettle, don't boil.*" K has been said, ** A Spaniard will blush to work, but not to beg." The self-made man will blush to beg, but not to work. To beg is humiliating ; to work is hon- orable and uplifting. There is growth, physical, men- tal, and moral, in work. We have spoken of Sir Wal- ter Scott ; he emphasized Work in his counsels to his son. At one time he wrote to him : " I cannot too much impress upon your mind that labor is the con- dition which God has imposed on us in every station of life ; there is nothing worth having that can be had without it, from the bread which the peasant earns by the sweat of his brow, to the sports by which the rich man must get rid of his ennui." Being afraid of work has consigned many well-born young men to useless- ness and obscurity. The attention of the whole country has recently been called in a most afflictive way to an eminent ex- ample of our theme. We refer to the late President Garfield. Born in the woods of Ohio fifty years ago, when a removal to Cuyhoga County was going into the wilderness, it was not a bright prospect that greeted his birth. That poor prospect, too, was dark- ened by the death of his father when the child was only eighteen months old. With a family of four chil- SELF'MADE. 11 dren, without a single dollar laid by for such an emer- gency, the heroic mother kept the " clearing " and the children intact. Very early James exhibited proof of decided talents, and strong love of learning. Without school advantages, he resolved to cultivate his mind. He chopped wood, tilled the soil, drove team, anything to earn money for his mother's support and his own culture. He improved every spare moment to educate himself, was industrious, economical, persevering, as- piring, and efficient. At sixteen, he accepted the hum- ble position of driver on d canal-boat, engaging in the menial employment with the same enthusiasm that, fifteen years lat^r, he fought the battle of the Rebellion on Southern soil. His employer on the canal said of him : " As brave a youth as ever lived ; for he always dared to do right." As soon as he earned money < lOugh to pay the expense of a quarter's schooling, he left hard labor for study, though possessing but a single suit of clothes and two shirts. By close appli- cation, economy of time, and often trenching upon night hours, he qualified himself to teach. Thirsting for more knowledge and higher culture, he presented him -elf before the board of the "Western Reserve Eclectic Institute," to learn if there was not some way whereby he could become a member of the institution, and pay his own way by labor. His application was successful, and he became bell-ringer and sweeper. Nothing was too humble for him to do as a means to the noble end in view. Very soon he was teacher in the " Institute," exchanging the office of bell-ringer for this higher and more lucrative position. He fitted him- 74 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. I self thoroughly for college, and entered Williams Col- lege two years in advance, and, at the, close of his course, was graduated with high honors. He became tutor in Hiram College, where he had won a name as a pupil. He was soon promoted to Principal, and won a still greater name in that honorable position. He became an eloquent public speaker by persistent trial. He espoused the cause of liberty, and as an orator soon grew famous. From that time, his upward and onward career was rapid and grand. At twenty-nine years of age he was a State senator ; at thirty, he was ap- pointed Colonel of the Ohio 42d Regiment ; at thirty- one, he became a brigadier-general, routed the Rebels under Humphrey Marshall, reinforced General Buell in his fight at Pittsburgh Landing, and distinguished himself for bravcy and military skill in sieges and bat- tles to such a degree that he was promoted to the rank of major-general at thirty-two. His brilliant record in war, as well as his previous noble record in peace, turned the attention of his Congressional District to him as the best man to succeed the world-famed Joshua R. Giddings ; and at thirty-three years of age he became a member of Congress, the youngest member of the National House of Representatives. For eighteen con- secutive years he represented his district with such acknowledp: d ability and statesmanship, that at forty* eight he was triumphantly elected United States Senator ; and before the time arrived for him to take his seat in that body, he was nominated for the Presi- dency of the United States, the highest office in the land. Only twenty-seven years from the time he I SELF-MADE. 7S begged for the chance to " ring the bell and sweep the halls" of Hiram College before the loyal people of the country conferred upon him this exalted honor I And he did it himself. His own tact, industry, perse- verance, indomitable courage, and moral principle, achieved this marvellous success — one of the noblest and grandest examples for American youth on record I ** The heights, by great men reached and kepfti Were not attained by sudden flight; But they, while their companions slept» Were toiling upurvd in the night* ;si- the he 1^ TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, IV. THOROUGHNESS. r DR. JOHI ''l\ «:aid : "Whatever is worth doing at all, is \v .*th t'o-Tig well." The observance of this rule, to a gratifying extent, has contributed to the progress of mankind in art and science. It has pre- served the integrity of the human race sufficiently to make real and rapid advancement. True, half-doing is miserably common. Many men content themselves with passable work. Those, only, who possess the qualities which we emphasize in this volume, among which tact leads, are known for their thoroughness. As tact is practical wisdom, it appreciates at once the necessity of thoroughness as a condition of success. Sir Fowell Buxton wrote to his son : ** You are now a man, and I am persuaded that you must hold an infe- rior station in life, unless you resolve, that, whatever you do, you wil^ do well. Make up your mind that it is better to accomplish perfectly a very small amount of work, than to half do ten times as much. What you do know, know thoroughly, I once asked Sir Ed- ward Sudgen the -secret of his success, and he replied : **I resolved when beginning to read law, to make everything I acquired perfectly my own, and never to go to a second thing, till I had entirely accomplished THOROUGHNESS. 77 the first. Many of my competitors read as much in a day as I read in a week ; but at the end of twelve months, my knowledge was as fresh as on the day it was acquired, while theirs had glided away from their recollections." This wise counsel, reduced to practice, would make the best farmers, mechanics, merchants, artists, scholars, lawyers, physicians, clergymen, and statesmen possible. Samuel Budgett ascribed a good share of his suc- cess in the mercantile business to this law of thorough- ness. He was wont to say: '* In hj*^ever calling a man is found, he ought to strive t^ be the best in his calling : if only a shoeblack, he should try to be the best shoeblack in the neighborhot J." He endeav- ored to make this a rigid rule of Ms warehouse. When boys were introduced into his business, they were set to straightening old nails picked up about the estab- lishment. Their promotion depended upon doing this work well. If they were thorough in straight- ening old nails for a given time, they were promoted to serve under the master bag-mender. If they were equally thorough in mending bags, then they were made messengers. And thus on and up to the highest po- sition in the business, thoroughness was a fixed con- dition. Mr. Budgett claimed that the boy who would not straighten nails well, would not do anything well ; if he would not be true in small matters, he would not be true under greater responsibilities. " He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much ; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." A Mahratta prince discovered one of his servants fast 78 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. asleep on the floor of one of his apartments, with his master's slippers clasped so tightly in his hands that he was unable to disengage them. Concluding at once that a servant who was so faithful in little things, could be trusted in more important matters, he ap- pointed him upon his body-guard. A few years there- after, that servant was one of the most renowned com- manders in India. The biographer of Budgett, speak- ing of what is meant by the best, says : " If a mer- chant, it is doubtless your duty to be the best merchant possible. But is he the best merchant, who, having superior tact, relentlessly uses that superior tact, in every transaction, to thwart and outdo others, regard- less whether or not he shall appear to them inconsid- erate and unkind ? He may be the ablest merchant, but that is all. The best shoeblack does not mean the shoeblack who manages to worry people out of the greatest amount of money, but the shoeblack who does his work in the best possible way, and then only seeks a just and reasonable reward. The best cabman is not the man who drives in the best style and then teases you till you overpay him, but the man who drives in the very best style, and is content with his just wages. So the best merchant is not the man who best under- stands his business, and contrives to bargain others out of their reasonable profits, but he who best under- stands his business, and never takes advantage of any man's ignorance, of any man's necessity ; who never for- gets that the interests of others are as sacred as his own." The effort of thoroughness taxes all the powers and brings them into complete and harmonious action. »> \ THOROUGHNESS, 79 id * The result is, not only symmetry of mental develop- ment, but also scenes of beauty. The best-conducted farm is a picture to admire. Wall and fence upright and true ; cart, wagon, and all agricultural implements in their place ; order, neatness, comfort, and thrift, everywhere seen ; the broad acres of grass and grain waving their trophies in the sunlight. The best house- keeper introduces us to apartments that are so tidy and well arranged as to elicit a smile of satisfaction. The home may be humble, wholly destitute of the adornments of wealth ; but cleanliness, order, care, and taste convert it into a sort of sanctuary, that attracts the hard-working husband irresistibly at the close of day. It is a charming scene of thoroughness in every- day affairs — making the little God has bestowed do the best possible for head and heart. The best door- yard, with its green velvet carpet covering the whole area, or, perhaps, its beds of flowers tempting the eye by their wealth of colors, and its nice, winding walks luring the steps, is not only the evidence of taste and a love of the beautiful, but also an ornament to the village and a credit to the town. The most thorough tradesman has "a place for everything, and everything in its place ; " each clerk prompt to respond to calls, and as polite as prompt ; with prices and profits fair ; honesty and right dealing grac- ing his counters, as nice goods grace his shelves ; sharing public confidence because he possesses gen- ume private character. The best mechanic is he who puts the best workmanship into the products of his skill, and at the same time puts his conscience into ^M«r^~^3S« 80 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. every bargain that sends his manufactures abroad ; as it was said of the late Timothy Gilbert, manufacturer of pianos, his goods were a model of honest labor, and the character that he made while manufacturing the best instruments he could, was as harmonious and beautiful as the music that he furnished the lovers of art. Such are illustrations of the charming scenes which thoroughness spreads before us — particularly attractive because they are in keeping with the handi- work of God, who makes everything perfect in its time and place. The flower that " wastes its sweetness on the desert air" is just as lovely and fragrant, and its conformation as perfect, as that which blooms in win- dow or garden. The moss which Mungo Park picked up in the wilds of Africa, five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement, was such proof of divine skill and care as to inspire his soul with fresh hope, that bade him rise and live. Thoroughness is a principle of the Divine government that fills the universe with Joy and beauty, so that even the stars move, "Forever singing as they shine: The hand that made us is divine.** Sir Joshua Reynolds was one of the most distin- guished painters of his day ; and, in answer to the inquiry, how he attained to such excellence, he replied, " by observing one simple rule, viz., to make each paint- ing tJie best" He disclaimed the idea that he was born to such excellence in the art, and strenuously main- tained that nothing less than that persistent industry and perseverance, for which he was known, consecrated to making each painting the best, ever won renown > \ THOROUGHNESS. 8l Ihe id, irn n- rn . j foi him. If we examine the lives of worthies that are introduced into these pages, we shall find this element of success more or less conspicuous. Roger Sherman was the best shoemaker in town long before he was classed with the best statesmen in the land. Hugh Miller was second to no stone-mason in his early man- hood, as he was second to no practical geologist thirty years thereafter. Franklin was distinguished for thoroughness in the printing art at twenty, as he was in natural science and political economy at fifty. Gid- eon Lee was the best tanner, Amos Lawrence the best apprentice, and Samuel Appleton the best farmer, before they ranked with the best merchants. There is this lofty aim at excellence traceable in the lives of successful men In all departments of toil. " Young man, there is always room at the top," was the laconic reply of Daniel Webster to the young law student, who was complaining that the legal profession was over- crowded. " At the top ! " Such an aim compels the service of every attribute of mind and heart ; and it is this home stretch for the "top" that makes the most of a young man, whether he reaches it or not. The late Samuel Ward, who was one of the best bankers in the country, and possibly the best, was wonderfully helped by his determination to stand at the " top." He en- g?i;ed in the business at fourteen years of age, and such was his tact and perseverance that he soon at- tracted attention. A person inquired of him as to his purpose, and he answered, "I mean ' to be the best banker in the United States." If he did not becor e that, he certainly went up so high that he was ii I 6 _ ■ ■• J* .~ 82 7:4 ct; pl'sii, and principle. I l|i crowded and jostled by competitors. Crowding is done lower down. On the plane of mediocrity, and lower still, is where elbow-room is needed, because the con testants, if such they may be called, congregate in large numbers. We must not be insensible to the fact that slighted work abounds ; that multitudes do not excel in their pur suits, nor even indulge a wholesome ambition to excel. We want a superior carpenter, painter, or cabinet-maker to do a job : is he the first man of the craft we meet } Can we trust most of the parties who serve in these vocations to do the work well? By no means. We are forced to inquire for the competent man, and then wait his convenience. We wonder at the paucity of vhe number who have attained to excellence in their callings ; the number falls below our estimate, and ex- plains why so many artisans continue poor and menial, ':onte[it to plod and serve for a scanty subsistence. They are not the best workmen ; and it is the latter :lass whose labors are in constant demand, at the highest price. " Work seeks the best hands, as natu- rally as water runs down hill ; and it never seeks the hands of a trifler, or of one whose only recommenda- tion for work is that he needs it." The importance of accuracy is conceded only by those who aspire to excellence. " Only two cents I " exclaimed a clerk to his employer, who rebuked him for a mistake in a customer's account. He thought that a mistake of two cents was hardly worth mention- ing. Had it been two dollars, that would have been quite another affair. He had no higher appreciation . V THOROUGHNESS. 83 by , ion of accuracy than that. To approximate to it, in his estimation, was enough for all practical purposes. But even he would think otherwise, and become enamored of accuracy, by a little reflection. I et him consider the satisfaction of having his computations just right — the honorable distinction of being known in the warehouse as an accurate accountant who detests mis- takes, even the smallest, and he can hardly fail of fall- ing in love with accuracy. In the school and seminary this subject finds numer- ous illustrations. To be the best reader, the best speller, the best grammarian, the best mathematician, how small the number who enter the race for these ! To miss one or two words in spelling, to fail on one or two questions in history or philosophy, to lose a single recitation wholly, this is a small matter v/ith many pupils. Their conceptions of accuracy are so low and defective, that excellence is out of the question. We have just been more than surprised — amazed — over a report of the State Board of Education in Massachu- setts, in which a trial of two hundred and twelve public schools, embracing about five thousand pupils, in respect to accuracy, is given in full. The examination was lim- ited to the upper grades of the Primary and Grammar schools, the pupils of the former being from eight and a half to ten and a half years of age, and those of the lat- ter from twelve and a half to fifteen and a half years of age. The inaccuracies in the Grammar schools, in some respects, were more discreditable than those in the Pri- mary schools, suggesting that, if the examination had been extended to the High school, the inaccuracies in V 84 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, reading, spelling, and arithmetic, might have been no less glaring. Of one thousand one hundred and twenty- two pupils, who used the word " too " in a written nar- rative, eight hundred and fifty-nine, or nearly seventy- seven per cent, of the whole, spelt that word incorrectly. More than twenty different ways of spelling the word " Cyrus " were employed by the most advanced scholars, thus: Cyrus, Cirus, Cyras, Cyrpus, Cypus, Cyreus, Cyrous, Cyus, Cuyus, Cuyrus, Scyrus, Syrus &c. Strange as it may seem, more than fifty ways of spell- ing the simple word " which " were used, as follows : which, whch, whitch, whtch, witch, wich, weich, whish, whic, &c. The word " whose " was worse yet ; more than a hundred different ways of spelling it: whose, whos, whoes, whous,who's, hoose, hwose, whoose, whoos, whouse, &c. The word " scholar " was treated to more than two hundred renderings, of which the following is a sample : scholar, scoler, scolar, schollar, schooler, scollar, scoller, sl;ollar, skolar, skooler, scholare, schol- ore, schoUor, &c. Such words as aginst for •' against," enny for " any," bnither for " brother," ben for *' been," bimcby for " by-and-by," cosiin for " coasting," carrige for "carriage," evry for "every," cliphant for "ele- phant," goin for "going," dorter for •* daughter," piiy for "pie," and so on through a long list of the most familiar words. Equally surprising inaccuracies, also, appear in other branches, that were embraced in the examination. But the foregoing illustrations are suffi- cient iox our purpose. We suggested that an investigation might have dis- closed kindred inaccuracies in high schools. The ink \ THOROUGHNESS. 85 »» was scarcely dry when the following, from the pen of Professor Hill, was received. It discloses similar incor- rect spelling among young men who applied for admis- sion to Harvard College, the examples being taken from their examination papers : ** Duclls, jclosie, c/ieif, opposite stiprising^ Collossus^ compairedt repetediy, fourth * for forth,' to ' for too/ thrown * for throne,' ficlc^ whitcd-winged angle, beaver- age, broakf carrige, champaign * for champagne,* tnsted, ha/ed * for hailed,* endevors, sucess, preasant, and/r^oj- ance, widly, wating, differance, supcrceeded, prcpaired, comand, conspiritors, to finnish^ nvaritious, tindotibt- ibiyy granfather, pcice, fashionable bcil, writen and writtings, maniger * for manager,* untilly jovility ' for joviality,* ficticious, couard ' for coward,' and couardise, exhisted, origcn and origonal 'for origin and original,' kneeded * for needed,* gcnious, viarrid, mad ' for made,* wer * for were,* clcaverly, differculty, existance, abscent, olicr, rcpare, ennoubling, agricved, of ' for off,' susccp^ table, proclamed, loose ' for lose,* principal * for princi- ple,* lead ' for led,* Rip Van Rincle, Adison and Addsr^ son, Qtieene Ann, Macatdcy^ Thaclcety, Steel (Sir Rich- ard), Henery, Harries 'for Harry's.*" It is not to be supposed that all of these inaccuracies are the fruit of absolute ignorance. Many of them are blunders, no doubt. There is a great deal of thought- lessness and carelessness among pupils, and many of the mistakes enumerated were born of these. The pupils really knew better. And yet, this charitable view does not relieve the matter very much ; for care* lessness may be as great a foe to thoroughness as 86 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. ignorance u >clf. The thoughtless, careless sc^'flent wUI n'^ver be accurate. The " Massachusetts Teacher " enforced this subject a few years ago, with some interesting facts. It stated that "a teacher presented himself as a candidate for the mastership of a school, of which the salary was fif- teen hundred dollars. His qualifications were deemed satisfactory in all respects except in spelling. On account of this deficiency he was rejected. See, now, what inaccuracy in this elementary branch cost him ! In ten years his salary would have amounted to fifteen thousand dollars, throwing out of the calculation the increase which, by good investment, might have ac- crued from interest. Besides, the salary of the same school has since been raised to twu thousand dollarv But he might have remained in the position t ^ice or three times ten years, as other teachers in the same place have done, and that large amount might, con- sequently, have been increased in proportion." An- other fact given by this valuable publication was, " that a gentleman of excellent rcputaiion as a scholar was proposed to fill a p.cfcssorsh > \ \ one of our New England colleges ; but in his correspondence, .^o much bad spelling was found, that his name was dropped, and an honorable position was lost by him. The cor- poration of the college concluded that, however high his qualifications as a professor might be in general literature, the orthography of his correspondence would not add much to the reputation of the institution." We may add that a young man of much promise was recommeLJcd to a mercantile house in New York city, m #^- ! THOROUGHNESS. «? and the f**ospev:t >^,:is that he would secarc a position in the well-known estal ishment. But he had occasion to address a letter to the firm, in which he wrote 7^?^?.!;- day for " Tuesday," and this inaccuracy lost him the place. Were the inaccuracies of the schoolroom, such as we have cited, a fair exponent of the inaccuracies in business life, we could not wonder that a full share of success is confined to the few. We are not willing to admit, however, that the lack of thoroughness in me- chanical and mercantile affairs is quite so startling, though it is sufficient to magnify the importance of oui* subject. In contrast with such painful lack of excellence in schools, consider the following fact. Some years ago, a teacher in New Haven, Ct., in order to show the high degree of excellence to which a pupil may attain, if he will, reported the following case in mental arith- metic. Two boys c irricd the mental process of : mul- tiplication so far that they multiplied twenty-one fi^^^ur s by twenty-one figures, without setting down a %-!**«, the multiplication being entirely mental. It requi! ;d forty 'two figures to express the product, and yet these two pupils performed the elaborate nicntal proces'* and gave the result, without an error ; one of ' \c!j wa?5 forty, and the other forty-five minutes in going through the operaticii. Mr. Lovell, the teacher, claimed that several of his pupils would perform the mental feat of Voltair<; — multiply the nine digits into the nine digiis, without setting down a figure ; and that they would do it in five minutes. Only those, however, accomplished f \ i $ 88 TACT, PC/SH, AND PRINCIPLE. I I [iif. Ill this remarkable multiplication, who aspired to supei'- ority in scholarship. The youth whose ambition Is content with the mental process of multiplying two or three figures by two or three figures, will never com- pete with the New Haven students. He lacks those qualities that enable him to surmount the obstacles lying in tne way to excellence. Our attention has recently been called to certain in- accuracies of speech among well-educated and even literary men, showing the great need of giving more attention to thoroughness. " He learned him good manners," remarked a gentleman concerning a suc- cessful teacher in our hearing. He meant that the teacher taught him good manners. This is a very common error, as well as that other remark which even a n:*nister dropped but yesterday : " I done this," for " I did this." Not long since,, on a visit of two hours to 'i school, we heard the very successful teacher use two ungrammatical expressions in his speech. They were these : " Now, scholars (he spoke to a class called to the recitation seat), be on the alert ; either of you are at liberty to ask questions." He should have said, " either of you is at liberty," &c. The other in- accuracy was, "John, turn to page thirty-one, first par- agraph, and render tuc two first words." And John did render twc words, but only one of them was first. The tear!i« r diJ i'Ot mean " two first words ; " he meant the first • ;'<3 words, An interesting debater, a young man of real ir tf:ili;;ence and much culture, said, "I differ with my colleague;" he meant, *'I differ /n>f« my coHfague." The same young man said, in the THOROUGHNESS, same speech, " Neither one or the other." He should have said, ** Neither one nor the other." A lady of refinement, usually careful in the choice of languige, said of another, " I see her most every day," — almost every day would have been more in keeping with her taste and culture. Last month was February, and knowing that the name of the month is frequently mis- pronounced, we took particular notice. A clerk in a store, gentlemanly in his bearing, called it Febirwcrry, and his employer called it Febuary. Few call it cor- rectly — Feb-ru-a-ry. Young men may consider these minor matters ; but, if they are, they illustrate, nevertheless, our subject. It is not in good taste to mar the beauty of speech by needless inaccuracies. When one can be correct as well as not, or, at least, by care and study, it is the part of wisdom to be correct. It is the habit oi thorough- ness, however, for which we plead, and against such a habit, these and kindred inaccuracies array themselves. No young man who feels above his business can dis- tinguish himself for thoroughness. If he leave the farm or shop for the store because he considers such manual labor ignoble, he is already on the way to fail- ure. It is impossible for him to attain excellence with such an error in his heart. Doubtless many youths have exchanged agricultural and mcchanica' labor for the learned professions for the sake of the greater respectability that invests them, in their estimation ; and this is reason enough for their moderate success. Love of respectability, and not love of the pursuit, decided their choice. 90 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, Amos Lawrence requested a clerk to carry a cus- tomer's package to her residence. The clerk declined because it would compromise his dignity ; whereupon Mr. Lawrence took the bundle and carried it himself. The young man did not have another opportunity to decline. A dashing young merchant in Philadelphia purchased his dinner at the maiket one day, and gave a shilling to a seedy-looking old man standing by, to carry it to his house. He was somewhat chagrined, however, to find, subsequently, that it was the cel- ebrated !nillionaire, Girard, who played the role of a servant Girard meant to show the young sprout what a fool he was, though we doubt if he was ever oured of his folly. We have seen that Daniel Safford carried home the iron on his back that he purchased when he commenced the blacksmith business in Boston. Frank- lin wheeled his paper from the warehouse to h'lS print- ing-office, when he established himself in business in Philadelphia. A New York millionaire earned his first dollar as hod-carrier in the city of Troy. One of the richest manufacturers of New England says, that the proudest moment of his life was, when he could run a carding-machine to please his employer. One of the most honored and popular Baptist ministers in our country sawed wood for his fellow-students to pay his way through college. The famous George Whitfield was serving as bootblack in Oxford University, when he was introduced to that career which made him famous on both continents. None of these persons wasted a thought upon the menial service they wero ! N** THOROUGHNESS, 9« obliged to render at first. They were too intent upon reax:hin^ the "top." •* Honor and fame from no condition rise; Act well your part — there all the honor lies." The lives of successful men abound with incidents which show that they never felt above their business. When Napoleon became a member of the military academy at Paris, he found that each student had a servant to groom his horse, and wait upon him gener- ally. He addressed a remonstrance to the governor against this practice, maintaining that "a student of military affairs should learn to groom his own horse, clean his own armor, and accustom himself to the per- formance of such duties as would be required of him for service in the field." Subsequently he established a military school at Fontainebleau, where this system was introduced, and proved the practical wisdom of its author. He who is too proud to wait upon himself is doomed to disappointment. Success will never wait on him.' Peter the Great laid aside the robes of royalty to study the arts of civilized life, that he might benefit his own people. He wished to know something of ship-building, and actually entered the great East In- dia dockyard at Amsterdam, disguised as a laborer. " He took his place among the workmen, and became in all respects one of them, even wearing the same dress, eating the same sort of food, and inhabiting 92 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, equally humble lodgings." For several months he labored in this capacity. • Washington's life is crowded with the most interest- ing incidents of this kind. While the American army occupied winter -quarters at Morristown, N. J., and were straitened for provisions, Washington directed a hungry soldier to go to his table to refresh himself, but the soldier declined because he was on guard. Immediately Washington took his gun and acted as sentinel while the soldier regaled himself at his com- mander's table. At another time, when several divis- ions of the army were engaged in constructing works of defence from Wallabout Bay to Red Hook, one of the parties, under the supervision of a subaltern officer, had a large timber to raise. While engaged in raising it, the officer doing nothing but shout, "Now, boys, right up ; h-c-a-v-el" &c., a rnan rode upon horseback. *' Why do you not lend a helping hand } " inquired the gentleman on the horse of the officer. The latter in- dignantly replied, " I lend a helping hand ! Why, sir, I'll have you know that I am a corporal!" The gentleman sprang from his horse, laid hold of the timber with the men, and very soon it was in the required place. Then turning to the corporal, he said, "Mr. Corporal, my name is George Washington. I have come over from New York to inspect the works here ; so soon as you have done this piece of work, you will meet mc at your commander's. General Sullivan's quarters." This self- important soldier never rose higher than corporal. Even Washington could not make a colonel or general out of such smallness. THOROUGHNESS. 93 In this connection, we may say of Washington's thoroughness, that at thirteen years of age he com- menced to discipline himself in business by copying bills of exchange, receipts, notes, bills of sale, and other papers. He did it with such neatness and beauty, that his papers were regarded as models ; and when he left school, at sixteen years of age, several merchants ap- plied for his services. Mr Sparks says of his thor- oughness in his private affairs, referring especially to the perio' from 1759 ^0 I764» when he shipped the products of his large estate to London, receiving, in return, such goods as he desired. " So particular was he in these concerns, that he recorded with his own hand, in books prepared for the purpose, all the long lists of orders, and copies of the multifarious receipts from the different merchants and tradesmen who had supplied the goods. In this way, he kept a perfect oversight of the business ; ascertained the prices ; could detect any imposition, mismanagement, or care- lessness, and tell when any advantage was taken of him ; of which, if he discovered any, he did not fail to remind his correspondents." Of this quality in his public business, Mr. Sparks says : "During the presi- dency, it was likewise his custom to subject the treas- ury reports and accompanying documents to the pro- cess of careful condensation, with a vast expenditure of labor and patience ; but it enabled him to grasp, and retain in their order, a series of isolated facts, and the result of a complicated mass of figures, which would never have been mastered so effectually by any other mode of approaching them." IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) h A i< v. 1.0 I.I ^1^ l£i IL25 ■ 1.4 m III 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (7)6) 872-450? iV %. ^^ k >^ .V ^\^N ^J*^ ^f^ ■^^ '4^ >* 94 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, The late Isaac T. Hopper, of Philadelphia, visited Great Britain at one time. In Dublin he dined with a wealthy family, and while there he received a written invitation to dine with another family on the following day. He read the note aloud, when his host remarked, "Those people are very respectable, but not of the first circles. They belong to our church, but not ex- actly to our set. Their father was a mechanic." Hop- per replied, " Well, I am a mechanic myself. Perhaps if thou hadst known that fact, thou wouldst not have invited me^ " Is it possible," responded his host, " that a man of your intelligence and appearance was ever a mechanic 1 " Hopper answered, *' I followed the busi- ness of a tailor for many years. Look at my hands } Dost thou not see marks of the shears ? Some of the mayors of Philadelphia have been tailors. When I lived there I often walked the streets with the Chief Justice. It never occurred to me that it was any honor, and I don't think it did to him." It is singular that the spirit of caste should be so prevalent in the mother country ; and yet the opposite spirit receive such pub- lic recognition. For it is told of an English states- man, to his credit and honor, that a member of the House of Commons assailed him in that body, and twitted him about his humble origin. " I remember when you blacked my father's boots," the member sneer- ingly exclaimed. The statesman thrilled the assembly with this grand rejoinder, "Well, sir, did I not black them well?" He was perfectly satisfied with the honor of doing his work well. Being ashamed of ones humble' origin stands in the THOROUGHNESS, 95 way of success as really as getting above one's busi- ness, John Kitto, the renowned biblical scholar, wrote in his journal, " I must remember my humble origin, and never forget that some unexpected circumstance may again consign me to that poverty and wretched- ness from which I have emerged." He was a member of the poor-house at thirteen years of age, deaf as aR adder. He made list shoes there, and was so thorough in his business that a shoemaker selected him, out of from twenty to thirty paupers, for his own shop. Sub- sequently, friends desired that he should learn den- tistry of a popular dentist who took great interest in him. In one year he attained to such excellence that he was advised to set up for himself. Just as he was moving in that direction, however, Providence seemed to direct him to the art of printing. In this he was equaHy thorough, and in a short time was qualified to take charge of a printing-office for the Foreign Mis- sionary Society in a distant land. It was this cardinal quality that finally made him such a critical scholar, and placed him with the best biblical students of his day. He thought that the recollection of his poverty and obscurity in early life was indispensable to the highest success. A noble contrast with the haughty spirit of Scaliger, the conceited critic, who was so mortified that he was the son of a miniature-painter, that he wrote his autobiography, in which he attempted to prove that he was "the last surviving descendant of a princely house of Verona ! " If his false pride did not limit his progress in criticism, it did essentially diminish his influence and the respect of his fellow-men. I 96 -^•ICT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. Humility is not only the gateway to heaven, but also the gateway to the highest worldly success. "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit be- fore a fall." This may have special reference as to spirit- ual things, but it is not without pertinent application to our secular relations. Feeling above one's business or humble connections, is an obstacle lying directly in the way to excellence. It is not that high-minded, mag- nanimous spirit which pursues a royal way to the " top." We close this chapter with the following extract from " Self-Help," respecting the value of a little knowl- edge thoroughly appropriated, over much superficially ac- quired. *' The value of knowledge to any man certainly consists not in its quantity, but mainly in the good uses to which he may apply it. Hence a little knowledge, of an exact and perfect character, is always found more valuable for practical purposes than any extent of superficial learning. The phrase in common use, as to * the spread of knowledge,' at this day, is no doubt correct, but it is spread so widely, and in such thin layers, that it only serves to reveal the mass of igno- rance lying beneath. Never perhaps were books more extensively read, or less studied ; and the number is rapidly increasing of those who know a little of every- thing and nothing well. Such readers have not inaptly been likened to a certain sort of pocket-knife which some people carry about with them, which, in addition to a common knife, contains a file, a chisel, a saw, a gimlet, a screwdriver, and a pair of scissors, but all so dimin- utive that the moment they are needed for use they are found useless." SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 97 V. SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. >> AN old proverb says, " The master of one trade will support a wife and seven children, and the master of seven will not support himself." The reason is obvious. One concentrates his powers upon a sin- gle object ; the other scatters and wastes his energies. A fort is breached by bringing all the guns to bear upon a single point, and pelting away with terrible earnestness. A writer in the Merchants Magazine says : " The man who would succeed in life, is like a marksman firing at a target : if his shots mi >s the mark, they are a waste of powder ; to be of any ser- vice at all, they must tell in the bull's-eye or near. So in the great game of life, what a man does must be made to count, or it had almost as well been left un- done. The idle warrior, cut from a shingle, who fights the air on the top of a weathercock, instead of being made to turn some machine commensurate with his strength, is not more worthless than the man who dissipates his labor on several objects, when he ought to concentrate it on some great end." The Latin proverb, " Duos qui sequitur leporeSy neutrum capit" is founded in truth, — '* He who follows two hares ii sure to catch neither." n \\l 98 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, William Pitt, son of the famous Earl of Chatham, who played a conspicuous part in the affairs of the eigh- teenth century, was educated for the forum. From his eighth year he was made to realize that he musi accomplish a public career worthy of his illustrious father. To this one object he devoted his powers, even in boyhood, and exhibited the most remarkable abilities for one of his years. Whatever studies he pursued in school or college, whatever labor he per- ^ rmed, and whatever pastime he enjoyed, all appeared to be conceived and used to fit him for the intended sphere. With such singleness of aim did he pursue the one object impressed upon his soul by his imperi- ous father, that he became a member of Parliament before he was twenty-two years old, Chancellor of the Exchequer at twenty-three, and Prime Minister of the Realm at twenty- five. Less directness of purpose could not have won such renown nor acquired such influence, against the rivalry and gigantic intellects of the great statesmen of that day. Nor did his devotion to one purpose abate when he came into power. With growing consecration, if possible, he bent his mental and moral forces thereto, ruled England by his mighty will for a quarter of a century, and died before he was fifty years of age, worthy of the highest honors a grate* ful nation could bestow upon his memory. James Wait is an example of singleness of purpose in another direction. In boyhood, his mechanical in- genuity and love of mathematical studies were conspicu* ous. A neighbor, who called, saw him drawing lines upon the hearthstone with chalk. " Better send hira SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE, 99 rpose in- lines hira ! to school than to allow him to idle away his time so," re- marked the neighbor. " Better take notice of what he is doing before you advise further," replied the lad's father. Upon examination, the neighbor found that the boy was solving a geometrical problem. His father wisely decided that he should devote his time and studies to mechanics, for which he possesscc remarka- ble tact. Before he was twenty years old the Univer- sity of Glasgow appointed him mathematical-instru- ment-maker for the institution. In this new field, his marvellous mechanical ability appeared in several veiy useful inventions. His attention was early called to the " production and condensation of steam " as illus- trated by his mother's teakettle. For hours the little fellow would experiment upon the steam that issued from the kettle, and thence his first thoughts of the nature and power of that agent appear to have been derived. With unfaltering devotion to what many people would now call "his hobby," he triumphed over the greatest obstacles, and demonstrated the value of steam as a mechanical agent. Although his inexhaustible ingenuity appeared in other inventions, his enduring monument is his steam-engine, which " has already gone far to revolutionize the whole domain of human industry, and almost every year is adding to its power and its conquests." By the concentration of his genius upon this one thing, and by that alone, he was enabled to accomplish his purpose, and "to rise," as his monument in Westminster Abbey has it, *' to an eminent place among the illustrious followers of science, and the real benefactors of the world." • ii If TOO TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, Another example still of the quality under discussion is found in the late Daniel Safford, of Boston. From eight to sixteen years of age he labored on the farm in the country for his poor hue excellent father, with but a few weeks schooling in a year. At sixteen he de- cided to learn the blacksmith's trade, and he left home for that object. He engaged in the smutty business with as much interest and determination as he would have done had it been the cleanest and most popular trade known. It was to his uncle in Salem, Mass., that he was apprenticed until he attained his majority, when he would receive his *' freedom suit of clothes," in addition to board and clothing during the five years. When he was nineteen, however, his uncle offered to give him his time, if Daniel would release him from providing the " freedom suit." The bargain was struck, and Daniel tied up his scanty wardrobe in a bundle and started on foot for Boston — not to find a place ir' a store^ nor to engage in any occupation that might " turn up," but to be a blacksmith. He knew but one man in Boston, and he was a blacksmith, — Mr. Wil- liam Adams. He knew him in his native town, Hamil- ton, Mass. Early on Sunday morning he left the hotel to find his old friend, and, providentially, he met him on Washington Street, near the " Lamb Tavern," and he went with him on that day to Park Street Church, where he continued to go for many years, becoming the leading and most honored man of the church and parish ; thus proving that his singleness of purpose pertained to his religion as well as to his business. On Monday morning he entered into partnership with SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. lOI ing ith Mr. Adams, whose stock in trade (tools and iron) amounted to two hundred and forty dollars. Daniel had earned sixty dollars while serving his uncle by doing extra work at night, and twenty dollars of this he put into the firm, giving his note for two hundred and twenty dollars. At first, he bought his iron by the bar, and conveyed it to his shop on his back. About four years afterwards he was married, and fur- nished his humble tenement with second-hand furni- ture, which he carried on his back at night to his apartments, as he did the iron. Thus he devoted him- self to the one purpose of his life, never hoping nor wanting to be other than a blacksmith. In ten years he was worth twenty-five thousand dollars. His work- shop became famous for its enterprise, thrift, and excel- lent workmanship, drawing patronage from every part of the city. His business increased so rapidly that fifty men were finally employed in his establishment. He did not become a very rich man, because, at forty years of age, when worth forty-five thousand dollars, he resolved to give all his future earnings, and all the income of his property, after defraying the expenses of his family, to such charitable objects as might com- mend themselves to his judgment. He died at sixty- four years of age, leaving the forty-five thousand dol- lars to his family, a.?d having given away nearly one hundred thousand dollars. His career proves that it makes but little difference whether a man resolves to be a statesman, inventor, merchant, or blacksmith, — singleness of purpose, together with those other quali- ties, in conjunction with which it is always found, will II 11 insure success. It should have been added that Daniel Safford made a character, and won an influence for himself worth a million times more than his wealth. The illustrations of the quality in question are nu- merous. The one controlling thought of Luther was moral reform ; that of Newton, philosophy ; that of Herschel, astronomy ; that of Davy, chemistry ; that of Pascal mathematics ; that of Wilberforce, emanci- pation ; that of Mozart, music ; that of Canova, sculpt- ure ; that of Washi-!gton, statesmanship ; that of the Revolutionary fathers, liberty ; and that of Whitfield, salvation. One purpose made them great, and the world better. Even Paul found it necessary in his Christian work, and he said, " This one thing I do.'' And he who was christened "the wise man" coun- selled his ''children" thus : *' Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left." " Too many irons in the fire," explains the failure of a multitude. By attending to so many they attended to none well. We know that Dr. Adam Clarke denied that a man could have " too many irons in the fire," and said that the adage *' conveys an abominable lie." His advice was, " Keep them all agoing, poker, tongs, and all." But just there is the trouble. Not one in a thousand can "keep them all agoing;" they have too little tact and energy to do that. They fail because they attempt to do what is impossible for them. Na- poleon exclaimed to one of his ofificers, who said of a SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE, 103 •«" n certain project "It is impossible," — ''Impossible ! Im- possible is the adjective of fools ! " But Europe never had but one Napoleon, and America never had one. And even he had " too many irons in the fire " at last — at Waterloo. Some of the most gifted men who ever lived failed by trying to heat too many irons. Coleridge was a giant in intellect, but a child in execution. Head and shoulders above most of his contemporaries in natural endowments, he made the greatest failure of any of them ; and lack of concentration of thought and pur- pose was the real cause. He undertook many things, but completed few. He could begin well, but never ended as he began. He was great for resolution, but small, very small tor execution. For the want of an all-absorbing purpose to awaken his mighty energies and task them by hard toil, his life was a fizzle. If great men like Coleridge mi 'ce an utter failure for the want of aim or purpose, is it trange that ordinary men, without it, fail, or beco ^otchers and blunder- ers } Ought we not to expect that the young men who start out in life aimless, ready to accept any posi- tion that offers because they have no purpose to be somebody, will amount to nothing? Archbishop Leighton said : " With respect to final aim and end, the great part of mankind live at hazard. They have no certain harbor in view, nor direct their course to any fixed star. But to him that knoweth not the port to which he is bound no wind can be favorable ; neither can he who has not yet determined at what mark he is to shoot, direct his arrow aright." I 104 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. The earlier it is definitely settled what a youth will become, the better it is for him. Those who have de- termined in boyhood what to make of themselves appear to have been eminently successful. The celebrated Dr. Farr traced the purpose of his life back to boy- hood. When a mere boy, his reply to the question, " What are you going to make } " always was, " A preacher." That his answer was the fruit of determi- nation is evident from the fact that he turned his read- ing, studies, and even his sports in that direction. He delivered sermons to his companions ; sometimes a funeral sermon over a dead bird. His thoughts were never absorbed in anything but the work of the min- istry. His father desired that he should follow the medical profession ; but the strong inclination of his son to be a " preacher " caused him to yield his own wishes, though greatly disappointed. From that mo- ment his time, energies, industry, and perseverance, were consecrated to that end, and he became the greatest of pulpit orators. The same was true of Columbus. In his youth he showed a pission for geographical studies, and con- ceived the idea of vast territories west of the Atlantic. The thought of it was a constant companion with him. How should he ever know } Some day he meant to find out. He became a sailor, and finally resolved to realize his conception. But how? He had neither reputation nor money. A stupendous enterprise with naught but singleness of aim to back it ! But " where there's a will there's a way." His soul was ablaze with his one desire. He appealed to the government of 1- I SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 10' :h ■e h f \ \ Portugal for aid, and was denied. He besought the citizens of his native city to become his patrons, but in vain. He repaired to Venice, and appealed, but received no favor. Still undaunted, he proceeded to Spain, where he importuned the government year after year, until the needed patronage was granted, " because of his importunity." Had he not nursed the thcught of his youth into a master-purpose, one and indivisible, the obstacles in his way would have proved insur- mountable, and the name of Columbus remained un- known. Lord Nelson decided upon his profession, and en- tered the navy at twelve years of age. The Duke of Marlborough was only fifteen when he determined to follow the military profession. William Wirt, the great American writer, resolved upon that calling when he was but thirteen years of age. The most popular chemist that Harvard University ever had, adopted that profession in boyhood, and a laboratory was fitted up for him, at twelve years of age, in his father's house. At twenty-five he ranked with the first chemists in the country. Thus singleness of purpose not only directs the powers to the goal of success, but also shortens the distance to it. There can be no doubt that Sir Robert Peel made a greater man because his father educated him for the House of Commons. One of the earliest impressions made upon his mind was, that he was destined for that particular sphere of public life. In boyhood, he was encouraged to make speeches, converting the table into a rostrum. He organized a mock parliament among III r ■^%.-. rob TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. his schoolfellows, where he disciplined himself for that higher sphere in which he became so renowned. This one object was the soul of his action. Nothing was allowed to interfere with its accomplishment. Because it was the single aim of his life, he made every expe- rience and act, reading, study, labori and recreation, contribute to its realization. An interesting illustration of this early choice of a profession we have in the principal oTa popular "Com- mercial School " in Boston. He began to teach in his native town in New Hampshire before he was fifteen years of age. He fell in love with the business, and resolved to make it his life-pursuit. His father opposed his purpose so strenuously, that the son packed up and left home without leave or license, and travelled to Bos- ton, resolved to have a school of his own. When he reached Boston he had eighteen cents only in his pocket, but pluck enough in his soul to overflow ordi- nary pockets. He began to serve in a humble way, at the Bryant and Stratton Commercial College, disclos- ing to no one the secret purpose of his heart. It is sufficient to say, that for twelve years that/' School " has been " his own," second to no school of the kind in the land, in numbers, thoroughness, and popularity. In a private letter to us he says : " I cannot help telling you that I believe any young man can succeed who will bend his whole strength and will to the accomplishing of a certain task, provided he has the nerve and pluck to stick to it as he would to an effort to save his life. When he once entertains the thought that he is possi- bly going to fail, I think his day is over, and failure <*ertain." \ SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 107 will : i We have said that it makes little difference what a young man resolves to be — merchant, preacher, or blacksmith — since all useful occupations are equally honorable, he can c.stinguish himself if he will. Eng- lish history boasts of a renowned '* chimney-sweeper," David Porter. He was kidnapped when he was a little boy, and compelled to labor in that business He excelled in his work, and at eighteen years of age set up business on his own account. In time he became, as Bernard says, " a very intelligent and valuable man, a master chimney-sweeper in Welbeck Street." The secret was, that he cleaned chimneys with his brains, as Opie mixed paints. He improved his leisure time to store his mind with knowledge, often encroach- ing upon the night to satisfy his desire in this regard. He understood that intelligence would add value and dignity to his work. Intelligence always exalts useful employments, however menial they may be. An in- telligent farmer, blacksmith, carpenter, merchant, or chimney-sweep, has more influence and character, other things being equal, than ignorant toilers in the same pursuits. David Porter Vv^as respected and honored. He accumulated property, and at the same time inter- ested himself in the elevation of chimney-sweepers, who were an ignorant, degraded class of men and boys. He wrote a treatise upon the subject, which aroused the benevolent to accomplish a revolution of public sentiment in their behalf. He acquired a fortune and became famous by sticking to one occupation, which he dignified by causing every endowment and acqui' sition to increase its value. Near the close of his life, io3 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, he was asked how it was that he had risen to distinc- tion in a business that was usually avoided and de- spised. He answered, " By never having an idle hour or an idle guinea." Mark how tiiis singleness of purpose blesses in given lines. All young men of intelligence read more or less ; but few read with any definite line of reading marked out. They read at random, history, biogiaphy, travels, fiction, the valuable and trashy, good, bad, and indifferent, just as it happens. Such reading may not be absolutely worthless, but, in comparison with sys- tematic and well-directed reading, it is a waste of time. Let the young man decide upon a course of reading on a particular subject, as history, for example, and pur- sue it for months or years, and he cannot fail to distin- guish himself in that department of knowledge. Hav- ing followed that to his satisfaction, let him take up another subject, as biography, which is one phase of history, and pursue that in the same critical way, until the leading men and women of Christendom are known, and his mind will be a fit companion for himself, to say nothing of its companionship for others. Much of the reading of our day spoils young men for company to "self. It fills their minds with unreal and impracticable notions, where it does not leave them with desolate emptiness. The only part of their being that lifts them above the brutes is starved and dwarfed by books that ought to be burned instead of being read. In the way indicated, a well-defined purpose will exert an up- lifting power upon early manhood and womanhood. The same is true of companionship. Many young ► SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 109 men associate with " Tom, Dick, and Harry," without forethought or purpose. Even some who mean to live pure and upright lives, have no fixed rules about the company they keep. Let such apply the subject of this chapter to associates — determine to select those, and those only, whose company will contribute to "intelligence, true manliness, and spotless character, and the inestimable value of a fixed purpose will be realized. So of the choice of a profession. With many young men it is an unsettled question what occupation to follow. Several may have claims upon them. Be- cause it is difficult to decide, they leave the matter to chance, and become " the sport of circumstances." Let them understand at the outset the absolute neces- sity of a life-purpose, and act accordingly, and that decision and settlement of a vital question will rally their mental and moral powers as a trumpet-call from the skies. Young men often choose an occupation for the pres- ent only. The most lucrative employment for the time being they select, without the least regard to a perma- nent business, or ampler remuneration at a future day. The result is, at thirty, they receive no more pay than they did at eighteen, and are drifting from one employ- ment to another, as opportunity offers, to eke out a livelihood. There is an army of this class of men in our land, an aimless, pitiable class. Many of them have let slip the golden opportunity to establish a life-purpose, and have doomed themselves to the treadmill of common drudgery during their natural 1; t I no TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. |i I I i lives. A definite aim, early settled, and resolutely maintained, would have spared them this discomfort and reproach. Singleness of purpose implies self-reliance, without which a young man is not thoroughly furnished for a successful career. To rely upon others more than he does upon himself disqualifies him to plan and execute with confidence and energy. The more self-reliant he is the more single and decisive will be his purpose. Self-reliance is not self-conceit, but that manly confi- dence in one's ability to make his way in the world, that commands admiration. When Samuel J. Mills said to a fellow-student, ** You and I are little men, but before we die our influence must be felt on the other side of the globe," there was no conceit in his heart. His language was that of a self-rdiant soul, consecrated to an all-absorbing purpose, as confident of victory as he was conscious of obeying the behests of duty. He accomplished his purpose easily and triumphantly, ex- plored every nook and corner of moral destitution in the West, carried the gospel to India, and died in toil- ing for the redemption of Africa. He had faith in him- self, just what every young man, who would succeed, must have. This puts every faculty upon the qui vive^ and enables their possessor to concentrate them upon his life-purpose. Realizing that it depends upon his own personal efforts whether he makes anything of himself or not, he applies all his forces to the task. A rich father to assist him with money and influence might extract this necessary snap out of his soul. He might place more reliance upon the pecuniary aid than i I SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. Ill upon his own abilities to achieve success ; and this would destroy self-reliance, and make singleness of purpose impossible. Fathers toil hard to help their children, and leave them a fortune ; it would contrib- ute much more largely to self-reliance and a single purpose, if the latter were required by law or cus- tom to support their aged parents. No amount of money or honors can supply the want of a self-reliant spirit. In this connection, too, we see the place and value of application. Sir Isaac Newton said that his success was due, not so much to genius, as to " contimtei appli- cation." In his mathematical and philosophical inves- tigations, his upplication was often so intense that he forgot his meals ; and he even failed to notice whether it was night or day. Archimedes, the distinguished mathematician of Syracuse, pursued his studies with such devotion as to lose all recognition of external things. When his native city was invaded by a foreign foe, and the inhabitants were driven before them at the point of their bayonets, he was engaged in solving an important geometrical problem. The soldiers broke into his study and commanded him to surrender, when he calmly and politely requested them to wait until he had completed the problem. The celebrated William Mason became so absorbed in the preparation of his ''Spiritual Treasury," that he would confer with callers without really being aware of the fact. A gentleman called upon him one day on business, when Mason promised to return his call in order to consummate the transaction at a given time. For that purpose he wrote 112 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, down the gentleman's address (or intended to write it), and, on recurring to it, when the appointed day arrived, he found written, " Acts the second, verse the eighthy' — the passage he was studying when the gentleman called. Abraham Lincoln possessed such power of concentration that he could repeat a sermon quite correctly to which he had listened in his boy- hood. This faculty continued with him through life. When he commenced the study of law, he walked from New Salem, III, to Springfield — twenty-two miles — and returned on the same day, bringing with him " Blackstone's Commentaries," in four large quarto volumes. A companion expressed his surprise that "Abe" could carry such a burden twenty-two miles, whereupon Lincoln informed him that he not only bore the burden, but that he read nearly a hundred pages en his way home. A trial proved that he could repeat most of the pages read. A famous teacher, addressing the " American Insti- tute of Instruction " some years ago, claimed that the absence of this quality was general, and that "this defect completely cuts off the means of self-culture, the most valuable part of education, from the great mass of our people." In confirmation of his state- ment, he cited the following incident : "A few years ago, on a journey through New Hamp- shire, I passed the night in the house of a clergyman. In the course of conversation I happened to speak of the importance of teachers adopting the simple meas- ures necessary to accustom children to concentrate their minds on what they read, and of the serious evii:i SINGLENESS OF pr^RPOSE. "3 resulting from the want of the power. My friend ac- knowledged the importance of the subject, but doubted whether inattention could be so universal as I alleged. * I will try, however/ said he, * one of the measures you recommend.' This was accordingly done the fol- lowing morning in his religious exercise, with what effect you shall hear. The family consisted of the minister, his sister, and five sons, from seventeen to seven or eight years of age. Selecting the latter prirt of the tenth chapter of Mark, he told the boys that the portion of Scripture was to be short this morning, but that he should expect them to give very close attention, as he intended to ask them a number of questions respecting it. He then read as follows: 'And they came to Jericho ; and, as he went out of Jericho, with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bar- timeus, the son of Timeus, sat by the wayside beg- ging.* Turning now to his eldest boy, who sat next him, he asked, 'What did the blind man say to Jesus V The boy naturally enough stared in astonishment. * I ask you,* repeated his father, 'What did the blind man say to Jesus } You don't know yet ; but you are just going to read it. Pay close attention, now, that you may tell me when you have done.' The boy then read the following verse, with tolerable fluency: 'And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to "ry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me.' * Now,' said the father, ' what did blind Bartimeus say to Jesus } Tell me what you have just read.* The boy blushed, but uttered not a sylla- ble. With a look of disappointment, the father then 114 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. turned to his second son, and said, ' Now dottt you be so stupid as your brother John. Do pay attention to what you are about to read. I shall want you to tell us what the blind man said to Jesus. Read your verse, and then let us know.' He accordingly read verse forty-eight : * And many charged him that he should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.' 'Now tell me,' said the father, * what did the man say to Jesus } Tell me what you have just reed! The boy hesitated a moment, looked upward, and then cast his eye on the book. But his father would not suffer that. * Close your book,' said he, 'and try to recollect what you have read.* He obeyed. But the attempt was vain. The habit of day-dreaming was too firmly fixed. Not a word had he to say. The disappointment of the father may easily be conceived." This illustration may be exceptional, possibly, yet it shows that the teacher called the preacher's attention to a subject of great practical value. He was right in saying " this defect cuts off the means of self-culture ; " and he might have added, with nearly equal truth, that it cuts off one essential means to all culture. These are exceptional examples, it is true ; but the reader must see that kindred application is inseparable from singleness of purpose. The life of the late Horace Mann furnishes a noble illustration of singleness of purpose. He was born in Franklin, Mass., where his poor parents could afford' him but scanty opportunities. He went to school but e»^ht or ten weeks annually until he was fifteen years A SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE, 115 old. He was obliged to earn his school-books by braid- ing straw. Indeed, when not engaged upon the farm, he aided in the support of the family by braiding straw. His father died when he was thirteen years of age, dooming him to still harder experience. All this while he was hankering for knowledge, and was expecting, at a future day, in some way, he knew not how, to go through college. It was the dream of his boyhood. His tremen- dous energy P'^d power of application converted the dream into a reality. At nineteen years of age, a teacher named Barrett came to town, under whose tuition Hor- ace fitted for college in six months. Scraping together what little money he could, he entered Brown Uni versity. Providence, R. I., one year in advance. Pur- suing his studies with the same singleness of aim, he soon stood first in his class, and was valedictorian at his graduation. An extract from a letter to his sister during his first year in college, sets forth his poverty, thus : " If the children of Israel were pressed for *gear' half as hard as I have been, I do not wonder they were willing to worship the golden calf. It is a long, long time since my last ninepence bade good-bye to its brethren ; and I suspect that the last two parted on no very friendly terms, for they have never since met together. Poor wretches ! Never did two souls stand in greater need of support and consolation ! " At another time he wrote to a friend : *' The poverty of my parents subjected me to continued privations. I believe in the rugged nursing of toil ; but she nursed me too much. I do not remember the time when I began to work. Even my play-days — not play-days, '•'I ii6 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, for I never had any — but my play-hours were earned by extra exertion, finishing tasks early to gain a little leisure for boyish sports. Industry or diligi nee be* came my second nature, and ^ " "nk it wouli puzzle any psychologist to tell where il joined on to (the first Owing to these ingrained habits, work has always been to me what water is to a fish. I have wondered a thousand times to hear people say, • I don't like this business ; ' or, * I wish I could exchange for that ; ' for with me, whenever I have anything to do, I do not remember ever to have demurred, but have always set about it like a fatalist ; and it was as sure to be done as the sun was to set." We trace here the royal course of a spirit that is pushing through every obstacle to a definite goal. From college into the legal profession ; then espousing the cause of education, and, in spite of indifference and opposition that would have appalled most men, estab- lishing the " Common School System " of Massachu- setts, and thereby improving and elevating the cause of education throughout the land and the world ; suc- ceeding John Quincy Adams in Congress, where he served his State six years, and where, in the language of Henry Wilson, " he made one of the most brilliant speeches for liberty that ever fell from human lips, in our own or any other country." On the same day of 1852 that he was nominated for Governor of Massachu- setts, he was elected President of Antioch CoUega He declined the gubernatorial honors, and accepted the ' literary position, more congenial to his heart, and for which he was so richly qualified. In such a life we SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. 117 have a forcible illustration of the triumph of a well* defined and single purpose. "Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing. With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Leftrn to labor and to wait" — Lomgftihm J\ ii8 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. % VI. OBSERVATION. THERE is a little Arabian tale of the dervise, run- ning thus : "A dervise was journeying alone in the desert, when two merchants suddenly met him. * You have lost a camel,' said he to the merchants. * Indeed we have,' they replied. ' Was he not blind in the right eye, and lame in the left leg ? ' inquired the dervise. * He was,' replied the merchants, * Had he not lost a front tooth } * asked the dervise. * He had,' answered the mc chants. ' And was he not loaded with honey on one side and wheat on the other.?' continued the dervise. * Most certainly he was,' they replied ; * and as you have seen him so lately, and marked him so particularly, you can, in all probability, conduct us to him.' The dervise answered : ' My friends, I have never seen your camel, nor ever heard of him but from you.' * A pretty story, truly,' answered the merchants ; * but where are the jewels that formed a part of his burden ? ' * I have neither seen your camel nor your jewels,* repeated the dervise. On this they seized his person, and forthwith hurried him before the cadi, where, on the strictest search, nothing could be found upon him, nor could any evidence whatever be adduced to convict him, either of falsehood or of theft. They OBSERVATION. 119 were then about to proceed against him as a sorcerer, when the dervise, with great calmness, thus addressed the court : ' I have been much amused with your sur- prise, and own that there has been some ground for your suspicions ; but \ have lived long and alone, and I can find ample scope for observation even in a desert, I knew that I had crossed the track of a camel that had strayed from its owner, because I saw no mark of any human footstep on the same route ; I knew that the animal was blind in one eye, because it had cropped the herbage only on one side of its path ; and I per- ceived that it was lame in one leg from the faint im- pression which that particular foot had produced upon the sand ; I concluded that the animal had lost one tooth, because, wherever it had grazed, a small tuft of herbage was left uninjured in the center of its bite. As to that which formed the burden of the beast, the busy ants informed me that it was corn on the one , side, and the clustering flies, that it was honey on the other.'" This tale illustrates what we mean by Observation ; and we ought not to wonder that the dervise was ar- rested for being a sorcerer ; for it is all of a piece with that blind infatuation of to-day that often ascribes suc- cess to "luck," and failure to unavoidable "misfor- tune." Successful men are like the dervise, sharp observers of men and things. We heard this remark about one the other day, " He keeps his eyes peeled ; " by which we understood that he was sharp enough to tell whether a camel, which he never saw, was lamo and blind. Investigation of the lives of the so-called J'l?'f 120 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. *' favorites of fortune " will disclose the fact, that, with- out an exception, they were distinguished for observa- tion far above the men who were unsuccessful. This quality sets like a jewel upon the head of the farmer who becomes a geologist, the blacksmith who masters fifty languages, the shoemaker who becomes a states- man, the printer who makes a philosopher, the clerk who grows into the merchant-prince, the mill-operative who makes a United States senator, and the pioneer boy of the wilderness who becomes President of the United States. It will be seen that the observation of which we speak involves mental as well as physical vision. The mind sees as well as the eye. Where the eye only ob- serves, the result is no more beneficial to man than it is to the brute. A fool can behold an object, but that is all. The act does not make him wiser or better ; he is a fool still. The divine proverb, " The wise man's eyes are in his head," means much more than the loca- tion of the eyes. It means that a wise man employs, not his vision alone, but all his powers, so as to make the most of life. The foolish man conducts as if his eyes were in his feet or elbows, and all his faculties alike misplaced ; and so he continues foolish among scenes that ought to lift his soul into a nobler man- hood. Intelligent observation marks the nature, ten- dency, and relation of things. We have referred to Newton. He saw an apple fall in the garden, as multitudes had seen apples fall ; he himself had seen apples fall when his observation was less alert ; but on that eventful day he saw more than OBSERVATION, 121 the falling apple ; his mind beheld " gravitation," with its ceaseless influence over the world of matter. That was observation. We have spoken of Franklin. He witnessed some electrical experiments in Boston by a public lecturer ; and while they were simply a source of amusement to the audience, they were much more to him. Through those few unsatisfactory experiments he beheld the profoundest wonders of Natural Philos- ophy, and confirmed his inferences by drawing light- ning from the skies. This, too, was observation. Sir Isambert Brunei learned how to tunnel the river Thames by seeing the tiny ship-worm perforate the wood with its armed head, first in one direction, and then in another, till the arching was complete. He imitated the worm's work exactly in tunnelling the Thames. Galvani was experimenting upon dead frogs, when he noticed that a frog's leg twitched in proximity with cer- tain metals. The fact led to research, until, finally, the electric telegraph was evolved therefrom. Sir Samuel Brown was the inventor of the suspension bridge ; and the idea was suggested to him one morn- ing by a spider's web across his path in the garden, covered with dew. Gallileo observed a lamp ossilate in the Temple of Pisa, and it directed his attention to the pendulum to measure time, though he was fifty years in perfecting his invention. Dr. Young's attention was attracted to soap-bubbles that a child blew from a tobacco-pipe, and the brilliant colors suggested thoughts that led to his discovery of the diffraction of light. James Watt was pondering how water could be carried under the Clyde, when the shell of a lobster on the '>--ifi 122 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, dinner-table furnished him with the model of iron-tubes for that purpose. Stothard discovered the true art o\ combining colors ; but a butterfly's gaudy wing gave him the clue to it. A young man was travelling in Maine, where he met with bricks of a peculiar color. He traced them to the clay-bed that furnished the material, purchased the farm for fifteen hundred dol- lars, and, on his return to Boston, sold half of it for four thousand dollars. A Massachusetts soldier was doing duty in the South, near the close of the late civil war, when his attention was attracted to the manner the rice-birds hulled rice. Shooting one of them he examined the structure of its bill, and here he found his model for an ingenious rice-hulling machine which he invented. These, and similar examples, that might be indefinitely multiplied, are illustrations of that ob- servation which usually distinguishes successful people. There is need of this faculty everywhere. It is in- dispensable in every occupation. Without it, a man contends against great odds. If it be not born with him, or if it be small and feeble, it should be cultivated as other weak powers are cultivated. The habit of sharp, discriminating observation may be established by perseverance as other good habits become perma- nent. That it is a gift of nature in numerous instances cannot be denied ; and, in all such examples, of course, it excels, as the natural endowment of ten talents shows greater mentality than that of one or two talents. It was born with Newton, Franklin, and, indeed, with all the great men we have named, and was a lusty infant at birth ; nevertheless, it improved with their advance ment in wisdom and knowledge. OBSERVATION, 123 ' Note the existence or absence of this quality in every-day life. One person journeys to a distant place without noticing scarcely anything except the horse which draws him ; while another observes the trees, landscape, farms, dwellings, herds, flocks, crops, — in short, everything. One purchaser scarcely examines the cloth he buys, except in the most careless way ; another discovers the least defect in color or texture, weight or width. Two men examine an engine ; one of them institutes only a general survey, while the other studies every valve, piston, and rod. One reader skims over a book, catching only here and there a point to make his own, and scarcely that ; while another feasts upon its thoughts, criticises the style, sentiment, and plan, feeling when the book is read, like another intel- ligent reader, who said, on completing a favorite vol- ume, *' My mind feels as if it had eaten something." One pupil commits and recites a lesson with no more effort to understand the " whys and wherefores " of it, than Babbage's calculating machine makes to compre- hend the figures if; adds ; while another notes critically every question and answer, puts inquiry after inquiry, and finally masters every reason. One farmer tills the soil year after year without knowing why he tills it as he does, except that his father did so before him ; while anotlier learns the nature of soils and their adaptation to particular crops, the advantage of rotation of crops, and a hundred other things that belong to the science of agriculture. A distinguished instructor, E. B. Hun- tington, says : " To the eye of the unobservant, the material world is but a rude, rubbish heap. Earth and 124 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, stones and cold water are to him materials for mud and ledges and drizzle. Trees make logs and lumber, and leave troublesome stumps. The fields are clothed with browse enough and good fodder, too, for a time of need. The animal kingdom teems with heads and legs, with skin and bones ; and man himself is only an animal, bi-pebaled and bi-bracial, in which, mainly, he sur- passes his quadruped neighbor. To such a one, the resonant world croaks, and roars, and squeals, — music of saw-setting and the hoot of the owl, rivalling, if not excelling, the richest swell of the organ's merry-toned diapason, and the sweetest warblings of God's own tuneful birds." A few individuals mark the tendency of certain acts, and follow or shun them according as they lead to honor or ruin ; while the thoughtless mul- titude act, and repeat their acts, without knowing or caring whither they tend. Occasionally a merchant reads his customers as he does books, comprehending their characters at once, and even correctly interpret- ing their motives ; while others understand about as little of human nature as they do of the Hebrew lan- guage. It is said that Patrick Henry studied the effect which the same argument, fact, and anecdote had upon different jurymen, until he knew just what chords of the heart to touch in order to drav/ the jury within his power. His counsel to all aspirants for the legal pro- fession was, " Study men, not books." It was another way of teaching the value of observation. Most of the military leaders have been content with the general command of armies ; but the Napoleons and Welling- tons attended, not only to the marching of troops, but •^- OBSERVATION, 125 but also to their equipments, clothing, cleanliness, and comfort. This careful regard to details was one proof of their great generalship, as well as of the possession of the quality under discussion. Carlyle would enforce the advice of Patrick Henry to " study men," although he would essentially qualify the other part of it, " not books." Carlyle believed that next to studying living men, the lives of dead men in books was very profitable. He said, " Universal his- tory is the history of great men. Calvin was the father of Puritanism ; Mohammed of Islamism ; Fox of Quakerism ; Wesley of Methodism ; and Clarkson of Abolitionism." Of course, the true history of either jl these isms would furnish a correct biography of its foun- der so far as his life related to it. Byron once wrote, *• The Italians talk Dante, write Dante, and think and dream Dante, at this moment, to an excess that would be ridiculous, but that he deserves their admiration." Byron's remark was but another way of expressing the view of Carlyle. That biography is history, is too plain to admit of denial That, next to living men, it invites us to a study that is as important as it is prac- tical, even the superficial observer must concede. That it opens a wide field of observation, in which this fac- ulty may range and grow, to the great advantage of its possessor, is quite patent. The reader of biography, whose observation is sharp, will make its lessons tell upon the problem of success or failure ; and if his ob- servation be not sharp, biography, carefully read, wilj sharpen it. Says Dr. Peck, " Human character is to be learned by reading and observation. History—* 126 TACT, PUSHy AND PRINCIPLE. ■I and especially biography — is replete with instruction upon this great subject. The lives of great and good men, — philosophers, statesmen, divines, — the biog- raphies of pious men and women, will not fail to shed much light upon human character in general The idea that human character is more truthfully de- veloped in works of fiction than in veritable history, is an absurdity loo monstrous to be entertained for a mo- ment. You might as well be led to believe that the most bungling artist far exceeds the original ; that you could learn more of the real appearance and topog- raphy of New York, Paris, or London, from some picture, or mere fanc^ sketch, than by personal inspec- tion." Not the least of the benefits of biographical reading is the proof it affords of the important place that ob- servation holds in the achievement of success. For example, the life of Abbott Lawrence shows every young man who reads it with care, that this faculty served him the highest purpose through his whole life. The reader can but feel, that, without it, he could not have lived the life that he did. A farmer's boy, poor but intelligent, he left his country home for the city, " bringing his bundle under his arm, with less than three dollars in his pocket, and that was his fortune." Every* thing about him was new, but his keen observation enabled him to take in the situation, and to make him- self familiar with business and men, in an incredible short period. He had little time to read, yet he learned more every day from men and things than three-fourths of students do from books. He was constantly increasing OBSERVATION, 127 his p-actical wisdom from the labors and duties of each day. Political economy, moral science, and a vast amount of general information, he acquired from men and the school of trade, more thorough and practical than would have been possible from books. So he rose from one position to another, filling each one with signal ability, and apparently growing in knowledge and culture as rapidly as members of seminary or col- lege. He became a great merchant, an honored phi- lanthropist, a wise and efficient legislator, a great orator, a member of Congress, the companion of Web- ster, Adams, and other leading statesmen, minister to England, and, at the time of his death, in the lan- guage of Winthrop, " Take him in all his relations, commercial, political, and social, he was the most im- portant person in the community." The young man who reads the life of Astor cannot fail to recognize the conspicuous part that observation acted in making him a successful money-catcher. It was this which caused him to decide in favor of the fur- trade before he landed in New York city, ^^aking the acquaintance of a furrier on board the vessel, and con- versing much and thoughtfully with him about the business, he saw that it offered inducements of the most flattering kind to young men of decision, self- reliance, perseverance, and tact. Looking forward to the time when our troubled country would be relieved, he said, " When the frontiers are surrendered, I will make my fortune in the fur-trade." Then, he could plunge into the primeval forests, where the Indian and fearless trapper alone dwelt, regardless of dangers and 128 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. hardships, and speedily amass a fortune. On his voy- age to this country a terrible storm threatened the destruction of the ship. Passengers were filled with consternation, and ran to and fro like crazy people. In the midst of the scene, Astor appeared on decic arrayed in his best suit, and as cool as the captain himself. Some one asked him why he changed his clothes, when they were all going to the bottom ? He replied, " If we are wrecked, and I am saved, my best clothes will be saved ; if I am lost, it is no matter what becomes of them." The fact illustrates the man- ner in which his ready observation looked out for the main chance. On landing in New York city, he was prepared to begin business at once. He brought with him a quan- tity of musical instruments, manufactured by his brother ; and these he exchanged at once for furs, and thus he commenced a trade that laid the foundation of his great wealth. He had not been in New York quite a year when he said to himself, on passing some of the best houses on Broadway, "Some day I will build a better house than these on Broadway." T' ^ became one of the most intelligent merchants of the city, although his education was quite limited, and his opportunities for reading very small indeed. But his close observation of men and things added contin- ually to his acquisitions. He became a man of so much information and culture that his society was sought by literary men. Irving, Halleck, Bryant, and other scholars, were his associates. His biographer •ays : " He enjoyed the society of such men ; they, OBSERVATION, 129 doubtless, relished with high zest, the wide experiences of the merchant. It has been said, the most interest- ing conversation is that of an enlightened lawyer of large practice ; we should make an exception in favor of the great merchant." We have referred to Lawrence and Astor to show what an inexhaustible field for observation biography presents, as well as to direct young men to a sure and pleasant way of cultivating this faculty. There is no limit to biographical studies offered ; and hence no restrictions upon the practical knowledge of the close observer. If he learns only how men become success- ful, that alone is more valuable to him than money. The Russians have a proverb : *' He goes through the forest and sees no firewood ; " and so multitudes go through the world without learning, or even trying to learn, how some men succeed, and why others f>il. It is impossible for them to learn this valuable lesson with- out this quality. Lord Bacon said : " Studies teach not their own use, but that is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation." So we say of success and failure, they teach not their own use ; that is *' won by observation ; " and it is a wide and difficult field of inquiry. Yet, with the interest and care with which vain young men study the style and quality of dress, together with the role that diamonds, cane, and kids play in the career of city fashionables, they cun master this complex study. With the discrimination that vain young ladies use in following the fashions of wealthy circles, the whys and wherefores of success may be well understood. The difficulty that invests r 130 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. the subject will vanish before reasonable resolution and application. And when the young man has ac- quired tolerable knowledge of the reasons of success and failure, he has found a key to his own advance- ment. When the young man goes out into the world, he will find constant use for this quality, whatever his occupation may be. Indeed, it may find ample scope long before that time, even in boyhood. Samuel Budgett had laid by thirty pounds when he was ap- prenticed to his brother at sixteen, accumulated by la- boring, trading in a small way, for which his keen obser- vation happily qualified him, and saving ; all of wiiich be presented to his poor but worthy parents on leaving home. Mr. Budgf tt claimed, in manhood, that some of the best rules if his business-life were taught him by observation in boyhood. Here are two of them. A g.ocer called oue day to solicit trade. He read over the list of his gwls with their prices, when Mrs. Bud- gett remarked to her husband : " I see no advantage in buying of him ; the prices are the same that we have been paying." Sam.uel saw at once where the grocer failed, nnd, thirty years afterwards he said : " The practical lesson I learned from that scene has bc^n worth to me thousands of pounds in business. Show peoplfc that what you propose is to their own in- terest, and you will generally accomplish your pur- pose." Again, he bought a donkey for two and six pence and sold it to a woman for five shillings. It was a cash trade, and he was to receive his money when the donkey was delivered on a certain day. But OBSERVATION. 131 we Ithe jid: (has :ss. iu- air- six It iey the woman had not the money when he delivered the donkey ; so he took a pair of new stays for security for one week. Before the week expired the donkey died, and Samuel would not have received a cent for his donkey if he had not held the stays for security. This experience taught him to transact business on a cash basis — a principle that he observed to the end of life. Newton's sharp discernment made him a philosopher in boyhood, and he invented the kite and wind-mill in consequence. Watt observed enough about his fa- ther's carpenter's shop to make him an optician, math- ematician, and inventor ; and, in the fields, he acquired the rudiments of botany and natural philosophy. But it is when the young man steps out into the world to shift for himself that this quality becomes of special use. Then, its moral will be as necessary as its secu- lar use. To observe the moral tendency of acts ; to read and value character properly ; to comprehend the power of virtue to help, and the power of vice to hinder enterprise ; to appreciate principles ; to become familiar with the ramifications of business ; to know m^^n ; to dis- cern the signs of the times ; to be equal to emergencies ; to husband resources ; to do the right thing in the right ' time and place ; these are among the demands that con- front the young man at the threshold of manhood. " Who is sufficient for these things } " No one, surely, who does not possess the observation of which we speak. The young man may have an irresponsible em- ployer ; he needs to understand him. He may come under the influence of a false professor of religion ; 132 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. he ought to be able to read the counterfeit. Wily cus- tomers may seek to entrap him ; he must study the men with whom he deals. He may be tempted to live beyond his means, and "dash out " as hundreds do ; it is imperative that he foresee the result of such a course. The temptation to conceal his father's poverty or boast of his wealth, as the case may be, may come ; he must comprehend the significance and tendency of such a weakness in his character. He may dwell where social customs, as wine-drinking, games of chance, and theatre-going, are popular ; he should be sharp enough to decide whether the young men who practise them are more honorable and prosperous than those who discard them. He may encounter the mis. representations, deceptions, cheats, peculations, over- reaching, duplicity, and other forms of dishonesty, that curse the business world ; his eye must be single to distinguish, not only what is right and what is wrong, but, also, to discern the ugly wound that such methods of traffic will inflict upon his own mor^l nature. Some one has naively suggested ihat i ; icture of Annanias and Sapphira struck dead for lying, should be displayed in every mart of trade ; but a cultivated observation will subserve the same purpose. Such business men as Budgett, Peabody, Goodhue, Ward, Appleton, Brooks, Hopper, and Stewart, had little opportunity for reading or study. But, in lieu of that, their sharp observation, always on the alert, ad- vanced them constantly in intelligence and knowledge. They studied men and events as others study books. Humanity was a volume of deep meaning to them, and OBSERVATION, 133 daily they turned over its leaves and read its pages with absorbing interest. Their observation enabled them to reduce their business not only to a system, but also to a science ; so that, while they were traffick- ers, they acted like philosophers. Once O. S. Fowler, the phrenologist, was introduced, blindfolded, into a room where Hopper was. On passing his hands over his strongly developed head, he said, respecting the quality of which we are speaking : " He is one of the closest observers of men and things anywhere to be found. He sees, as it were, by intuition everything that passes around him, and understands just when and where to take men and things ; just how and where to say things with efiect ; and in all he says he speaks directly to the point." In consequence, Mr. Hopper appeared like a thoroughly educated man. We have spoken of the use of observation in reading character, so accessary in all pursuits. A well-known merchant in New York city selected the only one of twenty young mer. applying for a clerkship who came without a recommendation. "Why did you take the only one who was without recommendation } " inquired his partner. '* I did not," replied the merchant ; " J took the one who had the best recommendation. True, it was not written ; and my experience proves that written testimonials are of little value. But I saw from the appearance of the young man, and his intelligent and prompt answers to my questions, that he was hon- est, industrious, and persevering, possessing tact, a good head, and a good heart." Another well-known merchant of the same city refused a young man be- 11 i34 TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, n cause he saw a cigar peering out of his vest-pocket. To another applicant he offered both a cigar and wine in turn, and to the proffering of each the young man answered, " Excuse me, sir, I never indulge in that way." The test proved the latter to be just such a clerk as the merchant was looking for. To many per- sons the course of the merchant may seem trifling, but his ready observation taught him what class of young men were more likely to be true. A stranger to Girard — starting the grocery business on his own accounts- purchased of the great trader a bag of coffee, and wheeled it nome on a barrow. Girard saw elements of character in that act which induced him to call upon the young man with an offer to trust him for all the goods he wanted. The sequel proved that his obser- vation did not mislead him, for the young grocer rapidly grew in business, and became one of the city's most honored merchants. In the city of Paris, a boy called upon a banker for a position of some sort. The banker thought well of his appearance, but just then he was not in want of a boy, and so the latter was turned away. As he retired, the eye of the merchant followed him. When the lad reached the side-walk he stooped down and picked up a pin, carefully fastening it to the collar of his coat. That little deed was a revelation to th^i banker ; his observation converted the pin into a " key to character." He called the boy back, gave him a place in the bank, and the latter be- came that most distinguished of Parisian bankers — Lafitte. a good illustration of this practical talent in common life has recently been furnished by the con- OBSERVATION, 135 ductor of a Connecticut railroad. He observed four or five suspicious men get aboard at New Haven, and he took particular pains to watch their movements after the train started. One of the number went forward and took a seat in the front car, apart from his compan- ions, and when the conductor passed through to take up the tickets, he attempted by a cunning device to avoid paying his fare. ** You are a sneak-thief, and the rest of your gang who are in the next car, and deserve the prison," exclaimed the conductor. The whole party left the train at the next station. Such an incident magnifies the value of observation in ordinary pursuits, especially when we contrast it with the recent inexcus- able blunder of another conductor on the Lawrence and Manchester railroad. Two citizens of Lawrence, Mass., and one of Salem, N. H., went aboard the train at Lawrence without tickets, because the ticket-master was not in the office when they reached the depot, just as the train was about leaving. When the conductor called for the tickets, the gentlemen explained the situ- ation, but the conductor did not believe them, and con- strued the affair into a swindling operation, declaring that he should eject them at the next station. True to his word, he ejected them at the next station, a small village in New Hampshire, where the gentlemen at- tempted to procure tickets, but the conductor inter- posed, denouncing the three men as " dead beats^' so that the depot-master refused to sell them tickets. The affair is not settled at this time of writing ; but the reader will concur with public opinion, that a man 80 destitute of observation is unfit to serve as con« 136 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, ductor of a train, or in any other position of much responsibility. Some of our best scientists have maintained that education should be conducted with particular refer- ence to cultivating observation. Dr. Hooker said : " It should be the main business of the school to train the child as an observer. He should not be taken out of the world of beautiful and interesting things, and shut up to the letters and words of the schoolroom. Things and not mere signs should constitute the substantial part of his instruction. We should aim to impart to him the spirit of this precept of Hugh Miller : ' Learn to make a right use of your eyes ; the commonest things are worth looking at ; even stones and weeds, and the most familiar animals.' Then he is prepared in early manhood ' to study men and things ' in a way to make success easy and sure." Budgett heard a man say that he wanted more money. " If / did," he re- plied, " then I would get it." The view of Dr. Hooker, cited, is substantially that of Is'\ac Taylor, in his admi- rable work on ** Home Education." He would have special care and attention devoted to the development of observation. We close this chapter with the following paragraph by Dr. Alcott : " ' Keep your eyes open,' is judicious advice. How many who have the eyes of their body open, keep the eyes of the soul perpetually shut up. ' Seeing, they see not.* Such persons, on arriving at the age of three or four score, may lay claim to superior wisdom on uc- count of superior age, but their claims ought not to be OBSERVATION. m admitted. A person who has the eyes both of his mind and body open, will derive more wisdom from one year's experience, than those who neglect to observe for themselves, from ten. Thus at thirty, with ten years' acquaintance with men, manners, and things, a person may be wiser than another at three times thirty, with seven times ten years of what he calls experience. Sound practical wisdom cannot, it is true, be rapidly acquired anywhere but in the school of experience, but the world abounds with men who are old enough to be wise, and yet are very ignorant. Let it be your fixed resolution not to belong to this class." 138 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. PUSH -•0»" .:X VII. DECISION AND ENERGY. WEBSTER defines Decision, " determination ; unwavering firmness." Energy he makes "in- ternal or inherent power ; power exerted, force, vigor." Earnestness is " ardor or zeal in the pursuit of any- thing." And Courage is " that quality of mind which enables men to encounter dangers and difficulties with firmness, boldness, resolution." All of these qualities are related to each other ; at one point, each means what the others mean. It is difficult to separate the operation of one from the operations of the others. In the race of life, they run into each other. It is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. Nor is it necessary to institute that nice discrimination which, will define the exact place and relation of each. Our purpose is to treat of that quality, or combination of qualities, which create, in the language of E. P. Whip- ple, "a sublime self-confidence, springing, not from self-conceit, but from an intense identification of the man with his object, which lifts him altogether above the fear of danger and death, and communicates an DECISION AND ENERGY. 139 in- >» almost superhuman audacity to his will." It was this indomitable spirit which made Csesar victorious in the civil wars over the unstable counsels of Pompey and the senate, and thrilled the affrighted pilot in the storm with the rallying cry: "Fear not, thou bearest Coesar and his fortunes." Decision, energy, courage, and ear- nestness were fused together in his invincible purpose, to make him mock at calamity, and laugh " when fear Cometh." It was this element of power that pitted Luther against the kings and potentates of Europe, and created a reform that toppled over thrones and customs, causing him to say to anxious friends who ad- vised him not to appear before the Diet of Worms, " I am lawfully called to appear at Worms, and thither I will go in the name of the most high God, though as many devils as there are tiles on the house-tops were there combined against me." Of the same stuff was the elder Pitt made, who replied to the remark of a member of Parliament, that a certain measure was *' impossible^' : "Impossible! I trample upon impossi- bilities ! " When his soul was once roused, there seemed to be no limit to its achievements, and ordi- nary obstacles became ashes in its fiery path. This discourse about " impossibilities " is not mere rhetoric. To those who mistake difficulties for impos- sibilities, such language as that of Pitt may seem ex- travagant and foolish ; but to those who possess stal- wart decision, and who know what men of real stamina have accomplished, such language becomes the loudest call to duty. Kitto wrote in his journal, on the thresh- old of manhood : " I am not myself a believer in impos* *x. 140 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. sibilities, I think that all the fine stories about natural ability, &c., &c., are mere rigmarole, and that every man may, according to his opportunities and industry, render himself almost anything he wishes to become." His own subsequent life proved that he was right. There could scarcely be greater difference between two persons than there was between the poor deaf boy Kitto, making list-shoes in the almshouse, and the ac- complished and world-famed author of the "Pictorial Bible," and " Daily Bible Illustrations." If impossibil* ities ever exist, popularly speaking, they ought to have been found somewhere between the deaf pauper and the master of Oriental lear ing. But Kitto did not find them there. In the presence of his decision and im- perial energy they melted away. On one occasion, when he was entreating his father to take him from the poorhouse, and allow him to struggle for an education, single-handed and alone, his unconquerable spirit as- serted itself in the following utterance : " There is no fear of my starving in the midst of plenty. I know how to prevent hunger. The Hottentots subsist a long time on nothing but a little gum ; they also, when hungry, tie a tight ligature around their bodies. Can- not I do so, too ? Or, if you can get no pay, take me out without, and then I will sell my books and pawn my neckerchiefs, by which I shall be able to raise about twelve shillings ; and with that I will make the tour of England. The hedges furnish blackberries, nuts, sloes, &c., and the fields turnips ; a hayrick or barn will be an excellent bed." In a very important sense, there are no impossibilities to such a resolute DECISION AND ENERGY. .141 >i soul. " Qid credit posse potest, — He who thinks he can, caul' It is said of Dr. Paley, that when he was a student in college, wasting his time in idleness and plea«*^re, one of his intimate associates entered his XQf^^xjr one day, and said to him rather rudely: " Paley, I have been thinking what a fool you are to waste your tit »e and means in this way, when it is within your power, by application, to make yourself eminent." The reproof proved like the boy's kick in Newton's stomach — it aroused him to a new life. For the first time he felt trat he could, and he did. - *J tyre was never more of this indomitable spirit in any country than there is in our own. It thrives under the f jstering care of free institutions. Liberty is its par* \cular friend. It was the parent of " The Declara- tion of Independence," which stands recorded in ex- ceptional sublimity among the great deeds of the past To resist the wrongs of the mother-country, and break the chains of oppression, was to encounter war, hard- ships, sufferings, and death itself. Base submission to insult und wrong would spare this terrible experience. This Vas the grave question in the Convention of Vir- ginia, *• Shall we basely submit, or declare ourselves free and independent?" when Patrick Henry gave utterance to that philippic which embodied the in- vincible .spirit of 'l6 : " If v/e mean not basely to aban- don the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must tight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight 1 ! An appeal to arms and to the God of 1 / 142 TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. *v5 -■1, i\ hosls is all that is left us. It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace ! but there is no peace. The war is actually begun ! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms ! Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle } What is it that gentlemen would have "i Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery } Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death." If there is any- thing in decision, energy, courage, earnestness, enthu- siasm, and patriotism, not embraced in the spirit of that appeal and of that hour, we fail to see it. This nation was born of decision ; and the offspring of the heroic fathers come into the world imbued with a kin- dred spirit, from generation to generation. A halting, undecided policy with rulers and people would make a country of such growth, size, and thrift impossible. The fathers, by their " Declaration," rolled a burden of responsibility upon their descendants, which the latter found could not be borne except by similar "firm resolve," And so this quality of the American char- acter has been preserved and nurtured through all the vicissitudes of national progress to this day. Nor was there ever a time since we became a free and independent nation, that this quality was more needed. Progress is rapid, and changes are sudden, requiring quick, decisive, and energetic action. It is said that generals have to decide quick ; that often the fate of a battle is determined by the thought, circum- f 'if DECISION AND ENERGY. 143 he spection, and decision compressed into five minutes. Napoleon said that he defeated the Austrians because they did not know the value of five minutes. Strange as it may seem, he himself was afterwards defeated at Waterloo for the same reason. There is something of that quickness of decision necessary in our daily American life. We accomplish rapidly. We under- take stupendous enterprises. Our fathers would have cried out " impossible ! " before such a project as the Hoosac Tunnel, the Atlantic cable, or a railroad to the Pacific. Their highest ambition was satisfied with a fortune of one hundred thousand dollars ; now one hundred millions is scarcely the limit with the most greedy. The emulation, rivalry, and struggle among three million people for the prizes of life could scarcely compare with the mighty contest going on now among forty- five millions ! Right and wrong are so mixed in the great enterprises that demand attention, as to require not only discrimination to discern one from the other, but also decision to repudiate the wrong and espouse the right. Young men never needed this virtue more than they do now as a safeguard against the multifarious approaches of evil. If Satan does not offer them the whole world to bow down and worship him, he does offer them a great deal. The world of honor, wealth, and pleasure he offers them without reservation. Unless they possess decision of the most prompt and resolute character, they will bow down to Baal. , Apropos at this point is a paragraph from the pen of a literary gentleman of France, who visited thi? ^1^^"^ f 144 'lACT, tUiiH, AND PRINCIPLE. country several years ago. He wrote afterwards : ** Nature and circumstances concurred to make the in- habitants of the United States bold men, as is suffi* ciently attested by the ente prising spirit with which they seek for fortune. If the minds of Americans were free from all trammels, they would very shortly become the most daring innovators and the most im- placable disputants in the world. But the revolutionists of America are obliged to profess an ostensible respect for Christian morality and equity, which restrains them from accomplishing their designs. Thus, while the law in America permits the people to do what they please, religion prevents them from conceiving, and forbids them to commit, what is rash or unjust." While it is true that the times demand this element of character, it is true, also, that young men possess it in larger measure than those who have passed the me- ridian of life. " Old men for council, young men for war," has passed into a proverb. ** I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong^ Their physi- cal vigor, ambition, and spirit of enterprise make them strong. Their power is in action. Alexander was but twenty years of age when he ascended the throne, and his reign of twelve years created an epoch in human history. He conquered the world, and died, before he was thirty-three years old. Julius Caesar conquered three hundred nations, captured eight hundred cities, defeated three million men, became the chief states- man of the empire, ranked next to Cicero as an orator, and next to Tacitus as a writer, while yet he was a young man. Washington was appointed Adjutant- DECISION AND ENERGY. 145 General of one of the four districts into which the col- ony was divided, when he was but nineteen years oi age. At twenty-one, the government sent him as an ambassador to treat with the French at Fort Du- quesne ; and from that time until his marriage, at twenty-seven, he held some of the most important trusts that his country could commit to his care. He was in the prime of early manhood when he retired from public life and settled at Mount Vernon. Calvin was but twenty-six years of age when he wrote his famous *' Institutes." At twenty-nine, Martin Luther was at the zenith of his power, in his contest with the papal church. Pitt, as we have seen, went from college into the House of Commons, was Prime Minister at twenty-three, and was the most influential statesman in Great Britain before he was thirty. Nelson was a lieu- tenant in the Biitish navy before he was twenty, and passed to the command of a naval fleet in his early manhood. He was but forty-seven when he was mor- tally wounded in the battle of Trafalgar, where he hoisted the memorable signal, " England expects every pnan to do his duty." These examples may be exceptional, but they are none the less pertinent to show that a nation's strength and hope is in its young men. They are just the class to pull down the bridges that they cross, to make still greater courage inevitable. Allied to practical wis- dom, this indomitable spirit is Bucephalus with Alex- ander in the saddle — fiery but manageable, impetuous, yet obedient to the rein and voice of the rider. Some people affect to laugh over the decision of 10 Hi . I 146 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCtPLB. young men who resolve to become distinguished bank- ers, merchants, statesmen, or scholars. To them such a resolve as Calhoun made in Yale College seems egotistical and preposterous. When a college-mate badgered him about his close application to his studies, he replied : '* Why, sir, I am forced to make the most of my time, that I may acquit myself creditably when I get into Congress." His associate laughed, as if it were an affair of jesting. " Do you doubt it } " exclaimed Calhoun. " I assure you, if I were not convinced of my ability to reach the national capital as a representa- tive within the next three years, I would leave college this very day." It were easy, then, for a critic to dis- cover in this frank avowal of a purpose a degree of offensive self-confidence ; but no critic, looking back from the standpoint of our day, and knowing the re- markable fulfilment of that resolution, can see aught in it but decision and invincible courage before which mountains of difficulty are levelled. So, to many, the resolve of Samuel Ward to become the best banker in the country (to which reference has been made), and the expressed disbelief of Kitto in the existence of " impossibiUties," may seem but the hallucinations of visionary boys, while they are really the language of souls that are greater than obstacles, greater than opposition. John Foster says: "It is a poor and dis- graceful thing not to be able to reply, with some degree of certainty, to the simple questions, What will you be .^ What will you do ? " It is " disgraceful," because it is proof of a weak, vacillating mind, unworthy of a man whose Maker demands of him the highest use of his m hich , the er in and ce of ns of uage than 1 dis- agree be? ; it is man f his mi . DECISION AND ENERGY. 14? faculties. Foster continues: *' A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself; since, if he dared to assert that he did, the puny force of some cause about as powerful, you would have supposed, as a spider, may make a seizure of the hapless boaster the very next moment, and contemptuously exhibit the futility of the determinations by which he was to have proved the independence of his understanding and his will. He belongs to whatever can make capture of him ; and one thing after another vindicates its right to him by arresting him while he is trying to g^ on, as twigs and chips floating near the edge of a river are intercepted by every weed and whirled in every little eddy." It is very plain why Foster considered it "dis- graceful " for a young man not to be able to answer the questions, "What will you be.^" **What will you do } " There is no reason in the world why a youth should not determine to be lord mayor, or go to Con- gress, provided he will " go for it " with all his might. Why not that, as well as to decide to be a physician, or lawyer, or what not ? It is honorable to resolve lo be a first-class physician ; why not to be a first-class governor or president .-* To become a quack doctor would not be honorable ; nor, indeed, any other sort of a quack — quack lawyer, preacher, merchant, states- man, ruler, or scholar. The quacks are not all found in medicine ; indeed some of the biggest quacks figure in other callings. And the one grand purpose for which Foster pleads for decision of character is, that young men may not be mere qtiacks in any pursuit, but attain to the highest excellence in whatever they '1 h 1 k 148 TALI, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. engage, just marching forward royally to the honorable goal. That dauntless force of character, which some- times expresses itself in language which is called ego- tistical and visionary, will accomplish more with two talents than its opposite will with ten. Daring ener[;y will drive a single talent further and higher, than in- decision will drive ten. And the old maxim is, " Drive thy business ; let not thy business drive thee." Of all the successful men whose names have been introduced into these pages, no one of them insisted more strenrausly upon the force of character under dis- cussion than Buxton. He maintained that there is far more diiTerence between men in energy of soul, than there is in natural abilities ; that, in his own case, it was not so much great talents as great decision and energy that brought him wealth and position. Rev. Thomas Binnev said of him : " A somewhat rude, thoughtless, ".tile lad, of desultory habits, without any stirring within him of the aspiration of genius or of high intellectuyl and literary tastes ; who had nothing remarkable about him as a schoolboy ; who read, as a youth, only for amusement, and lived apparently only for his horses, his guns, and dogs ; who at nineteen or twenty lost property he had expected to inherit, and at twenty-two was a husband and a father, but without employment and wanting money ; this lad grows up, in after life, after passing through that pecuniary pinch in his early manhood, not only into a man of wealth and influence, but into an author, a legislator, and a saint ; into a person distinguished by intellectual vigor, whose writings displayed ample knowledge, high culture, for* 1 m DECISION AND ENERGY, 149 cible argument, eloquence, and pathos ; into a public speaker of commanding power, parliamentary reputa- tion, and substantial popularity ; into a public man of influence and weight not to be withstood, filling a place in the eye of the nation, and doing a work in the poli- tics of the world. How was it that all this came about ? " Let the words of Buxton himself answer — words written near the close of his life : ** The longer I live the more I am certain that the great difference between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is Energy — Invincible Determination — a purpose once fixedy and then, death or victory ! That quality will do anything that can be done in this world ; and no talents, no cir- cumstances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man without it." This regal energy of his showed itself in his boyhood, when he was directed to convey a message to a pig- driver. Away he went through mud and mire, losing one of his shoes in the mud, nor stopping to recover it, so intent was he upon accomplishing his errand ; and he ran three miles before he overtook the driver. Later in life, when his devotion to hunting, pleasure- riding, and sport in general, foreshadowed ruin, serious reflection aroused his decision and latent energies, and without waiting a single day he broke away at once from old associations, renounced evil habits, and set himself down to study with a will that was invincible. Later still, in Parliament, his pertinacity of will and in- flexible purpose always carried his measures againsl the best-organized opposition. He was frequent! \ 150 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, called " obstinate," as men of determination are likely to be ; but he was not obstinate. It was the true ring of decision in his soul. He truly answered to Spur- •geon's man of firmness: "A man must have a back- bone, or how is he to hold his head up? But that backbone must bend, or he will strike hie brow against the beam." Whipple repeats the idea of Buxton when he says, " What common quality distinguishes men of genius from other men, in practical life, in science, in letters, in every department of human thought and action ? This common quality is vital energy of mind, inherent, original force of thought and vitality of conception. Men in whom this energy glows seem to spurn the limitations of matter ; to leap the gulf which separates positive knowledge from discovery, the actual from the possible ; and, in their grasp of spiritual realities, in their intense life, they seem to demonstrate the immor- tality of the soul that burns within them. They give palpable evidence of infinite capacity, of indefinite power of growth. It seems a mockery to limit their life by years, — to suppose that fiery essence can ever burn out or be extinguished. This life, this energy, this uprising, aspiring flame of thought, — '. : ^ • This mind, this spirit, this Promethean spark, This lightning of their being,* — has been variously called power of combination, inven- tion, creation, insight ; but in the last analysis it is resolved into vital energy of soul, to think and to do." It will be asked if this irresistible power of the soul DECISION AND ENERGY, 151 ' may not be employed in a bad cause as well as in a good one. Of course. But even those cases are instruc- tive to every close observer, who would understand the nature and operations of this unconquerable spirit. Pizarro was a pirate, possessing heroism and endurance worthy of a martyr. One all-absorbing purpose im- pelled him forward, in spite of perils, hardships, and death itself ; and^ that was the subjugation and plun- dering of Peru. At Gallo, hunger drove his men al- most to madness, while disease threatened to extermi- nate them ; and yet he did not abate his relentless purpose a jot. A vessel arrived that offered to carry him and his companions back to Panama ; but he spurned the offer, and with his sword drew a line on the sand from east to west. Then, turning his face to the south, he said to his piratical companions, " Friends and comrades ! On that side are toil, hunger, naked- ness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death ; on this side, ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches ; here, Panama with its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castilian. For my part, I go to the south." He preferred Peru with death, to Panama with life. Put such a quenchless spirit into the soul of a saint, and he will make a missionary for " Greenland's icy mountains," or a martyr at the stake. We have spoken of Caesar, whose heart was little better than Pizarro's. He was but seventeen years old when he was captured by pirates, as he was escaping from the hate of Sylla. They offered to release hira for twenty talents. " It is too little," the heroic youth exclaimed; *you shall i 152 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, have fifty ; but, once free, I will crucify every one of you ; " and he kept his word. In Spain, his followers refused to obey his command to attack the opposing army. Seizing a shield, he shouted, " I will die here ! " and rushed upon the Spanish army alone. Scores of arrows were hurled at him when he was less than two rods from the enen:*''s ranks. Such '^aring shamed his men into action, and they rallied id his support, and victoriously charged upon the foe. At Rome, it was rumored that he would be assassi- nated in the street. Immediately he dismissed 'is body-guard, and ever afterwards walked the streets un- armed and alone. The would-be assassins were amazed at such audacity, and thought he was a god. When bad men rule with such audacious will, good men will mourn. But such fusion of will, passion, and intelli- gence in the service of truth and God, makes Pauls, Luthers, and Judsons. Yes ! auch a spirit, enlisted in the service of one's native land, makes a patriot of the type of 'l^. It was this intrepidity of soul that made the great Magyar chief, M. Louis Kossuth, what he was. When he was an exile in Turkey, and the govern- ment of the Sublime Porte promised him protection on condition that he would embrace Mohammedanism, his magnanimous spirit rose above the fear of imprisonment and chains, torture and death, and he answered : " Be- tween death and shame the choice can neither be dubious nor difficult. Governor of Hungary, and elected to the high place by the confidence of fifteen millions of my countrymen, I know well what I owe to my country even in exile. Even as a private inJi- DECISION AND ENERGY. 1 5.5 vidual, I have an honorable path to pursue. Though once the governor of a generous people, I leave no inheritance to my children. They shall at least bear an unsullied name. God's will be done. I am pre- pared to die." But in humbler and less tumultuous scenes, the mass of young men will cast in their fortunes. But even here, the necessity for this spirit of mastery is abso- lute. In every pursuit, and on frequent occasions, its special use is demanded. Young men n^ ^st experience rebuffs and encounter serious obstacles in prosecuting their life-purpose. None of them will be exempt from the hardships and disappointments incident to life- work. Decision is their faithful ally, and will come to their rescue, if called, in the hour of need. There will be times when they must wear poorer clothes than personal pride willingly dons, and serve in a humbler capacity tiian their taste would select. The dread of humiliation or ridicule may lead to ignoble results, unless decision of character interposes. Love of ease, or a natural bias to inaction, may allow the noblest powers to lie dormant in the soul, unless this aspiring and dauntless spirit rallies them for victory. Difficul- ties may prove too much for the moderate degree of resolution that often possesses the heart ; decision nnd energy can save the man from ignominious surrender. The following fact, which has just come to our notice, illustrates the place and power of this quality in the routine of daily duties. A young man served as assistant pupil several years ago in a flourishing New England Academy. Among I '54 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. the classes he taught was one in Algebra — the highest class in that study. The pupil-teacher had been over the text-book quite thoroughly, but there was one prob- lem he could not solve. As the class was approach- ing that problem, he addressed himself to its solution. He labored upon it for several hours without reaching a correct result. Somewhat mortified, he took it to one of the teachers, who promised to solve the problem for him. On the day before the class reached the problem m their regular course of study, the teacher returned it unsolved. What could the young man do } Must he go before the class and confess that he could not mas- ter the difficulty } That was too humiliating. He had a friend in an adjoining town, four miles distant, who was an excellent mathematician. He had no question but that his friend could solve it. So away he posted, after school, to the neighboring town, and found, to his utter disappointment, that his friend was absent, and would not return for a week. His last hope was dasheid. With a despondent heart he turned back towards his home. On his way he began to consider seriously what a spectacle of inability he wp'^. "What! unable to perform a problem in Algebra ! Going back to my class to confess my ignorance ! " The dormant spirit of decision and energy was aroused in his soul, and he exclaimed aloud^ " I can solve the problem ! I will solve it ! " He reached home, went into his room, took up the problem with the firm determination to master it before he gave slumber to his eyes ; and he did. He wrote out the solution in full, and underneath added this interesting paragraph : " Obtained Monday even- t DECISION AND ENERGY. 155 ing, Sept. 2d, 18 — , at half past eleven o'clock, after more than a dozen trials, that have consumed in all more than twenty hours of time." That single triumph over a difficulty was of more value to him than the whole year's study. He needed precisely that sort of trial to stir his slumbering ener- gies. He did not know how much power of achieve- ment there was in him until this test was applied. He was more of a man than he thought he was. At his call, sincere and desperate, decision and energy came to his relief, and proved how royally they can lead to victory. The Scriptures furnish some of the noblest examples of energy on record. It is recorded of Hezekiah, "And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, a?id pros- tercdr He " prospered " because he acted ** with all his heart," whether he was ruling his kingdom, making public improvements, or performing Christian duties in the house of God. His whole soul was concentrated upon the work immediately in hand. It was according to the Divine will. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might!' God is more opposed to a half-hearted way of doing things than any man can pos- sibly be ; for he knows exactly the measure of human power that we can put into any work, and he demands that full measure. He accepts nothing less. He wants us to feel that we can and will do the work required of us. The celebrated Nathaniel Bowditch once said to a young man, " Never undertake anything but with the f i '56 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, Ceding that you can and will do it. With that feeling success is certain, and without it failure is unavoida- ble." The great mathematician repeated only what God requires. He expects every man o do his duty with all his might. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might ; " and do everything else with equal enthusiasm. That is the climax of decision and energy. Budgett never surpassed that. No man can surpass it. The trouble is to attain to so high a standard. If any human being ever rose to that standard fully, it was St Paul, whose fearless independence, courage, fiery zeal, and impet- uous action Conybeare likens, in the domain of truth, to "Alexander spreading the civilization of Greece over the Asiatic and African shores of the Mediterranean Sea ; Julius Caesar, contending against the Gauls and subduing the barbarism of Western Europe to the order and discipline of Roman government ; Charle- magne, compressing the separating atoms of the feudal world, and reviving for a time the image of imperial unity ; Columbus, sailing westward over the Atlantic to discover a new world, which might receive the arts and religion of the old ; and Napoleon, shattering the ancient systems of European states, and leaving a chasm between our present and the past" 1 FERSE VE RANGE. 157 VIII. PERSEVERANCE. DECISION and energy may undertake what they never accomplish. It is absolutely necessary foi Perseverance to step in and complete what they begin. Webster says that perseverance is " persistence ii. any- thing undertaken." The Scriptures represent it as " pa- tient continuance." It has been facetiously defined as " the gift of continuance." The ship's crew rose in rebel- lion when Columbus was searching for the New World, because there was no appearance of land. Columbus prevsiled upon them to be patient, promising that after three days he would turn back if land were not discov- ered. Before that time had expired they hailed the New World. That three days wrested from the clutches of mutiny was worth to Columbus and the world what the discovery of America was worth. It was genuine perseverance that made the voyage three days longer. Decision and energy had done well up to that moment, overcoming great difficulties ; but had not the perse- verance of Columbus come to the rescue at the time of the mutiny, all that they had achieved would have been valueless. Perseverance saved the efforts of de- cision and energy from failure and made them tell. Here we have a fair illustration of the niche that per 158 2'ACr, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. |i severance fills. " It is the home-stretch that tells." Ii is on the " home-stretch " that perseverance expends its force. Three days, and even three hours or three min- utes, are often of the greatest value to it. In that time defeat is prevented. In that time victory is won. Bet- ter still, in that time a rout may be changed to triumph. General Sheridan's perseverance turned his routed and retreating army back upon the foe, not only to regain 'ihe ground lost, but also to conquer their conquerors. Sheridan's famous ride is one of the stirring chapters of history. It is a tribute to perseverance. An incident in the early life of General Grant illus- trates the nature and value of this quality, a'"* was but eight years old, at school, when he found the words " I can't " in his lesson. He did not exactly understand the meaning of it, and he inquired of his companions, but in vain. The dictionary was consulted, but to no pur- pose. The word cannot was there, but / cajit could not be found. He applied to his teacher, " What does I cant mean } It is not in the dictionary." •* No, it is not in the dictionary," replied the teacher, ** and I am glad that it is not there ; " and he proceeded to lecture the school upon the importance of perseverance. Three or four years later Ulysses was sent into the woods one day for logs. The hired men were to meet him there tc load them, but for some unexpected cause they did not The boy waited a reasonable time, and then if he had been like most boys he would have returned with- out the logs. But not so with him. He went for the logs, and he would not be thwarted in his purpose. By tact and push be succeeded in loading the logs and con- I I ' PERSEVERANCE. IS9 veying them to the mill. Thirty years afterwards he resolved to go to Richmond, though the Rebel army op- posed his advance. But he started for Richmond, and to Richmond he would go. Many sanguinary battles were fought, terrible enough to dishearten timid men ; but his watch-word still was, '* On to Richmond I " En- emies said, " General Grant don't know when he is licked ; " and that was substantially true ; for perse- verance is not often " licked ; " it gives instead of re- ceiving the " licking." One of its favorite maxims is, " Never attempt, but accomplish." When it attempts, opposition may as well clear the track. It finds the way or makes one. The doctrine of " final persever- ance " belongs to the secular world, whether it does to the spiritual world or not. It is a severe test to which perseverance puts the mettle of a man. All there is in him of force and pa- tience must come to the front. The best energies must be enlisted. The whole man must contend for the prize. No halt-hearted work will answer. The faint-hearted have no chance here. ** The wise and active conquer difficulties, By daring to attempt them ; sloth and folly Shiver and sink at sights of toil and hazard. And make the impossibility they fear." Most young men desire success ; but few of them will pay the price. They want to be rich ; and if they could go to bed at night and wake up Astors and Stew- arts in the morning, their Umpness would be satisfied They want to be learned ; and most enthusiastically I i t "I i6o TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. would they share the Iiigh distinction if education would come to them in dreari:s, without the drudgery of books and study. They do not object to being Chalmers or Irvings ; they object to the hard con- ditions imposed. The years of self-denial, application, incessant toil, and large tax on brain and muscle, appall them. These are the " l»on in their way," — the king of beasts that few dare to encounter. Only here and there a Goliath of perseverance feels equal to the con- test. When Sheridan, the English statesman, broke down in the first speech he attempted in Parliament, friends advised him not to make another attempt. ** You can never make an orator," they said, and coun- selled that he should seek some other calling. But Sheridan knew better. He had studied himself. He knew that he was equal to the task, and he answered, " It is in me and shall come out." And it did come out, though by painstaking that would have discour- aj. d less persevering men. There is need of this quality everywhere, since there is no pursuit without its difficulties. To master the humblest profession requires time, patience, and per- sistent effort. We asked an expert bootmaker how many pairs he could bottom in a day. " I have bot- tomed forty in a day," he answered. "How many pegs are there in a single boot } " we inquired further. " One hundred and five," he said. We computed the number of pegs he drove in a day — about eight thou- sand, one at a time ; almost Ji/ty thousand pegs driven in a week ! Let the uninitiated ponder the work on a Monday morning — drive fifty thousand pegs, singly. PERSE VERA NCE. I6i during the week ! It seems quite impossible. A dull, uninviting, discouraging task ! But perseverance ac- complishes it, after all, without much ado. A distin- guished musician was asked how long study it required to attain to such excellence, and his answer was : " I'welve hours a day for twenty years." How few possess the perseverance that will accept conditions so hard ! A friend was stopping at a public-house in Boston at the time a troupe of Italian violinists were giving concerts at Tremont Temple. The troupe stopped at the same public-house with my friend, and their rooms were in close proximity. Every day, and almost every moment of the day, my friend heard the troupe playing in their room. It became annoying to him. He wondered that the troupe were not sick of the sound of a violin. He endeavored to measure the love of music which these Italians must possess, that they should want to make it from morning till night. One day he ventured to say to the leader, " I wonder that you, who can fill an audience with raptures h'j your wonderful playing, should want to keep your fiddles going all day ; I should think you would be sick of the thing." The violinist answered, " We could not fill an audience with raptures by our wonderful playing if we did not practise all day." My friend's memory was jogged ; he remembered that " practice makes perfect," and was somewhat impressed by the perseverance of the players. A public lecturer, who always delighted his audiences by his course of five or six scientific lectures, was once asked, " How long did it take you to orepare that course of lectures ?" ** Forty years" was ;• /; ! 11 1 62 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. his prompt reply. Forty years before he commenced his studies, and by the closest application, persevering in spite of many and great obstacles, he was able to prepare a course of first-class lectures. Alonzo Carlo, the Spanish sculptor, completed a statue for a wealthy gentleman in twenty-five days. His patron proposed to pay him by the day, to which propo- sition Carlo answered/ " What ! I was at work twenty- five years learning to make that statue in twenty-five days." If he had worked but twenty years he might not have been able to make a finished statue at all. Perseverance must drive the practice clear up to the last day of the quarter of a century, that the workman- ship may be perfect. Just at this point many persons make a mistake in their judgment of labor. That a surgeon should receive so large a price for a single hour's service ; that a public lecturer should receive fifty or one hundred dollars for one address ; that an elocutionist should be remunerated at the rate of fifty dollars an hour ; that a lawyer should charge twenty thousand dollars for managing a single case ; that a preacher should receive two or three thousand dollar- salary for writing one or two sermons each week ; that the statesman should be paid eight or ten thousand dollars, annually, for a few weeks service in a year ; that the president ol jl bank, or insurance company, should demand a salary of five thousand, and even twenty-five thousand, dollars a year ; that a salesman or book-keeper should find constant employment at two, three, and five thousand annually, many persons :annot understand. It appears to them like enormous PEASE VERANCE, 163 pay for little work. They forget the outlay of money and time that it has required to fit these men for such responsible positions. Ten, twenty, and even thirty years of incessant toil were expended before such pay was possible. These men possessed the perseverance requisite to qualify themselves for these high places. Others might have enjoyed equally well-earned re- muneration and honors, but they lacked the persever- ance necessary. Ten, twenty, or thirty years of thorough discipline was a monstrous lion in their way. Their decision and energy cowered before such an obstacle. They do not fill such enviable positions simply because they do not deserve them. Society, on the whole, is just and fair. It rewards perseverance and kindred virtues ; but it does not reward cowardice or inaction. The man who makes the most of himself possible, will never go begging for bread or friends. Society will do as well by him as it can, and he will have no reason to complain. We insist that most young men fail to appreciate this virtue of perseverance. At least, they fail to comprehend its relation to thoroughness in one's life- pursuit. It is impossible to excel in anything without it. Without it, no one can become a superior car- penter, blacksmith, manufacturer, teacher, or lawyer. Young men need to study the grand models of perse- verance among living men and dead men. They wil! find both beauty and inspiration in these models. Think of Newton at work upon his " Chronology of Ancient Nations," resolved to make it thoroughly reli- able. He carefully prepared it at first, and then re- 1 64 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, wrote it. Still dissatisfied, and perceiving wherein he could essentially improve it, he recast it again. Nor did he consider his work satisfactory until he had re- written it sixteen times. The perseverance of a man who can do that, becomes marvellou.^ and grand. Its place is among the heroic virtues Pascal's "Provincial Let- ters" are justly renowned; aud the way in which he wrought is equally renowned, for he spent twenty days upon each one of them. Most men would see " pro- vincial letters," and all other letters, doomed to the waste-basket before they would devote so much time to their preparation. Their perseverance is altogether too infantile for such prodigious work. We once knew a young man who wrote his letters to friends as carefully as he prepared his compositions. He devoted hours to a single letter often. He copied it, too, with the most scrupulous regard to the chirography. His letters were models of epistolary literature. A stranger could not read one without forming a most exalted idea of the taste and rare culture of the author. This young man became one of the most exact and profound of literary men before he was thirty-f ve years old. The perse- verance that made his epistles models of letter-writing, caused him to be patient and thorough in everything else. Gibbon was twenty years in writing his ** Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." His efforts at re- search and re-writing, in order to produce a work worthy of himself and subject, v/ere proof of tireless patience. Bancroft was twenty-six years in the preparation of his •• History of the United States ; " and Noah Webster spent thirty-six years on his die, lonary. Perhaps there ' PERSEVERANCE. 165 is no more remarkable record of perseverance in the annals of the past than the last-mentioned. Thirty-six years of close study in the dry field of philology ! Col- lecting and defining words more than one-third of a century without interruption ! Ordinary exhibitions of perseverance dwindle into insignificance in comparison with this enthusiastic devotion to one purpose. Youths who lack this indispensable quality are found among the class who often change their occupations, in order to find an easier and shorter way to fortune. They seldom have a good word to say for the pursuit in which they are engaged. Other occupations seem to them far more desirable. In school, this class, of both sexes, encounter difficulties at every step. Les- sons are " too long " or •• coo hard." One study is " too dry," another is "too difficult," and a third is of "too little importance." On the farm, there is too much " drudgery " and *' too small returns,** for so much se- vere toil. And everywhere there is a large discount upon present advantages to be reckoned ; and a con- stant looking for some way out of unpleasant circum- stances, except by the door of perseverance. An amusing story is told of a scholar who was stu- pid, backward, and devoid of ambition. The class were reading the third chapter of Daniel ; and several o^ the pupils found it quite difficult to pronounce the proper names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, particularly the aforesaid dolt. In a few days the teacher put them upon the same chapter for the purpose of trying them once more upon the pronunciation of those proper names. It fell to the lot of the unam bilious youth 1 66 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. * named to read the passage containing the hard words He read the text with unusual promptness squarely up to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, when he stopped, and said, in the most disheartened manner, " Teacher, there's them three fellers again'' The class of schol- ars we are criticising are forever encountering some " feller " of difficulty to annoy and discourage them. If it be not Shadrach, or one of his companions, it is something else. It is necessary that young men should understand why God puts obstacles in their pathway. It is not to discourage them ; it is not to turn them back from a chosen and honorable career. It is for discipline — to task their powers, and develop manhood. Franklin was poor and friendless when he set up printing in Philadelphia, and he soon found a formidable rival in the odme business. Instead of being discouraged by the opposition, however, he resolutely met it, moved into a back room of his shop, where he could board himself, and put himself upon the smallest allowance possible. One day his rival called at the shop, and Franklin took him into the back room, where, pointing to part of a roll of bread from which he had just made a meal, he said, " Now, unless you can live cheaper than I can, you must perceive that it is utterly vain to think of starving me out." The opposition nerved him for greater efforts. Increased strength of purpose, and more self-denying labor, were the result. He became a better printer and a more notable man in consequence. Demosthenes had an impediment in his speech that seemed an insurmountable obstacle in his way of be< PERSE VERA NCE. 167 coming an orator. Every one regarded his attempt to qualify himself for public speaking as foolish in the extreme. He alone thought otherwise. He knew that God did not put that impediment into his speech to prevent his becoming an orator. If he could overcome the impediment he could make an orator, nevertheless. And he did. He retired to a cave where no human ear could hear him, and there, by long-continued drilling and practice, he gained complete control of his voice, and finally became the prince of orators. The impedi- ment proved a hcip rather than a hindrance to him. There is no doubt that he made a more complete ora- tor in consequence of the impediment ; and that was the office God meant it should fill. Thus, to those who possess the elements of true greatness, obstacles become incitements. The greater the obstacle, the greater the eifort required to sur- mount it ; — the truly resolute and persevering seeker after fortune accepts this rule. A difficulty summons his latent forces to action. He does greater things than were otherwise possible, because his way is hedged up. In addition, his joy is full, — the joy of noble tri- umph. Then, too, from the summit of '* Hill Difficulty," that he has climbed, the view is grand. The life of the late Governor George N. Briggs, of Massachusetts, furnishes ^ remarkable illustration, of the subject in hand. He was born in that State in 1796. His father was a poor but honest blacksmith, *' With large and sinewy hands ; And the muscles of his brawny arms Were strong as iron bands." ^^ -« i68 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE George loved his books, and most ardently desired an education ; but poverty forbade the nurturing of such a thought. It was only brief periods of schooling that he could enjoy for a few years, and then, work, work, work. He was but twelve or fourteen years of age when he was apprenticed to a hatter, in whose service he continued three years, learning the trade, satisfying his employer, proving his energy and perseverance, and giving '* the world assurance of a man." Every spare moment was utilized for mental improvement, so that mind and muscle kept pace with each other in the on- ward and upward career. At the close of his appren- ticeship to the hatter, he spent nearly a year at home, assisting his father and attending school, where his progress was noteworthy. All this time his thoughts dwelt upon a possible education. He had gradually come to feel that, somehow, he might qualify himself for the legal profession. He had become a Christian, and was wont to speak in religious meetings, where he charmed his hearers by his native eloquence. The result was, that in spite of poverty, and all the diffi- culties that hedged his way, he resolved to study law. An elder brother encouraged him, and promised what little aid he could render. The sequel he tells in his own words. "In August, 1813, with five dollars I had earned at haying, I left home,* to go to studying law. I had a brother living on the Hudson whom I visited in Sep- tember, and then, with my trunk on my back, came * The family were living in the State of New York. PERSEVERANCE. 169 into Berkshire County, penniless, and a stranger to all, except a few relatives and friends, most of them as poor as I was, and that was poor enough. My brother aided me some until 18 16, when he died." He pursued his law studies but a year in Adams, then removed to Lanesborough, Berkshire County, where he read in an office that was the " rendezvous of the village, where its discussion and news, gossip and excitements, were all carried on." Such was his power of application that the talking and laughing of a dozen people in the office did not disturb him. He said, *' I have read hundreds of pages entirely uncon- scious of the brisk conversation carried on in my hearing." His brother died, and the small assistance from that source ceased. Nor was that the worst, for his broth, 's family were left penniless, and George was obliged to assist them at the earliest day. No one would have blamed him for dropping his course of study at that point ; but the accumulation of trials served to make him more determined in his purpose He pressed on toward the mark with greater celerity. He trampled every obstacle beneath his feet. He ac- complished his purpose, and was admitted to the bar. On that day he might have said, appropriately using the words of Julius Csesar, " Venit vidi, vici^' — "I came, I saw, I conquered." How rapidly he rose in fame is sufficiently evident from the fact, that after twelve years' practice he was .selected as the leading lawyer and citizen of Berkshire to represent the eleventh congressional district at Washington. For twelve years he served a well- •|i 170 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE pleased constituency, in that capacity, becoming one of the most able and popular members of Congress. The next seven years he was the popular and honored governor of Massachusetts, making a public record so fair and grand, that the Bay State will never cease to cherish it with pride. The life of Govf^rnor Briggs not only proves the value of p sf.veiance, but also of every other element of success 'i \ L ve discussed, or may discuss. That he possessea Tag. ::nd Push in a remarkable degree, is certain. He was eminently a " self-made man," and made more out of himself than the best teachers could have done. Thoroughness, Singleness of Purpose, and Observation were prominent traits. He was never afraid of work ; his Industry was proverbial. He was never ashamed of his humble origin. When he was governor, a lady in Boston, at a gathering of the klite., inquired before the company, " Governor, may I ask you at what college you graduated t " *'At a hatter's shop!'' was his quick reply. His Decision was second to no quality mentioned, and his Energy was equal to his decision. The anecdotes of his firmness in discountenanc- ing •' sharp practice " in law, wine-drinking, dancing, fashion-worship, and kindred evils, are numerous and entertaining. He was just the same in this regard at Washington, and at the capital of the State he gov- erned for seven years, as he was at home. One of his peculiarities was never to wear a collar. He wore a black cravat simply. Some of his friends urged him to wear a collar when he became governor of hia PERSE VE RANGE. 171 a m ia native State. But their arguments and appeals were in vain. During the first year of his gubernatorial life, he wrote to a friend at i*ittsfield, his home, " TeU ^^ that I go it without collar or wine." P — though: ihat the pressure of office and Boston society would cause him to yield his total-abstinence principles ; but they did not. Contrary to the practice of governors, and to the disgust of many prominent anti-temperance men, when he became governor, he boarded at the plain Marlborough Hotel, because it was a temperance house. »*Th*;ek...ent8V So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, /^t« -was a man I " There is much in the 1 "^ just cited to confirm the views of Buxton in a letter to his nephew, who had failed in a competitive examination for a scholarship. He said : " This mortification is a test which will try your character. If that character be feeble, the disap- pointment will weigh upon your spirits ; you will relax your exertions, and begin to despond, and be idle. That is the usual character of men ; they can do very well when the breeze is in their favor, but they are cowed by the storm. If your character is vigorous and masculine, you will gather strength from this de- feat. If you were my own son, as you very nearly are, I would rather you should have failed, and then exhib- ited this determination, than that everything should have gone smoothly. I like your letter much ; it breathes a portion of this unconquerable spirit, which is worth all the Latin, Greek, and Logarithms in the " 172 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. \ world. Now, then, is the time If you can sum- mon up courage for the occasion, and pluck from this failure the materials for future success, then the loss of the scholarship may be a gain for life." Much in the same vein was Stephenson's counsel to an audience of mechanics in the city of Leeds. *' I stand before you," he said, '* as an humble mechanic. I commenced my career on a lower level than any man here. I make this remark to encourage young mechan- ics to do as I have done — to persevere. The hum- blest of you occupy a much more favorable position than I did on commencing my life of labor. . . . The civil engineer has many difficulties to contend with ; but if the man wishes to rise to the higher grades of the profession, he must never see any difficulties before him. Obstacles may appear to be difficulties ; but the engineer must be prepared to throw them overboard or to conquer them'' Before closing this chapter, we desire to call the reader's attention to several more very remarkable and instructive examples of perseverance. It is from such stirring facts, derived from biographical sources, that the youiig man catches his inspiration. The well-known case of Audubon, the distinguished naturalist, shames the pusillanimity of those who neither throw difficulties "overboard," nor "conquer them." He had spent many years of research upon the ** Birds of America," for his great work upon that subject, and had made a thousand drawings of birds. These specimens were carefully deposited in a box, to await the completion of his volume. But when the PERSEVERANCE, 173 time for their use had arrived, what was his surprise and disappointment to find that a rat had made a nest in them, and reared a family, completely destroying the work of years ! Many men in the circumstances would have yielded to despair. How it was with Audubon his own words shall tell. " The burning heat which instantly rushed through my veins," he wrote, •' was too great to be endured, without affecting the whole nervous system. I slept not for several nights, and my days were days of oblivion, until the animal powers being called into action, through the strength of con- stitution, I took up my gun, my note-book, and my pencils, and went forth to the woods as gayly as if nothing had happened. I felt pleased that I might now make better drawings than before ; and, ere a pe- riod not exceeding three years had elapsed, I had my portfolio filled again." How does this homely virtue of Perseverance grow into beauty and grandeur in the light of such a fact ! We see that it is the spirit of the conqueror and mar- tyr! When Thomas Carlyle had completed his first volume of the "French Revolution," his domestics, by mistake, used the sheets for lighting fires. Before the author was aware what was going on, the whole manu- script volume became ashes. Without turning his maid out of doors, or wasting breath and time upon doleful complaints, he set himself to work and repro- duced the volume in its present form. More trying still was the experience of Robert Ainsworth, who spent many years upon his dictionary of the Latin language. When he had nearly completed the work, his wife, who 174 TACT, PUSHy AND PRINCIPLE, had seriously objected to so much of his time being devoted to a barren subject, depriving herself of his society, and taxing his brains inordinately, very delib- erately committed the volume to the flames. Evident- ly she expected to conquer him by the outrageous act. But his perseverance simply contemplated the act with amazement at first, and then, without applying for a divorce, he commenced to re-write the work, which was iccomplished after several years of incessant toil. Some years ago a student in college lost one of his eyes by a missile thrown by a classmate. His other eye became so affected by sympathy that its sight was endangered. The best oculists could not relieve him. He was sent to Europe for medical treatment and change of climate, and tarried there three years, when he returned with only part of an eye, just enough vision to serve him in travelling about, but too little for read- ing. His father was an eminent jurist, and designed his son for the bar, but this calamity quenched his aspirations in that direction. He resolved to devote himself to authorship in the department of historical literature. He spent ten years of laborious systematic study of the standard authors before he even selected his theme. Then he spent another ten years in search- ing archives ; exploring masses of manuscripts, official documents, and correspondence ; consulting old chron- icles, reading quantities of miscellaneous books, and taking notes — all through the eyes of others — before his first work was ready for the press -— " Ferdinand and Isabella." Prescott was forty years of age when be gave this remarkable history to the public. Then ^/■' PERSEVERANCE. 175 followed his " Mexico," " Peru," and " Philip the Sec- ond," — works that have earned for him the reputation of a profound historian on both sides of the Atlantic. Noble work for any man with two good eyes ! Nobler work for a man with none ! The story of Daniel Webster's perseverance in be- coming the orator of his age is familiar to all. He told it thus : "I believe I made tolerable progress in most branches which I attended to while a member of tl e Exeter Academy, N. H., but there was one thing I could not do : / cotild not make a declamation. I could not speak before the school. The kind and excellent Buckminster sought especially to persuade me to per- form the exercise of declamation like other boys, but I could not do it. Many a piece did I commit to mem- ory and recite and rehearse in my own room over and over again, yet when the day came when the school collected to hear declamations, when my name was called and all eyes were turned to my seat, I could not raise myself from it. Sometimes the instructors frowned, sometimes they smiled. But I never could command resolution." It was months, and even years, before he triumphed over timidity and awkwardness. His perseverance manifested itself on other occa- sions. In his earlier school-days his teacher offered a jack-knife one Saturday, to the scholar who would commit the largest number of passages in the Bible, to recite on Monday morning. Daniel recited seventy- tive passages, when the teacher inquired, " How many more have you committed ? " " Several chapters more," he answered. He got the knife. At Exete> the prin* !■ t.) M I I 176 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, cipal punished him for pigeon-shooting, by requiring him to commit to memory one hundred lines in "Vir- gil." Knowing that his teacher was going out of town at a given hour, and that the extra lesson would be re- cited the last thing before he left, Daniel committed seven hundred lines. After reciting the one hundred lines, the teacher started to go. " I have more to re- cite," said Daniel. Resuming his seat, the teacher heard another hundred lines, and started to go hur- riedly, as he was behind time. ** I can repeat a few more lines," said Daniel *' How many ? " inquired the teacher. " About five hundred," replied Daniel. The teacher discovered the plot by this time, and smilingly said, as he hurried away, " Well, Daniel, you may have the rest of the day for pigeon-shooting." That sort of punishment amounted to nothing when pitted against his perseverance. The celebrated American painter Allston was ap- proached by a friend one day, bearing a small painting. "A youth painted this," he said, exhibiting the sketch to Allston ; " and I want to know whether you think he will make much of an artist." Allston carefully examined the production, and then confidently ex- pressed this opinion : " He will not make an artist. I advise him to try some other pursuit." Allston's per- severance in overcoming obstacles and making himself a great painter, will appear when the reader is told that the work of art upon which he expressed so unfavor- able an opinion was one of his own early productions, which he failed to recognize. But all such illustrations are tame in comparison PERSEVERANCE, ^77 with those we might adduce from the blind, deaf, and dumb, who have become renowned in science and art and letters. Rugendas, Paradisi, Saunderson, Davis, Huntley, Huber, Holman, and Laura Bridgman are wonderful examples. We have space for only a brief notice of the latter, the most remarkable case on record. Laura Bridgman possessed only the sense of touch, yet she was educated to study, work, and converse through that sense alone. She knew her teachers and school- mates as intimately as her companions having all the five senses did. Dr. Howe said: "When Laura is walking through a passage-way, with her hands spread before her, she knows, instantly, every one she meets, and passes them with a sign of recognition.'* She had charge of her wardrobe, and displayed decide'-l taste about her toilet. She became expert and ingeniou** with her needle, making ornamental and useful articles with even more skill than many of her sisters, who were endowed with eyes and cars. Her progress in the various branches of knowledge was rapid, and her scholarship high. In Focial life she was animated bright, joyous, and genial, the sense of touch putting her into intimate and pleasant communication with the company about her. This was th i I , 1 80 TACr, PUSH, AND PRINCIJH\F. wretched man in the world. I am cii mv ./a)^ ■« Maine now to purchase a factory, for I sliaii die if I Uy to live so." " Nothing to do " had taken more than fifty pounds out of his stalwart frame, and threatened to be the death of him. Work, and not the doctors, would restore him. Industry is inevitable when decision, energy, and perseverance possess the soul. Then man must work. It is a binding bargain between these faculties. Gideon Lee, whose boyhood realized the burden of poverty to such an extent that he went to his work barefoot even in winter, labored sixteen hours a day when he was an apprentice. " I had made a bargain with myself," he said, " to labor each day a certain number of hours, and nothing but sickness and inability should make me break the contract. It was known to my young friends in the neighborhood, and on some convivial occasion, a quilting frolic, I believe, they came to my shop where I worked, and compelled mc to leave my work and go with them ; there being girK*, also, in the deputation, my gallantry coi'-l not rcf i i lost my night's rest in consequence, for the mornii.4 soon found me at work, redeeming my lost time." The Scriptures say, " The band of the diligent shall bear rule." Gideon Lee be- came, not only an opuicnt merchant of New York city, but also mayor of the metropolis, and a member of Congress. But it is the bargain to be industrious that every young man must make with himself, which we would emphasize. It is one of the definite things to be dt.'.e in the outset. If he posf:ess genius, industry wiil improve it ; *f he does not possess it, unwearied I ' t ' f INDUSTRY. iSi indi^stry will jupply its place. Genius does not under- value labor. The most gifted men are usually tlv^ hardest workers. Turner was asked for the secret v:C his success, "I have no secret but hard work,'' * said. " This is a secret that many never learn, and they don't succeed because they don't learn it. Labor is the genius that changes the world from ugliness to beauty, and the great curse to a great blessing." Even Webster said, " that he knew of no superior quality he possessed, unless it was his power of application. To work, and not to genius, he owed his success." Not one of the distinguished men cited in iormer pages, thought lightly of this virtue. All of them cherished it as an indispensable requisite to' success. In this connection Dr. Franklin wrote some of his best maxims, as follows : • — " Rut dost thou love life .•* Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of." " If time be of all things most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality." " Slr^h rnak 3 all things difficult, but industry all easy." " 'ic V\qX riseth late must trot all day, and shall scare overtake his business at night ; while laziness travels ;: > slowly that poverty soon overtakes him." "At the woikiig- man's house hunger looks in but dares »^<^t enter." " Diligence is the mother of good luck> nJ 'vod gives all things to industry." " One to-day is v/orth two to- morrows." " Employ thy time well if thou mciancst to gain leisure , and since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour." He wrote to a young trader : ** Remember that time is money. lie that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or 1 82 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, • sits idle one half that day, though he spend but six- pence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon t/iat the only expense ; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shilli. js besides." In his autobiography he gives an account of an arrangement he made with his brother, to whom he was apprenticed, thai he might gain more time for reading and study. " I proposed to my brother that if he would give me weekly half the money he paid for my board, I would board myself. He instantly agreed to it, and I pres- ently found that I could save half of what he paid me. This was an additional fund for buying of books, but I had another advantage in it. My brother and the rest going from ihe printing-house to their meals, I re- mained there alone, and dispatching, presently, my light repast, — which was often no more than a biscuit, or a olice of bread, a handfuj of raisins, or a tart from the pastry-cook's, and a glass of water, — had the rest of the time until their return for study, in which I made the greater progress from that greater clearness of head, and (j nicker apprehension, which generally at- tend temperance in eating and drinking." That was reducmg things pretty fine, in order to make the most of time , and that was one of the factors of his success. The bior:rapher of Samuel Budgett says : " He seeiiicd bor^i under a decree to do. Doing, doing, ever Joing Ij's nature seemed to abhor an idleness more th?ri the siaturc of the old philosophers abhorred a vacuum. An idle moment was an irksome moment, an idle hour would have been a sort of purgatory. No fcjoncr was one engagement out of hand than his in- » \ INDUSTRY. 183 M2 , stinct within him seemed to cry out, ' Now, what is the next thing ? * Even in taking a ride, he must be learn- ing or teaching something. In his letters he some- times bitterly complains that he had not sufficiently improved his time ; and among such memoranda as escaped destruction by his own hand, one note tells of a joyless and uncomfortable Sabbath, — 'and no won- der, for I did not rise till half-past five o'clock.' " We have spoken of genius, which one writer of emi- nence says, *• is but a capability of laboring intensely ; the power of making great and sustained efforts" in its relations to labor. On this point, Kitto wrote to one of his benefactors as follows : " I have no peculiar talent, and do not want it ; it would do more harm than good. I only think that I have a certain degree of in- dustry^ which, applied to its proper object, may make mc an instrument of greater usefulness, perhaps, than mere talent can enable any man to effect." Professor Eadie, of Glasgow, appears to have taken the same view, substantially, for he said of Kitto : "What he did, he did with his might. It was not a feat, and done with it, but patient and protracted industry. He did not spring to his prey like the lion, but he performed his daily task like the ox. He did his work with con- siderable ease ; but he was always at his work. He was cither fishing or mending his neis ; either com- posing, or preparing for composition. From his ear- liest days he could not be idle ; hir repose was in activity. The swallow feeds and rests on the wing. . . . If one thing failed he tried another ; the conclusion of one labor was the beginning of another ; either cover- 1 84 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. M ii ing people's feet in Plymouth, or repairing; their mouths in Exeter ; setting types in Malta, or nursing and tutor- ing little children in Bagdad ; writing for the ' Penny Magazine ' at Islington, editing the ' Cyclopaedia ' at Woking, or completing the cycle with the Daily Illus^ tvation at Camden Town. His industry was unceasing from the period when his thrifty grandam taught her quiet and delicate charge to sew patch-work and kettle- holders, to the period when he felt the week by far too short to turn out in it the expected and necessary amount of copy." The reader will not fail to see that in all such exam- ples, industry was a passport to success. Scarcely any virtue attracts attention more than this. Everybody respects it. Even the lazy man is forced to acknowl- edge its worth. Dr. P'ranklin wrote to the "young tradesman": "The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or nine at night, heard by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer ; but if he sees >ou at a billii rd-table, or hears your voice at a tavern when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day, demands it before he can receive it in a lump." In confirmation of Dr. Franklin's view, we present an interesting fact. Last summer, when the days were longest, the sound of a carpenter's hammer fell upon our ear distinctly one morning about four o'clock. The next morning the sound of the hammer was heard again, and the next, and the next, for two weeks. It was so unusual to hear such a sound before seven o'clock in the morning — the time for carpenters to begin their work — that we made an inquiry concern- INDUSTRY. i8s ing it, and learned that a carpenter was building p house for himself, by using time before seven o'clock in the morning, and after the close of his day's labor, six in the afternoon. He was prosecuting the job sin- gle-handed and alone, with a perseverance worthy of a hero. The case awakened general interest in the neighborhood. The industry of the man as well as his pluck became a theme of remark. It increased the credit and character of the carpenter. Citizens con- cluded that he was more of a man than they had sup- posed. Within a short time we heard the sound of more than one hammer on the building. Sometimes there seemed to be half a dozen hammers pounding at a rapid rate. What does that mean t Inquiry showed that other carpenters and citizens, in admiration of his industry and laudable purpose, had volunteered to as- sist the resolute builder. One after another volun- teered his services in this way, extending the kindly aid through several weeks ; and the proprietor had the pleasure of occupying his neat little cottage before win- ter. The volunteer aid rendered was a spontaneous tribute to the charm and value of industry. There is encouragement for men to aid such an industrious man. He makes good use of assistance. " For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance." It is one of the ways by which industry is rewarded. It makes many friends ; they are fast friends, too. Not so with idleness. The idle man does not command respect or confidence. Even though he possess a fair character otherwise, idleness leaves a tmirch on it. The public rcgird him with suspicioa •A m. vt 1 86 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. He makes no progress in wealth, knowledge, or virtue. Rather, he runs behind-hand in all these things. " I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and, lo ! it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered well ; I looked upon it and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." And so the counterpart of that divine maxim which is spoken of industry, becomes true of idleness : " Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that he hath." Perhaps the divine principle, '* to him that hath shall be given," is not more conspicuous in any example ad- duced thus far than it is in that of Burritt, the learned blacksmith. When he was working at his trade in Worcester, at twelve dollars a month, he kept a diary, and the following is the work of a single week : ''Monday, June i8, headache; forty pages 'Cuvier's Theory of the Earth,* sixty-four pages French, eleven hours forging. Tuesday, sixty-five lines of Hebrew, thirty pages of French, ten pages ' Cuvier's Theory,* eight lines Syriac, ten ditto Danish, ten ditto Bohe- mian, nine ditto Polish, fifteen names of stars, ten hours forging. IVcdncsday, twenty-five lines Hebrew, fifty pages of astronomy, eleven hours forging. Thurs- day, fifty-five lines Hebrew, eight ditto Syriac, eleven hours forging. Friday, unwell ; twelve hours forging. Saturday, unwell ; fifty pages ' Natural Philosophy,' ten hours forging. Sunday, lesson for Bible classes." INDUSTRY, 187 He studied even when he ate. " He rose early in the winter mornings, and while the mistress of the house was preparing breakfast by lamplight, he would stand by the mantelpiece with his Hebrew bible on the shelf, and his lexicon in his hand, thus studying while he ate. The same method was pursued at other meals ; mental and physical food being taken together." This was not an extra week of eflfort, but a fair sample of his im- provement of time during his whole life. So it became eminently true in his case, " Whosoever hath, to him shall be given." The remark of Cecil concerning Sir Walter Raleigh, would apply to Burritt equally well : " I knew that he could labor terribly." It is quite obvious why the kindest men will aid the industrious, while they decline to assist the lazy and shiftless. It does no good to aid the latter. It is put- ting money into a bag with holes. Help to the lazy helps laziness. The lazy arc lazier after they have re- ceived assista* :e than they were before. There is less need of laboring when a generous hand has provided for a portion of their wants. Thus a premium on lazi- ness is offered by mistake. It is for this reason that some of the States now give a tramp three months in the house of correction instead of food and lodging at the town-tavern. Experience has proved th?«- tramps in- crease by generous assistance. The good housewife, who furnishes a square meal to one of the tramp frater- nity, will have a dozen of them at her house before the week is out. They have prodigious memories, and never forget where the best food and beds are found. All lazy men bear kinship to tramps. Some of them IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 IM IIIM 1^ :!f 1^ 12.0 1.8 U 111.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STP"T WEBSTER, NY. M580 (716) 873-4503 V iV •1>^ r/v> % k \ ^ '^'U % .^> <0 ^ / 7a ^ n\ V k c,\ ^ i88 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, may be rich, some educated, some gentlemanly ; but as the Chinaman, who was asked if all the nationalities he ever saw agreed in any one thing, said, '* all like lazy." All lazy men " like lazy," and so are kindred in this particular. If all were in the place of tramps they would do as tramps do. But " the hand of the diligent maketh rich." " The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." " Seest thou a man dilgent in his business "i he shall stand before kings ; he shall not stand before mean men." He will not become a tramp. He will be a companion for kings. He will be so much higher and nobler than " mean men," that he will have nothing to do with them. " God helps those who help themselves ; " and this must refer especially to the industrious. Young men should not forget that labor is the parent of wealth. Idleness never added a farthing to the wealth of an individual or nation. Industry creates the riches of the earth ; yes, and all the temporal bless- ings and sources of earthly happiness known to man- kind. Idleness is not the creator of one blessing. We have schools, colleges, galleries oi art, halls of sci- ence, railroads, telegraphs, telephones, commerce, and ten thousand other things of equal value ; and industry gave them all. Not a single one of them is indebted to idleness for its existence. Not palaces, but prisons ; not gems of art, but squalor and wretchedness ; not science and learning, but ignorance and folly, are the products of idleness in this and every land. It is said that five dollars* worth of crude iron be- » comes worth ten dollars when converted into horse- INDUSTRY. 189 shoes ; one hundred and eighty dollars, into table- knives ; six thousand eight hundred dollars, into needles ; two hundred thousand, into watch-springs, and four hundred thousand into hairsprings. Whether this statement contains the exact truth or not, it conveys a very important fact to the reader, viz. : that labor cre- ates this enormous increase of value. The blacksmith adds only hard labor to make his five dollars* worth of iron double its value. The manufacturer of cutlery expends much more labor upon the same quantity of iron, and increases its value thirty-six times. The needle-maker increases it thirteen hundred and sixty times. And so on to the end. It is clear that the work required in the transformation of the crude iron into useful articles makes the difference. It is so throughout the world of toil. The farmer's outlay for seed is small, but the labor he devotes to his thriving acres is great ; and when he gathers the harvest he finds that labor, with God's blessing of rain and sun- shine, has added hundreds of dollars to his gains. It is necessary to give this thought prominence in order to appreciate labor. With such a fact in mind, who can think that labor is ignoble I Who would desire exemp- tion from the divine law of labor t V/ho does not see a good reason for the divine decree, " If any would not work, neither should he eat." If half of the human family should refuse to work, the whole race would starve. A Chinese emperor said to his subjects, " If there is a man who does not work, or a woman who is idle, some one will suffer cold and hunger in the em- pire." The sin of idleness and the virtue of labor are magnified by this fact. i IQO TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, r If labor creates all wealth, then the laboring class constitute the real backbone of the nation. By laboring class we do not mean those alone who toil with their hands. They who work with their brains, in making books, or papers, teaching, preaching, and expounding law — all who contribute by their occupation to the general welfare, are laborers. This brings the ex- tremes of society pretty near together, — the farmer and merchant, the mechanic and professor, stand shoul- der to shoulder, near enough to extinguish the pride of caste which young men are so apt to catch. The humblest artisan may be doing more to increase the wealth of his country than the kid-gloved million naire. Have we not seen, already, that an engine fireman, in a colliery, gave the locomotive to the world } that a mathematical-instrument-maker gave the steam-engine.^ that a barber gave the spinning-jenny ? that a weaver gave the mule } and that thousands more of unlettered laborers have contributed their life-work to the prog- ress of civilization ? Of course, labor is honorable ; it is even more than that when the young man takes it up in the right spirit. Horace Mann said : " Let the young man remember there is nothing derogatory in any employment which ministers to the well-being of the race. It is the spirit that is carried into an em- ployment that elevates or degrades it. The plough- man that turns the clod may be a Cincinnatus or a Washington, or he may be brother to the clod he turns. It is every way creditable to handle the yard-stick and to measure tape ; *^^he only discredit consists in having a soul whose range of thought is as short as the stick INDUSTRY. 191 and as narrow as the tape. There is no glory in the act of affixing a signature by which the treasures of commerce are transferred, or treaties between nations are ratified ; the glory consists in the rectitude of the purpose that approves the one, and the grandeur of the philanthropy that sanctifies the other." No virtue is more inspiring to the other faculties than industry. It seems to rally them with all the inherent power they possess for action. At fifty five years of age, through the failure of his publishers, In whose indebtedness he was involved as silent partner, and perhaps, also, through his own improvidence, Sir Walter Scott found himself in debt to the enormous amount of six hundred thousand dollars. He was a strong believer in the almost superhuman achieve- ments of industry, and he resolved that the last dollar of that indebtedness should be paid. With what might be called an intrepidity of resolution, he set himself to work with his pen to liquidate that vast debt. His resolve to appropriate every moment of time, accom- panied by the disposition to encroach upon the hours of sleep, appeared to arouse every faculty of his soul to strive heroically for the accomplishment of his purpose. Body, mind, and heart combined to pay the debt, and each waxed mightier as volume after volume was turned out, (some of them the greatest productions of his pen,) as if every fibre of his being caught an inspiration from industry's call for nobler deeds. Year after year he toiled with unflagging energy, nor slackened his labor until the final claim upon his purse was honorel. Under the tremendous pressure of work, hia 192 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. physical and mental powers yielded when he laid by his pen, and he died for letters, as patriots die for their country, and martyrs for the truth. Samuel Drew was left an orphan at an early age, and drifted into vicious courses, until loafing, orchard- robbing, boxing, and even worse practices, stained his youth. An accident that nearly cost him his life together with the death of his brother, caused hitn to stop in his mad career, reflect, and reform. Imme- diately industry took the place of idleness, and man- hood asserted its superiority over meanness. Upward and onward he went, though dreaming only of an honorable livelihood at the shoemaker's bench. His in- dustry became proverbial ; and it summoned into active co-operation, not only decision, energy, oneness of purpose, and perseverance, but also intellectual powers which no one dreamed that he possessed. He began to read and study as he could snatch time from his daily work, and soon his mental faculties were on the alert as truly as his physical powers. Of that period he said, twenty years thereafter : "The more I read, the more I felt my own ignorance ; and the more I felt my igno- rance, the more invincible became my energy to sur- mount it. Every leisure moment was now employed in reading ouv*; thing or another. Having to support myself by manual labor, my time for reading was but little, and to overcome this disadvantage, my usual method was to place a book before me while at meat, and at every repast I read five or six pages. Locke's ' Essay on the Understanding' awakened me from my Btupor, and induced me to form a resolution to aban- INDUSTRY, 193 don the grovelling views which I had been accustomed to maintain." He became an active parishioner of Dr. Adam Clark, a class-leader and local preacher, while prosecuting his trade. When Paine published his " Age of Reason," Drew wrote and published an able answer to it, a pamphlet that passed through several editions. This literary effort introduced him to authorship ; and there soon followed his " Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul," with other productions. Still he continued his shoemaking business, not trusting to " the lottery of literary success " for the support of his family. One day he was carrying in his winter's supply of coal when a neighbor told him that it was a compro mise ot dignity for a man of his fame as an author to perform such menial work. Drew's reply was charac- teristic : " The man who is ashamed to carry in his own coal, deserves to sit all winter by an empty grate." He was destined, however, for a higher position ; and subsequently devoted his whole time to literary labors, in which he gained a world-wide reputation. As an example of what industry can accomplish when it commands all the faculties of the soul, his career is remarkable. " ' ' In order to appreciate fully the worth of industry, it is necessary to consider the baneful effects of its oppo- site — idleness. " Idleness, and not work, is a curse." Under its sway, the physical, mental, and moral pow- ers cannot grow. Instead, they become dormant, and exertion is finally a burden. " The slothful man put* 13 194 TAC7\ PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, teth his hand in his bosom ; it grieveth him to take it out again/' He is devoid of ambition. There is no "snap" in him, as a business-man would say. He cowers and whines in the presence of difficulties. He lounges about the store or shop. He is behind time, moves like a snail, and longs for nothing to do. He takes no interest in his employer's business, except to receive pay for his poor labors. He tries the patience of the merchant, manufacturer, teacher, farmer, or whomsoever he serves. He becomes tired quickly, and rests slowly. He brings little to pass, and proves that his room is better than his company. He drops out of his place, and the industrious young man is sought to fill it. " Idleness is the sepulchre of the living man." ** An idle soul shall suffer hunger." Nor is this the worst. Idleness is the parent of vice and crime. " The devil tempts all other men, but idle men tempt the devil." This class are attracter to the billiard-hall, gaming-board, theatre, and bacchaialian club. " The idle brain is the devil's workshop." Plans for sport, conviviality, and revelry, are laid in idle moments. " Satan hath work for idle hands to do." The chaplain of an English prison says : " From my experience of predatory crime, founded upon careful study of a great variety of prisoners, I conclude that habitual dishonesty is to be referred neither to igno- rance, nor to drunkenness, nor to poverty, nor to over* crowding in towns, nor to temptation to surrounding wealth, nor, indeed, to any one of the many indirect causes to which it is sometimes referred ; but mainly to a disposition to acquire property with a less degree i INDUSTRY. 195 of labor than ordinary industry^ Doubtless a careful examination would show that a large majority of the peculations, defalcations, and downright dishonesties of young men in our cities are perpetrated by the idle class. Within a few months, the public journals have reported several c:;ses of young men who have appro- priated the funds of their employers, in quite large amounts, to support themselves in sensual pleasures, such as the theatre, gaming-table, billiard-hall, and kindred resorts furnish. The reformatory institutions of all countries show that the inmates are largely derived from the idle class. At one time the Westboro Reform School reported " five hundred and sixty-nine boys, five-sixths of whom were idle, or had no steady employment." A few years since a young man was sentenced to the state-prison of Connecticut for forging pension papers. While changing his own for the prison suit, he remarked to the officer, ** / never did a day's work in my life^ The officer replied, " No wonder you have brought up here." The laziest man we ever heard of was in the state- prison of New Hampshire ; he chopped off one of his thumbs, and afterwards attempted to cut off one of his arms, in order to escape the daily labor required of him at the turning-lathe. When that man got into prison, he went to his own place as really as Judas did when he committed suicide. Spurgeon, the great English preacher, says : " If the devil catch a man idle, he will set him to work, find him tools, and before long pay him .vages. Is not this where the drunkenness comes from that fills our towns tg6 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. and villages with misery ? Idleness is the key of beg- gary and the root of all evil I am not the only one who condemns the idle for once when I was going to give our minister a pretty long list of the sins of one of our people that he was asking after, I began with, * He is dreadful lazy.* * That is enough/ said the old gentleman ; * all sorts of sins are in that one ; that is the sign by which to know a full-fledged sin- ner.* '* Professor Blakie, of the University of Edin- burgh, in his late work on " Self-Culture," says ; " It is a grand safeguard when a mSin can say, I have no time for nonsense ; no call for unreasonable dissipation ; no need for that sort of stimulus which wastes itself in mere titillation ; variety of occupation is my greatest pleasure, and when my task is finished I know how to lie fallow, and with soothing rest prepare myself for another bout of action.'* Industry yields more substantial happiness than idle- ness, even when the latter is sustained by ample wealth and official distinction. We have just seen that Samuel Drew sought gratification in those things which indo- lence provides. True, poverty instead of wealth was his inheritance. But when he became a changed man he found more real joy on his shoemaker's bench, early and late, than he ever dreamed of before. The cele- brated Douglas Jerrold, like Drew, was poor in his youth. Unlike Drew, however, he loved books, and was not viciously inclined. He learned* the art of printing, and the first wages he received for labor was memorable in his life because it enabled him to minis- ter to the necessities of his needy parents. His biog- INDUSTRY, 197 of rapher describes the event thus : " The young printer brought home, joyfully enough, his first earnings. Very dreary was his home, with his poor weak father sitting in the chimney-corner ; but there was a fire in the boy that would light up that home ; at any rate, they would be cheerful for one day. The apprentice, with the first solid fruits of industry in his pocket, sallied forth to buy the dinner. The ingredients of a beefsteak-pie were quickly got together, and the purchaser returned to be rewarded by the proud look of his father." The millionnaire cannot extract from his vast treasures the real enjoyment that young Jerrold did from the price of a dinner which his own industry earned. There was self-respect and a sort of royal self-reliance begotten by the toil, whose fruits lighted up his father's wrinkled face. Nor was the joy confined to his own breast. Industry bequeaths a loftier spirit than that. Its highest type of enjoyment is realizea w^en it appropriates the di- vine maxim, " It is more V >ed to give than to receive.** 198 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. X. ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY. '''T^IME is money," it is said. To the money-maker X '* time is money " without doubt. To the young man who is sincerely striving to make the most of him- self, time is much more than money ; it is culture, character, usefulness. If money were the only advan- tage to be extracted from time, the waste of it would not be the "greatest prodigality," as Franklin claimed. But the waste of it may prove the waste of what is •00 precious for money to buy. It may be the waste of enterprise and energies without which neither money nor self-culture can be won. Indeed, to waste the frag- ments of time upon youthful follies, may be to throw away the chances of success. It is here that economy of time becomes a duty, and should be made a study ; for, as already intimated, a faithful improvement of leisure hours alone will accomplish what it has accom- plished again and again, — excellence in art, science, literature, and trade. Every young man will have leisure hours ; none should have idle hours. The former have been called "the gold-dust of time." Jewellers resort to various expedients to save the gold-dust that flies about their establishments. In this way a wise economy saves ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY. 199 them thousands of dollars annually. Let a simLar economy be practised in saving and improving spare moments, and a wealth of culture will be the result. It may appear singular, but it is a fact nevertheless, that many of the old writers and literary men were trained to business. Their literary pursuits were followed as a pastime, chiefly prosecuted in those leisure hours they could snatch from their secular avocations. Spenser was secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, in which position the time he could devote to literature was at best fragmentary. Bacon was a very industrious law- yer when he was made Lord Chancellor ; but he found time in his public life, that was crowded with duties, to distinguish himself as a writer in law, literature, and metaphysics. Chaucer, who was " the father of English poetry," was a soldier several years, and then a custom- house officer. He won his fame as a poet by the profit- able use of leisure hours while he was thus busily em- ployed in secular work. Robert Burns was a farmer, somewhat troubled to keep soul and body together by his labors, yet he proved to the world that he was a poet of the highest order while engaged in tilling the soil. Milton was a teacher in his early manhood, in which vocation he had more spare time than afterwards, when he became secretary of the Commonwealth, and still later when he was secretary of the Lord Protector. His time for literary culture must have been fractional in the extreme, yet the result has influenced the world. Isaac Taylor, author of the " Natural History of Enthu- siasm," was an engraver of patterns for Manchester calico-printers, and earned his subsistence in that em* 20O TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, ployment Rogers, the poet, and Grote, author of the " History of Greece," were bankers. John Stuart Mill and Charles Lamb were clerks in the office of the prin- cipal examiner in the East India House, and both of Ihem laid the foundation of their fame in the literary world by the best use of spare time while there em- ployed. In the same way the Humboldt brothers became eminent in literature and statesmanship while prosecut- ing their mining business. Several French states- men, whose time must have been quite fully occupied in public duties, have made for themselves a name in literature. We refer to De Tocqueville, Thiers, Guiot, and Lamartine. Raleigh was a soldier, sailor, and discoverer, by turns. Sydney was a politician and diplomatist. Dante was a druggist, and afterwards a diplomatist. Galileo was a physician, and Schiller a surgeon. Not one of these men enjoyed more than snatches of time in which to perforin literary labor, at least not until they had laid the foundation of their future greatness. The same was true of the illustrious men who have already been cited in these pages. We have seen that Dr. Franklin was a printer, having no time for reading or study except such as he could command before and after each day's work was done, and such as he could save from the hours allotted to meals. He said, " Leis- ure is time for doing something useful ; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never ; for a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things." He could say with Cicero : " Even my leisure hours have their occupation." Cicero thought that many ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY. 201 in » around him wasted time enough upon amusements to make them learned and influential, were it improved ; and he said : What others give to public shows and entertainments, to festivity, to amusements, nay, even to mental and bodily rest, I give to study and philoso- phy." We have seen how Davy established a labora- tory in the attic, and when his day's work was done, there began a course of scientific investigations that continued through his memorable life ; how Cobbett learned grammar when he was a soldier, sitting on the edge of his guardbed ; how Wilson devoted his even- ings to reading, and read a thousand volumes during his apprenticeship ; and how Lincoln acquired arith- metic during the winter evenings at Armstrong's, mastered grammar by catching up his book at odd moments when store-keeping in Salem, and studied law when following the business of surveyor. The ** Diary " of Amos Lawrence has this explana- tion : "When I first came to this city I took lodgings in the family of a widow who had commenced keeping boarders for a living. I was one of her first, and per- haps had been in the city two months when I went to this place ; and she, of course, while I remained, was inclined to adopt any rules for the boarders that I pre- scribed. The only one I ever made was, that, after supper, all the boarders who remained in the public room should be quiet, at least for one hour, to give those who chose to study or read an Opportunity of doing so without disturbance. The consequence was, that we had the most quiet and improving set of young men in the town. The few who did not wish to com 202 TACT, PUSH, AND PRIACIPLE. ply with the regulation went abroad after tea, some- times to the theatre, sometimes to other places, but, tc a maUy vecame bankrupt in after life, not only in fot' tune but in reputation ; while a majority of the other class sustained good characters, and some are now living who are ornaments to society, and fill important stations. The influence of this small measure will per- haps be felt throughout generations. It was not less favorable on myself than it was on others." It was during Douglas Jerrold's apprenticeship that he arose with the dawn of day to study his Latin grammar, and read Shakespeare and other works, one or iwo hours before his daily labor began at the print- ing-office. At night, after the work of the day was done, he added one or two hours more to his studies. In this way he actually accomplished more literary work in a week than three-fourths of the students who attend school constantly. At seventeen years of age he had mastered Shakespeare. When any one quoted a line of Shakespeare, he could immediately add the next line. He often said that young men made a great mistake in not devoting their leisure time to reading, especially to reading " Shakespeare and the Bible." Samuel Budgett said to a clerk who was given to wasting a few minutes at a time : " If you waste five minutes that is not much, but probably if you waste five minutes yourself you lead some one else to waste five minutes, and that makes ten ; if a third follow your example, that makes a quarter of an hour. Now, there are about one hundred and eighty of us here, and if every one wasted five minutes in a day, what would ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY, 203 age it come to ? Let me see. Why ! it would be fifteen hours, and fifteen hours a day would be ninety hours, about eight days working-time in a week, j#id in a year would be four hundred days.' Do you think we could ever stand waste like that ? " The young man was confounded by such a presentation of the subject, and he acquired such a view of wasted time as ho never entertained before. Budgett's daily life was an enforcement of his counsels ; for he never wasted a moment. He kept some useful book at hand, which he would catch up when a spare moment came to him, and in this way he acquired a large amount of knowl- edge. Pie was very fond of poetry, and made himself so familiar with the English poets that he could quote them upon almost every theme that was broached in conversation. It was accomplished solely by the im- provement of a few spare moments at a time. Gideon Lee encroached too largely upon his time of rest in order to improve his mind. He deeply felt the deprivation of his early life, and resolved to repair as much as possible the deficiency of his boyhood in mental training. He provided himself with a library of useful books, and all the time he could command, outside of his extensive business, was spent in that library. At one time his health was so impaired by close application, that his physician ordered that be should not read a book for a year. Mr. Lee sent his entire library, reserving only his Bible, to the auction- room, that the temptation might be effectually removed. For one year he read no book except the Bible. His health was restored, another library gradually accurau* Iji 204 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. lated ; and few business-men in our country were ever so well read and so literary as was he — the result of an economical use of spare time for mental culture. We have spoken of Peter Brooks, who was one of the great merchants of Boston, and after retiring with a fortune, was the president of the first insurance company organized in this country. Like Gideon Lee, he devoted his leisure time to books. Edward Everett said of him : " No person, not professedly a student, knew more of the standard or sound current literature of our language." His little library contained the works of the principal English authors, which in the course of his life he had carefully perused ; and the standard reviews, and new books of value, found their place upon his table, and were taken up by him each in its turn. There was no new publication of importance, and no topic of leading interest discussed by the contemporary press, on which he was not able to converse with dis- crimination and intelligence. It was at once surprising and instructive to see how much could be effected in this way, by the steady and systematic application of a few hours daily, and this in the way of relaxation from more active employments. The biographer of Robert Bloomfield says : " His literary acquirements appear to have been all made during the time he was learning the business of a shoe- maker, and afterwards, while he worked at the same business as a journeyman." A writer, speaking of his eminence and great learning late in life, thus refers to his boyhood by way of contrast : " I have him in my mind's eye : a little boy, not bigger than boys generally 1 ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY. 205 ] are at twelve years of age. When I met him and his mother at the inn in London, he strutted before us dressed just as he came from keeping sheep, hogs, &c., his shoes filled full of stumps in the heels. He, look- ing about him, slipped up ; his nails were unused to a flat pavement I remember viewing him as he scam- pered up ; how small he v/as ! I little thought that diminutive, fatherless boy would be one day known and esteemed by the most learned, the most respected, the wisest, and the best men of the kingdom." So it was, however ; and the thing was accomplished by the diligent improvement of spare moments, and by that alone. Julius Caesar was not only a great general, but a great economist of time, and a great worker. In ad- dition to his military and political labors, he found time to write his remarkable " Commentaries." He wrote much, also, upon history, astronomy, and miscel- laneous subjects. It was said that his ship once took ■fire in the bay of Alexandria, and he was compelled to leap into the water and swim to the shore. He had employed his spare moments on shipboard upon his Commentaries, and when he left the burning ship he took them with him, and bore them safely to the shore. The life of Caesar is one of the most instructive on record for the amount of labor performed and the value of leisure hours to the grand result The study of it will go far to confirm the statement of sevcal writers whom we have quoted, that the great differen :e between men is not found in talents so much as i* \b in energy — indomitable will. 206 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, We have spoken of Elihu Burritt. A letter from him to a friend in Worcester, Mass., who desired to learn more of his history, was read to a common-school convention, in Taunton, Mass., by Governor Everett, in 1838. He introduced it to show how much can be accomplished by the careful improvement of spare time. The letter is so deeply interesting and instruc- tive chat we quote the whole of it. *' I was the youngest of many brethren, and my par- ents were poor. My means of education were limited to the advantages of a district school ; and those, again, were circumscribed by my father's death, which deprived me, at the age of fifteen, of those scanty opportunities which I had previously enjoyed. A few months after his decease I apprenticed myself to a blacksmith in my native village. Thither I carried an indomitable taste for reading, which I had previously acquired through the medium of the social library, all the historical works in which I had, at that time, pe- rused. At the expiration of a little more than half my apprenticeship, I suddenly conceived the idea of study- ing Latin. Through the assistance of an elder brother, who had himself obtained a collegiate education by his own exertions, I completed my Virgil during the evenings of one winter. After some time devoted to Cicero and a few other Latin authors, I commenced the Greek. At this time it was necessary that I should devote every hour of daylight, and a part of the evening, to the duties of my apprenticeship. Still I carried my Greek grammar in my hat, and often found a moment, when I was heating some large iron, ECONOAfV OF TirE AND MONEY, 207 when I could place my book open before me against the chimney of my forge, and go through with tuptOy ttipteiSf tuptei, unperceived by my fellow-apprentices, and, to my confusion of face, with a detrimental effect to the charge in my fire. At evening I sat down, un- assisted and alone, to the Iliad of Homer, twenty books of which measured my progress in that language dur- ing the evenings of another winter. I next turned to the modern languages, and was much gratified to learn that my knowledge of the Latin furnished me with a key to the literature of most of the languages of Eu- rope. This circumstance gave a new impulse to the desire of acquainting myself with the philosophy, deri- vation, and affinity of the different European tongues. I could not be reconciled to limit myself, in these in- vestigations, to a few hours, after the arduous labors of the day. I therefore laid down my hammer, and went to New Haven, where I recited, to native teachers, in French, Spanish, German, and Italian. I returned, at the expiration of two years, to the forge, bringing with me such books, in those languages, as I could procure. When I had read these books through, I commenced the Hebrew, with an awakened desire of examining another field ; and by assiduous application I was en- abled in a few weeks to read this language with such facility, that I allotted it to myself, as a task, to read two chapters in the Hebrew Bible before breakfast each morning ; this, and an hour at noon, being all the time that I could devote to myself during the day. "After becoming somewhat familiar with this lan- (;uage, I looked around me for the means of initiating i 208 TACT, PUSH, AND PRIAXIPLE. myself into the fields of Oriental literature, and, to my deep regret and concern, I found my progress in this direction hedged up by the want of requisite books. I immediately began to devise means of obviating this obstacle ; and, after many plans, I concluded to seek a place as a sailor on board some ship bound to Europe, Ihmking in this way to have opportunities of collecting at different ports such works, in the modern and Ori- ental languages, as I found necessary to this object. I left the forge and my native place, to carry this plan into execution. I travelled on foot to Boston, a dis- tance of more than a hundred miles, to find some vessel bound to Europe. In this I was disappointed ; and, while revolving in my mind what step next to take, I accidentally heard of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester. I immediately bent my steps towards this place. I visited the Hall of the American Antiqua- rian Society, and found there, to my infinite gratifica- tion, such a collection of ancient, modern, and Oriental languages, as I never before conceived to be collected in one place ; and, sir, you may imagine with what sentiments of gratitude I was affected when, upon evincing a desire to examine some of these rich and rare works, I \/as kindly invited to an unlimited par- ticipation in all the benefits of this noble institution. Availing myself of the kindness of the directors, I spend about three hours daily at the hall, which, with an hour at noon and about three in the evening, make up the portion of the day which I appropriate to my studies, the rest being occupied in arduous manual labor. Through the facilities afforded by this institu- ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY, 20^ tion, I have been able to add so much to my previous acquaintance with the ancient, modern, and Oriental languages, as to be able to read upwards of fifty of them, with more or less facility." Such a record is a keen rebuke to those young men who complain that they have no time to devote to mental culture. Perhaps they ask with a degree ot self-confidence, " Are we to have no time for pleasure ? no time f~r recreation } " Yes, surely. Recreation is indispensable. Neither body nor mind can be strained to its utmost tension for a long time without perma- nent injury. But it may not be necessary for you to have what a class of young men call ** amusements." It is not necessary for you to go to the billiard-hall or to the dance or club-room for recreation. The mind may be unbent in ways that are less perilous and equally beneficial. A change of employment was recre- ation to Burritt and others of whom we have spoken. Leaving the forge for the library, and laying aside the hammer for a book, is recreation. One or two hours labor on the farm or in the garden, or a walk of a few hours in the fields in the interests of botany or geol- ogy, is recreation. We hold that it is better recreation for the student to till the soil for an hour or two daily, saw wood, or continue his studies by observation in a stroll over the hills and through the valleys, than to play at billiards or any other game, to attend the thea- tre, or to participate in the hilarity of the bail-room or summer watering-place. Young men are disposed to confound amusements with recreation. They are en- tirely distinct Recreation is not necessarily amuse* 14 210 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. ments. Confounding them has led to the waste ol much precious time in the sports and games men- tioned. Hundreds of young men might become re- nowned in letters, or in ce and literature, by devoting only the time they waste in doubtful and dangerous amusements. The time that many kill " at billiards, theatres, and clubs," was the time that made Hugh Miller, Burritt, Wilson, and many others illus- trious. Hundreds of young men who complain that they have not time to read, or to devote to self-culture in other ways, throw away the very opportunities ne- cessary, in the manner indicated. And this " killing time," as some thoughtlessly christen the waste, is a sort of murder for which atonement can never be made. There is no blood of goats or bullocks that can wash away the guilt. The sin of it is written as with a pen of iron upon the soul, which "will bear the blight forever." The reader may take a survey for himself, in city or country, and he will learn the value of leisure moments to promote intelligence in common life. There is Mr. A., a farmer, and Mr. B., a mechanic, and Mr. C, a merchant, distinguished above the mass of citizens for their knowledge and familiarity with all the topics of the times. They represent a small class of citizens who are influential in town affairs because their intelligence qualifies them to fill offices of trust. They are select- men, school committee, representatives to the State legislature speakers in town meeting, debaters in the lyceum, county commissioners, and senators. Now, it will be found that some of these men owe their intelli« ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY, 21I gence and position to the use of spare time, out of business hours, in reading ; and the others owe theirs to the equivalent of reading — observation. One class have spent leisure time in poring over books, the other class have studied men and things instead of books. The same is true of women. There is Mrs. D., who is one of the best conversationists in town ; there is Mrs. E., who is very efficient in the direction of be- nevolent societies ; and there is Mrs. F., whose intelli- gence makes her the life of the social circle. These are all housekeepers, and they represent a class in every community who rank higher than the mass of women for intelligence. There is a class of young la- dies, too, whose culture and attainments in knowledge fit them for teachers, book-keepers, clerks, and public readers. Compared with the mass of young ladies, they are much superior in culture to their sisters. An examination will prove that these women and young ladies have devoted leisure time to reading. They have made themselves more or less familiar with the current literature of the day. They have read the newspapers at least ; and a female, as readily as a male, may make herself intelligent by reading the jour- nals of the day. Neither man nor woman can be con- sidered intelligent who is not posted upon the current events of the day. And bits of time, that almost any avocation will afford, are sufficient, if improved, to make one familiar with this knowledge of the world. A /ery remarkable illustration of our subject which has not been frequently presented to the public, for 212 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, some reason, is found in the late Thomas Dowse, ol Cambridgeport, Mass. He was a leather-dresser, and worked at that business all his life. But he found time out of business hours, by reading and study, to make himself a companion of educated men. By economy in the use of his money he was able to purchase vol- ume after volume of history, biography, travels, litera- ture, science, and art ; and by economy of time he was able to master every book that he purchased. Edward Everett, who was one of his personal friends, said of his library, in a public address in Boston : " He has the most excellent library of English books, for its size, with which I am acquainted. The books have been selected with a good judgment, which would do credit to the most accomplished scholar, and have been imported from England by himself. What is more im- portant thap having the books, their proprietor has made himself well acquainted with their contents by devoting his leisure hours to them. Among them are several volumes of the most costly and magnificent engravings. Connected with his library is an exceed- ingly interesting series of paintings, in water-colors, which a fortunate accident placed in his possession, and several valuable pictures purchased by himself. The whole forms a treasure of taste and knowledge, not surpassed, if equalled, by anything of the kind in the country." Well improved leisure time made such a fact possible. At his death, Mr. Dowse left this valuable library to Harvard College. His spare mo- ments did a better thing for that institution than the whole lives of hundreds of its graduates have done. ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY. 213 Dr. John Mason Good actually accomplished his long and elaborate poetic translation of Lucretius in the streets of London when he was going from one patient to another. Dr. Binney was a distinguished professor of music, and travelled from place to place on horseback to give instruction to pupils. In these travels he acquired a thorough knowledge of the French and Italian languages. Henry Kirk White acquired an excellent knowledge of Greek by studying it only while passing to and from a lawyer's office, month after month. Still more remarkable is the case of Charles G. Frost, of our own times, whose death has just been announced at his home in Vermont at a good old age. He was a shoemaker, and was appren- ticed at fourteen years of age. He resolved at that time to devote one hour a day to reading and study. Thirty-one years afterwards, when he was forty-five years of age, it was said of him : " In mathematical science he has made so great attainments that it is doubtful whether there can be found ten mathema- ticians in the United States who are capable, in case of his own embarrassment, of lending him any relief." At that time Mr. Frost said of himself : " The first book which fell into my hands was Hutton's Mathe- matics, an English work of great celebrity, a complete mathematical cour.se, which I then commenced, n? -nely, at fourteen. I finished it at nineteen without an in- structor. I then took up those studies to which I could apply my knowledge of mathematics, as me- chanics and mathematical astronomy. I think I can say that I possess, and have successfully studied, ali 214 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, the most approved English and American works on these subjects. Next, natural philosophy engaged my attention, which I followed up with close observation, gleaning my information from a great many sources. The works that treat of them at large are rare and expensive. But I have a considerable knowledge of geology, ornithology, entomology, and conchology." Botany was a favorite study with him, and he won a place fairly among the best botanists of the land. He made extensive surveys in his own State of the trees, shrubs, herbs, ferns, mosses, lichens, and fungi. He pos- sessed the third best collection of ferns in the United States. He turned his attention to meteorology, and de- voted some time to the study of storms and the move- ment of erratic and extraordinary bodies in the air and heavens. He found that a knowledge of Latin was indispensable to the prosecution of some of his studies, and he acquired it, and could read it with great free- dom. He made himself familiar with the standard poets of England and America, as well as the history of his own and other countries. Books that he read and studied were added to his library, of which he said : "I have a library which I divide into three depart- ments — scientific, religious, literary — comprising the standard works published in this country, containing five or six hundred volumes. I have purchased these books from time to time with money saved for the purpose by some small self-denials." This was what he had accomplished at forty-five years of age by rigidly observing his one-hour rule. We do not mean that he never devoted more than one ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY, 215 of hour a day to his books, but never less. By the im- provement of no greater amount of time than many young men lounge and smoke away, he surprised the public by his attainments. We have now presented many eminent examples of the economical use of time, and some of them show that leisure hours have wrought better for the users than full time has done for others. It has been said of a European cathedral, that when the architect came to insert the stained-glass windows he was one win- dow short. This was a great disappointment, and the builder scarcely knew what to do. At length an ap- prentice in the manufactory where the windows were made came forward and said that he thought he could make a window, that would harmonize with the others and preserve the desired effect, from the bits of glass cast aside when the other windows were made. So he went to work, collected the fragments, assorted and studied them, and finally produced a window that was put into the vacant space, conceded to be the most beautiful of all. In like manner we have seen that some men have made the finest attainments and built up the most substantial and comely characters from the bits of time that have been broken from the edges of a busy life. Jv ^ All these sentiments are enforced by the truth that lost moments can never be regained. Lost wealth may be replaced by unremitting industry ; lost knowl- edge may be restored by study ; and lost health by care and medical treatment ; but lost time is gone forever. Some one beautifully advertised, " Lost yes- 2l6 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. terday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, as they are lost forever." Great plea for the economy of time ! Economy of money is not less important than econ- omy of time. Dr. Franklin said, " A penny saved is as good as a penny earned." He wrote to the young tradesman : " The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality ; that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both." He was prolific in his counsels on this subject. Many of his best max- ims relate to this subject, as follows : " If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as of getting. The Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than her incomes." " A small leak will sink a ship." And he illustrates his utterance by saying : " You may think that a little punch now and then, diet a little more costly, clothes a little finer, and a little entertainment now and then, can be no great matter. But remember, many a little makes a mickle." " Silks and satins, scarlet and velvet, put out the kitchen-fire." " What maintains one vice would bring up two chil- dren." " A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean wil'," ** Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves." ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY, 217 he ind ks a ike These maxims embrace all the practical wisdom the young man needs in the use of money. Nor is it a niggardly course of action that is recommended here. That is not a wise economy. Dr. Franklin himself says : " The use of money is all the advantage there is in having money." We believe that it is a grand priv- ilege for young men to make money. Perhaps it is an important duty. Certainly if a wise economy and Christian principle control the method of money-mak- ing, duty is not *"oo strong a word to use in this con- nection. We have seen that Wesley claimed it to be a Christian duty to "make all you can, give all you can, and save all you can." It is a perfect rule, so far as we can judge, and he who reduces it to practice must be a perfect man. A better school of moral dis- cipline he could not enter, than to have his whole life controlled by this rule, and his character formed and developed under it. Saving is certainly a duty. It is the only way to prevent going behindhand in finances and to become forehanded. The author knew a farmer who was wont to do considerable business as a justice of the peace. A short time before his death in old age he told a neighbor that he was worth sixty thousand dollars. The neighbor expressed his surprise and inquired, " How in the world have you done it ? " *' By saving what other people waste," was the rich man's reply. We believe that successful business-men, whether merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, or farmers, hold that economy is absolutely necessary to success. Mr. Cobden said to an audience of working-men, \ 2l8 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, several years ago : " The world has always been divided into two classes : those who have saved and those who have spent ; the thrifty and the extravagant. The building of all the houses, the mills, the bridges, and the ships, and the accomplishment of all other great works which have rendered man civilized and happy, has been done by the savers, the thrifty ; and those who have wasted their resources have always been their slaves." Those who build and run the mills not only make money, but save money. We asked a marketman in the country, who was selling a cart-load of water- melons a week in their season, " Who buys your mel- ons ? " " Those who live from hand to mouth," was his answer. Not the wealthy, or the well-to-do men of the town — the employers ; but the employe's, some of whom swear that capital is oppressing them, and that corporations ** have no souls." Amos Lawrence wrote to one of his sons upon this subject as an element of his success : " I practised a system of rigid economy, and never allowed myself to spend a fourpence for unnecessary things until I had acquired it." Just before he was forty-two years of age he recorded the amount of property in his diary and wrote : " The amount of property is great for a man under forty-two years of age, who came to this town when he was twenty-one years old, with no other pos- sessions than a common country education, a sincere love for his own family, and habits of industry, economy^ and sobriety. Under God it is these same self-denying habits, and a desire I always had to please, so far as I could without sinful compliance, that I can now look ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY, 219 back upon and see as the true ground of my success. I have many things to reproach myself with, but among them is not idling away my time, or spending money for such things as are improper^ Subsequently Mr. Lawrence established scholarships at Williams College ; and also in other ways he assisted indigent students ; but there was always this condi- tion, that his money should not be given to students who used tobacco or intoxicating drinks, one or both. In this way he protested against these habits ds peril- ous and wasteful. The young man who would use them is not economical, and therefore he is not deserv- ing of aid. This was his view, and he conscient usly adhered to his conditions. He did the same thing in his warehouse : he denied positions to young men who used these objectionable articles. Their chances of success, in his view, were smaller than those of the opposite class. ' Let us examine this matter more discriminately. At the dinner-table of an hotel we heard one young man say to another, ** It costs me fifty cents a day for cigars, and on Sundays it costs me a dollar." Doubt- less this young man had never stopped to think of the waste of such an expenditure in twenty, thirty, or fifty years. T.he subject of economy as related to future riches or position was foreign to his thoughts. Fifty cents per day put into the savings-bank and improved semi-annually according to the custom of savings-banks, would amount to over sixty-seven thousand dollars in fifty years. Samuel Budgett insisted that the want of economy 220 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, doomed " hundreds of business-men to failure." He always claimed that economy was one of the cardinal principles of his own success. He insisted that his clerks should practise it both for his own sake and theirs also. He would correct a clerk for using too much twine in tying packages, and too much paper in wrapping them. As we have seen, he required that the old nails about the establishment should be saved, straightened, and used ; and no counsel from him to young men was more common than that relating to the value of economy in money-matters. One day he saw a lad following a load of hay to pick up the locks that fell therefrom. He stopped to commend the boy, and recommended him to practise economy as a duty and advantage ; and then he gave him a shilling. He was walking in the road one day with a female servant, when he found a potato. He picked it up and pre- sented it to his servant, accompanied with a practical lecture upon economy. He promised to furnish land on which to plant it, with its products from year to year. The pledge was accepted and the potato planted. The yield was thirteen potatoes the first year, ninety- three the second year, a barrel-full the third year — and had the experiment been continued for fifty years, Budgett could not have found land enough for planting the last year's harvest. Here we have not only the importance he attached to economy, but also an illus- tration of the law of accumulation. The multiplica- tion of potatoes is not more marvellous than the in- crease of the cigar-money under the manipulations of the savings-bank. ECONOMY OF TIME AND MONEY. 221 Recently the following fact was given us. A me- chanic, about thirty years of age, having a wife and four children, was wont to step out of his shop twice a day into a beer-saloon close by, where he paid ten cents daily for the two glasses. One day his thoughts ran thus : " I am poor ; my family need every cent I can earn ; it is growing more and more expensive every year ; soon I shall want to educate my children. Ten cents a day for beer! Let me see: that is sixty cents a week even if I drink no beer on Sunday. Sixty cents a week ! that is thirty-one dollars and fifty cents a year ! And it does me no good ; it may do me harm. Let me see " — and here he took a piece of chalk and figured the matter on a board — "I can buy two barrels of flour, one hundred pounds of sugar, five pounds of tea, and six bushels of potatoes for that sum." After a brief pause he said audibly, " I will never waste an- other cent on beer." And he never has. More than that, his good resolution seemed to start him upon a new lease of life ; for he soon became ambitious for a higher social position, and the change in h 3 family was marked by increasing intelligence and a desire for bet- ter things. And this illustrates the direct tendency of adopting a good rule of action. Its tendency is up- wards. The discipline to be derived from a wise economy of money is better by far than the money saved. It is a culture that develops manhood ; and hence it is one element of success. To practise this virtue is to act in harmony with Nature. Nature never wastes anything. A particle of matter is not lost. The leaves fall and decay ; the 222 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. flowers wither and die ; the rains sink into the earth ; the snow-drifts disappear before the breath of Spring ; wood burns to ashes ; — but nothing is lost. In other forms all these things contribute to the on-going of the universe ; and without this economical arrangement we know not that the Divine plan could succeed. Sav- ing time and money to facrlitate the progress of human life and character is but the imitation of Him who gathered up the fragments that nothing should be lost. It has been well said that the way a man makes his money, together with his way of spending both hia time and money, reveals bis character. PUNCTUAUTY. :23 PUNCTUALITY. PUNCTUALITY is styled by a good writer, " a homely but solid virtue." That it is " solid " is nndeniable, but that it is " homely " is not so clear. Its opposite — tardiness — is '* homely," and deformed, too. No one on the way to success can fall in love with it Young men who are on the wrong road may flirt with it, but all others avoid it. When Dr. Adam Clarke was a young man he saw a copy of Erasmus's Greek Tes- tament advertised by a bookseller. The next morning he rose early, went to the bookstore and purchased the Testament. Two or three hours later, an eminent scholar called to buy the book. "You are too late," said the proprietor ; " it is gone." " Too late ! " ex- claimed the scholar ; " why, I came as soon as I had taken my breakfast." The bookseller answered, " Adam Clarke came and purchased it before breakfast^ The punctuality that we commend means ^^ before break' fast " sometimes. The maxim is, " Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day." Adam Clarke's notto was better than that, and more sure to win suc- cess, namely, " Never put off till after breakfast what can be done before^ That is promptitude which wins. By punctuality, we mean what Buxton meant by it 224 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. when he wrote to his son in college. He said : " Bo punctual. I do not mean merely being in time for lec- tures ; but I mean that spirit out of which punctuality grows — that love of accuracy, precision, and vigor which makes the efficient man ; the determination that what you have to do shall be done in spite of all petty obstacles, and finished at once and finally The punctuality which I desire for you involves and compre- hends the exact arrangement of your time. It is i matter on which much depends. Fix how much tim* you will spend on each object, and adhere all but abso- lutely to your plan. * Method/ says Cecil, ' is like packing things in a box : a good packer will get in twice as mucK as a bad one.* If you wish to be the effective man, you must set about it earnestly and at once." The habit of being prompt once formed extends to everything — meeting friends, paying debts, going to church, reach- ing and leaving place of business, keening promise?, retiring at night and rising in the morning, going to the cars, lecture, and town-meeting, and, indeed, ro every relation and act, however trivial it may seem to observers. ** Say well is good, but do well is better." Nelson said that " he owed his success to being al- ways fifteen minutes before the time." That is not the punctuality we commend, that is, if he referred to all engagements. There would be much waste of time in the universal application of this rule. To be fifteen minutes in advance of the time to meet a committee or to take the train, is wholly unnecessary. Four such engagements in a single day would waste an hour. We plead for promptness, right on time. It is not more dif- PUxVCTUAUTY. 225 ficult to establish that habit than it is the habit of being fifteen minutes in advance of time. Members of Con- gress used to set their watches by the appearance of John Quincy Adams in his seat. " Is it not time to call to order.?" said a member to the speaker of the House. " No ; Mr. Adams is not in his seat," an- swered the speaker. It is said of Astor, Vanderbilt, Hale, Lee, and others, that they rose at just such an hour in the morning, to a minute ; and at night, though a house full of company would detain them, on pre- cisely their hour for retiring they would bid the vis- itors " good-night," and promptly retire. Some people might call them rude, or wanting in good breeding ; but a strictly punctual man can aftbrd to be called rude ; at least he can better afford that than to relinquish his excellent habit. This virtue is especially needful in our times of steam and telegraphs, when rapidity of action is the order of the day. It is absolutely necessary to crowd more into a day and hour than it was a hundred years ago. " Old fogies " may protest against it sharply, but the fact remains, nevertheless ; and the wise way for men of action to do, is to accept the situation and go ahead. Sydney Smith happily put the matter thus : " In order to do anything in this world that is worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank, and thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. It will not do to be perpetually calculating and adjusting nice chances ; it did all very well before the Flood, when a man could consult his friends upon an intended publication for a 15 226 TACT, PUSH, AND TRIA'CIPLE. hundred and fifty years, and then live to see its success for six or seven centuries afterwards ; but at present a man waits and doubts and hesitates, and consults bis brother, and his uncle, and his first-cousins, and his particular friends, till one day he finds that he is sixty- five years of age ; that he has lost so much time in consulting first-cousins and particular friends, that he has no more time left to follow their advice." Very true. The prompt man may sometimes make a mis- take. Who does not ? But if a golden opportunity be lost, what matters it whether it be lost by haste or dila- toriness ? The evil has come — the lost opportunity. How it came is of little consequence in comparison with the fact of its coming. It is the mission of promptness to seize opportunities, and make the most of them. At Areola, Napoleon saw that the battle was going against him, and quickly as possible he rallied twenty-five horsemen, gave them trumpets, and ordered them to charge with a terrible blast and dash upon the foe. This prompt manoeuvre turned the tide of battle and won the day. Such tactics were possible with him because his habit of promptness was unfaltering. Now is God's time both in business and religion. Punctuality commands the confidence of the public. If a young man lacks executive ability, this virtue will go far to atone for* that deficiency. His employer might dismiss him were he unpunctual at the same time that he is somewhat inefficient. But his habit of punctuality is so valuable, that his employer overlooks some shortcomings in order to avail himself of that This virtue makes a man reliable. He is found at bis PUNCrUALlTV. 227 post always. He is in his place at the time. Whoever else fails, he is on hand. And the young man who is never late wins the confidence of his employer. Wash- ington's secretary, Hamilton, was always behind time, and on being reproved by the General for so bad a habit, the secretary excused himself on the ground that his watch did not keep correct time. " Then you must get a new watch," replied Washington, "or I must have another secretary." When the habit of being punctual is once thoroughly established, the young man will require no watch. That habit is bet- ter than a chronometer for him. His employer may set his chronometer by him, as congressmen did their watches by John Quincy Adams. Such a young man makes himself indispensable in the store, shop, and counting-room, as well as on the farm. A letired merchant once said to us: "If people would only be on time, how much trouble would be saved ! This being behind time is the bane of mercan- tile life. Customers fail to redeem their promises. Borrowers forget their pledges to lenders. One man fails to meet his obligations promptly, and this com- oels another to disappoint his creditors ; and so on through the list. If our warehouses could do as our banks do, insist, under the penalty of a protest, on meeting payments punctually, a vast amount of anxi- ety, perplexity, and disaster would be prevented. Were it not for this one sound rule of policy which the banks adopt and enforce, I am not sure that commercial transactions would not be swamped in unavoidable confusion." After a short pause he continued : " It is I f 228 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, too much so everywhere. You want a carpenter to- morrow ; he does not come as he agrees. You ask the bootmaker to complete your boots at a given time, but they are not done. The tailor promises your suit of clothes in one week, and you get them in two weeks. The painter comes the day after he promised to come. And so the mass of men are behind time continually, causing themselves trouble, and everybody else. The reiult is, that thousands of these laggards find, to their grief, that failure and ruin, unlike themselves, are never behind time." Another merchant, who has retired with a fortune, told the author that the secret of his success was promptness of action, thus being able to take advan- tage of the market. So Amos Lawrence said : '• The secret of the whole matter was, that we had formed the habit oi promptly acting, thus taking the top of the tide; while the habit of some others was to delay until about half tide, thus getting on the flats ; while we were all the time prepared for action, and ready to put into any port that promised well." This is a very important fact for young men to understand. The sort of punc- tuality that we recommend is almost like genius itself to seize "the top of the tide," and move forward to success. ** There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the vojage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries." These words of Shakspeare find ample verification in the marts of trade, where the punctual merchant seizes PUNCTUALITY, 229 "time by the forelock," and makes the main chance his own. Not less iniportance did Samuel Budgett attach to the virtue in question. He was not only punctual him- self, but every one of his employes must be equally so. His biographer gives the following interesting ac- count of his procedure in this respect : " He was himself punctual as a chronometer, even out of business. If he had made an engagement with his neighbor, and was a minute late, he would apolo- gize and account for it. So his men must be at work at the given moment, and his travellers must so ar- range their journey that every customer shall know at what hour to expect them. But as discipline and punctuality are not meant to abridge but to defend happiness, he contrived to place the arrangements enforcing these in a light which commended them to the men. The hour to begin work was six o'clock. By the gate hung a blackboard divided into squares, each square was numbered and contained a nail, on the nail hung a little copper plate. Each man had his number, and as he went out he took a plate with him, leaving his number exposed on the board. As he en- tered he placed the plate on the nail, so covering his number. The moment the bell ceased ringing, the board was removed, and all whose numbers were not covered were at once set down as defaulters. He who did not once appear on that list during a year received alt its end a sovereign as his reward. But in the early days of the establishment it was usual to give porter's beer. This custom Mr. Budgett disapproved, and to \\ M 230 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, I % I % he would not submit ; but close by the number-board he placed another board laden with penny-pieces ; each man as he entered in the morning took a penny, on returning from breakfast a penny, and on returnhig from dinner a penny ; thus making three in the day, which Mr. Budgett considered a full equivalent for beer, and of far greater value. If, however, the poor wight was late, he lost his penny ; thus paying a fine out of what was considered his due, as well as forfeiting the reward which punctuality would secure at the year's end. At first even a single lapse occasioned the loss of the whole sovereign ; but afterwards that rule was relaxed, five shillings being deducted for one, and pro- portionate sums for additional faults. In the course of years the beer-pence were counted for eighteen pence per week additional wages, and then every late comer was fined, — if a porter a penny, and so on, in propor- fion to rank, with every one in the house, including the partners. The post hour was quarter past seven ; at that hour the clerks must be in their places, and one of the principals present to open the letters ; if he was late, his fine was a half-crown. With such 'spirit was this discipline maintained, that, though many of the men chose to live in Kingswood after the business was removed to Bristol, they made their four miles journey, and many were never late. Some who have been years in the establishment have not once been repotted absent." This plan of operation shows that punctuality was not counted second to any of the qualities vhich a business-man should cultivate in that mercantile house. PUNCTUALITY. 231 We can readily see that it were quite impossible to reduce the business of a large warehouse to so com- plete a system without this virtue. Like the keystone of an arch, — knock it out, and the fabric tumbles. Such was the estimate that Budgett placed upon it. We have cited the rebuke which Washington admin- istered to his secretary for being behind time. His life was characterized by such scrupulous regard to punctuality. When he was President, his hour to dine was four o'clock. Often new members of Congress, who had not learned that his promptness extended to his meals, were invited to his table ; and sometimes such a guest would come in while the company were eating, when the illustrious host would say, " We are punctual here. My cook never asks whether the com- pany has arrived, but whether the hour has comer In 1788 he visited Boston. One morning he was to start for Salem at eight o'clock precisely, and a fine turn-out of cavalry was to escort him. Just as the Old South clock struck eight he mounted his horse and started, though the cavalry had not arrived. In a short time the cavalry arrived, and the commander was much mortified to find the President on his way. Ordering his cavalry to follow "double-quick," the escort over- took the President at Charles River bridge. When they came up, Washington turned to the commander, with a broad smile on his face, and said, " Major, I thought you had been too long in my family not to know when it was eight o'clock." Once a gentleman promised to come at five o'clock with a pair of horses which he desired to sell him. The man was fifteen 232 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. M. minutes behind the time, and when he arrived, the President was engaged about other business, and could not be seen. It was a whole week before the owner of the horses had another opportunity to see him, — all because he was not " on time " at first. No blame was ever attached to Washington for his strictness in this regard. The most disappointed visitor or guest would" not dare to blame a man for punctuality. As well blame him for too strict regard to honesty ! The virtue extorts praise instead of blame, always. Nelson said of it, "It has made a man of me;'' and every thoughtful person appears to think that it is capable of making men. Dr. Franklin attached great importance to it in busi- ness. He said : " Remember this saying, * The good paymaster is lord of another man's purse.' He that is known to pay punctually and exactly to the time that he promises, may at any time and on any occasion raise all the money his friends can spare. This is sometimes of great use. After industry and frugality, nothing contributes more to the raising of a young man in the world than punctuality and justice in all his dealings ; therefore never keep borrowed money an hour beyond the time you promised, lest a disappointment shut up your friend's purse forever." A leading Boston mer- chant said to us : " Many men have very short memo- ries. They forget that they borrowed a hundred dollars for three days or a week. Men who are perfectly up- right, and with whom I would trust a fortune, don't aj^pear to regard this sort of a promise. You would be surprised to know to what extent these loans of PUNCTUALITY, 233 up- )n't uld oi honor are forgotten for the time." Amos Lawrence said : " During the first seven years of my business in this city I never allowed a bill against me to stand un- settled over the Sabbath If the purchase of goods was made at auction on Saturday, and delivered to me, I always examined and settled the bill by note, or by crediting it, and having it clear, so that, in case I was not on duty on Monday, there would be no trouble foi my boys ; thus keeping the business before me, instead of allowing it to drive me." He often remarked, as he was closing up the business of the day by making some entry in his account-books, or arranging some papers, " I may not be here to-morrow to do it." Necessity compels men, in some circumstances, to be punctual. This is true of the famous commanders of armies, as we have seen in the case of Washington. " It is a fact, not always remembered, that Napoleon's great victories were won by infusing into his subordi- nates the necessity of punctuality to the minute. It was his plan to manoeuvre over large spaces of country, so as to render the enemy uncertain where he was about to strike a blow, and then suddenly to concen- trate his forces and fall with irresistible power on some week point of the extended line of the foe. The exe- cution of this system demanded that each division of the army should arrive at the specified spot punctually ; for if any part failed to come up, the battle was lost. It was by imitating this plan that the allies finally suc- ceeded in overthrowing the emperor. The whole Wa- terloo campaign turned on these tictics. At Mount St. Jean, Blucher was punctual, while Grouchy was not, fP 234 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. and the result was that Napoleon fell and Wellington triumphed." The same necessity follows extensive op- erations in business. Merchant-princes could not be princes without it. Disorder and inextricable confu- sion would soon destroy their business without this omnipotent regulator. So, great men in public life, under a pressure of duties, must be as punctual as the clock, or the close of the day will find them far in the rear of their business. Lord Brougham was at the head of eight or ten public associations when he pre- sided over the House of Lords and the Court of Chan- cery ; and he was never known to be absent from his post of di ty, nor one minute behind time in calling assembly or meet' g to order. Such precision in an- swering calls, enabled him to meet every engagement In the world of letters, Sir Walter Scott was equally a marvel in the amount of labor performed. His corres- pondence alone was a tax under which many men would weary. Yet he was so prompt from his hour of rising (^ve o'clock in the morning), that he was able not only to answer every letter, attend to every caller, and manage his secular affairs, but also to perform an almost incred- ible amount of literary labor. The same was true of Daniel Webster from his boyhood. He was never absent from a recitation, lecture, or exercises in the chapel, during his whole course of education ; and never a minute tardy in reaching them ; and this promptitude characterized him through life. In court, congress, lecture-field, and cabinet, he was the same indefatigable worker, forced to be punctual in order to accomplish the work of each day. Rufus Choate would have PUNCTUALITY. 235 worked himself into his grave before he was forty years old but for this conservative quality. He was exceed- ingly nervous, and often summoned all his powers and concentrated them upon a case, where less outlay of himself would have been as well. In this way he made inroads upon his strength, though not half so serious as they would have been had he not been a very punctual man. A medical gentleman once importuned him to be more considerate, suggesting that he would completely break down his constitution unless he cur- tailed his labors. " Constitution ! " exclaimed Mr. Choate ; " constitution ! why, that was used up long ago, and I am living on the by-laws." Had not punc- tuality interposed to prevent one duty from crowding and treading on the heels of another, he would have died before he reached *' the by-laws." It is evident from the foregoing that it does young men good to live under rigid rules, self-imposed or im- posed by their employers. It is good for the student to be obliged to move at the ring of a bell. To rise in the morning, to go to prayers, recitations, and meals at the call of the bell, month after month and year after year, is an invaluable discipline. Punctuality is thus compulsory, and it is good for lazy young men. Brougham said that he " broke the neck of a day's la- bor " by ten o'clock in the morning. A bell can break the neck of indolence at six o'clock. Many young men in college of easy and sluggish habits owe their success to being obliged to move at the sound of a bell. Many clerks are saved from dishonorable failure by the rigid rules of the well-conducted warehouse in which they 236 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, serve. Young men often complain of these arbitrary rules, and are restive under the restraints which they impose ; but they force them to punctuality, and thus prove of lifelong advantage. The rules of A. T. Stew- art in his mammoth establishment were considered extremely rigid by his clerks ; but there are many suc- cessful merchants, trained in that mercantile house, who rejoice to-day in the promptness which that sys- tem of unbending discipline begot in them. As with economy, so with punctuality, its practice is in harmony with Nature. In creation, everything is " on time ; " sun, moon, stars, the seasons, night, morn- ing, noon, everything. Even the comet, which makes its visit to earth once in a thousand years, does not vary one second from his appointed time. And this "sublime precision leads the earth, after a circuit of five hundred million miles, back to the solstice at the ap- pointed moment, without the loss of one second, — no, not the millionth part of a second, — for the ages on ages during which it has travelled that empyreal road."* So man can depend on Nature. He can lay his plans, plough, sow, and labor, confident that it will not be in vain. God, who makes the seasons revolve, and crowns the year with His harvest, bids every law and motion of His universe be prompt. He whose busy life is in full accord with this precision of Nature is living among the stars. * Edward Everett. ORDER, 237 XII. ORDER. ORDER is heaven's first law." There is no dis« order in heaven or the material universe. If there were an absence of order in our material world it would come to an end sooner even than our Second Advent brethren anticipate. Order perpetuates it. The same is true of the domestic, social, and secular spheres ; o^der is as indispensable to them as any other condition that we have discussed. By order we mean just what the two well-known maxims mean, namely, ** A place for everything, and everything in its place ; " " A time for everything, and everything in its time." Inattention, confusion, carelessness, and slovenliness are entirely inconsistent with spch order. It is in com- plete harmony with the virtues we have considered, and as necessary to achieve success. Together with those enumerated, they become a beautiful and symmetrical whole. Order, or the systematic arrangement of work or duties, makes labor easy and pleasant. Everything has its time and place, so that perilous haste is unneces- sary. The old saw runs : " The most haste is the worst speed." Under the systematic arrangement of duties, such haste is avoided, and hence the friction 238 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, and vexation attendant upon hurried action are avoided. It is neither easy nor pleasant to be in a hurry. The mind wearies and frets under the strain. Labor that oiherwisv would be pleasant becomes drudgery. Irri- tability usurps the piace of amiability. Fault-finding and scolding follow. Employes feel the influence of a fretful disposition. They are made unhappy and dis- contented by this constant unpleasantness of their em- ployers. The whole force of clerks or dependants are put into a state of ferment and agitation by the em- ployer's conduct, all resulting from the want of order or system. Sometimes, the result is discouragement and despondency to the man who is hurrying every hour to catch up with his business. There is nothing that can take the place of system to beget cheerfulness and spirit in the discharge of dally duties. When Dr. Kane was imprisoned by ice in the Arctic Circle, he knew that there was only one way to keep his men in subordination and contented, — order must be insisted upon with the firmness of a military commander. Of that time he said : *' It is the experience of every man who has either combated difficulties himself or at- tempted to guide others through them, that the con- trolling law shall be systematic action. Nothing de- presses and demoralizes so much as a surrender of the approved and habitual forms of life. I resolved that everything should go on as it had done. The arrange- ment of hours, the distribution and detail of duties, the religious exercises, the ceremonials of the table, the fires, the lights, the watch, the labors of the observa- tory, and the notation of the tides and the sky,— ORDER. 239 voided. . The »or that . Irri- finding mce of ,nd dis- eir em- Its are he em- f order jement every lothing fuhiess en Dr. cle, he nen in isisted r. Of y man or at- e con- x\g de- of the d that range- es, the e, the serva- ky._ nothing should be intermitted that had contributed to make up the day." - Martin Luther experienced much that was suited to annoy and dishearten him. His labors were varied and excessive, such as would worry and fret any man who fails to adopt the most rigid system of execution. But he was a singularly happy man in his work. He performed his work easily, too. He performed a vast deal of it, also, by doing it as the celebrated statesman, DeWitt, did, — " doing one thing at a time." In addi- tion to his other work, he wrote sev^m hundred vol- umes during his life. Without systeuiatic labor it would have been impossible to accomplish such hercu- lean work, and enjoy it. If any man ever enjoyed his life-work, it was Martin Luther. It was more of a pleasure than a task to him. John Wesley resembled Luther in this regard. He was travelling and preach- ing much of the time ; and yet, by his orderly way of working, he found time to write thirty-two octavo vol- umes before he was seventy years of age. He was an easy toiler, and a happy one, too. No undue haste, no friction, no irritability, no fretfulness, ever marred the symmetry of his daily living. Many of the illustra- tions adduced upon the economy of time, as that of Elihu Burritt, are equally instructive here. Recently we read of a valuable farm under the cCai- trol of the following rules, which were printed, framed, and hung up in a conspicuous place, where the farm- hands would see them daily, if not hourly : " I. Perform every operatic n in the proper season. 2. Perform every operation in the Lest manner. ■i'.fS''-J 240 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, 3. Complete every part of an operation as you pro- ceed. 4. Finish one job before you begin another. 5. Secure your work and tools in an orderly manner. 6. Clean every tool when you leave off work. 7. Return every tool and implement to its place at night." A farm, under such systematic arrangements, is run with far more ease and satisfaction than one without this order. Neatness, promptness, thoroughness, and completeness are secured by this methodical way of doing things ; and there is solid enjoyment in the ex- ercise of these virtues, whether on the farm or in the warehouse. * , - - Order secures dispatch also. Methodical action will accomplish much more in a given time than its oppo- site. By close attention to one thing at a time, it is accomplished quicker, better, and easier. " One thing at a time " will perform a greater day's work than doing two or three things at a time. When Rev. Albert Barnes determined to write his Commentaries, he had a parish on his hands. His time had been ab- sorbed before in caring for his large city congregation, and, at first view, there seemed to be little opportunity for additional labor. But the systematic arrangement of his time, so as to enable him to attend to every duty in succession, gave success to his plans. He devoted the time between rising and breakfast in the morning to his Commentaries. He scrupulously adhered to this plan year after year, and in this way he produced that valuable work. What some men would consider the labor ORDER. 241 it IS hing oing Ibert he n ab- tion, unity ment duty voted ^rning of a lifetime, he performed by using the hours for work before breakfast. It did not interfere with his pulpit and pastoral duties at all ; it probably facilitated them. Perhaps no one was more methodical than Dr. Kitto. His attention was called to the great advantage of sys- tem when he was a student, and for a time he studied the subject as he studied arithmetic and history. At length he formed his plan, and wrote to his chief bene- factor that he had reduced his labors to a system, by which his friend " might be able to tell where he was, ind what he was doing, at any time of the day or *veek." The following diagram represented his plan. The spaces in the original diagram were distinguished by the colors, of which here only the names are given : ' ' • Mom. A.M. P.M. Eve. Night. Sunday, Red' Brown ' Brown Brown Pink* Monday, Yellow * Yellow Pink Pink Pink Tuesday, Red Yellow Pink Pink Pink Wednesday, Green * Yellow Green Green Pink Thursday, Yellow Yellow Pink Pink Pink Triday, Red Yellow Blue* Blue Pink Saturday, Yellow Yellow Pink Red Pink Sunday, Red Scarlet' Red Red Pink ' Optional. * Grammar. ' Church. 16 ' Writing to M. Woolcombe. * Writing to M. Harvey. ' Reading. * Extracting. I «»::==: 242 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, i; " Those portions of time," he added, '* which I have reserved to be used optionally, will be occupied in reading, writing, or walking, as circumstances may dic- tate or permit. I shall spend all the time I possibly can in *^e library, rather than at my lodgings ; but when not at the library, I shall be at Mr. Barnard's, un- less I take a walk during one of the optional periods." With this diagram and explanation, Mr. Harvey could tell where his prot%4 was at any given time, and what he was doing. Kitto carried this methodical way of stuoy and business into manhood. He was such a thorough believer in system to insure dispatch, as well as a large amount of work done, and well done, that he even required his daughter to clean and put in order his study by the following written rules : " i. Make one pile of religious books. 2. Another of books not re- ligious, j. Another of letters. 4. Another of written papers other than letters. 5. Another of printed pa- pers. 6. Put these piles upon the floor. 7. The table being now clear, dust and scour it." The late Dr. Nathaniel Emmons was a very indus- trious student, and he found both pleasure and dis- patch in systematic labor. He carried his orderly habits so far that he hung his hat upon the same nail over fifty years, and sat in the same chair standing in precisely the same place, to write his sermons, and he could write in no other position. He wore a hole through the floor where he sat, so that it was necessary to repair it with a new board. He used an open fire- place, and laid his wood upon the andirons in one par- ticular way. The shovel he kept on the north side ORDER. 243 of the fix'eplace, and the tongs on the south side. If a visitor or member of the family inadvertently misplaced them, he did no work until he had restored the shovel and tongs to their original places in his system. He could not do his work with ease, pleasure, and dispatch, unless order reigned about him. The biographer of Gideon Lee says of him : " He was so systematic that he kept all accounts posted up to each night, and all correspondence answered, so that up to the evening preceding his last illness, everything was in its place. Without this system and regularity he could not have accomplished but a tithe of his pro- jects." The order or system in question will assist young men in three things, which those of them who are bound to be successful will do, namely, thinking, ob- serving, and reading. We have seen, in every exam- ple of success, that the brain led. Thought was dominant. The mind investigated, planned, observed, counted the cost, weighed chances, decided, and sum- moned the whole man to action. Lessing said to a young man, " Think for yourself ; think wrongly if you will, but think for yourself" He did not mean to en- courage him in error, but to express his abhorrence of that listless, thoughtless, half imbecile way of living that characterizes young men who never amount to anything. " Our bodily forms, and oaks of the forest, grow. They grow from within. So our intellectual natures must grow. They grow from slow assimila- tion, from solid action, from the labor of thought. . . . It is only after having been surrounded with obstacles, 244 TACT, PUSH, AND PRLWCIPLE. and assailed with battle, and rocked in the storm, that human souls grasp the sceptre of royalty. And all our attempts to make a strong and well-disciplined mind by question-asking, and lecturing, and talking, or any other method than simple thinkingy are as futile as the attempt to make a strong oak by hanging garlands of flowers upon its trunk, or a mighty kingdom by con- structing for it armies of buckram and palaces of paper." * Coleridge says, " There is one art of which every man should be master — the art of reflection. If you are not a thinking man, to what purpose are you a man at all 1 " That is it. The mind was made to think y as the legs were made to walk. It is supposed that the words think and thing are originally the same, denoting an act of the mind. Thoughts are the things of the mind, or, we might say, its deeds. If there are no deedSy verily, ** to what purpose are you a man at all?" Joseph Paxton planned the Crystal Palace of 1851. He was the gardener of the Duke of Devonshire at the time the Committee of the Great Exhibition adver- tised for plans of a building. The public very properly expected that the architects and engineers of the coun- try alone would contend for the prize. A gardener was the last man from whom a suitable model was ex- pected. Yet, this gardener, Paxton, furnished a plan that was far superior to the dozens of them that came from engineers and architects. There was no doubt nor questioning among the committee ; Paxton's plan was so novel, and so clearly adapted to the purpose, * Goldthwait. ORDER. 245 that it was adopted at once. How can this fact be ex- plained ? How was it that the gardener won and the professional architects failed ? Paxton answered all such inquiries when he said, that it was a subject upon which he had been thinking for years, although he had never dreamed that the time would come when his thinking would take on tangible form. He was a man of thought, and these deeds of his mind had taken forms of beauty and utility in horticulture ; but here was a new field for him, where thinking was equally victori- ous. The fact illustrntes the practicability, efficiency, and value of thought, both to the thinker and the world. For this thinking, which he could do as well as not, he was knighted, and subsequently was appointed archi- tect of the larger and grander crystal palace at Sy- denham, having entire charge of laying out the pleas- ure-grounds, fountains, &c., of that remarkable enter- prise. He was elected a member of Parliament, also, in 1854; and withal became one of the most honored men of his country : all the result of careful, discrimi- nating, and useful thinking / Reading contributes largely to thought and observa- tion, while these make a loud call for reading. Here action and reaction are equal ; that is, such is the case when the life-work is reduced to systematic manage- ment. Methodical arrangement secures time for the busiest men to read, as we have seen that sing'cness of purpose adds to the profitableness of their reading. We have seen that some men of the most extensive business have been great readers, and made themselves intelligent, and even learned. The systematic class 246 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, appear to possess greater love for reading than those of desultory and aimless life. The latter class may read, but to little purpose. Among young men, they are the ones who read for amusement only, and hence read trashy fiction and stories that scarcely deserve classifi"cation anywhere, unless it be in the class in which Dr. Johnson put Garrick's cooks, namely, " stuff, trash, and nonsense." Nor is ther'=^ any more system in their reading than there is in thc.r secular business. Many young men, to say nothing of others, do not ask whether it is better for them to read history, biography, travels, science, art, or literature, one or all in ystem- atic course ; but they draw from the library whatever happens to be uppermost in their minds, without the most distant thought of mental culture and preparation for future and graver responsibilities. Coleridge divides readers into four classes. " The first," he says, " may be compared to an hour-glass, their reading being as the sand ; it runs in, and it runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second class resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it merely in the same state, only a little dirtier. A third class is like a jelly-bag, which allows all that is pure to pass away, and retains only the refuse and the dregs. The fourth clasr may be compared to the slave in the diamond min'« in Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worth- lesf , preserves only the pure gem." The latter class is the only one that deserves our respect ; and yet it is the smallest class of all. Young men should be heartily ishamed of belonging to either of the four classes ex- sept the last ; and those of them v;ho are already on ORDER. 247 the way to success will be ashamed to belong to any other class. The moral effects of seeking the " pure gem " in reading cannot be over-estimated. The effort will save the young man from practices that render success impossible. Thomas Hood said : " A natural turn for reading and intellectual pursuits probably pre- served me from the moral shipwrecks so apt to befall those who are deprived in early life of their parental pilotage. My books kept me from the ring, the dog- pit, the tavern, and saloon. The closet associate of Pope and Addison, the mind accustor^ed to the noble though silent discourse of Shakspeure and Milton, will hardly seek or put up with that sort of company." We have seen that Franklin saved about two hours a day for reading from the three hours allotted to meals, when he was in the Boston printing-office. He did this by boardmg himself, eating simple bread or other food that required little time for mastication. System will enable any other young man to save two hours each day from sunrise to bedtime. Mark what he can accomplish by the careful use of that time in reading. He can read and appropriate at least twenty pages an hour, or forty pages each day, easily making up the average of fifty pages per day by the wise use of additional time on Sunday, or three hundred and fifty pages per week. This would amount to over eighteen thousand pages in a yeai", which is annually forty-five volumes of four hundred pages each. Let this amount of reading be history one year, biography another, travels anotht^r, natural philosoph} another, and so on through a series of years ; and he makes 24S TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, f himself master of several departments of knowledge in fifteen or twenty years. By the time he is sixty years old, it is possible for him to rank with the gradu- ates of our best colleges in literary attainments, when the latter are at the same age. Here is a practical matter for young men to consider. It is not guess- work nor extravagant statement. It is susceptible of mathematical demonstration that young men can com- mand time enough, by systematic labor, to distinguish themselves in literary circles. In his manhood, Budgett made a time-table by which to conduct his work each day, for the purpose of gain- ing time to read. From an examination of it, we learn the number of pages he read the first two weeks of January, 1849. ^^ spent fifty-nine hours of that fort- night in his library, and read seven hundred pages of Josephus* History, six hundred and sixty pages of Mil- ner's Church History, three hundred and eighty pages of Baxter's Saints' Rest, and spent also a fair propor- tion of the time in studying Townsend's Old and New Testaments.. The foregoing vie'v is strongly enforced by the fact, that often the perusal of r single book starts a young man upon a career of honor and usefulness. Rev. John Sharp said, " Shakspeare and the Bible have made me Archbishop of York." Wesley claimed that "The Imitation of Christ," and Taylor's "Holy Living and Dying," determined his calling and character. Henry Martyn was made a missionary by reading the lives of Brainard and Carey. Pope was indebted to Homer for his poetical inspiration, and it was the ORDER. 249 r I origin of his English Iliad. Bentham read " Telema- chus " in his youth, and many years afterwards he said, "that romance may be regarded as the foundation- stone of my whole character." Goethe became a poet in consequence of reading " The Vicar of Wakefield." Carey was fired to go on a mission to the heathen by reading "Voyages of Captain Cook." Franklin said that Cotton Mather's " Essays to Do Good " made him what he was, as Locke's " Essay on the Understand- ing" made Samuel Drew the eminent man he became. The lives of Washington and Henry Clay awakened aspirations in Lincoln's soul that impelled him for- ward, and gave direction to his life. The national system of education in Great Britain grew out of a book. Joseph Lancaster read " Clarkson on the Slave Trade," when he was fourteen years old, and it filled him with enthusiasm to teach the blacks in the West Indies. Without the knowledge of his parents he went thither and commenced labors for their mental and moral improvement. His parents learned where he was and sent for him ; but his heart was thoroughly in sympathy with benevolent work, and he opened a school for the poor at home. So great was hi,5 suc- cess that the town, after a few years, erected a com- modious building for his school, and here was the foundation of the present system of education in the mother-country. It is worth while, then, for young men to study order in their daily affairs, even though nothing were gained by it except time for reading. If a young man plead that he has no business of his own, and therefore 250 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, no affairs of sufficient consequence to systematize, his plea is made void by this fact, that system will secure time for thinking, observing, and reading. Besides, it is not true that the young man has no business to re- duce to system. He has a time to rise in the morning and to retire at night, a lodging-room to keep in order, a wardrobe to arrange, meals to partake of, letters to write, and many other duties to meet — all of which require him to study order. Everywhere there is an opportunity to test this virtue. The housekeeper, the mechanic, the merchant, the employ^ as well as the employer, the student, the farmer, the humblest as well as the greatest of mankind, find abundant opportunity to introduce method into daily life. It should not be overlooked that, in this age, young men find facilities for self-culture in the libraries, read- ing-rooms, lyceums, newspapers, and public lectures, which the cities and larger towns, and even some of the smaller municipalities, furnish ; and system in their work will enable them to use these institutions to ad- vantage. They are practical auxiliaries to successful living, especially adapted to young men who are thor- oughly occupied during business hours. With these free sources of culture alone, the average young man is not excusable if he lack intelligence or knowledge. We have now discussed the executive qualities which Samuel Budgett characterized by the appellation — Push. Together they set before us the possibilities of the young man, and nothing short of that will satisfy the highest and truest ambition. It is what a young man may become that demands attention. The possi- ORDER. 251 lich ng bilities of the acorn is not the sturdy oak, but a forest and even a continent of oaks, with naval fleets on the sea, and timber enough for city and country. Sir Wal- ter Raleigh took a single potato to the British domin- ions in the sixteenth century, and it has sustained the life of millions of people, driven famine away again and again, and contributed largely to the wealth, prosperity, and glory of England and America. The crew of the " Mayflower " stood on the storm-beaten rock of Ply- mouth in 1620, a forlorn and famished band of exiles, bidding fair to become the prey of wild beasts or In- dians before the first " winter of their discontent" was past. That was the ^r/^/^/ promise. The pu isibilities of that godly company are what we behold now of thrift, renown, power, and glory in America. So the actual of the young man is inexperience, undeveloped faculties, obscurity, penury, hardship, and whatever else belongs to early struggles ; the possible is a Luther, Wellington, Washington, Bacon, Lincoln, As- tor, or Newton. So far as successful men in trade, science, or public life have recorded the rules that governed their action, they will be found to embrace the elements of character alreaoy considered in these pages, together with others to be discussed in the sequel. McDonogh, the million- naire of New Orleans, directed that the following rules should be engraved upon his monument, because they were the rules that controlled his business career, and secured his great success : " Remember always that labor is one of the condi- tions of our existence. 252 TACT, PUSH, AND TKINCI^LE. " Time is gold ; throw not one minute away, but place each one to account. " Do unto all men as you would be done by. " Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to* day. " Never bid another to do what you can do yourself. " Never covet what is not your own. •* Never think any matter so trifling as not to deserve notice. " Never give out that which does not first come in, " Never spend but to produce. " Let the greatest order regulate the transactions ol your life. " Study in your course of life to do ♦he greatest amount of good. " Deprive yourself of nothing necessary to your com- fort, but live in an honorable simplicity and frugality. " Labor, then, to the last moment of your existence. " Pursue strictly the above vules, and the Divine blessing and riches of every kind will flow upon you to your heart's content ; but, first of all, remember that the chief and great study of our life should be to at- tend, by all the means in our power, to the honor and glory of our Divine Creator. The conclusion to which I have arrived is, that without temperance there is no health ; without virtue, no order ; without religion, 1*0 happiness ; and that the aim of our being is to live wisely, soberly, and righteously." When the steamer Henry Clay was burned on Hudson River, one of the most eminent and useful citizens of New York perished, Hon. Stephen AUea ORDER. 253 no live He was once mayor of the city, and he filled other im- portant oftices, at different times, with great acceptance to his constituents. Two days after the terrible disas- ter his body was recovered, and the following printed rules were found in his pocket-book, evidently his Vatk' mecum: ** Keep good company or none. " Never be idle. " If your hands cannot be usefully employed, attend to the cultivation of your mind. " Always speak the truth. " Make few promises. " Live up to your engagements. " Keep your own secrets if you have any. " When you speak to a person, look him in the face. " Good company and good conversation are the very sinews of virtue. " Good character is above all things else. " Your character cannot be essentially injured ex- cept by your own acts. " If any one speaks evil of you, let your life be so that none will believe him. ** Drink no kind of intoxicating liquors. " Ever live (misfortunes excepted) within your in- come. " When you retire to bed, think over what you have been doing during the day. ** Make no haste to be rich if you would prosper. " Small and steady gains give competency with trao- quillity of mind. " Never play at any kind of game of chance < 1 254 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. ** Avoid temptation, through fear you may not with- stand it. " Earn money before you spend it. " Never run into debt unless you see a way to get out again. " Never borrow if you can possibly avoid it " Never speak evil of any one. " Be just before you are generous. *' Keep yourself innocent if you would be happy. " Save when you are young, to spend when you are old. " Read over the above maxims at least once a week." We might add other tables of rules adopted by other eminent men in different pursuits, were it desirable, but we should find them all similar in spirit and scope, embracing the indispensable elements of success which are discussed in this volume. As success depends upon certain qualities of soul, natural and acquired, whatever the chosen profession may be, all correct rules of conduct must necessarily be alike. ** Similis simili gaudett — Like is pleased with like." it CHARACTER. 255 PRINCIPLE. re IX e, e, :h is d, ct ts XIII. CHARACTER. "/^^HARACTER cannot be trusted without prin. \^^ ciple," it is said. It is equally true that the executive forces discussed cannot be trusted without principle. " Sheridan might have ruled the world if he had possessed principle." The remark may not be strictly true, yet it contains an important fact. His decision and energy, his indomitable will, to say noth- ing of his great mental ability, uncontrolled by princi- ple, made him an unsafe man in society. Under the direction of principle, the same qualities would have made him more renowned in the moral world than his talents made him in the literary world. Caesar and Napoleon are examples of great talents and executive ability under the control of inordinate ambition instead of moral principle. Byron was mighty in intellectual power and energy, enabling him to preach well ; but his practice was abominable for the want of principle. We might multiply illustrations of ability cursing the world for the want of moral control and direction; were 256 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, it necessary ; but it is not necessary. The fact is patent to all. On a smaller scale, every young man can dis- cover illustrations enough of the statement in question around him in-any community, and possibly among those of his own as^e. In this chapter it is our purpose to treat the subject of CHARACTER in a general way, rather than to present a sharp analysis of it. There is something which nearly every person recognizes as a reality, called chaV' acter in popular language, and it is that we propose to discuss. Few, if any, deny its existence ; perhaps few deny its value. The young man readily acknov/ledges its place and power. He night not agree to all the elements which a thorough analysis from our stand- point shows that it possesses ; but he does agree to the popular idea of character, as an indispensable and in- valuable possession. It is just here that we desire to meet him now, leaving the more critical discussion of principle for subsequent chapters. If there be a young man so erratic, ignorant, or depraved as to deny the worth of character, in the sense defined, to himself and others, in any and every occupation, he is no more qualified to appreciate these pages than a lunatic. We do not write for him, but for those who are capable of comprehending a moral lesson. We leave him to be saved by other influences, or to drift along until the star of his destiny reaches its zenith on the meridian of Sodom. Character is not reputation ; it is like life, " real." The terms are often used synonymously, though really different. Character is what a man i>. Reputation CHARACTER, 257 may be what he is not. Character is a man's real worth — his intrinsic value. Reputation is what is thought of him, — his value in the market of pub' c opinion. Character *' hath foundations," a basis endur- ing as granite. Reputation rests upon fluctuating hear- say, " which to-day is and to-morrow is not." Character is the product of working laws. Reputation may exist independent of law — a lawless thing. It has been said that " the reputation of a man is like his shadow : it sometimes follows and sometimes precedes him ; it is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than himself." A person really devoid of personal character may be favorably reported abroad ; but he alone who is intrin- sically worthy of such a name can claim the character of which we speak. Some years ago a box of supposed gold-dust was sent by a Californian miner to a Boston chemist for analysis. The miner had no question as to the character of the dust ; for other considerations he sought the analysis. The chemist reported " iron pyrites " instead of gold. This fact illustrates the distinction before us. The reputation of the dust was gold, but its true char- acter was " iron pyrites." The same is true of men. Several professors of religion in Fall River, Mass., enjoyed a golden reputation for years ; but the unex- pected disclosure of facts proved their character to be "iron pyrites;" and they are now in states-prison. It is CHARACTER that wc discuss, and not reputation. Character is greater than intellect, though the latter may be Shakspearean or Websterian. The young man never comes in o the possession of anything worthier 17 258 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, or more valuable than unblemished character. He may accumulate a million dollars, and he is still poor if he is without this. The most abject pauper on earth is he whose character is threadbare, ragged, and worthless. He may abide in a stately mansion and flourish his magnificent turn-out, and obsequious fools may applaud him ; but he is a moral tramp neverthe- less, more perilous to society on account of his money, and to himself also. Addressing young men. Profes- sor Blakie, of the Universit)r of Edinburgh, said: ** Money is not needful, power is not needful, clever- ness is not needful, fame is not needful, liberty is not needful, even health i not the one thing needful ; but CHARACTER alonc is that which can truly save us ; and if we are not saved in this sense, we must certainly be damned." The young man must not suppose that it is an op- tional matter with him to possess this treasure ; there is a duty about it. He cannot shirk the obligation if he would. He is not in duty bound to be rich, or to be senator or governor ; but he is bound to make an unblemished character. He robs God, and cheats both society and himself, if he do not. The require- ment is both practicable and reasonable. The poorest and obscurest man can fulfil it. The weakest and sickliest person has as good a chance as the strongest and healthiest, and perhaps better. None but the in- sane and idiotic can be excused. Nor is the sin of neglecting or discarding this obligation of minor con- sequence ; for it not on^y insults God, but it assaults vir'iue and curses society in a hundred ways. It is the CHARACTER. 259 :^l worst evil that a young man is capable of inflicting upon the community. None but an unprincipled and base fellow will do it. In these statements concerning character we put forth nothing new. They are but the reiteration of what has been said and taught always. Martin Luther said : " The prosperity of a country depends, not on the abundance of the revenues, nor on the strength of its fortifications, nor on the beauty of its public build- ings ; but it consists in the nuw.ber of its cultivated citizens, its men of education, enlightenmen% and CHARACTER. Here are to be found its true interests, its chief strength, its real power." Even Sir Walter Scott replied to the remark, " tal- ents are to be respected above everything*' : ** God help us ! What a poor world this would be if that were the true doctrine! I have read books enough, and ob- served and conversed with enough of eminent and splendidly cultivated minds, too, in my time ; but I assure you that I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of poor, uneducated men and women, when exerting the principle of severe yet gentle heroism, under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking their sim- ple thoughts as to circumstances in the lot of friends and neighbors, than I ever yet met with out of the Bible. We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny unless we have taught our- selves to consider everything as moonshine compared with the EDUCATION OF TH^ HEART." Colbert told Louis XIV. that " the greatness of a country i We have seen that the most successful men have found it so. Good principles gave them a good start. Amos Lawrence declined to use one thousand dollars which his father offered to loan him when he commenced business in Boston. There was a large amount of character in that refusal. With no more knowledge of the young man than this single fact, we should infer that he was a young man of enterprise and principle. Late in life he wrote to his son, who was in France : " Good principles, good temper, and good manntiS will carry a man through the world much better than he can get along with the absence of either. The most important is good principles. Without these, the best manners, although for a time very acceptable, cannot sustain a person in trying sit- uations." Dexter Smith, author of '' Put me in my Little Bed," ** Darling Minnie Lee," and other popular songs, when he was a youth, overheard an influential man say, " If I could live my life over again, there are some things I would not do." •* And what are they } " in- quired a gentleman. " I would not drink intoxicating liquors of any sort ; I would not smoke, chew, swear, lie, or gamble ; I would give billiard-halls and bar- rooms a wide berth ; and I would keep out of bad company." Young Smith went away, and pondered these things in his heart. ** That man knows ; he speaks from experience," he thought within himself. " I will avoid those things ; " and he did. He started off on the line of that remark to make a character after that model ; and the resolution appeared to enlist all 262 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. his powers. He possessed musical talents ; and he said to an associate, **I mean to publish a musical journal one of these days. I intend to make it so cheap that the poorest man can take it." At twenty- one years of age he went to Boston and served as clerk. Remembering the remark of the gentleman quoted above, he avoided all the evils enumerated, and sought his recreation in connection with charitable in- stitutions. His evenings, Sabbaths, and other leisure time were spent in gratuitous philanthropic labors for the needy. The musical journal was still on his brain, and after a time he resolved to start it. He applied to the American News Company. " No musical jour- nal ever paid," they said. " Then I will make one that will pay," he answered ; and he did. His character was his capital. He found no trouble in securing credit or friendly co-operation. Years afterward he asked a merchant, " Why did you trust me in those days ? " " Because I knew your style of business," the merchant replied. " You took right hold of your own work ; you did not squander money in clerk-hire, fast horses, nor in drinking and playing billiards. You seemed to have adopted the good old-fashioned way of ploughing deep, sowing generously, and expecting a harvest." There is a combination of qualities that constitute personal character. These may be wholly secular, though under the control of strict integrity. There must be this latter quality to render the claim to re- liable character just. Society is indebted very much to a class of citizens, who are not Christians, for their J CHARACTER. 263 tute Lilar, bere re- iuch heir efficient business tact combined with their social and moral virtues. Thtiv push is subject to moral restraint, such as uprightness imposes. Their intelligence at- tracts, their efficiency wins respect, and their word, ." as good as a note oi- hand," secures the entire confi- dence of the public. . Just here it was ♦^hat Franklin was able tD say of himself : " Hence it was that I had so much weight with my fellow-citizens. I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject to much hesita- tion in my choice of words, hardly correct in language, and yet I generally carried my point." It was because the people had confidence in his "tact, push, and prin- ciple." An eminent example of our own times is that of Abraham Lincoln. The nation had reached a crisis where none but an " honest " man could save it. A Presiu. ♦-. must be elected for his character rather than for his ability, although the latter must not be over- looked. Lincoln was elected mainly for his character. He was not a Christian, but he was a man of " princi- ple." He had a well-earned reputation for that. There was no stain upon his character; it was clean as the unwritten letter-sheet. For that reason he was made President. Character was his capital. It not only won the Presidency for him, but he worked and built upon it in the office ; and the nation trusted him, knowing that his moral resources were equal to the crisis. The loyal people had no fears that he would prove a moral bankrupt. All the demagogism, dis- loyalty, and treason in the land could not break him. The people believed this, and so they trusted, and waited^ and triumphed. 204 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, Character is power. This has been implied in what has already been said. " Knowledge is power ; " but knowledge may exist without character. Add charac- ter to it, and we have invincible power. The great influence that Samuel Budgett wielded over all classes was found here. The scene presented at his funeral was not possible except when a man of unbounded \ni v^r.ce dies. Young and old, rich and poor, high ana w, y ithered from miles around to pay an honest tribute to h s memory. Fewer tears would have been shed over the remains of England's greatest statesman. In the region of Bristol, no death but that of the queen herself would have touched hearts so tenderly. "This is a remarkable funeral," said a stranger to an aged man in the crowd. *' Ves, sir," replied the old gentleman ; "such a one as we never had in Kingswood before. The best man \ii Kingswood gone to-day." " Were you employed by the deceased merchant ?" the stranger continued. •* Seventeen years, sir ! " he ar.swered with a deep- drawn sigh ; and then added, Ah, sir ! a great man has fallen ! " •' No doubt he was an ./.rtant man in this neigh- borhood," rejoined the ^vsrigei. " In this neighborhood 1 " exclaimed the aged em- ploy^, as if afraid that his employer's true character would not receive its proper meed of praise ; " there was not his equal in all England. No tongue can tell all that man did." His money and abilities were for- gotten in that sad hour, in sincere admiration of his personal character. CHARACTER. 265 leep- man leigh- etn- racter I there [n tell for- >f his When Jonathan Goodhue of New York city died, the din of traffic was hushed in the streets. Commerce felt the loss keenly, and merchant and artisan crc ded around his bier at the funeral. The mayor and ither officials were there. Merchant-princes were there. Clergymen, lawyers, and scholars were there. The poor and unfortunate were there, too. None were so high and none so lowly as not to do him reverence. His c/iaracter dvQ^ them there. The speaker said, on that occasion : , " It is the recoe!:nized worth of private character which has extorter tb*^ homage. It is the man himself; the pure, higSmHiied, righteous man who adorned our nature, who dignified the mercantile profession, who was superior t^ his station, his riches, his exposures, and made ^he common virtues more respected and venerable than shining talents or public honors ; who vindicated the dignity of common life, and carried a large, high, and noble spirit into ordinary affairs ; who made men recognize something inviolable and awful even in the private conscience, and thus gave sanctity and value to our common humanity. This was the power, this the attraction, this the value of Jonathan Goodhue's life. He has made men believe in virtue. He has made them honor character more than station or wealth I He has illustrated the possi- ble purity, uisiiiterestedness, and elevation of a mercan- tile life. He has shown that a rich man can enter the kingdom of heaven. He stands up by acclamation as the model of a Christian merchant ! " We might adduce many of the distinguished men spoken of in the foregoing pages, to illustrate the point 266 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, before us. With most of them character was their power. Character is example ; and "example is more power- ful than precept." It is the make-up of a successful ^ man that we urge young men to imitate. As the painter sets the fair copy before his pupil, so we hold up character for their model. Burke said : '* Is example nothing t It is everything. Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." The grand motto which he wrote for the tablet of the Marquis of Buckingham was, " Remember — Resemble — Per- severe." We have said that, next to the living man, the por- trait of him in biography is instructive. What he was and did is there recorded. Reading is next to seeing it. It is object-teaching. What one man has done, another can do. He may do it even better. As all past inventions and discoveries may be surpassed in future years, so that the wonderful things of the nine- teenth century may be eclipsed by those of the twen- tieth, so it is possible for the young men of to-day to excel the models of character held up to their view. Models have full as much to do with the culture of character as rules. Almost unconsciously young men are influenced by the opinions, manners, habits, and standing of others. Here the appeal is made to the senses. Principles are acted. Good resolutions are dissipated by bad example. Honorable ambition is awakened by good example. Sometimes example nul- lifies the best lessons ; and again, it overcomes the worst Hence we exhort young men to study models i their power- cessful ^s the e hold fcample hool of grand quis of -Per- le por- he was seeing } done, As all 3sed in e nine- ; twen- day to ew. ture of igmen [s, and to the Ins are tion is lie nul- ls the iodels CHARACTER. 267 of character ; not so much the great qualities that make certain men gigantic and exceptional, as those other qualities that find their noblest exercise in every- day affairs. These make up the personal character which becomes essential to success. What men call *' good manners," "behavior," "cour- tesy," •* good breeding," or " manliness," form an im- portant part of character. Emerson says, " Behavior is the finest of the fine arts." Lady Montague said, " Civility costs nothing, and buys everything." John M. Crane said to his nephew, " Civility is the poor man's capital." Burleigh said to Queen Elizabeth, "Win hearts, and you have all men's hearts and purses." Lord Chatham dubbed it "Benevolence in trifles, or the preference of others to ourselves in little, daily, hourly occurrences in the commerce of life. It is a perpetual attention to the little wants of those with whom we are, by which attention ive prevent or remove them." This phase of character is regarded as synonymous with " true politeness," as seen in the definition of Dr. Witherspoon : " Politeness is real kindness kindly expressed." Another s^iys : " Temper is one half of Christianity." Still another writes, " Manners are the garments of the spirit, the external clothing of the being, in which character ultimates itself." Burke says : " Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe in." And Dr. Franklin, in a very amusing way, expresses a similar idea by reference to the " hands-ome and deformed leg." A 268 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, ^ friend of his had a handsome leg, together with a deformed one, and he used them to determine what men possessed characters suitable for companionship. "If a stranger regarded his ugly leg more than his handsome one, he doubted him. If he spoke of it, and took no notice of the handsome leg, that was suffi- cient to determine my philosopher to have no further acquaintance with him. Everybody has not this two- legged instrument ; but every one, with a little atten- tion, may observe signs of that carping, fault-finding disposition, and take the same resolution of avoiding the acquaintance of those infected with it. I therefore advise those critical, querulous, discontented, unhappy people that, if they wish to be respected and beloved by others, and happy in themselves, they should leave off looking at the ugly leg'' These quotations embody a phase of character to which young men need to give special attention. It is not what they observe in fashionable^ life, — manners that are formed by rules, perhaps acquired in the dan- cing-school, the Lord Chesterfield style of conduct; for these are donned and doffed at pleasure, as occasion requires, while the *' behavior" which we recommend is a part of the man himself, the manifestation of solid and enduring qualities within. Chesterfield manners pertain to the outside, and do not go skin-deep, except where they admit of duplicity ; while the gentlemanly demeanor we indorse is the fruit of //^«r/-qualities. Chesterfield allowed hypocrisy when it was necessary to gain the applause of mankind ; and the chief motive he presented for "elegant manners" was to attract -=3ea-KJKJS.at*l— Ea»«»BBi»«OCM««»l»)UU,TII»-«fy.,l ,,, «„., CHARACTER. 269 attention. He advocated the "whited sepulchre" no matter what uncleanness was found within. It was a well-executed counterfeit that he would produce, in- stead of the genuine article. "Good manners," "true manliness," "genuine polite- ness," or whatever you please to call it, proceeds from real character. For this reason, it is the same at all times and in all places. It is neither fitful nor deceit- ful. The merchant who possesses it conducts towards his employes in the warehouse with the same urbanity that characterizes him in the drawing-room or on a board of directors. That was true of Budgett, Law- rence, and many others whom we have named as models. They treated porters with as much genuine politeness as they did customers. A writer, in present- ing the Hon. Abbott Lawrence as a model in this regard, pays a tribute to all mercantile houses of character, thus : " Universal politeness has become a primary law in all eminent mercantile houses. It characterizes the intercourse of the Barings, the Roth- schilds, Laboucheres, and all the most respected Amer- ican houses. Every Boston merchant remembers with pleasure the genial urbanity which graced the energy, success, grand beneficence, and important public ser- vices of Abbott Lawrence, the distinguished merchant and statesman. The feelings and courtesy of the true gentleman marked his eminent character. Whoever enters the counting-room of a Baring, Labouchere, or a Lawrence, whether his proposals are accepted or de- clined, is sure to meet with civility." In like manner Edward Everett spoke of Peter C. Brooks ; His com* 270 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. I' I pany was welcome to young and old. No one left it without a pleasant impression of that uniform urbanity which was no trick of manner, but the impulse of a kindly heart. No one left it without wishing him a real and earnest blessing with the final farewell." Dr. Johnson was very emphatic in his views on this sub- ject. He once remarked, " A man has no more right to say an uncivil thing than he has to act one, — no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him dovv"-" Were this view to be reduced to general practice, the change in domestic, social, and business life would be marvellous. That ** manners" have much to do with a young man's success any one can learn by brief acquaintance with business-men. The merchant wants his clerks to be " perfect gentlemen," not foppish, not clownish, not boorish. He does not object to a high polish on their boots, but he docs not want it all there. Officiousness, pride, and gruffness he will not tolerate in them. He requires and expects of them just about what the Bible docs when it teaches, " Be courteous," " Be gentle unto all men," " In honor preferring one another," " Honor all men." Slang, vulgar and profane language, does not harmonize with such behavior. Lawrence, Apple- ton, Brooks, and others did not allow it. " No gentle^ man will indulge himself in such language," said the former. A " gentleman " is a man of gentle manners, one who exhibits uniformly *' urbanity of manners or disposition, afiability, mildness, freedom from rough- ness or rudeness, coarseness, grossncss, or vulgarity." Not only in warehouses, but everywhere else, such CHARACTER, 271 character is current. A lady met the late President Humphrey, of Amherst College, and she was very much impressed by his manners. Although belonging to another denomination, subsequently she gave one hundred dollars to the college, offering as a reason for the act that " President Humphrey is a man oi genuine politeness ; a college with such a president deserves to be supported." A prominent merchant of New York city went to the Shoe and Leather Bank to open an account. " You may like to know why I open an account here," he remarked to the president, who was distinguished for real politeness. " Perhaps you think your money will be safer here," answered the president *' No. I come here because you are civil. I went into my old bank, and accidentally laid my hat on the cash- ier's desk. He looked at me with the air of five mil- lions, and said, " Take your hat off from my desk, sir." I took it away, when he said, ** Now I will hear you." I replied, " No, you won't ; I will have nothing to do with you." Daniel Webster was noted for his polite bearing. A Washington ofBcial went to see him at Marshfield one summer. On leaving the stage, the driver directed him to the Webster homestead. Thinking to shorten the distance, the visitor struck across-lots, but soon found himself on the banks of a stream. Observing an " old farmer " near by, he called out, " Look here, old fellow, I am going to see Webster ; how am I to get across this stream?" **Jump or wade it," replied the farmer. He could not "jump it," nor was he willing to wet his feet. " I'll give you a quarter to take me across, old fellow," continued the visitor. Without making 272 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. himself known, Webster carried him acrosSi declined to accept the quarter, and politely directed him to the homestead. Soon after Webster joined the visitor in his own house, to the evident and great mortification of the guest. Not a word, however, passed between them respecting the affair. A few years since, a boarder at the Astor House, New York, was wont to purchase of a newsboy at night all the papers he had left His reason for the act was, " he is a perfect gen- tleman." A clerk of the late James Beebe, of Boston, by mistake, sent the wrong goods purchased by a Western merchant. Months afterwards the customer entered Mr. Beebe's store under considerable excite- ment, saying, " I have been greatly misused by this house." " How so ? " inquired Mr. B., with surprise. " You sent me goods that I never bought." " Indeed I that ought not to be," answered Mr. B., and he pro- ceeded to inquire into it. Satisfying himself that the customer was right, Mr. B. said, " You are right, sir. Send back the goods at my expense, and I will make good your loss." "You can't make good my loss," responded the buyer passionately ; " the season is over and styles are changed." " But don't you think we can approximate to it, so as to adjust the matter to your satisfaction ? " *• No ; it is too late now," snapped out the man. " I don't agree with you, sir," continued Mr. B. ; •* look here, this store is good for a million^ The customer laughed, adding, " Well, if you can be a gentleman, / can ; show me what you have got." Amos Lawrence was accustomed to give the odd cents, and odd quarter of a yard to the buyer ; and it paid. It I CHARACTER, 273 was the legitimate outgrowth of his noble character. On the other hand, the most niggardly specimen of a man whom we ever knew was worth nearly a million of dollars. He would talk longer, scrimp more, and " beat down " harder for a single cent, than any man of whom we ever heard. He was the opposite of Law- rence ; nobody respected him. His penurious spirit was loathed ; the man was despised. Giving or keep- ing the half cent has won or lost reputation, because it is a key to character. Conversation should t»e included in this b;anch of the subject. Chaste, sincere, instructive con*'crsation alone is the outgrowth of good character. It^rvorance, evil habits, low aims, and inferior manhood, arc often disclosed by the conversation of a young man. On the other hand, intelligence, purity, noble purpose, and true manliness, are readily learned from the conversa- tion. It is easy to select the young man who reads much and discriminately,who finds his asrociatcs among the exemplary, and wliose aspirations are pure and high, from the opposite class, by his convcrsntion alone. If low life does not put its mark upon the forehead, as God did upon Cain, it does put it upon the conversa- tion ; and that wonderful vehicle of thoug^l't, suited to convey the noblest lessons, is made an uncomely pack- horse for all sorts of ribaldry, balderdash, and proCane- ness. No young man can lay claim to respectable character whose conversation is not positive proof that he possesses it. Fox said of Burke : " If I was to put all the political information I have gained from books ; all I have learned t' 18 r 274 2'ACZ PUSH, AND Ij^'A^C/PIE. from science, or that the knowledge of ^ha world and its affairs have taught me, into one scale, and the im- provement I have derived from Mr, Burke's conversa- tion and instruction into the other, the latter would preponderate." Dr. Franklin's conversation was always entertaining and profitable, and he claimed t'^at he de- rived that "turn of mind" from the conversation of his father at the table, who " always discussed some sub- ject, or developed some just principle of individual or social action, instead of talking forever about trout- catching, grouse-shooting ; about dogs, dinners, dice, or trumps." Burritt ascribed his love of reading to the conversation of his father with certain neighbors who spent winter evenings with him, talkirr^ over revo- lutionary times. Elihu listened witl cha' med soul, and when he learned that such things were found in books, ho earnestly sought the books. If a sound character be nurtured, the conversation will he worthy of the same. We might sum up what remains to be said in this chapter b^ rhe stat. u u, that Character is success, — the highest success. '1 he young man who makes the character discussed is successful. Burke said : ** Tell me what are the prevailing principles of your young men, and I will tell you what will be the character of the next generation." There can be no greater success than to make themselves and " the nexi; gcneraticii " noble. It is a low type of manhood tnat says, " Mind your own interests.*' It is a high type of manhood that says, •• Mind your duties." Gideon Lee was an exam- ple of the latter, of whom it w\h said : " It was his ».JtMl«.«W<1» J HH rM H W M y CHARACTER. 27$ ni.'^fortune (if, indeed, it be one) to be born poor. It was his merit, \.y industry and perseverance, to ac "uirt wealth. It was his misfortune to be deprived * i' at' education when young ; it was his merit to force '«• i;v maturer age. It was his misfortune to be without friends in his early struggle, to aid him by their means or counsel ; it was his merit to win them in troops by a CHARACTER that challenged all scrutiny." 276 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, (I t I XIV. CONSCIENCE. CONSCIENCE is an essential part of spotless character. Emerson says : '* Men of character are the conscience of the community to which they belong." The remark is true in an important sense ; and it shows that any consideration of Principle that does not embrace conscience is essentially defective. For its office is to discriminate, admonish, and judge. It discriminates between what is good and bad in human actions ; it tc ches us to do what is right, and refuse to do what is wrong ; and, when an act is per- formed, it approves or condemns, as the case may be, giving us pleasure or pain. Like our physical and mental faculties, it may be improved by use, and weak- ened by disuse. The thoughtful, sincere consideration of a proposed act, or course of action, raising the in- nnify. Is i" right ? makes a tender conscience ; and a good writer says, " A tender conscience is an inestima- ble 1 '^issing ; that is, a conscience not only quick to diJce-Tft what is evil, but instantly to shun it, as the eyeiid i loses itself against a mote." When an act has been performed, the habit of inquiring whether the wtfiwwas right, cultivates the faculty and increases its power. On the other hand, that careless, indiffeinent 'niiiw«Ww44a ^^^. -^X Wk\ ^-^ %^J '^ V ^^ - V#/7^^ & (/. Vi ^ 282 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, turned to his house with a clear conscience, and slept soundly until morning. Never more did P. D. find lodgment under his roof. Mr. Budgett was right ; and the young man who does not behold with admiration such conscientious regard for principle must lack moral perception. " But it is legal!'' is a plea that some advance. What of that .-* A cheat is a cheat, whether Government in- dorse it or not. The legality of a thing cannot eradi- cate its essential meanness. If Government legalize a wicked business, so much the worse for Government. And yet many intelligent men appease conscience by the fact that an act or business is legal. Young men just entering upon business are liable to be de- ceived and wrecked by this popular notion. The author once said to a young man who was engaged in publish- ing a paper with an older gentleman who was a pro- fessed Christian, "Why do you advertise theatres, billiard-halls, and other places of vicious resort ? " His reply was, " Our rule is to advertise anything that is legal" — that is, their rule was to crush conscience and abandon moral principle. The elder partner died sud- denly soon afterwards, and the younger one became a notorious defaulter within ten years. And why should he not become a miserable cheat and swindler } He started on that road when he began business ; why should he not bring up at the end of it .? Lawrence wrote to a collegian : " Take this for your motto at the commencement of your journey, that the difference of going just right or a little wrong will be the difference of finding yourself in good quarters or in a miserable CONSCIENCE. 283 bog or slough at the end of it." Thousands of young men have found themselves in a wretched slough, or something worse, by travelling this legal road. It was simply a legal way of going to ruin. But men of character do such things, it is said. What sort of character } Surely not men of real moral character, not men who claim to be conscientious. Not men who are examples of integrity to be imitated. That some men who have a "respectable standing" in business circles do such things we admit ; and it is a blot upon the traffic of the land. It is one of the things that has caused a multitude of good people to believe that business firms and corporations have no conscience. Such methods of trade cannot be justified by any code of morals that is current among conscientious people. If a man's business be not clean, his character cannot be clean. More than that, his conscience becomes voiceless and worthless under the persistent use of such methods. Far better be under the tutelage of even the pagan emperor of China, who was petitioned to license the opium trade and secure a revenue thereby, to which he replied : " It is true, I cannot prevent the introduction of the poison ; gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes ; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vise and misery of my people!' This distinguished pagan is well qualified to teach civilized people, who believe that the " legal " is a proper rule of conduct ; and, also, to rebuke the consciousless government that forces the opium traffic upon his country. Young men may say, " These are small matters ; it 284 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. I I won't do to be too particular." " Small matters," in- deed ! That conviction alone has ruined thousands of young men, financially and morally. It is a careful re- gard for little things, both in secular and moral affairs, that leads to success. We have seen that the success- ful men in trade began " small," and were content with small gains from year to year. The men who " de- spise little things," and are content only with " heaps " of profit, are the men who fail. Amos Lawrence said : " I made about fifteen hundred dollars the first year I began business in Boston, and more than four thousand the second. Probably had I made four thousand the first year, I should have failed the second or third year." Large profits would have made him incautious and perhaps reckless in extending trade, as is the case frequently. Several years ago the editor of the Mer- chants' Magazine said : " No n\an ever made a fortune, or rose to greatness in any department, without being careful of small things. As the beach is composed of grains of sand, as the ocean is made up of drops of water, so the millionaire's fortune is the aggregation of the profits of single ventures, often inconsiderable in amount. Every eminent merchant, from Girard and Astor down, has been noted for his attention to details. Few distinguished lawyers have ever practised in the courts, who have not been remarkable for a similar characteristic. It was one of the most striking pe- culiarities of the first Napoleon's mind Demos- thenes, the world's unrivalled orator, was as anxious about his gestures or intonations as about the texture of his argument or its garniture of words. Before CONSCIENCE. 285 rs," in- mds of :ful re- affairs, ccess- t with "de- caps '* said : ^ear I usand d the third itious ; case Mer- tune, )eing losed ps of ition able and ails, the lilar pe- 10s- ous ure ore such great examples, and in the very highest walks of intellect, how contemptible the conduct of the small minds who despise small things." " Minding little things " is a Divine requirement. It is a law pervading the universe. A spark of fire falling on some chemicals led to the invention of gunpowder. Bits of glass gathered for the amusement of children was the beginning of investigations that created the telescope. The waving of a shirt hanging before the fire suggested to Montgolfier the plan of a balloon. Rupert saw a soldier rubbing the rust from his musket, and the circumstance directed him to the invention of mezzotint engraving. Goodyear neglected his skillet until it was red-hot, and the accident guided him to the manufacture of vulcanized rubber. Noticing a child's soap-bubbles assisted Newton to some of his most im- portant optical discoveries. A man amused himself by cutiing letters on the bark of a tree, and out of it grew the art of printing. And thus on through the whole range of inventions and discoveries. No less true is it in respect to events. " Little causes produce great results." In the early history of New England there was a war between two Indian ti ibes caused by a grasshopper. A boy of one tribe caught a grasshopper, and the boy of another tribe wanted it ; and so the two tribes fought. It was called the " Grasshopper War." A war between France and England, costing one hundred thousand lives, grew out of an equally trivial affair. An English and French vessel met at Bayonne for a supply of water ; and they fought to see who should be supplied first. Then the 286 TACT, PUSH, AND PRIAXIPLE. two nations which they represented fought to the bitter end. Pope Adrian'was choked by a gnat, and his death wrought important changes in the history of the world. Were the queen of England to die by swallowing the skin of a raisin, as Anacreon did, the event would change the history of Great Britain, and effect the civ- ilized world. Little things, also, generally determine the careers of distinguished men. Audubon was induced to devote himself to researches in natural history by conversa- tion with a gardener. Benjamin West said that he was made a painter by " the kiss of his mother." He drew the picture of his baby-sister in the cradle so perfectly, in his boyhood, that his mother kissed him. Wilberforce claimed that his philanthropic labors were the direct result of the gift of a little money from his aunt, accompanied by earnest counsel that he should give a portion of it to the poor. A President of the United States, in his youth, designed to be a farmer, as his father was. A great freshet, in the spring-time, interrupted labor on the farm for a brief season ; and, while waiting for the water to subside, he concluded to prepare for college, and acquire a liberal education. Most successful men can point to some such unimpor- tant event, in itself considered, as the determining, .cause of their chosen pursuits. What we find to be true in secular concerns, is true also in morals. '* Little foxes destroy the vines." Little sins sap the foundations of principle. Small depart- ures from rectitude lead to greater ones. A disposition to overreach to the amount of one cent reveals the CONSCIENCE, 287 character, and destroys public confidence, as surely as the attempt to swindle one out of a hundred dollars. The too frequent way of excusing deception or fraud, because it is " little," is a rough way of abusing con- science. The wrong does not lie in the amount in- volved. The stealing of a pin or an apple violates the law " Thou shalt not steal," as really as the taking of a dollar. The first tramples upon the law as really as the iasc. *' He that is unjust in the least is unjust in much ; " that is, he acts upon the same principle that he would in perpetrating far greater sins. Upon this passage, Dr. Chalmers remarks : " Christ here speaks to the man who is only half an inch from the limits of forbidden ground in the very same terms by which He addresses the man who has made the farthest and largest incursions upon it. It is true he is only a little way upon the wrong side of the line of demarkation, but why is he upon it at all } It was in the act of crossing that line, and not in the act of going on after he had crossed it ; it was then that the contest between right and wrong was entered upon, and then it was decided. That was the instant of time when principle struck her surrender. The great pull which the man had to make was in the act of overleaping the fence of separation ; and, after that was done, justice had no other barrier by which to obstruct his progress over the whole extent of the field which she had interdicted. He may be only a little way upon the margin of the unlawful territory, but still he is upon it, and the God who finds him there will reckon with him, and deal with him accordingly." Indeed, Dr. Chalmers goes 288 TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. further than this, and maintains that the highest crimi- nality may be incurred where the coveted dishonest gain is " small ; " for then the person acts under the smallest temptation, disclosing a readier disposition to overreach. He very properly concludes, that " he who acts upon the impulse of the smaller temptation is just going in a small way to hell." No young man should conclude that this view of wrong-doing is limited to the pulpit and members of the church. It applies with equal force to secular affairs, and to every son and daughter of Adam. There is not one rule of right and wrong for saints, and an- other for sinners ; not one for the pulpit, and another for the world of traffic. There is one rule onlv for everybody, everywhere. All human actions come within the domain of conscience. There are many subjects relating to personal con- duct which the young man must settle at the bar of conscience, f ich as the proper observance of the Sab- bath, attendance upon public worship, going to the theatre and billiard-hail, associating with fast young men, and other things too numerous to be rehearsed here, If conscience is active and true, we have no question what its decision will be in every case. It will be upon the side of a Sabbath observed, public worship attended constantly, givmg the theatre, billiard- hall and kindred places, and evil companions too, a wide berth. Other things being equal, the yojng man who honors the Sabbath and observes public worship is on the way to success, rather than he who turns his back upon them. " The Sabbath was made for man ; " for t t CONSCIENCE. 289 the young man as truly as for the old man. The young man cannot afford to do without it so well as the old man ; for he has more at stake, more temptations to encounter, a character to form, public confidence to win, and the inexperience and indiscretions of youth to guard against. And here we may add that one of the best acts a young man can perform, provided he does it sincerely, is to join a parish, and thus identify himself with the secular business of a religious society, where his vote, as well as his opinions and good quali- ties, will be respected. In one respect it is equally im- portant with enrolling their names, at twenty-one, with the voters of the town, to express a personal interest in public affairs ; and, in another particular, it is even more important, since the act identifies them directly with moral and religious, and therefore higher duties. The decisions of conscience upon such subjects as billiards, theatres, and kindred amusements are greatly facilitated by the facts illustrative of their destructive influence. The testimony of every eminent man ad- duced in the preceding pages, if now living, whether partially or wholly successful, would be unqualifiedly and unanimously against attendance upon all cuch places of amusement. They would include the repu- diation of these things in their conditions of success. An active conscience will indirectly aid in the nur- ture of all the elements of success hitherto considered. Its power will be felt in singleness of purpose and thorough execution ; in decision, perseverance, indus- try, economy, and whatever else is necessary to cause one to make the most of himself. The young man 19 290 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, r. who has an enlightened conscience is more likely to bend all his energies to his tasks, to improve oppor- tunities, to control his appetites and passions, to keep his word, and to be watchful of his character ; nor will he be likely to yield to pride, so as to feel above his business. One thing more : if he keeps a diary, as all young men should do, it will be more sincere and reliable. Keeping a diary is one of the most valuable measures a young man can adopt. A faithful record of events, duties, labors, on each day, provided con- science dictates, is both a discipline and pleasure ; and, in the distant future, it will be one of the most valued possessions. To stand by conscience under all circumstances, whatever one's vocation may be, settling doubts, re- pelling wrong according to the dictates of this divine monitor, is grand indeed! When Nicolas Biddle, of the old United States Bank, demanded that his clerks should perform extra work upon the Sabbath, one of the number replied that his conscience would not allow him to labor on the Sabbath. " Then you must leave, and give your place to some one who will work on the Sabbath," Biddle replied. The young man left. Soon after, however, Biddle was visited by a friend who de- sired to employ a reliable, trustworthy young man for a very responsible position. Biddle recommended the clerk he had just dismissed, saying, " He is just the man for you ; he refused to work for me on Sunday." Biddle had more confidence in that young man, after all, than he had in a whole regiment of clerks who would sacrifice conscience for place. And this recalls CONSCIENCE, ikely to oppor- to keep nor will ove his y, as all ;re and 'aluable record 2d con- e; and, ; valued ;tanc"3, bts, re- 5 divine Idle, of clerks one of t allow t leave, on the Soon ho de- lan for ed the ist the nday." 1, after :s who recalls 291 the act of Constantine, when he was elected emperor. Some Christians were in office, and he issued an edict requiring them to renounce their religion, or resign. A few of the number basely renounced their religious faith, all of whom he dismissed sumni ily, with the emphatic announcement : " Those of you who will desert or deny your Divine Master, will desert mc and are not worthy of my confidence." When Sidney .he immortal English patriot, was told that he could save his life by denying his own handwriting, and thus tell a falsehood, he replied : " When God has brought me into a dilemma, in which I must assert a lie or lose my life, he gives me a clear indication of my duty, which is, to prefer death to falsehood." Such conscientious regard for right challenges universal admiration. Even in the common affairs of life, it is grand to make the behests of conscience supreme. Several years ago a lady entered a store in Boston, looked at some goods,' and walked out without pur- chasing. " Why did not that lady purchase the goods } " inquired the proprietor of the young clerk. " Because she wanted Middlesex cloth," replied the young man. " And why did you not show her the next pile, and call them Middlesex } " " Because, sir, I knew they were not Middlesex," was the clerk's prompt answer. "Young man, if you are so mighty particular, and can't bend a little to circumstances, you will never do for me," re- sponded the merchant. The clerk's rejoinder is wor- thy of a record in history ; " Very well, sir, if I must tell falsehoods in order to keep my place, I must lose it, though I know not where to go, or what to do.** 292 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, That young man, however, was never seen begging bread. His noble stand for the right introduced him to a better position, and he is now a wealthy and hon- ored citizen of a Western State. A business career is invested with moral grandeur, when there can be truthfully said of it what was said of Amos Lawrence. " His integrity stands absolutely unimpeached, without spot or blemish. His history as a merchant, from first to last, will bear the strictest scrutiny. Its minutest incidents, which have faded from the memory of those concerned ; its most secret acts, those of which no human eye could take knowl- edge, might all be brought into the light before us ; and like those, I trust, of many of his fraternity, they would seem only to illustrate the purity and integrity of his principles, the conscientious regard to truth and right and justice, with which he conducted all the negotiations of business, and all the affairs of his life. He seemed ever to have a reverence for right, unal- loyed, unfaltering, supreme ; a moral perception and moral sensibility, which kept him from deviating a hair's breadth from what he saw and felt to be his duty. It was this that constituted the strength of his char- acter, and was one of the great secrets of his success. It was this that secured him, when a young man, the entire confidence, and an almost unlimited use of capi- tal, of some of the wealthiest and best men of that day." Conscience makes a strong character. " Sola nobilitas virtus, — Virtue alone is true nobility." Perhaps conscience has been abused and abandoned more in bankruptcy than in almost any other form of CONSCIENCE. 293 failure. If one half .he tales of swindling and rob- bery that are told of men who become bankrupts are true, then here is found an accumulation of iniquities •sufficient to appall men of principle. Again and again a trader will fail, settle with his creditors for twenty or thirty cents on a dollar, continue his business, support his family in the same expensive style as before, drive fast horses, spend his summers at watering-places, just as if nothing had happened to his finances. We knew of one young man who failed, though he was only a bookkeeper. His debts amounted to five hundred and fifty dollars, through his inexcusable extravagance, and his assets were nothing. He took advantage of the bankrupt law, and thus cleared the way for further extravagance, defying conscience, public condemnation, self-respect, and the great God, Then, how few per- sons of this class ever liquid?>e their honest debts afterwards, when Providence voi».'.h safes to them a suc- cessful business } Cases of thi> kind are so rare as to attract attention when they do occur. Years ago a prominent New York merchant, Wilson G. Hunt, met with a reverse of fortune, in conuquence of which he settled with his creditors for fif^v cents on a dollar. Subsequently he was very prosp^^ous, made money rapidly, and paid every one of his 'creditors in full, in- cluding interest. The creditors, desi'^ous of expressing their appreciation of such an unusu?* act, presented him with an elegant silver tea-serv'ce, >^kring the fol- lowing inscription : "Presented to Wilson G. Hunt, by Johc »Iaggerty, William Ardee, and Joseph Corlies, in behaU" o4 xb^ta- ^94 TACT, PUSHy AND PRINCIPLE, selves and his other creditors ; who, in the year 1832 (satisfied that the insolvency was occasioned by mis- fortunes in trade), accepted a compromise of their claims, and gave him a complete release from all legai liability, as a testimonial of their high respect for his just sense of the moral obligation of contracts, as evinced by the payment, in the year 1839, of the bal- ance of their respective claims, principal and interest ; an act reflecting honor upon himself as a merchant, and proving him one of the noblest of the Creator's works, — AN HONEST MAN." One clause of this inscription is the conscience- clause, which we insist pertains to the smallest as well as the largest transactions, namely, ** the moral obli- gation of contracts." It is the one point of transcen- dent importance upon which the young man should concentrate his thoughts. It should be written over the door of his shop and warehouse, and inscribed upon his manufactures and the broad acres of his farm, "THE MORAL OBLIGATION OF CONTRACTS." Install Conscience over the domain of human conduct, and even secular life is invested with moral grandeur ! One thought more. Young men will meet with ene- mies enough without making Conscience their worst foe. The son of Dr. Rush killed a man in a duel — a method of settling difficulties that was considered hon- orable in his day. The memory of the act tormented him thereafter like the presence of an avenger. By day and by night his fallen victim haunted his soul as a spectre. At home, conscience allowed him no peace ; abroad, its retribution was overwhelming. Finally, it \\ CONSCIENCE, 29s drove him to despair, interrupting his business, unfit- ting him even for social intercourse, and then made him a raving maniac. The last few years of his wretched life were spent in the lunatic asylum of Phila- delphia, one of the most pitiable objects ever treated m the institution. Hour after hour the conscience- smitten man would stand in his apartment immovable as a pillar, with no sign of intelligence or recollection, save now and then he would seem to be moved by desperate thoughts, and shout at the top of his voice, '« Fire I Hes dead ! hes dead! " Not widely separated, in point of time, from the fore- going, is another example equally startling. A distin- guished public man at Washington accepted a challenge to a duel, and he was killed by his challenger. Several years afterwards, a literary gentleman met the chal- lenger in Charleston, S. C, the latter inviting him to lodge in the same rooni with him. The invitation was declined at first, but was accepted on being told by the man of the crime he had committed, and that his alarm of conscience was such that he dreaded to be alone. Subsequently the lodger thus described the duellist on that night : " After long tossing upon his unquiet pil- low and repeated half-stifled groans that revealed the inward pangs, the murderer sank into slumber, and, as he rolled from side to side, the name of his victim was often uttered, with broken words that discovered the keen remorse that preyed like fire upon his conscience. Suddenly he would start up in his bed with the terrible impression that the avenger of blood was pursuing him,, or hide himself in the covering as if he would escape "] 296 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. the burning eye of an angry God that gleamed in the darkness over him. For him there was no rest. And it was not the restlessness of disease, the raving of a disordered intellect, nor the anguish of a maniac strug- gling in chains. It was a man of intelligence, educa- tion, health, and affluence, given up to himself, — not delivered over to the avenger of blood to be tormented before his time, but left to the power cf his own con- science, suffering only what every one may suffer who is abandoned of God." Fearful retribution ! " Art thou come hither to torment me before the time ? " ''No ear can hear, no tongue can tell, The tortures of that inward hell." • The power of conscience is not limited to duelling and murder. Its avenging justice may be meted to the smallest transgressor. Against the minor wrong- doings of business its accusing voice may be heard above the din of traffic or the sound of hammer. The young trader or artisan may sell his Master any day for less than Judas sold Him. * Bjron. HONESTY. 297 XV. HONESTY. MIRABEAU once said, " If there were no honesty, it would be invented as a means of getting wealth." Some professed Christians attach less impor- tance to this virtue than the professed infidel did. It is quite evident that the latter believed it to be the chief agent to be employed in the accumulation of wealth, which is contrary to the current opinion in some respectable quarters. It is not unusual for men who have an honorable standing in business circles to maintain that a fortune cannot be acquired by strict honesty. For this reason, we devote a chapter to its consideration, although honesty is implied by the claim set up for Conscience. The world stands in direct need of tliis solid and useful virtue, as the numer- ous cheats, adulterations, counterfeits, deceptions, pec- ulations, and swindlings bear painful witness. A gen- uine reformation that should square all transactions with the rule of strict integrity would essentially change the world in which we live. If all the weights, measures, labels, invoices, boxes, bales, barrels, and other articles belonging to the mercantile world, con- nected with which dishonesty has been practised, were suddenly sent flying through the air, the sun would zgS TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. be darkened, and the conscience-smitten, at least, would expect the moon to turn to blood. If all of them were miraculously endowed with voice, and they should unite in a cry of agony, society would be struck with terror by the stunning and horrible peal. Everything is counterfeited, from silver coin to character. There is false food, false apparel, false medicine, false honor, false friendship, false patriotism, false ethics, false re- ligion, and false everything. And yet we fully believe in the integrity and noble purpose of the great leaders of thought, business, and culture. There is more honesty in the world at large than ever. The methods of doing business have been, and are still, improving. A prominent and hon- ored merchant of New York city says : " My forty years* experience of mercantile life satisfies me that we have improved vastly in the morals of trade. The eleven-o'clock and four-o'clock drams were regularly handed around, and merchants, customers, and clerks drank together forty years ago. Salesmen were al- lowed to play cards in the store and fill up the idle hours with gaming. Customers were taken out and treated, and clerks fond of fast life conducted custom- ers through gambling hells, and introduced them into dens of infamy. He was regarded a poor salesman who could not palm off on this liberality a heavy bill of goods. Many men, who plumed themselves on the title of merchant-princes when I was a young man, kept a gin-mill, a corner grocery, peddled milk, or run a sailor's boarding-house. The sons of the magnates of that far-off period are hewers of wood and drawers HONESTY. 299 noble s, and ■Id at J have i hon- forty 5 that The ularly :Ierks e al- ! idle and tom- into man ■bill the lan, run ites ^ers of water to modern millionaires." We do not impeach the general integrity of business-men, who exert more or less control over the marts of trade, while we ex- pose and deplore the existence of dishonest practices, which ought to be expelled from civilized society. As Christ cleaned out the temple by scourging avaricious money-changers and sellers of doves, driving them therefrom as desecrators of God's house, so a righteous public opinion should expel from the domain of traffic the cheats and extortioners who make it " a den of thiev>es." There is no doubt that hundreds of responsi- ble traders would rejoice in such work of purification ; and the reason it is not done, is because their hands are full of labor, and what is the duty of all good citi- zens becomes the duty of no one in particular. Young men are introduced to this arena where deception, chicanery, and fraud must be met. They need to wear honesty as a coat of mail. No matter how humble the position they fill, nor how obscure the vocation they choose, the devil of temptation will be there. He will tempt the farmer to put the best apples at the top of the barrel, to increase the quantity of his milk at the pump, to scrimp the weight of his butter and hay, and to wink «.. social customs that undermine virtue and lure men to vice. He will tempt the me- chanic to slight his work, to deceive in the quality of material furnished, to get the largest price possible when he can, without regard to justice, and to increase his profits by other dishonest or questionable acts. He will tempt the manufacturer to sand his sugar, to shoddy his broadcloth and carpeting, to oppress the laborer, to 300 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, deceive the buyer, and to take advantage of others' necessities whenever he can. He will tempt the mer- chant to label American goods English or French ; to sell Irish linen that was made in Massachusetts, and half cotton at that ; to offer Brussels carpets manufac- tured at Lowell, and French calicoes fresh from the Merrimack Mills ; to call cotton wool, and make thirty- five inches a yard ; to sell one article very low, in order to draw and fleece customers ; and to represent goods to be what they are not. He will tempt the grocer to use a " false balance," which is " an abomination to the Lord," and ought to be to men ; to dispose of tea at two prices out of the same chest ; to offer pure coffee, spi jes, and other groceries that are known adultera- tions ; and to retail intoxicating liquors on the sly for the sake of gain. He will tempt the lawyer to advise iggrieved persons to press their suits in the courts ; to defend the biggest rascal for an exorbitant fee ; to break down the honest and modest witness on the stand ; to browbeat and smut the best man who appears in court upon the opposite side ; and to conclude each case by charging enough to make honor blush and hang its head. He will tempt the physician to assume more knowledge of disease than he possesses ; to try experi- ments upon patients whose maladies he does not un- derstand ; to call the disease by a given name when he does not know what it is ; and to risk the life of a neighbor by methods or drugs which his better judg- ment would not approve. He will tempt the clergy- man to study and preach for renown ; to neglect his people that he may dwell at ease or magnify his scholar- HONESTY. 301 ship at their expense ; and to seek the larg'ist salary and most popular place. He will tempt the legislator to vote with his party, whether right or wrong ; to enact laws that promote vice instead of virtue ; to be- come the miserable tool of lobbyists for money or office ; and to heed unwise counsellors and even bad men when self-seeking prompts thereto. He will tempt the office-holder to consult his own or his party's in- terests, instead of the public welfare ; to make his office the chief source of pecuniary emolument or personal honor ; and to deceive, pull wires, pack caucuses, and perform other dirty deeds to retain his office. He will tempt the laborer to shorten his day's work both at the beginning and end ; to do as little as he can, for the sake of a comfortable time, and retain his place ; to think much of his own and little of his employer's in- terests ; and finally to berate the capital that has pre- served himself and family from starvation. He will tempt the clerk to misrepresent the quality of goods for the sake of a bargain ; to appropriate some of his employer's money to his own private uses ; to pocket the extra one or five-dollar bill which a customer pays him by mistake ; and to He whenever it will please the unprincipled trader whose servant he is. He will tempt the buyer to say, " It is naught, it is naught," when he buys, but when he goeth away to " boast " of his bargain ; to keep the overchange the merchant pays him through a blunder ; to use a bad coin or bill in exchange for goods, thinking it no worse ff* him to pass it to another than it was tor some one else to pass it to him ; and to represent that he can purchase the 302 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. same quality of goods of Smith & Co. for ten per cent less when he knows the statement is untrue. He will tempt the speculator to take advantage of the pecuni- ary embarrassment of another to get possession of his property at half its real value ; to make the ignorance of a man the occasion of cheating him out of the largest amount possible ; to create a " corner " in the flour or grain market so as to realize fabulous profits ; and to enter the veriest scramble of trade, where he will clutch all he can, regardless of God or man. He will tempt the trustee to use the funds of his ward for personal pleasure; the cashier to rob the bank over which he presides ; the superintendent to swindle the corporation out of thousands and tens of thousands of dollars ; the agent to appropriate the amount ot his sales, and debts collected, and then start for parts un- known ; and the broker to deal in stocks that never existed except on paper, making himself rich out of the misfortunes of his willing dupes. He will tempt the citizen to conceal his property from the assessor ; to swear that his property is less by twenty-five or fifty per cent, than it is, in order to evade a just tax ; to rent his buildings for liquor-selling, gaming, and other vicious purposes ; and to do as little, instead of as nuch as he can to carry the burdens of society suc- cessfully. He will tempt the sinner to cast aside all recognition of personal accountability, to repudiate honesty, to trifle with his immortal soul, and to barter life eternal for the fleeting pleasures of earth. And he will tempt the Christian to neglect his Bible, the prayer-meeting, public worship, and his closet ; to close HONESTY, 303 his ears to the cry of the fatherless and widow ; to close his purse against a just and liberal support of the gospel ; and to live at such a poor, dying rate as to compromise religion and disgrace his profession. Into such a life of temptation the young man is in- troduced. In every pursuit and in every place tempta- tion to dishonesty confronts him. Even in the church and pulpit he does not escape its power. Because the real source of this perilous existence is within him-, self, circumstances without him make a strong appeal. " Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." In addition, also, he may be brought under the influence of designing and intrigu- ing men. They are numerous, — men who have " an eye to the main chance," and claim that " every man is for himself." They will deceive, overreach, lie, cheat, and swindle without compunction of conscience. They will perpetrate frauds great and small, bandy false- hoods b]ack and white, and set traps more or less vil- lanous, according to circumstances. Many of them are like the accommodating Frenchman, who would not tell a single lie for a shilling, but he would tell one for a quarter, or eight for a dollar. Mean men, brazen men, corrupt men, licentious men, desperate men, des- picable men — these any young man is likely to meet when he goes out into the tempting world to act for himself. Unless he be thoroughly mailed with honesty, very likely he will wreck every hope ! Some years ago a young man entered a New York warehouse, where he was required to visit hotels, thea- tres, and worse places, with customers, in order to 304 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. secure their trade. The young man was ruined after a few years ; and on being dismissed by his employer, he turned upon him with this terrible retort : " I came into your service, sir, uncorrupt in principles and in morals ; but the rules of your house required mc to spend my evenings at places of public entertainment and amusement, in search of customers. To accom- plish my work in your service, I was obliged to drink with them, and join with them in their pursuit of pleas- ure. It was not my choice, but the rule of the house. I went with them to the theatre and the billiard-table, but it was not my choice ; I did not wish to go ; I went in your service. It was not my pleasure so to do, but I was the conductor and companion of the simple ones, void alike of understanding and of principle in their sinful pleasures and deeds of deeper darkness, that I might retain them as your customers. Your interest required it. I have added thousands of dollars to the profits of your trade, but at what expense you now see, and I know too well. You have become wealthy, but I am poor indeed. And now this cruel dismission from your employ is the recompense I receive for a character ruined and prospects blasted in helping to make you a rich man ! " We are aware that this sort of "drumming" is far less prevalent now than formerly, and that respectable warehouses frown upon such practices ; still, these things are not altogether unknown at the present day. Such employers and traders as this young man worked for still are found in business, when they ought to be in the penitentiary ; men as devoid of principle as the HONESTY. 30s blackest devil who visits earth from the pit. God pity the young men who fall in the way of these diabolical intriguers ! God give them courage to plant them- selves upon principle, and to say to these devils in broadcloth, " Get thee behind me, Satan ! " A New York merchant overheard his son, who was a clerk in his store, say to a guest in his parlor one evening : " These lounges, which are of a novel pattern, were made in Boston. The lustres are from the an- cient glass-manufactory on the Island of Murano, near Venice. This mosaic table my father ordered on his last visit to Florence ; it cost him a thousand dollars. That beautiful water-scene which you admire so much was painted for him by Horace Vernet, at an expense of seven hundred dollars. It is the only painting we have in the house, as my father does not choose to have his walls disfigured with mere daubs. This ivory cabinet from China is the only one ever sent to this country." And so he went on from A to Z. When the guest left the house, the merchant said : " My son, how was it possible for you to tell your friend so many lies ? You know very well that you have given him sa incorrect account of these articles. The lounges were made in Chestnut Street ; the lustres are from New England; the table is from Matlock, and cost one hundred dollars ; the painting was by Cole : I paid him three hundred dollars for it ; and besides, there are a dozen other paintings up-stairs. And as to the cabinet, the Chinese send them here by scores. How could you utter such falsehoods } " The son's reply was very pertinent and instructive. " Father," 20 3o6 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, he said, " why do you speak so harshly to me ? I have done nothing but what we are constantly doing at the store, and I had no reason to believe that you disap- proved of it. I knew that my friend was not a judge of these objects, and that it would greatly enhance not only his astonishment, but his pleasurCi to be told these wonderful tales about them. Wherein does this differ in principle from our customs at the counting-house ? For example, we clerks are instructed to put French labels on English goods. We sell American cloths for English. We call old goods the ' newest styles/ and tell customers that the piece of goods he is examining is the only one to be found in the city, when we know better. We say that goods are 'all woollen,* or *all silk,' when we know that cotton is in them, and that they cost a specified sum, twenty-five per cent, perhaps more than they did actually cost. Why should I not talk at home as I do at the store ? Is it wrong to say in Walnut Street what is right in Market Street, or is there one system of morality for business and another for domestic life } Indeed it strikes me that, of the two, there is less harm in dealing in a little ex- aggeration at home than at the counting-house, be- cause here we do it simply to increase the pleasure of our friends and make their time pass agreeably, whereas we employ it there to get money out of our customers." Pu. 'ing the best construction possible upon the busi- ness of the secular world to-day, we must admit that it appears to recognize two standards of right : one the- oretical, the other practical ; one to be talked about and commended, the other to be practised. Few men HONESTY. 307 n deny the sentiments : " Prefer loss to unjust gain ; " " Nothing is profitable that is dishonest ; " " Virtue alone is invincible ; " " That man has the fewest wants who least wants wealth ;" "A great fortune is a great slavery ; " and they admire the songs of poets : " An honest man 's the noblest wor';; of God." • "Thrice is he arme1 who hnth his quarrel just." f " Our reward Is in the race we run, not in the prize." % And when they have admitted and extolled these irre- versible truths, they go out into the driving, avaricious business world, and practically deny every one of them ; conceding that there is but one standard of right, yet acting as if there were two ! That young man alone can resist these temptations and succeed financially and morally, who puts on the armor of enduring honesty. Dr. Peabody said of Sam- uel Appleton, one of Boston's noblest and wealthiest merchants of a former generation : " He was an hon- est man. Without subterfuge or disguise, incapable of anything indirect or underhanded, he had no con- cealments of his own, and anything in the form of a secret was to him a trouble and a burden. He knew of but one way of speaking, and that was to say straight on the truth. It .;as a principle grown into the necessity of his moral life. * The integrity of the upright shall guide them ; but the perverseness of the transgressors shall destroy them.' " A customer boasted in the store of Gideon Lee, that paragon of mercantile honesty Pope. t Shakspeare. X Rogers. 3o8 TACTy PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. and success, that he had gained an advantage over him in a bargain. " Well," replied Mr. Lee, " that may be ; but if you will promise never to enter my office again, I will give you that bundle of gjat-skins." Strange as it may seem, the unprincipled customer accepted the proposition, and retired with the gift. ^Fifteen years thereafter the man violated his pledge by walking into Mr. Lee's store. "You have violated your word," said Mr. Lee, recognizing him at once ; " pay me for the goat-skins." ** Oh," answered the man, with sad countenance, " I have been very unfortunate since I saw you, and am quite poor." " Yes," rejoined Mr. Lee, " and you will always be so ; that miserable desire to overreach others must keep you so." " He that walk- eth uprightly, walketh surely ; but he that perverteth his ways shall be known." That well-known maxim, " Honesty is the best POLICY," has misguided many young men. It implies that human conduct may be determined by "policy ; which is not true. Honesty is principle ; poHcy may be the opposite of principle. Honesty should never be named in the same category with policy ; for it adopts a course of conduct because it is right, while policy adopts a course because it will promote personal interests. A veritable rogue at heart may reduce to practice the maxim in question. Suppose a clerk be tempted to defraud his employer by taking his money. He looks at the matter deliberately. He counts the cost, considers the chances of detection, and weighs the consequence in case his crime is exposed. He irrives at this conclusion, " If I do this thing, and am HONESTY, 309 ^er him lay be ; again, nge as ed the years ig into word," ne for h sad ince I '. Lee, jire to walk- srteth BEST iplies )licy ; may lever "or it vhile Jonal e to c be ney. the ighs He* am discovered, I lose my place, and my character is blasted ; I will not do it." This young man continues honest in the sight of men ; but he is a rogue at heart. For he who is deterred from stealing only by the fear of exposure, is a thief still. Remove the fear of de- tection and he will defraud at once. He has continued honest before men because it was " the best policy." Yet he is a rascal at heart. Every young man should repudiate policy as a rule of conduct, for it is mean, contemptible, and wicked. There is another maxim quite current, namely, " When with the Romans, do as the Romans do." Reduced to practice thoroughly, there is no corruption that it might not cover. The spirit of it is too fre- quently found in practice. The example of others is pleaded as an excuse for dishonest acts. " Men of standing do so." " It is no worse than others do." ** If I don't do it, others will." " It is considered a fair transaction in business." " It is the common practice in trade." And so young men, to say nothing of older ones, catch the spirit of this maxim, excuse their du- plicity and frauds, and wreck character, fortune, and all. Under the plea oi Expediency, also, honesty has often been cast aside. Expediency is hand and glove with policy. What does not promise to promote personal interests is not expedient. It is a nice pillow for self ishness. Honesty is well enough, and even necessary, provided it is expedient. It may seem very inexpedient to practise the Golden Rule ; and then, of course, it will not be practised. Right and wrong become mat- ters of choice simply under this pliable rule. What I W|>ipfi w". W>^'*' " t 310 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. will contribute to one's success is right, what will not is wrong. Thus the widest departures from rectitude are provided for. Individuals find it easy to commit even flagrant crimes under this rule, and governments inflict fearful wrongs upon their subjects in the name of Expediency. England forces the destructive opium trade upon China, even at the point of the bayonet, entailing suffering, misery, and death that beggar de- scription, because it is expedient to have the revenue. And for the same barbaric reason America legalizes the sale of intoxicating drinks, thereby spreading vice and crime, starvation and dreadful ruin. Young men should discard ejcpediency, because its direct tendency is to expel honesty. It has one aim, one standard, one motive, — self-interest. Inexcusable, belittling, and false mode of action 1 Young men in large cities, especially those engaged in mercantile business, are often led to abjure honesty by causes that many of them consider trivial, ?is : I. Love of dress. The salary fails to provide the costly apparel that pride covets, and so dishonesty is evoked to remove the difficulty. 2. Love of pleasure. The demands of the theatre, billiard-hall, fast horses, and fast companions exceed the income by far, and the balance is often made up from the employer's till. 3. Love of money. A passionate desire to be rich has led a multitude of men to ignore moral principle, and strike out for wealth, " honestly if possible, but dis- honestly if must." Overlooking the fact that riches injure more men than they benefit, their race is for riches as the chief good ; to accomplish which they ■. ■* HONESTY, 3" carry dishonest practices just as far as they can, and keep out of the state-prison. 4. Going into business for themselves tempts young men to dishonesty. They are ambitious to accumulate money rapidly, and in their haste they wait not to be upright. 5. A want of true self-respect has made honesty next to impossible. " I don't care what people think of me," says the young trader ; and the result is that he does not make him- self worthy of being thought much of. The public never think well of a man who does not care whether they do or not. 6. " I must live," exclaims another in extenuation of his dishonesty. But the plea is not a good one. There is no must about it. It is not abso- lutely necessary for a man to live, but it is absolutely necessary for him to be honest. Clean, square honesty is better than ignoble life anywhere. When the friends of Pompey besought him not to risk his life upon a tempestuous sea in order to be in Rome at a certain time, he replied, grandly, " It is necessary foi* me to go ; it is not necessary for me to live." We say to young men, It is not necessary for you to live ; but to prac- tise honesty is an imperative duty. Better die than live dishonestly. The reader can readily judge whether we attach too much importance to personal integrity, by a simple method. Suppose a young man, who has lost his posi- tion by his immoralities, should advertise for a situa- tion, and say, " I will work on Sunday, take customers to the bar-room, theatre, and house of ill-fame, and fleece them without mercy; I will do my best to increase my employer's business and profits, without I! 1 312 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, regard to honesty, only he shall pay me accordingly." What employer would consider such an advertisement for a moment ? Even the most unprincipled cheat would not trust such a wretch on his premises. Hon- esty is demanded and insisted upon when personal interests are at stake. The honest man is sought in emergencies when im- portant trusts are to be borne and great issues are pending ; as Abraham Lincoln was sought when the nation was assaulted and imperilled by internal foes ; and as Washington was sought nearly a century before, when the infant republic was menaced by foreign ene- mies. Honest men, too, are the ones who receive the proudest meed of praise when they die, both the secular and religious press vying with each othei to extol their uprightness and purity, as the source of their personal worth and influence. The following inscription upon Baron Stein's tombstone furnisher an illustration of the tribute a grateful public pay to honesty : ♦* His nay was nay without recall; His yea was yea, and powerful all ; He gave his yea with careful heed ; His thoughts and words were well agreed; His word his bond and seal." Finally, honesty contributes to self-respect and feal satisfaction. A dishonest man cannot respect himself. He knows more than anybody else about his own meanness, so that self-respect is impossible ; and con- sequently real satisfaction with his own life is impoV sible. The boy who declined to steal the apples hit the nail on the head when he replied to his comrade's HONESTY. 313 \ rdingly." tisement id cheat 1. Hon- personal /hen im- sues are ^hen the lal foes ; y before, ign ene- :eive the e secular :tol their personal on upon ation of and f eal himself, lis own ,nd con- impoV >ples hit >mrade's suggestion "Nobody will see you," "I shall see my- self." His self-respect would spare him the unpleasant sight. He could see himself be honest with unalloyed satisfaction. A clerk in a dry-goods store of New York city sold a lady a silk dress. When measuring the number of yards desired, he discovered a defect in the silk, and called her attention to it. Of course she declined to take the dress. His employer overheard the conversation, and immediately '.rote to the young man's father to come and take him away, as he would " never make a merchant." Very much surprised and alarmed, the father hastened to the city, and calling upon the merchant, he anxiously inquired, " What is the trouble with my son } Why will he not make a merchant 1 " " Because he has no tact," was the em- ployer's reply. " Only a day or two ago he told a lady voluntarily who was buying silk of him, that the goods were damaged, and I lost the bargain. Purchasers must look out for themselves. If they cannot discover flaws, it would be foolish in me to point them out." " Is that all his fault ? " said the father, already very much relieved of his anxiety. ** Yes," answered the merchant. " Then," added the father, with a pride and joy that no language can describe, " I love my son more than ever, and I would not have him another day in your store for all the world." Father and son both left the city on that day with an inward satisfaction which only honest people know. " One self-approving hour whole ^^ears outweighs Of stupid stagers, and of loud huzzas; And more true jo/ Marcellus exiled feeit Than Csesar with the senate at his heels." — Potb. :«-• 314 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. XVI. BENEVOLENCE. A YOUNG merchant died in Philadelphia some years ago, of whom this incident was told by his pastor. He came from Cincinnati to Philadelphia three years before. In the former city he loaned sev- eral hundred dollars to a friend, and needing the money very much in his business after removing to Philadel- phia, he made a journey to Ohio for the purpose of col- lecting the debt. On his return a brother merchant inquired after his success. The reply was : " I did not even ask for the money. When I reached there, I found the family packed up and just about to remove to Texas. A glance satisfied me that my friend was in straitened circumstances, and that if I pressed my claim his wife and children would suffer. I had no heart to do that, so I turned about without saying a word respecting the debt, and returned." The disposi- tion which is manifest in this incident is what we mean by Benevolence. Not so much the giving of money, food, or clothing, as the spirit whicb^mpartb a benevo- lent cast to the whole of life. The biographer of Bud- gett happily expresses the idea thus : " Commerce is a system of mutual services. The very structure of ii protests agj^''^ making self your centre. He receives [ia some told by ladelphia ined sev- le money Philadel- se of col- Tierchant I did not there, I emove to id was in jssed my 1 had no saying a e disposi' we mean )f money, a benevo- r of Bud- nerce is a ture of it 2 receives BENEVOLENCE, 315 the greatest reward who most successfully adapts his services to the general need. Herein co.nmerce bears the imprint of God's great law of brotherhood. Every man who enters into trade, proclaims, voluntarily or in- voluntarily, that he was not sent into the world to wait upon himself, but to find his own welfare in working for his neighbor. A man does not learn to make shoes because he means to display new shoes every day, but because he knows all people want shoes. A man does not learn to make hats because he has a fancy to mount a new hat every week, but because he knows all the world want hats. A man does not learn to spin cotton because he means to heap up mountains of yarn, but because he knows yarn is a general necessity. A man does not study law because he means to be perpetually in litigation, but because he is aware that somebody is always in need of advice. A man does not learn to cure colic because he expects to be always in pain, but because he knows that some one is always in need of cure. Thus, you go on ; and you ever find that it is the genei d service which calls for and determines the individual proficiency. Thus God places on the very portals of life a plain declaration that we are all breth- ren ; that none of us is here for his own pleasure ; that the true path for any man to follow is that whereto the necessities of his fellow-nen most loudly call him ; that in pursuing the general service we reap our high- est good ; that in neglecting the general service and regarding only our personal tastes, we sink into worth- lessness and want ; that, therefore, the man who, while ostensibly employed for the public, is o^ Dent on his 3i6 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. own promotion, is false to God's design, false to the brotherhood of man, false to his own calling and dig- nity — a poor and pitiable earthworm, seeking his God, his heritage, his reward, his heaven, in this vanishing world alone." This is the element of successful character that we christen benevolence, and maintain stoutly that the highest success cannot be won without it. In Budgett it appeared not only in the contribution of money to the needy, but also in securing neat and comfortable homes for his employes ; in reducing the hours of labor from nine o'clock to six in the evening by adopting a system pointing thereto, and inspiring his men with the spirit of promptness and energy to accomplish the desirable result ; in dividing the profits of the year's business beyond a certain amount stated at the open- ing of the year among his employes ; in providing schools and public worship for the children and people of the neighborhood ; and in that general manifestation of kindness, generosity, and good-will for which he was known and honored. In nearly every character we have sketched, certainly in all that have been adduced as examples of the highest success, this element has been remarkably prominent. Dr. Peabody said of Ap- pleton : ** He held his fortune as a means.of usefulness, and there was scarcely a day in the year in which he did not contribute more or less to some benevolent ob- ject. He of course exercised his own judgment as to whether he would give or not give, and he carried into his works of benevolence the same good sense and clearness of mind which had characterized him as a e to the and dig- his God, anishing that we that the Budgett noney to ifortable i of labor opting a nen with plish the he year's he open- )roviding d people Testation h he was acter we adduced nent has id of Ap- >efulness, which he olent ob- lent as to fried into ense and [lim as a BENEVOLENCE, 317 merchant ; but he would have taken it unkindly if, in any enterprise for the public good, or any purpose of private charity, he had been overlooked by his friends." One of the last thoughts expressed by Peter C. Brooks, near the close of his life, was : " Of all the ways of dis- posing of money, giving it away is the most satisfac- tory." Rich men generally may not say with Mark Anthony, " I have lost all except what I have given away ; " but we have no doubt that they will agree with Mr. Brooks, that "giving it away is the most satis- factory." Amos Lawrence was wont to repeat the famous maxim, " Charity giveth itself rich ; covetous- ness hoardeth itself poor ; " and he would add : ** Here is the embodiment of a volume, and whoever wrote it deserves the thanks of good men. I would fain be rich, according as he defines riches ; but possessiottt posses- sion is the devil^ as the old Frenchman said to George Cabot." He set apart two rooms in his lesidence for the storage of articles designed to bless the needy. Here was a pile of ready-made clothing ; there one of cloths to be manufactured into clothing ; near by a pile of groceries in assorted packages ready to deliver ; and so on, the whole space being occupied by what he called "haycocks." In these rooms Mr. Lawrence spent many of his happiest and most profitable hours in making up packages for the indigent ; cloth for a suit of clothes for a student in college, or a minister in his small country parish ; groceries for a very poor family just reported by a city missionary ; even a package of toys or something particularly useful and interesting children he knew. A professor in col* family 3i8 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. lege is notified of a barrel and bundle of books for- warded, with broadcloth and pantaloon stuff, with odds and ends for poor students when they go out to keep school in the winter. His brother, Abbott Lawrence, was distinguished for the same noble spirit. His pas- tor relates : " As I was standing just beneath the pul- pit at the close of his funeral, a gentleman whom I saw at once was a clergyman, came, and addressing me by name, asked if he might speak to me a moment. My reply was : * Can you not choose some other time ? I cannot attend to any business amid this scene, and with that body lying there.' His answer was rapid as he could speak, as if his heart were bursting for utterance, and with tears streaming down his cheeks. * I must leave the city at two o'clock, and must speak now. It is of him who has left that body that I would speak. Eighteen years ago I was a poor boy in this city, with- out means, and without friends. I was a member of the Mechanics' Apprentices' Association. Mr. Law- rence came to one of our meetings. He heard me deliver an essay I had written. He spoke to me after- ward ; inquired into my circumstances and character. I made known to him my wants and wishes. He fur- nished me with means to acquire an education. When prepared, told me that Harvard College was best, but to go to what college I liked. I went to the Wesleyan University. He supported me at it. I am now a min- ister of the gospel in the State of New York, I saw his death in the paper, and a notice of the funeral to- day. I came on to attend it. He was my greatest benefactor. I owe it to him that I am a minister of v-^,". 1 oks for- ith odds to keep Lwrence, n[is pas- the pul- n I saw me by It. My me? I nd with d as he terance, I must low. It 1 speak, ty, with- mber of r. Law- ;ard me le after- laracter. He fur- When est, but esleyaii r a min- I saw eral to- jreatest lister of BENEVOLENCE. 319 the gospel of Christ. I am not the only one he has helped thus. God will accept him. I felt that I must say this to some one : to whom can I better say it than to his pastor.^' And with this he hurried away, leav- ing me only time to learn his name, and receive from him a kind promise to write to me." Deacon Moses Grant was another of the successful men of Boston, whose benevolent spirit fell like a ben- ediction from the skies upon the poor of the city. With the pressure of an extensive and profitable busi- ness on his hands, he found time to engage in all the philanthropic movements of the day. His great sym- pathy was easily enlisted in any and every enterprise designed to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate and indigent. He, too, kept a room in his house for the storage of articles necessary and useful to these classes. With his own hand he dealt out groceries and measured cloth, and hundreds of families were made the happier by his generous ministrations. His benevolence became an element of his success, by cre- ating public respect and confidence, and attracting to himself that love and well-wishing which are sure to" follow him who is not seeking personal aggrandize- ment. In every example of the highest success hitherto advanced, we might discover this characteristic quality, were it necessary. It is tne quality that is so fre- quently enjoined in the Scriptures, and to which a special promise is made. " Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine in- crease ; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and i . 'ir 1 320 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. . thy presses burst out with new wine." " The liberal soul shall be made fat ; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself." " Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good measure pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." " He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." We insist that these divine promises are both figura- tively and literally fulfilled ; that in the lives of all truly successful men we discover unmistakable proof of their fulfilment — proof as definite and clear as that of any other principle or doctrine of the Bible that we accept. The gist of the whole matter was not only prominent in the grand life of Amos Lawrence, as we have seen, but he embodied it in a single paragraph of a letter to his son, as follows : *' I hope you will one day have the delightful consciousness of using a portion of your means in a way to give you as much pleasure as I now experience. Your wants may be brought within a very moderate compass ; and I hope you will never feel yourself at liberty to waste on yourself such means as, by system and right principle, may be beneficially applied to the good of those around you. Providence has given us unerring principles to guide us in our duties of this sort. Our first duty is to those of our own household, then extending to kindred, friends, neighbors (and the term neighbor may, in its broadest sense, take in the whole human family), citi- zens of our State, then of our country, then of other countries of the world." BENEVOLENCE. 121 A strictly honest man may not be benevolent. He may isolate himself so far from society as to be com- pletely absorbed in his own affairs ; and this will prove a serious drawback both to characf and success. Such a person benefits society only by \ example of uprightness and by his capital. The iirst, however, may be offset by his selfishness, reducing his beneficial influence to the small advantage his capital becomes to the community. He assists no worthy young man into business. He has no interest in any benevolent enter- prise that is started. He is not disposed to relieve a worthy neighbor who is overtaken by misfortune by proffering him even temporary assistance. He does not turn over business that he does not want to an enterprising and deserving beginner who needs it. He sees talented youth thirsting for knowledge beyond their reach, but he does not give them a lift. Nothing interests him but the steady, absorbing routine of his own business, and so he lives very much by himself, is called "odd," "peculiar," "cold," and " selfish," while he is admitted to be honest, efficient, and reliable. That he is of comparatively little account to the public is quite evident. No man is of much account who exhibits such devotion to self, however upright he may be. If half the human family were like him, the other half might grovel in ignorance or starve in pov- erty. Hence the need of this separate and more careful view of benevolence as an element of success. Many men " live up to their income," as it is said of them, and so they have no place for benevolence in their plans. Their income may be large, but it all goes 21 SJ 322 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, to keep up appearances and gratify selfish ambition, which is not a generous, noble way of- living. Harris, the gifted author of " Mammon," says of such a one : " To maintain an extensive establishment, to carry it high before the world, to settle his children respectably in life, to maintain a system of costly self-indulgence, — these are the objects that swallow up all his gains, and keep him in a constant fever of ill-concealed anxiety, filling his heart with envy and covetousness at the sight of others* prosperity, rendering him loath to part with a fraction of his property to benevolent purposes, and making him feel as if every farthing of his money so employed were a diversion of that farthing from the great ends of life. New channels of benevolence may open around him iu all directions, but, as far as he is concerned, those channels must remain dry ; for, like the sands of the desert, he absorbs all the bounty which Heaven rains on him, and still craves for more. What but this is commonly meant by the expression concerning such a man, that he * is living up to his income ' ? " And what a living I Too selfish to be respectable, and too circumscribed to be really suc- cessful ! Perhaps this deluded man enters the plea, "Charity begins at home," which has been styled " a neat pocket edition of covetousness." With him, selfishness begins at home ; and where selfishness begins, charity ends. That is really the case with all those who put forward the above maxim as a shield from censure. Behind it thousands have intrenched themselves against every appeal of benevolence, presenting a striking contrast BENEVOLENCE, 323 nbition, Harris, I a one : carry it f)ectably sncc, — ins, and anxiety, at the to part jrposes, money rom the ice may as he is for, like bounty >r more. Dression > to his 1 to be lly suc- Charity : pocket r begins ty ends, forward ;hind it t every :ontrast with the noble-hearted man who was asked, " Have you not made yourself rich enough to retire from busi- ness ? " " By no means, sir," he replied ; " I am not rich enough yet to give one leaf of the catechism to each member of my family." " How large is your fam- ily?" his interrogator inquired. "Nine hundred mil- lions," the man answered. This contrast presents the essential difference between selfishness and benevo- lence in practical life. " Self is Dives in the mansion, clothed in purple, and faring sumptuously every day. Benevolence is Lazarus, lying at his gate, and fed only with the crumbs which fall from his table." Many young fortune-seekers start with the secret, if not expressed, purpose of making themselves rich by forty years of age, or thereabouts, and then retiring to a life of leisure and ease. They dream that this is the most successful career possible ; and it is nothing but a dream. Leaving out of their estimate this fpctor of benevolence that links them indissolubly with the great world, the realization of their hopes turns out to be a delusion and cheat. A New York broker belonged to this class, and he bent all his energies to possess the coveted fortune at forty, thinking not of want, suffer- ing, misfortune, and misery about him ; and he suc- ceeded. Bidding adieu to the city, he retired to his splendid villa on the Hudson ; and the rest of the story he shall tell in his own words. "At first I was charmed," he said. " This life was new to me, and the rest was delicious. I drove out daily, saw the trains come and go, and welcomed my neighbors. I walked over my grounds, and planned improvements enough 324 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, I to occupy me a year. In a month I was sick enough. t knew every rod of wall, and every turn in the road. I fell asleep over my books, and my pictures tired me. 1 had no gas or water, and my papers came at night, or the next day. Worse than all, the world went on with- out me, and I was voted an ' old fogy.* No one asked my advice on the market, and no one accepted it when I tendered it. I am back at my post, and propose to die with my harness on." If this man had counted in benevolence in the outset, he would have made no foolish resolve to retire from business at forty. His whole life would have appeared none too long for the work he was able to do for himself and others. Neither would he have made the inexcusable mistake of sup- posing that the great end of life was to get rich at forty, and spend the remainder of life in doing nothing. If such a life be not a complete failure, then failure is impossible. The fact is an illustration of our position, that no man can achieve eminent success without in- cluding benevolence in his programme. Once we were visiting a wealthy gentleman, and, while there, a col- lector called for his annual contribution to a benevo- lent cause. We expressed our approbation of his very liberal donation, after the collector retired, to which he replied, " If it were but mere policy, I should give with . one hand while getting with the other, in order to keep out of the insane hospital." Then he went on and explained, relating instances of acquaintances nursing their love of money into a passion, until they turned a deaf ear ti every cry of want and woe, and finally imagined they themselves were coming to want, dwell* I- nough. ; road, ed me. ht, or 1 with- asked t when DOse to ited in ide no His for the Neither 3f sup- rich at othing. ilure is Dsition, out in- ^e were a col- )ene vo- ls very lich he /e with :o keep on. and lursing irned a finally , dwell* BENEVOLENCE. 325 ing upon the unpleasant thought until they became insane. " Benevolence," said he, " is not only essential to a decent character, but it is essential to a sane mind and a sound heart." The reader must not limit his thoughts to money, when we speak thus of benevolence. We repeat, it is thr.t state of the heart which prompts to kind, gener- ous, unselfish acts, that we are discussing. It may be found, and is found in every calling. In William Carey it manifested itself early towards companions and friends, and those who were poor like himself ; and later in life it stood forth grandly in his magnanimous missionary labors in the East, where he literally spared not himself in toiling for the good of others. It is an interesting fact that he was the son of a very humble shoemaker, and the two men who supported him in the foreign missionary field were in their boyhood ex- tremely poor, one of them the son of a carpenter and the other the son of a weaver, — all three growing into manhood with this noble attribute beautifying their lives. The money of the two, with the personal labors of the third, established a magnificent college at Se- rampore, planted sixteen missionary stations, translated the Bible into sixteen languages, and inaugurated a grand moral revolution in British Ir dia. In Carey this quality was united with dauntless heroism, which, to- gether, braved all perils and triumphed over what many would declare to be insurmountable difficulties. An illustration of this quality is recorded clear bav it in his boyhood. He fell from a tree and broke one of hiu legs. He was confined to the house several weekf : I ^ 326 TACT, PUSHy AND PRINCIPLE. but the first thing he did when fully restored was to climb that tree again to the very spot from whence he fell, — proving thereby that he could do it. Such fear- lessness, combined with an irrepressible benevolent spirit, made him one of the most successful mission- aries of the whole world. In George Stephenson this quality appeared in his readiness to lighten the burdens of his fellow-laborers in every way possible. Like Carey, he was fearless at the same time that he was proverbially kind and noble-hearted. The cry of *• Fire in the mine," startled him one day when he was sitting in his house, and forthwith he rushed forward to the mine, down the shaft into the very face of the fiery element, (though others were fleeing therefrom for their lives,) and suc- ceeded in extinguishing the fire. There was scarcely a single chance, in ten, of his escaping death ; but the benevolent desire to save the lives of many miners caused him to be oblivious to the saving of his own. Subsequently he invented a safety-lamp, and when the tinfie came to test its qualities not a miner dared to descend with him into the mine. They expected an explosion the moment the lamp reached the fire-damp. So the heroic man, eager to save the lives of others, took his own life into his hand, and alone tested his lamp. Such a self-forgetting spirit becomes an ele- ment of power by challenging universal admiration. V/e conclude this chapter by quoting a paragraph from Rev. John Newton, whose words express exactly the thought we have tried to present : " I see in this world two heaps — one of human happiness and one of BENEVOLENCE. 327 misery. Now, if I can take but the smallest bit from the second heap and add to the first, I carry a point. If, as I go home, a child has dropped a halfpenny, and if, by giving it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel that I have done something. I should be glad, indeed, to do great things, but I will not neglect such little ones as these." :hough i Hi 328 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. XVII. THE BIBLE. " T^HE Bible ! " exclaims a thoughtless aspirant for X wealth, " what has the Bible to do with success ?" And he reflects the thoughtlessness of multitudes. " The Bible in business !" remarked a sharp speculator, and he repeated it with a sneer, " The Bible in busi- ness ! " There is need enough of it, surely. It is just the place for it. The highest success cannot be achieved without it. The successful men of our country, in every department of human effort, accom- plished their purpose on principles derived directly from the Bible, or which were in harmony with it. This was literally true of all the distinguished persons whom we have introduced to the reader as examples of our theme. Whether they formally avowed their in- debtedness to the Bible or not, the principles upon which their business was conducted show our state- ment to be correct. We have cited the code of morals that Franklin, McDonough, Allen, and others adopted as their vade-mecum^ and, without exception, they are derived from the Scriptures. Interview the most prosperous men of to-day, in mercantile or other busi- ness ; ask them for the most important rule of life that has aided them in their pursuits ; and whatever that THE BIBLE, 329 rule may be, it will be found in full accord with the Scriptures. Doubtless from one or all of these three sources — The Moral Law, The Book of Proverbs, and the Sermon on the Mount — may be quoted the identical passage from which its sanction is derived. The fact is, there is not a rule fit for human conduct, in private or public life, that does not find its highest sanction in the Word of God. A rule that cannot bear the test of an appeal to the Bible is not worthy of a place in human affairs ; it should not be tolerated in civilized society. Of course, this position condemns many of the maxims and customs that are current in social and public life ; and that is what we have endeavored to do in previous pages. Young men should avoid and repudiate them. As *.hey value unblemished character and the noblest achievements, they should treat them with unqualified con tern pt. We are aware that this view is in direct conflict with the opinions of many young men, and older ones, too. " The Bible is well enough in its place," they think, " and that place is on the parlor-table, in the religious meeting and Sabbath school, but not in the shop or store." "Run churches and Christian conventions with it," they say, " but it is folly to attempt to run workshops and v/arehouses with it." Possibly they go a step further even, and say, " No matter what a man believes, if be be sincere, if his life be right, his opin- ions are of little account ; a man's faith is one thing, and his conduct quite another; good men are found among all creeds and professions." A little reflection will convince every intelligent young man that such 330 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. views destroy the basis of all true morality. Moral principle becomes of no account whatever. One sys- tem of morals is just as good as another. He who believes a lie is just as likely to be virtuous as he who believes the truth. But common sense revolts from such absurd doctrines. The young man who advocates them denies them every day in practice. He confides in the man who believes in virtue instead of the man who believes in vice. He prefers to trade with the merchant or manufacturer who has moral principle, showing thereby that a man's creed has something to do with his conduct, just what the Bible claims. Once, in Scotland, the Book of Proverbs was pub- lished in a neat " pocket edition," as a " business man- ual " or " guide " for young men and others. And why not } Neither the literature of Scotland, nor any other country could furnish such a complete " code of morals" for the farm, shop, and counting-room as Proverbs. It has not a parallel in any language on the globe ; and the young man who depreciates its worth exposes his ignorance or depravity, one or both. The following quotations will confirm this statement : (( A false balance is abomination to the Lord ; but a just weight is his delight. There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to povertj'. The hand of the diligent shall bear rule ; but the slothful shall be under tribute. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker ; but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to an/ people. THE BIBLE, 331 A nod answer turneth away wrath ; but grievous words stir up anger. Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get un- derstanding than silver I Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fkU. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever i% deceived thereby is not wise. The just man walketh in his integrity; his children are blessed after him. An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. He that lovcth pleasure shall be a poor man. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and lov* ing favor rather than silver and gold. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself; but the simple pass on and are punished. The borrower is servant to the lender. Seest thou a mnn diligent in business; he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. The wicked flee when no man pursueth ; but the righteous are bold as a lU n. He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth h:8 substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son, but he that is a com- panion of riotous men shameth his father. The getting of treasure by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdo.ii: and with All thy getting get understanding. When sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 332 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chantibers of death. The memory of the just is blessed ; but the name of the wicked shall rot/' This is but a sample of the practical wisdom con' tained in the Book of Proverbs. It is enough, however, to show that the Book is superior to any other " man- ual " or ** guide " known in the business world. Irre- spective of "inspiration," as a book of real genius, worldly wisdom, and pure morality, it surpasses any- thing to be found in the whole range of human learn- ing. Indeed, the sages of the past, like Franklin, were indebted to this Book ^ir the proverbial sayings that dropped as apples of gold from their lips. A close examination will show that they embodied and repeated wisdom which had been written Irng before in this wonderful Book. We have spoken of the Moral Law. So far as the MORALS of the world relate, the Ten Commandments satisfy every demand of domestic, social, political, and business life. Neither genius nor piety can improve them by adding thereto or subtracting therefrom. In- dependent of all thoughts of inspiration, they are abso- lutely a perfect rule of conduct for men, young or old, learned or ignorant, civilized or savage, in Christian or heathen lands. A distinguished lawyer of New York claimed to be an infidel. Another lawyer, who was a friend of his, was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. The former met the latter one day and said, ** What books would you advise me to read upon the evidences of Christianity ? " " Read the Bible," answered the THE BIBLE. 333 elder. " You don't understand me," responded the in- fidel ; " I wish to investigate the truth of the Bible. I want to know what books about the Bible I shall read." " I understand," continued the elder ; " and I insist that the best evidences of Christianity are found in the Bible. You infidels are very ignorant of the Script- ures ; you don't believe them, because you do not know what they are." " Where shall I begin to read, — with the New Testament } " inquired the infidel. " No ; begin with Genesis, of course," answered the elder. The infidel purchased a Bible and began to read care- fully. Some portions he re-read and studied. After a few weeks the elder met him, and inquired after his progress. " I have been studying the moral law," re- marked the infidel. "And what do you think of it t '* asked the elder. " I will tell you what I think of it," replied the infidel. ** I have been looking into the nature of that law. I have been trying to see whether I can add anything to it or take anything from it, so as to make it better. Sir, I cannot. It is perfect" He continued : " I have been thinking, where did Moses get that law } I have read the history : the Egyptians * and the adjacent nations were idolaters ; so were the Greeks and Romans ; and the wisest and best Greeks or Romans never gave a code of morals like this. Where did Mosco get this law, which surpasses the wisdom and philosophy of the most enlightened ages > He lived at a period comparatively barbarous, but he has given a law in which the learning and sagacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. Where did he get it ? He could not have soared so far above his age 334 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE 1 1 as to have devised it himself. I am satisfied where he obtained it. It came down from heaven." This incident is instructive to every young man, as showing that the Moral Law is a perfect rule of con- duct everywhere, — on the farm, in the mill and shop, at the counter, in the bank, in the Legislature, in Con- gress, and wherever duty calls men. Independent oi the question where Moses obtained it, it is a rule oi life that will prove salutary in the business world be- yond all the *' codes " and " regulations " that unin spired genius ever wrote. Indeed, any rule or regula • tion which man may devise in conflict with this Morj*! Law would be thrown out of every honest warehouse. The same remarks are true of the Sermon on the Mount, and that, too, if we apply them simply to the secular relations of life, without regard to the great hereafter to which its Divine Author points. Many other parts of the Scripture, too, are equally worthy of our attention and study as rules of practical wisdom for this life alone ; but we have not space to elaborate. There are other considerations that we desire to pre- sent. In previous chapters we have discussed self-culture, mental improvement, the qualities of mind and heart indispensable to success, like singleness of purpose, observation, industry, perseverance, honesty, and kin- dred virtues. Now we desire to recommend the Bible to young men as a book to help them in becoming " the artificers of their own fortunes." Many of this class think of the Bible as having to do only with piety and Sunday. They never think of it as an aid to self- THE BIBLE, 335 culture, to intellectual progress, to the acquisition of knowledge, and to advancement in learning. It is in this regard that we commend the Bible to your confi- dence here. With no intention of entering the domain of religion, strictly considered, we commend the Bible to every young man for its history, literature, and learn- ing, for its surpassing genius, beauty of diction, and grandeur of thought. If it can be made more attract- ive to them to study it as a " production of inspired genius and classic taste ; to explore it as a field of knowledge, a mine of wisdom, a model of eloquence, a masterpiece of poesy, a fountain of influence, a text- book of instruction," — that will meet the purpose of this chapter. Its history. The Bible furnishes the only authentic account of the earlier ages of the world. That this ac- count is entirely reliable is proven by the researches of scientific men in the East. There is no questio»i on that point. It comes to us " laden with uic rich stores of ancient Oriental wisdom — the treasured lore of the first forty centuries of human history." The earlier books of the Bible also " are the most ancient monu- ments of written language now extant in the world." No young man is well acquainted with the history of the world who does not understand this history. John Quincy Adams put the matter squarely when he said : •' It is not so jnuch praiseworthy to be acquainted with, as it is shameful to be ignorant of it." Its literary character. The best scholars of all ages agree that the Bible, as a literary production, stands at the head of the list, whether we consider its thoughts I 33<5 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, and style, its prose and poetry, its history and biogra- phy, its logic and diction, or its beauty and grandeur. On this point Mr. Adams, from whom we have just quoted, wrote : " For pathos of narrative ; for the se- lection of incidents that go directly to the heart ; for the picturesque in character and manner ; the selection of circumstances that mark the individuality of persons ; for copiousness, grandeur, and sublimity of imagery ; for unanswerable cogency and closeness of reasoning ; and for irresistible force of persuasion, no book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly stud- ied, and so profoundly meditated upon as the Bible." Sir William Jones said : " I have regularly and atten- tively read the Bible, and am of opinion that this vol- ume, independently of its divine origin, contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more impartial history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass from all other books ever composed in any age." Sir Matthew Hale said : " There is no book like the Bible for excellent wisdom, learning, and use." The great American jurist and orator, Fisher Ames, recom- mended the Bible as a text-book for orators to study, and said : " I will hazard the assertion that no man ever did, or ever will become truly eloquent, without being a constant reader of the Bible, and an admirer of the beauty and sublimity of its language. Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble, and in no other book is there so good English, so pure and so elegant." Daniel Webster recommended it as a study both for the orator and the poet, and he said even of THE BIBLE, 337 the Book of Job : " It is the most magnificent epic to be found in human literatiire." Adam Clark, the com- mentator, said : " Our translators have not only made a standard translation, but they have made their trans- lation the standard of our language." The Bible is ranked as a classic at the present day by the highest scholarship of the world. Says Dr. Halsey : " The Bible is a classic of the very highest authority in all matters of education, taste, and genius ; that it holds the same place of pre-eminence in the republic of let- ters which it holds in the church of God. ... It is as truly a classic as Homer or Virgil, Xenophon or Cicero, Milton or Addison. It fills a place in ancient and modern literature, which no Greek or Roman author ever filled, or can fill. It has donC for the literature of all civilized nations what no Greek or Roman book could ever have done." At the same time that the Bible contains the best models in literature, it has furnished the material for the grandest poems of modern times, Milton drew his material for " Paradise Lost " from Moses. Shaks- peare and Byron derived some of their finest subjects from the Scriptures. That Macbeth was derived from Ahab, Lady Macbeth from Jezebel, Byron's Apostrophe to Rome as the Niobe of Nations, from Jeremiah's Lamentations over Jerusalem, and his Ode to Napo* leon from Isaiah on the fall of Babylon's king, no one questions. And so of all the most gifted poets, they have caught the inspiration for their noblest efforts from the Bible. Of the most brilliant writers of the past, perhaps aa .•f^3 338 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. ' \ Walter Scott ranks among the highest in the world of letters, and his exalted opinion of the literary merits of the Bible is well known. Among his many characters, drawn with a master-hand, Rebekay in Ivanhoe, ex- cels, for which he was indebted to the Bible. So great was his admiration for the Scriptures as a work of real genius, and so great his veneration for it as a moral guide and teacher, in his last days, that, as he lay upon his dying-bed at Abbotsford, with the highest literary honors laid at his feet, he requested an attendant to read to him. " What book shall I read ? " inquired the attendant. " Why do you ask me that question t There is but one book now ; bring me the Bible." The same is true of the best painters : their finest subjects were taken from the Bible, — the subjects that have won the highest renown. The Deluge, by Trum- bull ; Moses on tJte Nile, by Rembrandt ; Moses Strik- ing the Rocky by Poussin ; Belshazzar's Feast ^ by Martin ; Moses Receiving the Law^ PauVs Shipwreck, Christ Rejected^ and Death on the Pale Horse, by West ; The Last Supper, by Dd Vinci ; Christ in the Garden, by Guido ; The Resur, cction, by Rubens ; The Transfiguration, and The Madonna, by Raphael, — these are among the most distinguished pieces of the artists named. In biography the Scriptures open the richest volume for the study of character in the known world. We have spoken of character or example as a fruitful source of information and beneficial influence for young men. The Bible has no peer in this regard. For variety and fidelity of portraiture it stands at the head, presenting THE BIBLE. 339 % all sorts of characters that make up the world, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, noble and ignobl**, male and female. Some were kings, like David and Solomon ; some were cultured, like Moses and Paul ; some were unlettered, like Andrew and Peter ; some were good, like Joseph and Samuel ; some were bad, like Absalom and Aranon ; and so on, — rulers, subjects, doctors, lawyers, priests, politicians, legislators, shepherds, farmers, fishermen, and tent- makers. How they lived, why some succeeded and why others failed, may be learned here with certainty. The Bible is the real source of our science of govern- ment and rivil liberty. Dr. Spring says : " The entire code of civil and judicious statutes throughout New England, as well as throughout those States first set- tled by the descendants of New England, shows noth- ing more distinctly than that its framers were familiar with the Bible, and substantially adopted 'the judicial laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses, as bind- ing and a rule to all their courts.' " The great states- man referred to in a previous paragraph, Fisher Ames, said, " No man can be a sound lawyer who is not well read in the laws of Moses." This is the view held by eminent jurists all over the world. A common remark of the great American statesman has been, " The Bible is the charter of our liberties" The doctrine that all men are born free and equal is a Bible doctrine. The fundamental idea of our free institutions — namely, that \}ci€\x perpetuity depends upon the character of the people — is eminently a Bible principle. Besides, certain facts stand out in bold relief, such as these: The stanch 340 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, friends of the Bible, like the Lollards in England, the adherents of Luther in Germany, and Knox in Scot- land, and the Puritans of New England, have ever beei?. the truest friends of civil liberty, teaching that " resist- ance to tyrants is obedience to God," prepared to fight for it and die for it. There pever was a free country,' in the true sense, where the Bible is not. There is no account of a free State or government previous to the J'j vish republic. There is no civil liberty to-day under a Pagan, Mohammedan, or any anti-Christian govern- ment. That people who are most familiar with the Bible, and reenect it most, have the best knowledge of their rights and the responsibilities of their rulers. Civil liberty is the purest, strongest, and is the most enthusiastically sustained where the Bible has the firm- est hold upon the hearts of the people. These are truths which no young man of intelligence will deny. The denial will impeach his intellect or heart, one or both. The influence of the Bible upon the world is marvel- lous. A watercourse through a barren country is not more distinctly traced by the verdure on its banks, than the progress of the Bible over the world. Under its vivifying and transforming power " the desert and solitary place blossom as the rose." The degraded, barbarous nation becomes civilized and Christian. In- tellect is stimulated to honorable exertion ; schools start up as by magic, and dispense their blessing to the rising generation ; learning is evoked by its inspiring presence to open its treasures of academic lore ; inven- tion hears its mighty call to " come forth," and it starts THE BIBLE, 341 into life ; discovery multiplies her ventures an hundred- fold ; and art and science, under its divine patronage, take their places among the elements of human progress and the world's salvation. It touches the hearty and men become noble with a new life ; money, talents, and influence are laid upon the altar of sacrifice ; asy- lums, hospitals, and homes for the indigent and unfor- tunate are founded ; houses of worship rise on hill and in valley; missionaries go forth to other benighted lands with the glad news of salvation upon their lips ; and evrywhere, beneath the touch of this celestial talisman, morality and religion thrive, to bless mankind and beautify the earth. This is the Bible which is indispensable to every young man who means to make the most of himself possible ; the Book which the good and true of every land and age approve, and the bad oppose ; the Book which has been burned and banished, condemned and buried by infidels and tyrants, again and again, yet more widely read and venerated than ever ; the Book which Voltaire declared he would drive from the face of the earth, but whose press, set up to print his blasphf^mies, was subsequently employed to print and scatter it far and wide ; the Book which Tom Paine prophesied would become extinct in fifty years, but whi<"h our own Bible Society multiplies, now, at the rate of two million copies a year ; the Book which God was sixteen hundred years in preparing for our use, though he created the world in six days ; the Book which has beea translated into nearly two hundred languages, and about which the aroused intellects of 342 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. men have written sixty thousand volumes ; this is the Book, which, more than all other books, we claim, will contribute to the noblest manhood and highest success, even though it were a work of mere unin- spired genius. You live in a Christian land — a land which the Bible has made so great and glorious. Do you doubt this latter statement ? Compare Mexico and Massa- chusetts. The former was settled one hundred years before the latter by those who carried with them the intolerance of the papal church. The Bible was de- nied the people, together with those Christian institu- tions which it especially fosters : and a blight rested upon her social and moral state from that day. With all her natural resources, her mines of gold and silver, her propitious climate and productive soil, Mexico is to-day really without the blessings of civilized life. On the other hand, the Pilgrims brought the Bible in the Mayflower, and made it a more enduring corner- stone of our civil government than Plymouth Rock itself A sterile soil, a severe climate, a rugged coun- try, wild beasts and savage tribes, met them at the very threshold. But they planted all upon the Bible, and the benediction of heaven rested upon their enterprise. Language cannot do justice to the marvellous growth. In art and science, literature and learning, domestic, social, political, and moral character, in all that is worth acquiring and preserving, Massachusetts is a hundred years in advance of Mexico, though the latter had a hundred years the start 1 Treat not this volume of learning and morality with THE BIBLE. 343 neglect. Refuse it not a prominent place in your efforts for success. Because, divine in its origin, do not banish it from human affairs. Turn not derisively away from its counsels and promises. Ridicule not its exposure of your frailties, nor its condemnation of your vices. It will survive neglect and ridicule and opposi- tion; and when failure terminates the career of every young man who trifles with its authority, it will still remain the Book of books. It was the superficial and carping multitude who treated with indifference or con- tempt the proposition to rebuild the Eddystone Light- house, which a furious storm had buried in the sea. " Preposterous enterprise ! " exclaimed some. " The wild project of a dreamer!" said others. ** The first terrific storm will hurl it into the deep." " Impossible I " But the architect went forward with the work, heeding neither the ridicule of the ignorant nor the adverse prophecies of the wise. To a mighty rock in the sea he bolted and cemented the first huge blocks of the structure ; and to these he bolted and cemented other blocks, and so on, block upon block of stone, tier after tier, higher and higher, with bolts and cement, until the structure stood complete. Long since, the indiffer- ence, evil prophecies, and ridicule of the unbelieving passed away, but the lighthouse stands, defying billows and storm, a beacon to the mariner, and a fitting symbo] of the enduring greatness of the Bible I 344 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. XVIII. RELIGION IN BUSINESS. THERE is Morality, anu there is Religion. The first may exist without the latter, the latter can- not exist without the former. Morality relates to things seen and temporal. Religion relates, not only to these, but also to things unseen and eternal. Per- haps, for the latter reason, some men who welcome morality to the business world eject religion therefrom. They recognize the absolute necessity of morality, but deny the propriety and need of religion in business. They relegate that to the church, the retirement of home, and the prayer-meeting. " Keep it where it be- longs," they say ; and turn to their farms, and shops, and stores, to run their affairs upon worldly principles, and count God out of secular bargains. There is much of this spirit abroad among young men ; and where ignorance is noty love of the world is the cause of it. It is a " snare and delusion " wherever found. Men cannot keep religion out of business if they would. There is more religion in it to-day than ever before ; and yet men have been trying all these years to keep it out. There will be still more religion in it, in time to come, in spite of all efforts to exclude it The reason is, that God uses the transactions of this RELIGION IN BUSINESS. 345 world to give all who will the highest success here, and the greatest glory hereafter. Necessarily his plans embrace both worlds. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Wliat things ? " What we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we si: all be clothed : " — the necessary things of this life. An illustration of our particular meaning is found in the great missionary enterprise, which is the highest de- velopment of practical religion in our day. It seeks the salvation of the world ; and yet it employs art, science, learning, commerce, skill, discovery, invention, labor, and capita' —things that constitute the business of life — to accomplish that high Christian purpose. Men and women for preachers and teachers, in every land, are but a single item in the long catalogue of agencies brought into requisition. Bibles, religious books, and tracts, are needed by the million ; and to furnish these, Bible societies and Book and Tract societies must be organized, demanding scholars, editors, and authors, manufacturers of paper, leather, and types, engravers, binders, salesmen, clerks, book- keepers, porters, draymen, and carpenters, in the out- set ; and then Commerce must provide ships and sail- ors to convey the missionaries, with their materials, to distant IShds ; where schools, colleges, and other seminaries of learning must be established for the in- struction of the benighted, including the industrial arts and whatever belongs to civilized life. Contribution is thus laid upo.i the mechanic arts, manufactures, and trafBc, as well as upon tho mental resources of society, 346 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. to accomplish this highest and grandest purpose of re- ligion. So far from religion having nothing to do wllh business, it is patent that religion creates business, and prosecutes it according to its divine rules : " Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Religion cannot perform its heavenly mission without, impressing earthly business into its service. This is what we mean by the statement that men cannot exclude religion from business if they would. But some young man says : " The most unprinci- pled merchant I ever knew was a church-member ; his religion disgraced his business." Not exactly so ; his hypOL. '^v disgraced all that he touched. It was the want of religion that made him a cheat. We speak of real, genuine piety, not a mock-piety. None other ought * to be found in business. Some very mean men belong to the church, but that should not be set down against true piety. When they do business they will appear just as irresponsible there as they do in tae church. But they do not represent religion anywhera — they are hypocrites, and can represent only hypocrisy. They undertook to counterfeit religion, and made such a botch of it that their counterfeit was detected at once. The reader should not condemn religion because of its counterfeit. You will not denounce and throw away a good bank-bill because you have taken a poor one. Never. The counterfeit is proof that good bills exist. So counterfeit religion proves that there is true re- ligion ; and the latter should be all the more esteemed, instead of being repudiated. . . RELIGION IN BUSINESS, lAl But let us see an actual example of religion in busi- ness. Take the mercantile business-^ a warehouse conducted on strict religious principle. Samuel Budgett ran his warehouse, not only upon the strict rules of morality, but of religion as well. He carried his religion into business, and made it active and practical ; and he treated his employes as if they possessed souls. One large room of his mercantile building was a chapel, where " master and men " assembled for devotions, morning and evening. We introduce this example because it is the highest type of religion in business, and if objections arise at all to it, they will be obtruded upon us here. A visitor* to the establishment describes the chapel services thus : *' The morning after Mr. Budgett's funeral, I was in the warehouse before half-past seven o'clock. The various departments were in full play, and the wagoners packing their loads. At the half-hour the bell rang. I went into the chapel. It was soon filled with the men in their working-dresses. About eighty assembled. A son of the deceased principal sat at the table. He took up Fletcher's " Family Devotion," and read the portion of scripture appointed for that day, with the accompanying reflections. The passage is that which records the wish of the daughters of Zelophehad. The reflections seemed as if they had been framed on purpose to follow the memorable scene in which they had all acted a part yesterday — turning upon the duty of honoring the memory of the departed. The young merchant, himself affected by the circumstances, and •Hey. William ArUittr. 348 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. by the coincidence of such a lesson coming on that particular morning, addressed the men in a few words of cordial, Christian advice. He then gave out a hymn, which was heartily sung. Next he called upon one of them by name to pray. All knelt down, and the man prayed with fervor and solemnity for spiritual blessings to them all ; for comfort to the bereaved family ; and for the business, that God might make it prosper. When he ceased, the young master took up the strain; and thus, men and master unitedly wor- shipped the Great Disposer who appoints the lot of all. About half an hour was spent in this religious service." A chapel in a warehouse ! Clerks summoned from their pressing business, daily, for prayers ! Unusual, truly ; but what valid objection to it .? Do prayers tend to make employ^js lazy and unreliable? Will they create discontent and disorder among the men } Will the order, enterprise, efficiency, and success of business be interrupted by prayers } Everybody knows better. An employ^ of twenty years' experi- ence with the firm was asked, " What is the good of it ? " and he answered, " The good of it ? See for yourself: no such establishment for harmony, labor, and success, in England." Another was asked, " What is the secret of Mr. Budgett's success ? " and he replied, " His true religion." The aforesaid visitor adds, that the spectator was always impressed with this thought, " This warehouse is sustained, not for self only, but for the good of others also ; and that, to secure success, it is carried on constantly in the fear of God." What possible objection can there be to that } RELIGION IN BUSINESS. 349 >i Take ar example of religion at the bar. Charles Chauncey, Esq., an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, was known for his religion in legal practice. Did it Umit his practice ? Was he a less able lawyer on that account ? Did the public have less confidence in him because he practised law like a real Christian } Dr. Boardman said of him : " He was always ready to em- ploy his great powers for the relief of the poor, the injured, the helpless ; to extend to them ' the charity of time, labor, and attention ; the protection of those whose resources are feeble, and the information of those whose knowledge is small' This was so well understood, that there was probably no man in this community who was so much resorted to for counsel. Distinguished counsellors, young lawyers, and possibly grave judges with their vexed questions, capitalists seeking investments, embarrassed merchants, guar- dians perplexed to know what to do with their wards, parents to consult him about their children, widows anxious to secure their little property, together with suitors of varic us kinds, — such were the groups that not unfrequently met at his office. He might, with- out presumption, have appropriated the language of Job : * When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me ; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me ; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteous- ness, and it clothed me ; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I i- 3SO TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, to the lame. I was a father to the poor ; and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and I plucked the spoil out of his teeth.' Among all the monumental memorials that grace our cemeteries, there is not one which might with more propriety receive these words as its epitaph, than the tomb of Charles Chauncey." What think you now, reader, of religion at the bar? Would it not be a marvellous gain to introduce such a happy in- fluence into the legal practice of our country } " Woe unto you also, ye lawyers ! for ye lade men with bur- dens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." Chauncey's religion is the only remedy for the evil. Religion in political life — surely there can be no objection to that ; politics need it badly. There is a well-known example of religion in this department of business — Wilberforce. He spent his youth in fri- volity, without ambition or enterprise, and he was several years in public life before he became a Chris- tian man, bringing nothing to pass, nor promising ever to be a public benefactor. But as soon as he became a Christian, a new impulse was given to his mental powers. He did not resign his place in Parliament, and say, "Politics are too dirty for a Christian to dabble with ; " but he roused himself to noble efforts, and went to work as one " who believed that it was as God's servant alone he could take a share in the government of Great Britain." * He seemed to realize for the first time that he possessed elements of power * Bajma. RELIGION IN BUSINESS. 3S« to make his country better ; and he set himself about accomplishing two things, namely, " The suppression of the slave-trade, and the reformation of manners." That he did a great work in this line was due to Re- ligion. Indeed, it is doubtful if Wilberforce would have been known beyond a narrow sphere had he not become an active Christian. Says Mears : " Wilber- force was not less distinguished for the fulness of his Christian experience, and for a knowledge of the interior nature of Christianity, than for the success with which he managed the great public questions which he had felt called upon to argue." Evidently political life lost nothing in consequence of his religion. It was a great gainer by the introduction of this new element of influence and usefulness. Could it as thoroughly im- bue the spirit of every English and American statesman of to-day, both countries would rejoice in the removal of political corruption and national transgressions. We said that Wilberforce did not comprehend his mental and executive abilities until he became relig- ious. Religion is often the primary cause of true self- knowledge, and the only impulse to self-culture. We once asked a father to send his son, just converted to Christ, to college. His answer was, '* My son has not talent enough for that." The son had been an indiffer- ent scholar, stirred by no ambition in any direction ; but he had become a Christian, and now he felt in duty bound to acquire an education for the ministry. He had literally awakened to a new life. For the flrst time be seemed to realize that he could All a niche of some importance and make himself useful to his kind. His t? 353 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, father consented finally, and the young man went to his studies with a will, was graduated by a New England college, and he is now a first-class preacher in our country, a Doctor of Divinity, whose fame, for one of his years, is unusual. But for religion, he would have been still plodding on his father's farm, without influ- ence or " intellectual sharpness." Dr. Jonas King was the son of a farmer in Hawley, Mass., a steady, though not precocious lad. As soon as he became a Christian, the desire to be a preacher of the gospel possessed his soul. He had very little edu- cation at the time, for poverty and short, poor schools had scrimped his opportunities. Yet religion so wrought upon him that he resolved to acquire an education. On bot and alone, at fifteen years of age, without money or anything else but an invincible determination to qualify himself for the ministry, he started for the academy in Plainfield. The teacher, William H. May- nard, Esq., inquired who he was. His answer was short and direct : " My parents live in Hawley, seven miles from here ; I am fifteen years old, and want an education, and I have come to see you about it." *' Have you any acquaintances in town ? " ** No, sir ! " " Can your parents help you any ? " " No, sir ! " " Have you any relatives or friends who can assist you?" "No, sir!" "How, then, do you expect to get an education ? " " That is what I came to see you about. I don't know hew it can be done ; as soon as I know I will do it." That was enough. Mr Maynard said, " I will see." From that time young King went forward, though never dreaming that he KEUGION IN BUSINESS, 353 would make himself a name on both continents. He had DO more idea that religion could make such a man of him as it did than his father had. He fitted for college, was graduated with honors, was subsequently appointed Professor of Languages in his Alma Mater, though instead of accepting the position he became a foreign missionary in Palestine for a time, then visited Greece in the same capacity, where he spent the re- mainder of his remarkable life, improving the manners, customs, and institutions of that country, anr! even in- fluencing its government. But for religion neither this country nor Greece would have known such a man as Dr. Jonas King. Did the ignorant, profane, degraded tinker, John Bunyan, know what powers dwelt within his soul before he became a child of God } Did any one else dream that a remarkably good and talented man could be made out of such material ? Nothing but religion could have done it. The counterpart of this is very often witnessed in communities, — bad men, neglecters of the house of God, foul-mouthed blasphemers who glory in their shame, suddenly arrested in their guilt and converted, new creatures in Christ now, prepared to support and defend Christian institutions ; useful ; ex- amples of purty, industry, enterprise, honesty, and good citizenship. No agency on earth can do this ex- cept religion. John Foster says : " We have known in- stances in which the change, the intellectual change, has been so conspicuous within a brief space of time that even an infidel observer must have forfeited all claim to be a man of sense if he would not acknowledge. ' This, i ' J I 1 ' , s 33 354 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, that you call divine grace, whatever it may really be, is the strangest awakener of the faculties after all* And to a devout man it is a spectacle of most enchant- ing beauty thus to see the immortal plant, which has been under a malignant bias while sixty or seventy years have passed over it, coming out at length in the bloom of life." It is quite evident from the foregoing that religion requires the following very reasonable things of every young man, namely : that he should make the most of himself possible ; that he should watch and improve his opportunitier ; that he should be industrious, up- right, faithful, and prompt ; that he should task his talents, whether one or ten, to the utmost; that he should waste neither time nor money \ that duty, and not [jkasure or ease, should be his watchword. And this is precisely what we have see'i to be demanded of all young men in reliable shops a A stores. Religion uses all the just motives of worldly wisdom, and adds thereto those higher motives that immortality creates. Indeed, we might say that religion demands success ; that the young man who fails to achieve the highest success does not meet its requirements Thus it is evident that the young man engaged in aa honest struggle for success has no better friend than true religion. Then, too, religion has no sympathy with double- dealing and ** sharp practice," nor even with that worldly policy that teaches a man " to look out for number one." It forbids men to cheat God by cheating one another ; or to cheat themselves by ignoring the Bible, stifling conscience, or appropriating the Sabbath to % * REUGION IN BUSINESS. 355 posting books, reading novels, and pleasurei^riding. It controls the passions and appetites, prohibits pride and caste among men, teaches the rich not to oppress the poor, and the poor not to rob the rich, makes wealth virtuous and poverty honorable, and demands that we should "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." If such be not the precise influence that the business of this world needs, where shall we look for the coveted influence ? Samuel Slater, of Providence, R. I., one of the wealthiest men of the State in his day, was urged by some of his friends to erect a more expensive dwelling and live in a style to reflect his great wealth, main- taining a coach and retinue of servants. His reply illustrates the conservative and controlling power of religion : '* Gentlemen, I admit that I am able to have a large and costly house, rich furniture, and servants to take care of it ; that I am able to have a coach, with a driver and footman to attend me. It is not that I am miserly that I do not have them. But it is my duty to set an example of prudence, especially to my chil- dren. The world is too much inclined to extravagance. If the style you recommend is to be considered an evi- dence of wealth, and I were on that account to adopt it, others not able might follow my example in order to be thought rich. You know that I have six boys. If they live and have families, each will want to live in as much style as heir father. I wish to set a good ex- ample FOR MY CHILDREN." Another illustration exhibits religion in another '.s- pect of business. Dr. Van Dorn relates that a yoi ng 1 1 556 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. man who was a member of his church, became clerk for a godless merchant. The latter soon learned that he had a very trustworthy clerk in the young man, and he committed important trusts to him. Finally he ad- vanced him to the headship of his store. In this new position it became necessary, after a time, for the head clerk to be at the store part of the Sabbath-day. The young man could not do that. Religion requires the strict observance of the Sabbath-day, and no thoughtful man will deny that the business-world needs it. He declined to attend to business on Sunday. " Then you must yield your position to some one who will," his em- ployer said. " Very well," replied the clerk ; and he proceeded to close his connection with the business. But, on going to his employer for settlement, the latter inforr>ed him that he had been testing his principles, that he desired he should remain, and that I would release him from Sabbath labor, and raise his salary also. This trader, who feared neither God nor satan, found that religion was reliable ; and as a trustworthy clerk was of more consequence to him than Sabbath labor, he chose the former. It was a stroke of worldly policy simply, and for that reason it was a higher tribute to religion in business. The man who objected to in- troducing religion into business because ** it will hinder business and business will hinder it," can find no satisfaction in such a fact as this. Another fact still. A young man who was employed in a brewery, in Philadelphia, on a salary of twenty- five hundred dollars, was converted to Christ. " I roust give up Christ or my position," he said to his REUGION IN BUSINESS, 357 pious wife. " Give up your situation, then," was her prompt reply. " What shall we do for support } " he inquired. " We will trust in God for that," she answered. He relinquished his situation, and for five months was without employment. One morning a gentlem&n called to hire him. " I will give you four thousand dollars a year to take care of my brewery." " I cannot o^c it," he answered without hesitation. *• I will give you five thousand dollars," the brewer re- sponded. " You have not money enough to hire me to enter that business again I " the young man said firmly. Soon after, this noble young man found a situation where he could earn a comfortable living ; not five thousand dollars, nor even four thousand ; but a smaller salary and a clear conscience served him better than a large salary and a bad business. It is a bad business that Religion '* hinc j*-?." It facilitate a good business. If its elevating and transforming power could be thus concentrated upon every wicked business, converting its supporters and turning them against it, the world would soon be rid of enormous burdens of guilt. Paul is a fair example of the reliable business-man that religion makes. He was a scholar and orator ; a man of talents and influence before his conversion ; known for his energy, persistent purpose, indomitable will and efficiency. Religion gave direction to all these powers, and made him the prince of apostles. He would have been a successful farmer, mechanic, mer- chant, or statesman ; an example of honesty and high Christian principle in any of these occupation;i — a % t 358 TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE, leader, without doubt, in any one of them. He pos- sessed native qualities that fitted him for business ; re- ligion did not hinder these, but rather infused into them the earnestness of the highest motive which can Btir the soul of man. Religion cannot make a man of business out of one who possesses no qualifications in that direction ; but it can use the tact, energy, and executive ability of a man to make him a higher and nobler example of manhood in the business world. We do not intimate that the religious man is exempt from reverses. Misfortunes may overtake the best man ; but no one knows so well as he what use to make of them. He will come out of the trying ordeal, too, with untarnished principles. Misfortune overtook Napoleon, in Russia ; and in that memorable retreat, Marshal Ney commanded the rear-guard of the grand army. Pursued by the foe, and exposed to almost un- paralled hardships, his soldiers became restive, and, when the army reached the river Niemen, which forms the boundary of the Russian territory, they deserted in a body. By extraordinary exertions, however, he suc- ceeded in rallying thirty men, with whom he kept the enemy at bay, for a time. These brave men were soon taken away by bullets and desertion, and when the heroic Marshal had crossed the bridge over the Niemen, he found himself alone — a solitary soldier of the army that left the Russian territory. Proceeding to the first town where food and rest could be obtained, he met an old companion in arms, an officer of lank, who did not recognize him. " Who are you ? " inquired the officer. Ney replied, " I am the rear-guard of the grand REUGION IN BUSINESS. 359 army of France, Marshal Ney. I have fired the last shot on the bridge of Rowne ; I have thrown into the Niemen the last of our arms ; and I have walked hither alone, as you see e, acioss the forests." In like manner the true C^Jstian, whom misfortunes compel to retreat from the marts of business, faces every foe to religious principle, and keeps them at bay as a good soldier of the cross ; parting with his money, his fine residence, style, and servants, in the fierce conflict with temptations to conceal and deceive ; and laying aside every weight of sin that doth beset him, comes out of t e perilous contest without a wound upon his charac- ter, */.' even the smell of battle on liis reputation. Last, though not least, he is the man, above all c hers, who is ever found at his post. Where duty calls, he goes. Where the Master sets him to watch, like the Roman sentinel, he remains. A thousand years after the city of Pompeii was destroyed by a vol- canic eruption, the ruins were unc^^vered, and there the inhabitants were found buried just where they were over- taken by the burning lava. Some were found in deep vaults whither they had fled for safety; some were found in the streets where they were surprised by the tide of desolation that swept over the ill-fated city. Others were discovered in the highest chambers, to which they had run in consternation from the fiery flood. But the Roman sentinel was found standing at the gate of the city ; his skeleton hand still grasping his sword ; his whole attitude that of a faithful, trusty watchman. The stream of molten death that rolled down from the mountain side, burying the wealthy city beneath its liquid fire, stirred him not from his post ; and theife he i 36o TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE. was found a thousand years after the city perishedi just where he was posted for duty ! Faithful senti- nel I we say. So faithful, too, is the Christian man, bearing the burdens of life, and keeping in view " the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," though exposed to the corruptions of business and buried in cares He preserves his loyalty through the severest trials to the end ; and his " record on high " will show that he followed DUTY and died at his post INDEX. Ti A.00Ura07, want of, 82; in schools of Massachusetts, 83 ; in spelling, 84; in Harvard College, 85; in speech, 88. Adams', John, tribute to Wash- ington, 260. Adams, John Qnincy, punctu- ality of, 225; views of the Bi- ble, 336. Addison, 32. Ainswortn, Robert, his in- domitable spirit, 173. Aloott, Dr., on observation, 136. Alexander the Great, 34. Allen, Stephen, ruJes of busi- ness, 253. AUston, the prjnter, 176. Almanao, result of great re- search, 28. Amusements, what, 209. Ancestors, revolutionary, 30; help fron>, 61. Appletou, Samuel, 81; Dr. Peabody on, 307. Application, 24; Newton on. Ill; examples, iii, 112. Archimedes, 112. Arkwright, 32, 69, 70. Arnold, Dr., on self-culturs, 56. Astor, Jacob, 14; Horace Alann on, 15, 34; his observfition, 127. Astronomer, 25 ; indebtedness to, 20. Audubon, perseverance of, 173,286. Bacon, Lord, 199. Bancrott, perseverance of, 164. Barnes, Rev. Albert, system- atic labor, 240. Barrow, Dr., 49. Bebee, James, courtesy in busi* ness, 272. Benevolence, of A. Lawrence, 16 ; of Dea. Safford, loi ; ex- ample of, 314; in trade, 315; of Budgett, 316; several cases, 317; of Abbott Lawrence, 318; of Moses Grant, 319; and honesty, 321 ; and selfish- ness, 322; crowding it out, 323 ; of Stephenson and New- ton, 326. Bentham, 33, 249. Bible, 328; on energy, 155; on industry, 185, 186; on polite- ness, 270; book for business, 329; business rules in Prov- erbs, 330; its Moral Law in trade, 331; and infidel, 333; its history, 335; its literary character, 336^339; book for writers and painters, 337, 338; its biography, 338; on civil liberty, 339; its influence, 340; and Eddystone Lighthouse, BidcUe, Nicolas, of U. S. Bank, 290, 317. Binney, Thomas, on Buxton, 148. Binney, Dr., 213. Biography, its use, 10; whoM 361 '.I 362 INDEX, consulted, la; guide to other knowledge, la; is history, Blf&Of Professor, on chtrac- ter, 358. Bloonmeld, Robert, how, used spare hours, 304. Blunders, 84, 85. Books, what a few did, 348. Bowditoh, Nathaniel, 155. Boyhood, of Camot, 34; of Schiller, 35; of Nelson, 35; dull, 48, 49 ; early purpose of, 104; of Columbus, 104. Bridgman, Laura, learning under difficulties, 177. Brlggs, Gov. George N., per- severance of, 168; studies law, 169. Brooks, Peter C, use of odd moments, 304; politeness of, 370; his benevolence, 371. Brougham, Lord, punctuality of, 334. Brown, Sir Samuel, lai. Brunell, Sir Isambert, sharp observer, I3i. Budgett, Samuel, 34; on thor- oughness, 77; his observa- tion, 130; his industry, 183; on wasting time, 202 ; his economy, 319; and potato, 320; his punctuality, 329; his time-table, 348 ; his character, 364; his benevolence, 326; run warehouse religiously, 347- Bunyan, religion won his suc- cess, 383. Burke, Edmund, on example, 366, 367; his conversation, „273. 374- Burns, Robert, 199. Burritt, Ellhu, 17; what Mary Howitt said of him, 18, 34, 69; industry of, i86; learns fifty languages,2o(>-209; learn- ing from conversation, 374; his consciencfi aSi. Business, makes men, 331 not above it, 89, 94, 95, 193 ; rulci of, 351-354; politeness in, 3^1 ; and conscience, 377; retirmg from, 324; Bible in, 328; and Proverbs, 330; religion in, „344» 357- Buxton, SirT. F., letter to his son, 62, 64; on thoroughness, 76; energy of, 148; views on energy, 149; letter to hit nephew, 171 ; on punctuality, ^234. Byron, Lord, 135, 355. O CSBSar, Julius, force of his char- acter, 139; great work, 144; decision of, 151, 169; hit economy of time, 205, 255. Calhoun, decision of, 146. Calvin, John, 145. Canova, 102. Capital, not give success, 61. Carey, William, a shoemaker, 70, 349. Cario, persevering sculptor, 162. Carlyle, 33, 135; perseverance of, 173. Carnot, 34. Carpenter, taught by tools, 33. Caste, destroyed by labor, 190. Cecil, on Raleigh, 187. Chalmers, Dr., on little sins, 387. Character, 255; more than money, 19; reading it, 134, 125, 133; fictitious, 176; what, 356; nnd reputation, 357; a duty, 258; greater than tal- ents, 259; is capital, 260; how Dexter Smith learned, 361; many qualities in, 363; of Lincoln, 363; is power, 264; is example, 365; and man- ners, 367; Franklin on, 368} i INDEX. 363 in business, 369-271; is suc- cess, 374; in little things, 283-290; and Bible, 338. Chatham, Lord, on manners, 267. Ohauoer, 199. Chaimoey, Charles, Christian lawyer, 349. Chemist, of Harvard College, 105. Choate, Rufus, energy of, 235. Clarke, Dr. Adam, 102, 193; his punctuality, 223; and Bi- ble, 337. Clerk, and bundle, 90; and Girard, 90; of Biddle, 290; in Boston, 291; dishonest, 343; another case, 344, 356. Cobbett, William, career of, 46, 201. Cobden, on spending money, 319. Coloert, on character, 259. Coleridge, without aim, 103; on thinking, 344. Columbus, early purpose, 104; perseverance of, 157. Commercial College, princi- pal of, 106. Oonmion sense, 53. Companionship, rule of, 108. Conscience, 276; abused, 277; of Harder, 278; against doubt- ful business, 281 ; and profes- sion, 280; and law, 282; and little things, 283-290; in com- mon affairs, 288; case of, 290; another, 291; in trade, 291- 394; power of, 294, 295, 313. Constantino, 291. Contents, 7, 8. Conversation, and character, 275 ; of Franklin, 377. Convbeare, on Paul, 156. Cookman, 21. Cotton, and inventions, 69. Courage, 150-153. Oowper, 3a. D Dante, 200. Davy, Sir Humphrey, tact of, 41, 64, I03, 201. Dearborn, General, on suc- cess, 59. Decision, 138; force of, 141; needed ever, 143; of Napo- leon, 143; Buxton on, 149; Whipple on, 150; triumph of, 153; of Gov. Briggs, 171; of Samuel Drew, 192. Demosthenes, overcoming impediment, f66. Difficulties, surmounted, 172. Discipline, of work, 24, 66. Dowse, Thomas, improvement of time and library, 312. Drew, Samuel, how triumphed^ 192 ; and Locke, 249. Duty, 63. Eadie, Professor, on Kitto» 183. Economy, 198; of time, 199; Dr. Franklin on. 216; a duty, 217; Lawrence on, 218; Bud- gett on, 219; of mechanic, 221; of Lawrence, 201; of Jerrold and Budgett, 203; Lee's economy of time, 303 ; how Brooks and Budgett saved time, 204; of Caesar^ 305 ; of Burritt, 206 ; of Dowse» 211; other examples of, 313; of money, 3 16. Education, what, 23. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 37, 267, 276. Enmions, Dr. Nathaniel, 53; on system, 242. Energy, 138; and decisiron, 141; needed, 142; Whipple on, 150; Buxton on, 149; tri* \ .1 3^4 INDEX, '* umphs of| 153 ; case of want of it, 165. Enterprise, 20. Everett, Edward, on force of mind, 39; on Peter Brooks, 204 ; on Burritt, 3o6 ; on Dowse, 213; on exact time, 336; on Brooks, 27a Expediency, and dishonest/, 309. Farmer, learns from work, 34 ; want of tact, 51. Farr, Dr., boyhood of, 104. Ferguson, 3S. Fiotion, not real character in, 135. Foster, John, 146, 147. Fox, on Burke, 273. Franklin, Dr., tact of, 40, 71, 81 ; observation of, 131 ; per- severance of, 166; maxims of, 181 ; his industry, i83 ; words to tradesmen, 184; on leisure, 300; on money, 216; saving time, 347; on punctuality, 33a; and Cotton Mather, 249; character of, 263. Frost, Chas. G., what achieved by leisure hours, 213; schoN arship, 214. Frugality, 134. a Qalileo, 121, 206. Galvani, 121. Garfield, James A., made him- self, 72; brilliant record, 73, 74- Oasette, Pall Mall, 24. Genius, born, 34, 46; what is it, 48; not tact, 47, 65*, work is, 181, 183. Gibbon, perseverance of, 164. OUbert, Timothy, 80. Girard, tact of, 40; reading men, 134. Goethe, 249. Goldsmith, the poet, 33. Good, Dr. J. Mason, 313. Goodhue, Jonathan, his chai^ acter, 365 ; Bellows on, 38a Goodyear, and vulcanized rubber, 285. Graduates, three, 38. Grant, General, perseverance of, 151. Grant, Moses, benevolence of, 319- H Habits, bad, 319. Hale, Sir Matthew, and Bible» 336. Hall, Judge, to merchants, 31. Halsey, Dr., on Bible, a classic* 337- Hardships, 153; in way to success, 159; of Prescott, 174; examples, 173; of blind and deaf, 176, 177. ^ Harper, James, and conscience, 278 ; and belle, 279. Harris, on Mammon, 322. Henry, Patrick, sharp to ob« serve, 124; his courage, 141. Hersohel, 102. History, is biography, 125. Hood, Thomas, on reading, 247. Hooker, Dr., and observation^ 136. Hopper, Isaac, not above busi* ness, 94; observation of, 133. Howitt, Mary, on Burritt, 18. Humility, 90. Htmt, Wilson G., his integrity in misfortune, 293. Huntington, on tot unobeeiT* ant, 133. INDEX, 365 Idleness, no money in it, 188; Chinese emperor on, 189; baneful eflfects of, 193; mnx- imb on, 194; leads to vice and crime, 195 ; Spurgeon on, 196. Indolence, premium on it, 187; Chinaman on it, 188; and a bell, 236. Industry, 179; Franklin on, 180; of Budgett, 182; genius mistaken for it, 183: money in it, 184, 188; of a carpenter, 185; of Burritt, 186; gains public confidence, 187; Bible on, 188; of Lee, 180; of Scott, i^i ; of Drew, 193 ; and hap- piness, 196. Infidel and Bible, 333. Influence, of Bible, 340-343. Introduction, 9. Jerrold, Douglas, books saved him from ruin, 196; first money earned, 197 ; time im- proved, 203. Johnson, Dr., his motto, 76; on civility, 370. Jones, Sir William, and Bible, 336. K Kane, Dr., on order, 338. King, Dr. ^onas, religion de- veloped his mind, 382. SittO, Dr. Tohn, humble ori- gin, 95; Bible illustrations, 140; on work and genius, 183; on order, 247. Knowledge, value of a little, 96. XtfSSUtb decision ajid courag; of, 15a. Labaree, Dr., appeal to young men, 21. Labor, parent of wealth, 188; backboneof nation, 190; Hor- ace Mann on, 190. Lafitte, read a boy through a pin, 134. Lamb, Charles, sea Lancaster, Joseph, author of England's system of educa- tion, 349. Law and religion, 349. Lawrence, Amos, 15; sought character, and not wealth, 16; taught by trade, 33, 81 ; on time, its value, 201 ; on spend- ing money, 219; on punctu- ality, 228; how conducted traffic, 233 ; on character, 261 ; small things, 284; his integ- rity, 292, 317, 320. Lawrence. Abbott, his obscr- vation, 126; his politeness, 269; benevolence of, 318. Lee, Gideon, 81 ; bargain with himself, 180; great reader, 203; order of, 24^; his char- acter, 274; and his dishonest patron, 308. Leisure moments, 199 ; Frank- lin on, 200; Lawrjnce on, 301 ; of Jerrold, 203 ; of Bloom- field, 204 ; of Caesar, 205 r of Burritt, 206; what it can do, aio; can promote general in- tclligenc^., 310; examples of, 313 ; odd moments and cathe- dral, 215. Lessing, or. thinking, 243. Lett<^rB, 9, 6i, 76; model, 164. Liberty, makes men indomi- table, 141 ; and Bible, 339. Lincoln, Abraham, his educa- tion, 23; pioneer boy, 43; success of, 43, 64 ; application of, 113, 301: and Clay, 249; character of, 363; honest, 3131 ,. 1 : 366 INDEX, Little Things, observation u&es, 121 ; order in, 250, 284, 283, 286. LivinRstone, 70. Longieliow, on lives of great men, 117. Luck, 57; a delusion, 58; Smiles on, 59. Luther, 102, 145; on system, 239; OP. diameter, 259. M Mann, Horace, his view of Astor, 25; his struggles, 114; in Congress, 115; at Antioch College, 116; on labor, 190. Marlborough, Duke of, eurly choice of, 105. Martyn, Henry, how made missionary, 248. Maxims, 33, 52, 56, 76, 79, 07, 129, 141, 144, 148. 158, 159, 169; of Franklin, 181, 189, 194; on money, 216, 223,232; on order, 237, 254, 292, 308, 309, MoDonough, rules of business in New Orleans, 251, 252. Merchant, must study what, 31 ; best, 78; reading a clerk, 133; having nothing to do, 179; on time, 227; running store, 229; want of method, 338; polite one, 271 ; in bank- ruptcy, 293; on contracts, 294; and honesty, 298; dishonest, 30^; a young, 314. Mlonelet, 33. Mill, John Stuart, 200. Miller, Hugh, C4, 81. Mills, Samuel, self-reliant, no. Milton, 70, 199. Miraboau, on honesty, 397. Money, 198; wasting, 321; economy of, 216; saving, 217; CobUcn on spending, 219; character is, a6o, 335. Montgolfler, and balloon, 385. Morality, and religion, 3445 of Bible, 332 ; of young men, 354- Mozart, 102. Music, requires perseverance, 161. Napoleon, and no Alps, 33, 34, 70; not above business, 91, 102; his decision, 143. prompt at Areola, 226; punc- tuality of, 233, 255. Nature, never wastes, 221; on time, 236. Nelson, Lord, in boyhood, 35, 105, 145; punctuality of, 224, 232. Newton, John, benevolence of, 326. Newton, Isaac, 70, 102; his sharp observation, 131 ; per- severance of, 163; and soap bubbles, 285. Ney, Marshal, retreating from Russia, 358. Observation, the dervise, 118; of Newton, 120; needed every- where, 122; absence of, 123; and biography, 125; tendency of acts seen, 131; reading men, 132; as a means of knov/ledge, 132 ; detecting rogues, 135; schools should CL'iitivate it, 136. Obstacles, why exist, 166; in- citement of, 167; rise above, Occupations aid each other, 25; greatness in all, 64; use- ful, are honorable, 90; chosen for present advantage, 109; folly of changing, 1651 and religion, 345. \ INDEX. 367 Order, 237; Dr. Kane on, 338; Luther example of, 339 ; Cecil on, 334; on a farm, 240; plan of Kitto, 341 ; of Emmons, 242; example of Paxton, 244; and reading, 247; Budgetton, 248; its possibilities, 250; McDonough's and Allen's rules, 251-254. Osborne in Merchant's Mag- azine) i> Paine, his Age of Reason, 193. Faley, Dr., in college, 141. Park, Mungo, and the moss, 80. Pasoal, 103; perseverance of, 164.. Paul, St., decision and energy of, 156; a a business man, Paxton, of Crystal Palace, 244. Peek, Dr., on reading charac- ter, 125. Peel, Sir Robert, educated fur House of Commons, 105. Perseveranoo, 157; its max- ims, 159; of Gen. Grant, 1^8; of Sheridan, 160; in writing lectures, 161 i mistakes about, 163; Buxton on, i7i; Ste- phenson on, 172; relation to thoroughness, 163; example of, 164; of BriggR, 167: of Audubon, 173; of Prescott, 174; of Web iter, 175; of the blind and drnf, 177. Peter liie Great, not above his business, 91. Philippe, Lou in, 71. Pitt, William, his single pur- pose, 98, 145- Pisarro, his courage and en- Pleasure, not an end, 63; and recreation, 309. Politeness, 267; and charac- ter, 364 ; A. Lawrence, exam- ple of, 269; of Brooks, 270; of President Humphrey, 271. PolitiOS, religion in, 35a Pope, how made poet, 248. Porter, David, a chimney- sweep, 107. Possibilities, what, 350, 351. Practice makes perfect, 160, 161. Presoott, his perseverance, 174. Profession, choice of, 109; and conscience, 280. Proverbs, book for businesr men, 330. Punctliality, 233 ; means what, 224; secures confidence, 326; Washington on, 327; Law- rence on, 228; of Rudgett, 229; Franklin on, 232; Napor leon on, 333 ; other examples* 233 ; of Nature, 236- Q Quaokf, 147. QuestionSt important, 13. R Raleigh. Sir Walter, 187, 200, Reading, object of it, 108; feeds mind, 123; helped by system, 245; Coleridge on, 246; Hood on, 247; grand results of, 248, 249. Rolieion, in business, 344; includes all necessary toil. 345! hypocrites in, 346; seen in Budger.i's warehouse, 347; at the bar, 349; in politics, 150; and success, 351 ; made Jonas King successful, 353; and Bunvttti, 353; oppo(6. Turner, on work, 18/ • Turning Point, of life, to^. w Ward, Samuel, 81, \^6, Washington, education of, 23; not above his business, 9a; thoroughness, 93; decision of, 14s ; prompt, 227, 231. Waterloo, 143. Watt, James, s' gle purpose of, 98, 121. Wealth, not chief end, 62; worshipped, 63; and industry, 188; of character, 260; at forty years of age, 323, Webster, Daniel, at top, Sz ; Serseverance of, 175; learning cripture, 176; punctuality of, 234; poiiter^e^r of, 271 1 and Bible, 336. Webster, Noah, example of W)ersevera: :t^, %^>\. ellington. /, -m Wesley, b> i^aai sss ir.oito, 16; on n ' .^y, 217; ord?r of, a.^9, 248. West, and !.i ther's kiss, i so- White, ^' ty 2Cirke, 213. Whit u^. h, invented cottoo- gin,N9i '^^Itfleld, loa. "'.i ilberforoe, 102, 286; in politics, 350; Mears* eulogy on, 351. Wilson, Henry, tact of, 43; success of, 44, 64 ; on Horace Mann, 11$ 20i« Winthrop, Robert, 127. Wirt, i'/illiam, early choice of ^)rofe8sion, 105. Work, a necessity, 71 ; Scott on, 72; slighted, 82; under- work, 179; Dorn to, i8i. Yankee, tact of, 54. Toung, Dr., 121. 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Edited ^y Thornley Smith. 6 vols., cloth > 00 6 vols., sheep 1 00 6 vols., half morocco "00 Adam Clarke's Commentary. Edited by Dr. Curry. Cloth, per vol 3 00 &C., &C., &C., &0. All the latest English and American editions of standard and other books kept in stock or got to order promptly. Sunday-school Library and Prize Books in great variety. 78 & 80 Kino Street East, Toronto. a W. COATES, MoNiKKAU S. F. HUESTIS, Halifax, N.a VALUABLE WORKS, BT Rev. J. CYNDDYLAN JONES, And other eminent authors. Croum 8vo, cloth boards, Second Edition, price 91.60* STUDIES IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, By the Rev. J Cynddylan Jones. The Bishop of Livkrpool says : — " It is a book of great freslmessr vigour, and originality, as well as thoroughly sound in doctrine, and 1 wish it a wide circulation." Thr Dean of Peterborough :— "It is full of interest, and very fresh and suggestive. You have conferred a real benefit upon the Cliurch, and I hope you will be encouraged to give us some more commentaries in the same strain. They will be valuable." Opinions of the Press. " Full of fresh thoughts, strikingly put. . . . Models of what sermons should be. . , . Intellectual stimulus to the most cultured reader. . . . All will repay reading, not only once, but a second, and ,even a third time." — The Christian World, "A very suggestive volume. ... A fresh and vigorous treatment. . . . Singular ability. . . . The idea an excellent one, and could not have been better carried out." — The Literary World. "This is in every way a noteworthy and most striking book. . . . We have seldom read sermons out of which so many capital, terse, aphoristic sentences could be picked. .... Freshness and force. . . . Good, nervous, homely, expressive English, and without a needless word. . . . Readers of this book will find a great many things which have perhaps never struck them before, but which are very natural, simple, and beautiful. ... guage. ' ' — The Christian. "Freshness and vigour. . . . The execution is really good." — The Freeman. *' Signal ability. The author thinks for himself; strikes out into his own paths, and walks alone with an independent step ; he does not lean on the arm of any one. We rejoice to know, from this volume, that Cambria has still preachers of original thought, fervid enthusiasm, and stirring eloquence." — The Homilist. Crown 8vo, cloth boards, price %\'*2.b, STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL BY ST. MATTHEW. By the Rev. J. Cynodylan Jones. Opinions of the Press. "This is a remarkable volume of sermons in a singularly unpretend- ing form. We never remember to have met with so much culture, freshness, power, pathos, and fire in so small a space. It is a book to be read and re-read, with new instruction and stimulus on each perucal. It is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Jones is fully equal to Robertson at his best, and not seldom superior to him in intellectual grasp, depth of thought, clearness of exposition, pointedness of appeal, and fidelity to evangelical truth. The style, which is severely logical, reminds us in its beauty and simplicity of Ruskin. These are models of what pulpit dis- courses ought to be. We shall look for more from the same able pen.** — Afethodist Recorder, "Since reading Robertson's sermons in 1857 .... we have not derived so much pleasure and instruction as from this volume. We have read the book over and over again, and every time with additional pleasure by finding something new that had not presented itself to U5 before. Every sermon is full of thoughts pregnant with others. The whole sermon grows naturally out of the text, touch after touch, into a perfect whole — a thing of beauty suggestive of profounder meaning in Scripture and new lines of treatment. The author is perfectly natural, often humorous, never dull. . . . We never more heartily, nor with greater confidence, recommended ? volume of sermons to the notice of our readers. Preachers who wish to learn how great thoughts can be wedded to language clear and easy, or how a sermon may be made to grow out of Scripture and not forced upon it, will do well to study Mr. Jones' style." — Western Mail. "These volumes (' Studies in St. Matthew and ' Studies in the Acts') are the worki, of an artist who wields a literary pencil that might be envied by the best writers of modern times ; and some of the passages remind us of Ruskin at his very best. ' Beauty adorning Truth ' is the "notto we would select to describe these works. Ripe culture, keen insight, and intense enthusiasm are their prominent characteristics. We aave never met with so much thouglit, originality, and suggestiveness, "allied with such exquisite taste, in so small a compass." — The Essex Telegraph. " Seventeen of the leading topics of the first Gospel are, in this wlume, made the basis of thoughtful, suggestive, well -arranged, and dearly-expressed sermons. Mr. Jones has the faculty for the effective treatment of large breadths of Scripture, seizinu; their j;alient ideas, treat- 'jig them in a broad and fundamental mann-r, and so carrying his readers to the heart of Christianity and of life, in a way that secures attractive freshness and mmd-compelling force. We welcome these Studies,' and shall be glad to introduce to our readers other works ^om the same able and glowing pen."--6V«tfra/ Baptist Magazine, "We have read these sermons with unusual gratification. They are nsrfectly evangelical, vigorous, and often oiiginal in thought, robust in tentiment, vivid in illustration, with frequent quaintness of expression vhich give piquancy to their teaching, and keep the interest of the reades vide awake." — Baptist Magazine. "These sermons are really 'Studies.' They handle vital subjects with great clearness, breadth, and power. Mr. Jones is a teacher who 'las a right to be heard beyond the limited sphere of the pulpit. Every Dage of his work manifests careful thinking, clean-cut exegesis, and fine Hashes of spiritual perception. While fresh in thought and happy in expression, the discourses are eminently evangelical. Christian minis- ters will find much to stimulate thought and quicken enthusiasm in these pages ; they will also see how to redeem the pulpit from trite thinking and slipshod expression." — Irish Congregational Magazine. '* We regard the discourses in this volume as models of exposition ; nnd ministers who are engaged in taking their hearers through the first Gospel cannot do better than get Mr. Jones' volume." — Christian World Pulpit. " Mr. Jones writes with much literary finish and skill, and with an evident avoidance of the coarse sensationalism so common in works of >ihe kind, for which we know not how to be sufficiently grateful." — Christian Globe, " This is no ordinary book by no ordinary man. ... It bristles from beginning to end with terse, fresh, vigorous thoughts. ... A book which might be one of the classics of the English language." — Tki Preacher' t Analyst, •Aj ter touch, Into a ider meaning in erfectly natural, artily, nor with to the notice of Noughts can be nay be made to ) well to study ies In the Acts') that might be of the passages g Truth ' is the ; culture, keen icteristics. We suggestiveness, :." — TAe Essex lel are, in this •arranged, and or the effective 2nt ideas, treat- >o carrying his ay that secures welcome these rs other works Magazine. on. They are ught, robust in i of expression St of the reader vital subjects a teacher who pulpit. Every ;gesis, and fine : and happy in bristian minis- enthusiasm in Ipit from trite I Magazine. of exposition ; rough the first '." — Christian 1, and with an on in works of y grateful."— t bristles from . . . A book ?uagtf."— r/U '»*. •0.' '*^^s^V