summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/8581-h
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorRoger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>2025-10-15 05:31:48 -0700
committerRoger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>2025-10-15 05:31:48 -0700
commit1ce5c4d9de494a04fbeff18a3a20854d56b09c20 (patch)
tree8e0ecbabedc1adb0e85e6c40cc46ec55ebd6dd05 /8581-h
initial commit of ebook 8581HEADmain
Diffstat (limited to '8581-h')
-rw-r--r--8581-h/8581-h.htm2121
1 files changed, 2121 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/8581-h/8581-h.htm b/8581-h/8581-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a921bee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/8581-h/8581-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,2121 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+ PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+ <head>
+ <title>
+ The Art of Money Getting, by P.T. Barnum
+ </title>
+ <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+ body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+ P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+ H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+ hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+ .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+ blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+ .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+ .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+ .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;}
+ div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+ div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+ .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+ .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+ .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+ margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+ text-align: right;}
+ pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+ </head>
+ <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Art of Money Getting, by P. T. Barnum
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Art of Money Getting
+ or, Golden Rules for Making Money
+
+Author: P. T. Barnum
+
+Release Date: July 30, 2009 [EBook #8581]
+Last Updated: February 4, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF MONEY GETTING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Wayne N. Keyser in honor of his Parents, Clifton
+B. and Esther N. Keyser; and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+ <p>
+ <br /><br />
+ </p>
+ <h1>
+ THE ART OF MONEY GETTING
+ </h1>
+ <h3>
+ or
+ </h3>
+ <h2>
+ GOLDEN RULES FOR MAKING MONEY
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /><br />
+ </p>
+ <h2>
+ By P.T. Barnum
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br />
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> DON'T MISTAKE YOUR VOCATION </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> SELECT THE RIGHT LOCATION </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> AVOID DEBT </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> PERSEVERE </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT
+ </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> USE THE BEST TOOLS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> DON'T GET ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> LEARN SOMETHING USEFUL </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> LET HOPE PREDOMINATE, BUT BE NOT TOO VISIONARY
+ </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> DO NOT SCATTER YOUR POWERS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> BE SYSTEMATIC </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> READ THE NEWSPAPERS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> BEWARE OF "OUTSIDE OPERATIONS" </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> DON'T INDORSE WITHOUT SECURITY </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> "DON'T READ THE OTHER SIDE" </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> BE POLITE AND KIND TO YOUR CUSTOMERS </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> BE CHARITABLE </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> DON'T BLAB </a>
+ </p>
+ <p class="toc">
+ <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> PRESERVE YOUR INTEGRITY </a>
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <hr />
+ <p>
+ <br /> <br />
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In the United States, where we have more land than people, it is not at
+ all difficult for persons in good health to make money. In this
+ comparatively new field there are so many avenues of success open, so many
+ vocations which are not crowded, that any person of either sex who is
+ willing, at least for the time being, to engage in any respectable
+ occupation that offers, may find lucrative employment.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Those who really desire to attain an independence, have only to set their
+ minds upon it, and adopt the proper means, as they do in regard to any
+ other object which they wish to accomplish, and the thing is easily done.
+ But however easy it may be found to make money, I have no doubt many of my
+ hearers will agree it is the most difficult thing in the world to keep it.
+ The road to wealth is, as Dr. Franklin truly says, "as plain as the road
+ to the mill." It consists simply in expending less than we earn; that
+ seems to be a very simple problem. Mr. Micawber, one of those happy
+ creations of the genial Dickens, puts the case in a strong light when he
+ says that to have annual income of twenty pounds per annum, and spend
+ twenty pounds and sixpence, is to be the most miserable of men; whereas,
+ to have an income of only twenty pounds, and spend but nineteen pounds and
+ sixpence is to be the happiest of mortals. Many of my readers may say, "we
+ understand this: this is economy, and we know economy is wealth; we know
+ we can't eat our cake and keep it also." Yet I beg to say that perhaps
+ more cases of failure arise from mistakes on this point than almost any
+ other. The fact is, many people think they understand economy when they
+ really do not.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ True economy is misapprehended, and people go through life without
+ properly comprehending what that principle is. One says, "I have an income
+ of so much, and here is my neighbor who has the same; yet every year he
+ gets something ahead and I fall short; why is it? I know all about
+ economy." He thinks he does, but he does not. There are men who think that
+ economy consists in saving cheese-parings and candle-ends, in cutting off
+ two pence from the laundress' bill and doing all sorts of little, mean,
+ dirty things. Economy is not meanness. The misfortune is, also, that this
+ class of persons let their economy apply in only one direction. They fancy
+ they are so wonderfully economical in saving a half-penny where they ought
+ to spend twopence, that they think they can afford to squander in other
+ directions. A few years ago, before kerosene oil was discovered or thought
+ of, one might stop overnight at almost any farmer's house in the
+ agricultural districts and get a very good supper, but after supper he
+ might attempt to read in the sitting-room, and would find it impossible
+ with the inefficient light of one candle. The hostess, seeing his dilemma,
+ would say: "It is rather difficult to read here evenings; the proverb says
+ 'you must have a ship at sea in order to be able to burn two candles at
+ once;' we never have an extra candle except on extra occasions." These
+ extra occasions occur, perhaps, twice a year. In this way the good woman
+ saves five, six, or ten dollars in that time: but the information which
+ might be derived from having the extra light would, of course, far
+ outweigh a ton of candles.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the trouble does not end here. Feeling that she is so economical in
+ tallow candies, she thinks she can afford to go frequently to the village
+ and spend twenty or thirty dollars for ribbons and furbelows, many of
+ which are not necessary. This false connote may frequently be seen in men
+ of business, and in those instances it often runs to writing-paper. You
+ find good businessmen who save all the old envelopes and scraps, and would
+ not tear a new sheet of paper, if they could avoid it, for the world. This
+ is all very well; they may in this way save five or ten dollars a year,
+ but being so economical (only in note paper), they think they can afford
+ to waste time; to have expensive parties, and to drive their carriages.
+ This is an illustration of Dr. Franklin's "saving at the spigot and
+ wasting at the bung-hole;" "penny wise and pound foolish." Punch in
+ speaking of this "one idea" class of people says "they are like the man
+ who bought a penny herring for his family's dinner and then hired a coach
+ and four to take it home." I never knew a man to succeed by practising
+ this kind of economy.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ True economy consists in always making the income exceed the out-go. Wear
+ the old clothes a little longer if necessary; dispense with the new pair
+ of gloves; mend the old dress: live on plainer food if need be; so that,
+ under all circumstances, unless some unforeseen accident occurs, there
+ will be a margin in favor of the income. A penny here, and a dollar there,
+ placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and in this way the desired
+ result is attained. It requires some training, perhaps, to accomplish this
+ economy, but when once used to it, you will find there is more
+ satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational spending. Here is a
+ recipe which I recommend: I have found it to work an excellent cure for
+ extravagance, and especially for mistaken economy: When you find that you
+ have no surplus at the end of the year, and yet have a good income, I
+ advise you to take a few sheets of paper and form them into a book and
+ mark down every item of expenditure. Post it every day or week in two
+ columns, one headed "necessaries" or even "comforts", and the other headed
+ "luxuries," and you will find that the latter column will be double,
+ treble, and frequently ten times greater than the former. The real
+ comforts of life cost but a small portion of what most of us can earn. Dr.
+ Franklin says "it is the eyes of others and not our own eyes which ruin
+ us. If all the world were blind except myself I should not care for fine
+ clothes or furniture." It is the fear of what Mrs. Grundy may say that
+ keeps the noses of many worthy families to the grindstone. In America many
+ persons like to repeat "we are all free and equal," but it is a great
+ mistake in more senses than one.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That we are born "free and equal" is a glorious truth in one sense, yet we
+ are not all born equally rich, and we never shall be. One may say; "there
+ is a man who has an income of fifty thousand dollars per annum, while I
+ have but one thousand dollars; I knew that fellow when he was poor like
+ myself; now he is rich and thinks he is better than I am; I will show him
+ that I am as good as he is; I will go and buy a horse and buggy; no, I
+ cannot do that, but I will go and hire one and ride this afternoon on the
+ same road that he does, and thus prove to him that I am as good as he is."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ My friend, you need not take that trouble; you can easily prove that you
+ are "as good as he is;" you have only to behave as well as he does; but
+ you cannot make anybody believe that you are rich as he is. Besides, if
+ you put on these "airs," add waste your time and spend your money, your
+ poor wife will be obliged to scrub her fingers off at home, and buy her
+ tea two ounces at a time, and everything else in proportion, in order that
+ you may keep up "appearances," and, after all, deceive nobody. On the
+ other hand, Mrs. Smith may say that her next-door neighbor married Johnson
+ for his money, and "everybody says so." She has a nice one-thousand dollar
+ camel's hair shawl, and she will make Smith get her an imitation one, and
+ she will sit in a pew right next to her neighbor in church, in order to
+ prove that she is her equal.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ My good woman, you will not get ahead in the world, if your vanity and
+ envy thus take the lead. In this country, where we believe the majority
+ ought to rule, we ignore that principle in regard to fashion, and let a
+ handful of people, calling themselves the aristocracy, run up a false
+ standard of perfection, and in endeavoring to rise to that standard, we
+ constantly keep ourselves poor; all the time digging away for the sake of
+ outside appearances. How much wiser to be a "law unto ourselves" and say,
+ "we will regulate our out-go by our income, and lay up something for a
+ rainy day." People ought to be as sensible on the subject of money-getting
+ as on any other subject. Like causes produces like effects. You cannot
+ accumulate a fortune by taking the road that leads to poverty. It needs no
+ prophet to tell us that those who live fully up to their means, without
+ any thought of a reverse in this life, can never attain a pecuniary
+ independence.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Men and women accustomed to gratify every whim and caprice, will find it
+ hard, at first, to cut down their various unnecessary expenses, and will
+ feel it a great self-denial to live in a smaller house than they have been
+ accustomed to, with less expensive furniture, less company, less costly
+ clothing, fewer servants, a less number of balls, parties, theater-goings,
+ carriage-ridings, pleasure excursions, cigar-smokings, liquor-drinkings,
+ and other extravagances; but, after all, if they will try the plan of
+ laying by a "nest-egg," or, in other words, a small sum of money, at
+ interest or judiciously invested in land, they will be surprised at the
+ pleasure to be derived from constantly adding to their little "pile," as
+ well as from all the economical habits which are engendered by this
+ course.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The old suit of clothes, and the old bonnet and dress, will answer for
+ another season; the Croton or spring water taste better than champagne; a
+ cold bath and a brisk walk will prove more exhilarating than a ride in the
+ finest coach; a social chat, an evening's reading in the family circle, or
+ an hour's play of "hunt the slipper" and "blind man's buff" will be far
+ more pleasant than a fifty or five hundred dollar party, when the
+ reflection on the difference in cost is indulged in by those who begin to
+ know the pleasures of saving. Thousands of men are kept poor, and tens of
+ thousands are made so after they have acquired quite sufficient to support
+ them well through life, in consequence of laying their plans of living on
+ too broad a platform. Some families expend twenty thousand dollars per
+ annum, and some much more, and would scarcely know how to live on less,
+ while others secure more solid enjoyment frequently on a twentieth part of
+ that amount. Prosperity is a more severe ordeal than adversity, especially
+ sudden prosperity. "Easy come, easy go," is an old and true proverb. A
+ spirit of pride and vanity, when permitted to have full sway, is the
+ undying canker-worm which gnaws the very vitals of a man's worldly
+ possessions, let them be small or great, hundreds, or millions. Many
+ persons, as they begin to prosper, immediately expand their ideas and
+ commence expending for luxuries, until in a short time their expenses
+ swallow up their income, and they become ruined in their ridiculous
+ attempts to keep up appearances, and make a "sensation."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I know a gentleman of fortune who says, that when he first began to
+ prosper, his wife would have a new and elegant sofa. "That sofa," he says,
+ "cost me thirty thousand dollars!" When the sofa reached the house, it was
+ found necessary to get chairs to match; then side-boards, carpets and
+ tables "to correspond" with them, and so on through the entire stock of
+ furniture; when at last it was found that the house itself was quite too
+ small and old-fashioned for the furniture, and a new one was built to
+ correspond with the new purchases; "thus," added my friend, "summing up an
+ outlay of thirty thousand dollars, caused by that single sofa, and
+ saddling on me, in the shape of servants, equipage, and the necessary
+ expenses attendant upon keeping up a fine 'establishment,' a yearly outlay
+ of eleven thousand dollars, and a tight pinch at that: whereas, ten years
+ ago, we lived with much more real comfort, because with much less care, on
+ as many hundreds. The truth is," he continued, "that sofa would have
+ brought me to inevitable bankruptcy, had not a most unexampled title to
+ prosperity kept me above it, and had I not checked the natural desire to
+ 'cut a dash'."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum
+ fortune; it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot accumulate a
+ fortune very well when he is sick. He has no ambition; no incentive; no
+ force. Of course, there are those who have bad health and cannot help it:
+ you cannot expect that such persons can accumulate wealth, but there are a
+ great many in poor health who need not be so.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If, then, sound health is the foundation of success and happiness in life,
+ how important it is that we should study the laws of health, which is but
+ another expression for the laws of nature! The nearer we keep to the laws
+ of nature, the nearer we are to good health, and yet how many persons
+ there are who pay no attention to natural laws, but absolutely transgress
+ them, even against their own natural inclination. We ought to know that
+ the "sin of ignorance" is never winked at in regard to the violation of
+ nature's laws; their infraction always brings the penalty. A child may
+ thrust its finger into the flames without knowing it will burn, and so
+ suffers, repentance, even, will not stop the smart. Many of our ancestors
+ knew very little about the principle of ventilation. They did not know
+ much about oxygen, whatever other "gin" they might have been acquainted
+ with; and consequently they built their houses with little seven-by-nine
+ feet bedrooms, and these good old pious Puritans would lock themselves up
+ in one of these cells, say their prayers and go to bed. In the morning
+ they would devoutly return thanks for the "preservation of their lives,"
+ during the night, and nobody had better reason to be thankful. Probably
+ some big crack in the window, or in the door, let in a little fresh air,
+ and thus saved them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Many persons knowingly violate the laws of nature against their better
+ impulses, for the sake of fashion. For instance, there is one thing that
+ nothing living except a vile worm ever naturally loved, and that is
+ tobacco; yet how many persons there are who deliberately train an
+ unnatural appetite, and overcome this implanted aversion for tobacco, to
+ such a degree that they get to love it. They have got hold of a poisonous,
+ filthy weed, or rather that takes a firm hold of them. Here are married
+ men who run about spitting tobacco juice on the carpet and floors, and
+ sometimes even upon their wives besides. They do not kick their wives out
+ of doors like drunken men, but their wives, I have no doubt, often wish
+ they were outside of the house. Another perilous feature is that this
+ artificial appetite, like jealousy, "grows by what it feeds on;" when you
+ love that which is unnatural, a stronger appetite is created for the
+ hurtful thing than the natural desire for what is harmless. There is an
+ old proverb which says that "habit is second nature," but an artificial
+ habit is stronger than nature. Take for instance, an old tobacco-chewer;
+ his love for the "quid" is stronger than his love for any particular kind
+ of food. He can give up roast beef easier than give up the weed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Young lads regret that they are not men; they would like to go to bed boys
+ and wake up men; and to accomplish this they copy the bad habits of their
+ seniors. Little Tommy and Johnny see their fathers or uncles smoke a pipe,
+ and they say, "If I could only do that, I would be a man too; uncle John
+ has gone out and left his pipe of tobacco, let us try it." They take a
+ match and light it, and then puff away. "We will learn to smoke; do you
+ like it Johnny?" That lad dolefully replies: "Not very much; it tastes
+ bitter;" by and by he grows pale, but he persists and he soon offers up a
+ sacrifice on the altar of fashion; but the boys stick to it and persevere
+ until at last they conquer their natural appetites and become the victims
+ of acquired tastes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I speak "by the book," for I have noticed its effects on myself, having
+ gone so far as to smoke ten or fifteen cigars a day; although I have not
+ used the weed during the last fourteen years, and never shall again. The
+ more a man smokes, the more he craves smoking; the last cigar smoked
+ simply excites the desire for another, and so on incessantly.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Take the tobacco-chewer. In the morning, when he gets up, he puts a quid
+ in his mouth and keeps it there all day, never taking it out except to
+ exchange it for a fresh one, or when he is going to eat; oh! yes, at
+ intervals during the day and evening, many a chewer takes out the quid and
+ holds it in his hand long enough to take a drink, and then pop it goes
+ back again. This simply proves that the appetite for rum is even stronger
+ than that for tobacco. When the tobacco-chewer goes to your country seat
+ and you show him your grapery and fruit house, and the beauties of your
+ garden, when you offer him some fresh, ripe fruit, and say, "My friend, I
+ have got here the most delicious apples, and pears, and peaches, and
+ apricots; I have imported them from Spain, France and Italy&mdash;just see
+ those luscious grapes; there is nothing more delicious nor more healthy
+ than ripe fruit, so help yourself; I want to see you delight yourself with
+ these things;" he will roll the dear quid under his tongue and answer,
+ "No, I thank you, I have got tobacco in my mouth." His palate has become
+ narcotized by the noxious weed, and he has lost, in a great measure, the
+ delicate and enviable taste for fruits. This shows what expensive, useless
+ and injurious habits men will get into. I speak from experience. I have
+ smoked until I trembled like an aspen leaf, the blood rushed to my head,
+ and I had a palpitation of the heart which I thought was heart disease,
+ till I was almost killed with fright. When I consulted my physician, he
+ said "break off tobacco using." I was not only injuring my health and
+ spending a great deal of money, but I was setting a bad example. I obeyed
+ his counsel. No young man in the world ever looked so beautiful, as he
+ thought he did, behind a fifteen cent cigar or a meerschaum!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ These remarks apply with tenfold force to the use of intoxicating drinks.
+ To make money, requires a clear brain. A man has got to see that two and
+ two make four; he must lay all his plans with reflection and forethought,
+ and closely examine all the details and the ins and outs of business. As
+ no man can succeed in business unless he has a brain to enable him to lay
+ his plans, and reason to guide him in their execution, so, no matter how
+ bountifully a man may be blessed with intelligence, if the brain is
+ muddled, and his judgment warped by intoxicating drinks, it is impossible
+ for him to carry on business successfully. How many good opportunities
+ have passed, never to return, while a man was sipping a "social glass,"
+ with his friend! How many foolish bargains have been made under the
+ influence of the "nervine," which temporarily makes its victim think he is
+ rich. How many important chances have been put off until to-morrow, and
+ then forever, because the wine cup has thrown the system into a state of
+ lassitude, neutralizing the energies so essential to success in business.
+ Verily, "wine is a mocker." The use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage,
+ is as much an infatuation, as is the smoking of opium by the Chinese, and
+ the former is quite as destructive to the success of the business man as
+ the latter. It is an unmitigated evil, utterly indefensible in the light
+ of philosophy; religion or good sense. It is the parent of nearly every
+ other evil in our country.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ DON'T MISTAKE YOUR VOCATION
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ The safest plan, and the one most sure of success for the young man
+ starting in life, is to select the vocation which is most congenial to his
+ tastes. Parents and guardians are often quite too negligent in regard to
+ this. It very common for a father to say, for example: "I have five boys.
+ I will make Billy a clergyman; John a lawyer; Tom a doctor, and Dick a
+ farmer." He then goes into town and looks about to see what he will do
+ with Sammy. He returns home and says "Sammy, I see watch-making is a nice
+ genteel business; I think I will make you a goldsmith." He does this,
+ regardless of Sam's natural inclinations, or genius.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ We are all, no doubt, born for a wise purpose. There is as much diversity
+ in our brains as in our countenances. Some are born natural mechanics,
+ while some have great aversion to machinery. Let a dozen boys of ten years
+ get together, and you will soon observe two or three are "whittling" out
+ some ingenious device; working with locks or complicated machinery. When
+ they were but five years old, their father could find no toy to please
+ them like a puzzle. They are natural mechanics; but the other eight or
+ nine boys have different aptitudes. I belong to the latter class; I never
+ had the slightest love for mechanism; on the contrary, I have a sort of
+ abhorrence for complicated machinery. I never had ingenuity enough to
+ whittle a cider tap so it would not leak. I never could make a pen that I
+ could write with, or understand the principle of a steam engine. If a man
+ was to take such a boy as I was, and attempt to make a watchmaker of him,
+ the boy might, after an apprenticeship of five or seven years, be able to
+ take apart and put together a watch; but all through life he would be
+ working up hill and seizing every excuse for leaving his work and idling
+ away his time. Watchmaking is repulsive to him.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best
+ suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed. I am glad to believe
+ that the majority of persons do find their right vocation. Yet we see many
+ who have mistaken their calling, from the blacksmith up (or down) to the
+ clergyman. You will see, for instance, that extraordinary linguist the
+ "learned blacksmith," who ought to have been a teacher of languages; and
+ you may have seen lawyers, doctors and clergymen who were better fitted by
+ nature for the anvil or the lapstone.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ SELECT THE RIGHT LOCATION
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ After securing the right vocation, you must be careful to select the
+ proper location. You may have been cut out for a hotel keeper, and they
+ say it requires a genius to "know how to keep a hotel." You might conduct
+ a hotel like clock-work, and provide satisfactorily for five hundred
+ guests every day; yet, if you should locate your house in a small village
+ where there is no railroad communication or public travel, the location
+ would be your ruin. It is equally important that you do not commence
+ business where there are already enough to meet all demands in the same
+ occupation. I remember a case which illustrates this subject. When I was
+ in London in 1858, I was passing down Holborn with an English friend and
+ came to the "penny shows." They had immense cartoons outside, portraying
+ the wonderful curiosities to be seen "all for a penny." Being a little in
+ the "show line" myself, I said "let us go in here." We soon found
+ ourselves in the presence of the illustrious showman, and he proved to be
+ the sharpest man in that line I had ever met. He told us some
+ extraordinary stories in reference to his bearded ladies, his Albinos, and
+ his Armadillos, which we could hardly believe, but thought it "better to
+ believe it than look after the proof'." He finally begged to call our
+ attention to some wax statuary, and showed us a lot of the dirtiest and
+ filthiest wax figures imaginable. They looked as if they had not seen
+ water since the Deluge.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What is there so wonderful about your statuary?" I asked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I beg you not to speak so satirically," he replied, "Sir, these are not
+ Madam Tussaud's wax figures, all covered with gilt and tinsel and
+ imitation diamonds, and copied from engravings and photographs. Mine, sir,
+ were taken from life. Whenever you look upon one of those figures, you may
+ consider that you are looking upon the living individual."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Glancing casually at them, I saw one labeled "Henry VIII," and feeling a
+ little curious upon seeing that it looked like Calvin Edson, the living
+ skeleton, I said: "Do you call that 'Henry the Eighth?'" He replied,
+ "Certainly; sir; it was taken from life at Hampton Court, by special order
+ of his majesty; on such a day."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He would have given the hour of the day if I had resisted; I said,
+ "Everybody knows that 'Henry VIII.' was a great stout old king, and that
+ figure is lean and lank; what do you say to that?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Why," he replied, "you would be lean and lank yourself if you sat there
+ as long as he has."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There was no resisting such arguments. I said to my English friend, "Let
+ us go out; do not tell him who I am; I show the white feather; he beats
+ me."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He followed us to the door, and seeing the rabble in the street, he called
+ out, "ladies and gentlemen, I beg to draw your attention to the
+ respectable character of my visitors," pointing to us as we walked away. I
+ called upon him a couple of days afterwards; told him who I was, and said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "My friend, you are an excellent showman, but you have selected a bad
+ location."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He replied, "This is true, sir; I feel that all my talents are thrown
+ away; but what can I do?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You can go to America," I replied. "You can give full play to your
+ faculties over there; you will find plenty of elbowroom in America; I will
+ engage you for two years; after that you will be able to go on your own
+ account."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He accepted my offer and remained two years in my New York Museum. He then
+ went to New Orleans and carried on a traveling show business during the
+ summer. To-day he is worth sixty thousand dollars, simply because he
+ selected the right vocation and also secured the proper location. The old
+ proverb says, "Three removes are as bad as a fire," but when a man is in
+ the fire, it matters but little how soon or how often he removes.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ AVOID DEBT
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Young men starting in life should avoid running into debt. There is
+ scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt. It is a slavish
+ position to get in, yet we find many a young man, hardly out of his
+ "teens," running in debt. He meets a chum and says, "Look at this: I have
+ got trusted for a new suit of clothes." He seems to look upon the clothes
+ as so much given to him; well, it frequently is so, but, if he succeeds in
+ paying and then gets trusted again, he is adopting a habit which will keep
+ him in poverty through life. Debt robs a man of his self-respect, and
+ makes him almost despise himself. Grunting and groaning and working for
+ what he has eaten up or worn out, and now when he is called upon to pay
+ up, he has nothing to show for his money; this is properly termed "working
+ for a dead horse." I do not speak of merchants buying and selling on
+ credit, or of those who buy on credit in order to turn the purchase to a
+ profit. The old Quaker said to his farmer son, "John, never get trusted;
+ but if thee gets trusted for anything, let it be for 'manure,' because
+ that will help thee pay it back again."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Mr. Beecher advised young men to get in debt if they could to a small
+ amount in the purchase of land, in the country districts. "If a young
+ man," he says, "will only get in debt for some land and then get married,
+ these two things will keep him straight, or nothing will." This may be
+ safe to a limited extent, but getting in debt for what you eat and drink
+ and wear is to be avoided. Some families have a foolish habit of getting
+ credit at "the stores," and thus frequently purchase many things which
+ might have been dispensed with.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is all very well to say; "I have got trusted for sixty days, and if I
+ don't have the money the creditor will think nothing about it." There is
+ no class of people in the world, who have such good memories as creditors.
+ When the sixty days run out, you will have to pay. If you do not pay, you
+ will break your promise, and probably resort to a falsehood. You may make
+ some excuse or get in debt elsewhere to pay it, but that only involves you
+ the deeper.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A good-looking, lazy young fellow, was the apprentice boy, Horatio. His
+ employer said, "Horatio, did you ever see a snail?" "I&mdash;think&mdash;I&mdash;have,"
+ he drawled out. "You must have met him then, for I am sure you never
+ overtook one," said the "boss." Your creditor will meet you or overtake
+ you and say, "Now, my young friend, you agreed to pay me; you have not
+ done it, you must give me your note." You give the note on interest and it
+ commences working against you; "it is a dead horse." The creditor goes to
+ bed at night and wakes up in the morning better off than when he retired
+ to bed, because his interest has increased during the night, but you grow
+ poorer while you are sleeping, for the interest is accumulating against
+ you.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Money is in some respects like fire; it is a very excellent servant but a
+ terrible master. When you have it mastering you; when interest is
+ constantly piling up against you, it will keep you down in the worst kind
+ of slavery. But let money work for you, and you have the most devoted
+ servant in the world. It is no "eye-servant." There is nothing animate or
+ inanimate that will work so faithfully as money when placed at interest,
+ well secured. It works night and day, and in wet or dry weather.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I was born in the blue-law State of Connecticut, where the old Puritans
+ had laws so rigid that it was said, "they fined a man for kissing his wife
+ on Sunday." Yet these rich old Puritans would have thousands of dollars at
+ interest, and on Saturday night would be worth a certain amount; on Sunday
+ they would go to church and perform all the duties of a Christian. On
+ waking up on Monday morning, they would find themselves considerably
+ richer than the Saturday night previous, simply because their money placed
+ at interest had worked faithfully for them all day Sunday, according to
+ law!
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Do not let it work against you; if you do there is no chance for success
+ in life so far as money is concerned. John Randolph, the eccentric
+ Virginian, once exclaimed in Congress, "Mr. Speaker, I have discovered the
+ philosopher's stone: pay as you go." This is, indeed, nearer to the
+ philosopher's stone than any alchemist has ever yet arrived.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ PERSEVERE
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ When a man is in the right path, he must persevere. I speak of this
+ because there are some persons who are "born tired;" naturally lazy and
+ possessing no self-reliance and no perseverance. But they can cultivate
+ these qualities, as Davy Crockett said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "This thing remember, when I am dead: Be sure you are right, then go
+ ahead."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is this go-aheaditiveness, this determination not to let the "horrors"
+ or the "blues" take possession of you, so as to make you relax your
+ energies in the struggle for independence, which you must cultivate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ How many have almost reached the goal of their ambition, but, losing faith
+ in themselves, have relaxed their energies, and the golden prize has been
+ lost forever.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ It is, no doubt, often true, as Shakespeare says:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads
+ on to fortune."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If you hesitate, some bolder hand will stretch out before you and get the
+ prize. Remember the proverb of Solomon: "He becometh poor that dealeth
+ with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Perseverance is sometimes but another word for self-reliance. Many persons
+ naturally look on the dark side of life, and borrow trouble. They are born
+ so. Then they ask for advice, and they will be governed by one wind and
+ blown by another, and cannot rely upon themselves. Until you can get so
+ that you can rely upon yourself, you need not expect to succeed.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I have known men, personally, who have met with pecuniary reverses, and
+ absolutely committed suicide, because they thought they could never
+ overcome their misfortune. But I have known others who have met more
+ serious financial difficulties, and have bridged them over by simple
+ perseverance, aided by a firm belief that they were doing justly, and that
+ Providence would "overcome evil with good." You will see this illustrated
+ in any sphere of life.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Take two generals; both understand military tactics, both educated at West
+ Point, if you please, both equally gifted; yet one, having this principle
+ of perseverance, and the other lacking it, the former will succeed in his
+ profession, while the latter will fail. One may hear the cry, "the enemy
+ are coming, and they have got cannon."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Got cannon?" says the hesitating general.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Yes."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Then halt every man."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He wants time to reflect; his hesitation is his ruin; the enemy passes
+ unmolested, or overwhelms him; while on the other hand, the general of
+ pluck, perseverance and self-reliance, goes into battle with a will, and,
+ amid the clash of arms, the booming of cannon, the shrieks of the wounded,
+ and the moans of the dying, you will see this man persevering, going on,
+ cutting and slashing his way through with unwavering determination,
+ inspiring his soldiers to deeds of fortitude, valor, and triumph.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ WHATEVER YOU DO, DO IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season, not
+ leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which
+ can be done just as well now. The old proverb is full of truth and
+ meaning, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." Many a man
+ acquires a fortune by doing his business thoroughly, while his neighbor
+ remains poor for life, because he only half does it. Ambition, energy,
+ industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in
+ business.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Fortune always favors the brave, and never helps a man who does not help
+ himself. It won't do to spend your time like Mr. Micawber, in waiting for
+ something to "turn up." To such men one of two things usually "turns up:"
+ the poorhouse or the jail; for idleness breeds bad habits, and clothes a
+ man in rags. The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, if it
+ was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy
+ together."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent in
+ two months, and what would you do then?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I was recently reading in a London paper an account of a like philosophic
+ pauper who was kicked out of a cheap boarding-house because he could not
+ pay his bill, but he had a roll of papers sticking out of his coat pocket,
+ which, upon examination, proved to be his plan for paying off the national
+ debt of England without the aid of a penny. People have got to do as
+ Cromwell said: "not only trust in Providence, but keep the powder dry." Do
+ your part of the work, or you cannot succeed. Mahomet, one night, while
+ encamping in the desert, overheard one of his fatigued followers remark:
+ "I will loose my camel, and trust it to God!" "No, no, not so," said the
+ prophet, "tie thy camel, and trust it to God!" Do all you can for
+ yourselves, and then trust to Providence, or luck, or whatever you please
+ to call it, for the rest.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ DEPEND UPON YOUR OWN PERSONAL EXERTIONS.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The eye of the employer is often worth more than the hands of a dozen
+ employees. In the nature of things, an agent cannot be so faithful to his
+ employer as to himself. Many who are employers will call to mind instances
+ where the best employees have overlooked important points which could not
+ have escaped their own observation as a proprietor. No man has a right to
+ expect to succeed in life unless he understands his business, and nobody
+ can understand his business thoroughly unless he learns it by personal
+ application and experience. A man may be a manufacturer: he has got to
+ learn the many details of his business personally; he will learn something
+ every day, and he will find he will make mistakes nearly every day. And
+ these very mistakes are helps to him in the way of experiences if he but
+ heeds them. He will be like the Yankee tin-peddler, who, having been
+ cheated as to quality in the purchase of his merchandise, said: "All
+ right, there's a little information to be gained every day; I will never
+ be cheated in that way again." Thus a man buys his experience, and it is
+ the best kind if not purchased at too dear a rate.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I hold that every man should, like Cuvier, the French naturalist,
+ thoroughly know his business. So proficient was he in the study of natural
+ history, that you might bring to him the bone, or even a section of a bone
+ of an animal which he had never seen described, and, reasoning from
+ analogy, he would be able to draw a picture of the object from which the
+ bone had been taken. On one occasion his students attempted to deceive
+ him. They rolled one of their number in a cow skin and put him under the
+ professor's table as a new specimen. When the philosopher came into the
+ room, some of the students asked him what animal it was. Suddenly the
+ animal said "I am the devil and I am going to eat you." It was but natural
+ that Cuvier should desire to classify this creature, and examining it
+ intently, he said:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Divided hoof; graminivorous! It cannot be done."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He knew that an animal with a split hoof must live upon grass and grain,
+ or other kind of vegetation, and would not be inclined to eat flesh, dead
+ or alive, so he considered himself perfectly safe. The possession of a
+ perfect knowledge of your business is an absolute necessity in order to
+ insure success.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Among the maxims of the elder Rothschild was one, all apparent paradox:
+ "Be cautious and bold." This seems to be a contradiction in terms, but it
+ is not, and there is great wisdom in the maxim. It is, in fact, a
+ condensed statement of what I have already said. It is to say; "you must
+ exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them
+ out." A man who is all caution, will never dare to take hold and be
+ successful; and a man who is all boldness, is merely reckless, and must
+ eventually fail. A man may go on "'change" and make fifty, or one hundred
+ thousand dollars in speculating in stocks, at a single operation. But if
+ he has simple boldness without caution, it is mere chance, and what he
+ gains to-day he will lose to-morrow. You must have both the caution and
+ the boldness, to insure success.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The Rothschilds have another maxim: "Never have anything to do with an
+ unlucky man or place." That is to say, never have anything to do with a
+ man or place which never succeeds, because, although a man may appear to
+ be honest and intelligent, yet if he tries this or that thing and always
+ fails, it is on account of some fault or infirmity that you may not be
+ able to discover but nevertheless which must exist.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is no such thing in the world as luck. There never was a man who
+ could go out in the morning and find a purse full of gold in the street
+ to-day, and another to-morrow, and so on, day after day: He may do so once
+ in his life; but so far as mere luck is concerned, he is as liable to lose
+ it as to find it. "Like causes produce like effects." If a man adopts the
+ proper methods to be successful, "luck" will not prevent him. If he does
+ not succeed, there are reasons for it, although, perhaps, he may not be
+ able to see them.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ USE THE BEST TOOLS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Men in engaging employees should be careful to get the best. Understand,
+ you cannot have too good tools to work with, and there is no tool you
+ should be so particular about as living tools. If you get a good one, it
+ is better to keep him, than keep changing. He learns something every day;
+ and you are benefited by the experience he acquires. He is worth more to
+ you this year than last, and he is the last man to part with, provided his
+ habits are good, and he continues faithful. If, as he gets more valuable,
+ he demands an exorbitant increase of salary; on the supposition that you
+ can't do without him, let him go. Whenever I have such an employee, I
+ always discharge him; first, to convince him that his place may be
+ supplied, and second, because he is good for nothing if he thinks he is
+ invaluable and cannot be spared.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But I would keep him, if possible, in order to profit from the result of
+ his experience. An important element in an employee is the brain. You can
+ see bills up, "Hands Wanted," but "hands" are not worth a great deal
+ without "heads." Mr. Beecher illustrates this, in this wise:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ An employee offers his services by saving, "I have a pair of hands and one
+ of my fingers thinks." "That is very good," says the employer. Another man
+ comes along, and says "he has two fingers that think." "Ah! that is
+ better." But a third calls in and says that "all his fingers and thumbs
+ think." That is better still. Finally another steps in and says, "I have a
+ brain that thinks; I think all over; I am a thinking as well as a working
+ man!" "You are the man I want," says the delighted employer.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Those men who have brains and experience are therefore the most valuable
+ and not to be readily parted with; it is better for them, as well as
+ yourself, to keep them, at reasonable advances in their salaries from time
+ to time.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ DON'T GET ABOVE YOUR BUSINESS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Young men after they get through their business training, or
+ apprenticeship, instead of pursuing their avocation and rising in their
+ business, will often lie about doing nothing. They say; "I have learned my
+ business, but I am not going to be a hireling; what is the object of
+ learning my trade or profession, unless I establish myself?'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Have you capital to start with?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "No, but I am going to have it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "How are you going to get it?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I will tell you confidentially; I have a wealthy old aunt, and she will
+ die pretty soon; but if she does not, I expect to find some rich old man
+ who will lend me a few thousands to give me a start. If I only get the
+ money to start with I will do well."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ There is no greater mistake than when a young man believes he will succeed
+ with borrowed money. Why? Because every man's experience coincides with
+ that of Mr. Astor, who said, "it was more difficult for him to accumulate
+ his first thousand dollars, than all the succeeding millions that made up
+ his colossal fortune." Money is good for nothing unless you know the value
+ of it by experience. Give a boy twenty thousand dollars and put him in
+ business, and the chances are that he will lose every dollar of it before
+ he is a year older. Like buying a ticket in the lottery; and drawing a
+ prize, it is "easy come, easy go." He does not know the value of it;
+ nothing is worth anything, unless it costs effort. Without self-denial and
+ economy; patience and perseverance, and commencing with capital which you
+ have not earned, you are not sure to succeed in accumulating. Young men,
+ instead of "waiting for dead men's shoes," should be up and doing, for
+ there is no class of persons who are so unaccommodating in regard to dying
+ as these rich old people, and it is fortunate for the expectant heirs that
+ it is so. Nine out of ten of the rich men of our country to-day, started
+ out in life as poor boys, with determined wills, industry, perseverance,
+ economy and good habits. They went on gradually, made their own money and
+ saved it; and this is the best way to acquire a fortune. Stephen Girard
+ started life as a poor cabin boy, and died worth nine million dollars.
+ A.T. Stewart was a poor Irish boy; and he paid taxes on a million and a
+ half dollars of income, per year. John Jacob Astor was a poor farmer boy,
+ and died worth twenty millions. Cornelius Vanderbilt began life rowing a
+ boat from Staten Island to New York; he presented our government with a
+ steamship worth a million of dollars, and died worth fifty million. "There
+ is no royal road to learning," says the proverb, and I may say it is
+ equally true, "there is no royal road to wealth." But I think there is a
+ royal road to both. The road to learning is a royal one; the road that
+ enables the student to expand his intellect and add every day to his stock
+ of knowledge, until, in the pleasant process of intellectual growth, he is
+ able to solve the most profound problems, to count the stars, to analyze
+ every atom of the globe, and to measure the firmament this is a regal
+ highway, and it is the only road worth traveling.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So in regard to wealth. Go on in confidence, study the rules, and above
+ all things, study human nature; for "the proper study of mankind is man,"
+ and you will find that while expanding the intellect and the muscles, your
+ enlarged experience will enable you every day to accumulate more and more
+ principal, which will increase itself by interest and otherwise, until you
+ arrive at a state of independence. You will find, as a general thing, that
+ the poor boys get rich and the rich boys get poor. For instance, a rich
+ man at his decease, leaves a large estate to his family. His eldest sons,
+ who have helped him earn his fortune, know by experience the value of
+ money; and they take their inheritance and add to it. The separate
+ portions of the young children are placed at interest, and the little
+ fellows are patted on the head, and told a dozen times a day, "you are
+ rich; you will never have to work, you can always have whatever you wish,
+ for you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth." The young heir soon
+ finds out what that means; he has the finest dresses and playthings; he is
+ crammed with sugar candies and almost "killed with kindness," and he
+ passes from school to school, petted and flattered. He becomes arrogant
+ and self-conceited, abuses his teachers, and carries everything with a
+ high hand. He knows nothing of the real value of money, having never
+ earned any; but he knows all about the "golden spoon" business. At
+ college, he invites his poor fellow-students to his room, where he "wines
+ and dines" them. He is cajoled and caressed, and called a glorious good
+ follow, because he is so lavish of his money. He gives his game suppers,
+ drives his fast horses, invites his chums to fetes and parties, determined
+ to have lots of "good times." He spends the night in frolics and
+ debauchery, and leads off his companions with the familiar song, "we won't
+ go home till morning." He gets them to join him in pulling down signs,
+ taking gates from their hinges and throwing them into back yards and
+ horse-ponds. If the police arrest them, he knocks them down, is taken to
+ the lockup, and joyfully foots the bills.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Ah! my boys," he cries, "what is the use of being rich, if you can't
+ enjoy yourself?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ He might more truly say, "if you can't make a fool of yourself;" but he is
+ "fast," hates slow things, and doesn't "see it." Young men loaded down
+ with other people's money are almost sure to lose all they inherit, and
+ they acquire all sorts of bad habits which, in the majority of cases, ruin
+ them in health, purse and character. In this country, one generation
+ follows another, and the poor of to-day are rich in the next generation,
+ or the third. Their experience leads them on, and they become rich, and
+ they leave vast riches to their young children. These children, having
+ been reared in luxury, are inexperienced and get poor; and after long
+ experience another generation comes on and gathers up riches again in
+ turn. And thus "history repeats itself," and happy is he who by listening
+ to the experience of others avoids the rocks and shoals on which so many
+ have been wrecked.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "In England, the business makes the man." If a man in that country is a
+ mechanic or working-man, he is not recognized as a gentleman. On the
+ occasion of my first appearance before Queen Victoria, the Duke of
+ Wellington asked me what sphere in life General Tom Thumb's parents were
+ in.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "His father is a carpenter," I replied.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Oh! I had heard he was a gentleman," was the response of His Grace.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ In this Republican country, the man makes the business. No matter whether
+ he is a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a farmer, banker or lawyer, so long as
+ his business is legitimate, he may be a gentleman. So any "legitimate"
+ business is a double blessing it helps the man engaged in it, and also
+ helps others. The Farmer supports his own family, but he also benefits the
+ merchant or mechanic who needs the products of his farm. The tailor not
+ only makes a living by his trade, but he also benefits the farmer, the
+ clergyman and others who cannot make their own clothing. But all these
+ classes often may be gentlemen.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same
+ occupation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The college-student who was about graduating, said to an old lawyer:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I have not yet decided which profession I will follow. Is your profession
+ full?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "The basement is much crowded, but there is plenty of room up-stairs," was
+ the witty and truthful reply.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ No profession, trade, or calling, is overcrowded in the upper story.
+ Wherever you find the most honest and intelligent merchant or banker, or
+ the best lawyer, the best doctor, the best clergyman, the best shoemaker,
+ carpenter, or anything else, that man is most sought for, and has always
+ enough to do. As a nation, Americans are too superficial&mdash;they are
+ striving to get rich quickly, and do not generally do their business as
+ substantially and thoroughly as they should, but whoever excels all others
+ in his own line, if his habits are good and his integrity undoubted,
+ cannot fail to secure abundant patronage, and the wealth that naturally
+ follows. Let your motto then always be "Excelsior," for by living up to it
+ there is no such word as fail.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ LEARN SOMETHING USEFUL
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Every man should make his son or daughter learn some useful trade or
+ profession, so that in these days of changing fortunes of being rich
+ to-day and poor tomorrow they may have something tangible to fall back
+ upon. This provision might save many persons from misery, who by some
+ unexpected turn of fortune have lost all their means.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ LET HOPE PREDOMINATE, BUT BE NOT TOO VISIONARY
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Many persons are always kept poor, because they are too visionary. Every
+ project looks to them like certain success, and therefore they keep
+ changing from one business to another, always in hot water, always "under
+ the harrow." The plan of "counting the chickens before they are hatched"
+ is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ DO NOT SCATTER YOUR POWERS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Engage in one kind of business only, and stick to it faithfully until you
+ succeed, or until your experience shows that you should abandon it. A
+ constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, so
+ that it can be clinched. When a man's undivided attention is centered on
+ one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value,
+ which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen different
+ subjects at once. Many a fortune has slipped through a man's fingers
+ because he was engaged in too many occupations at a time. There is good
+ sense in the old caution against having too many irons in the fire at
+ once.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ BE SYSTEMATIC
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Men should be systematic in their business. A person who does business by
+ rule, having a time and place for everything, doing his work promptly,
+ will accomplish twice as much and with half the trouble of him who does it
+ carelessly and slipshod. By introducing system into all your transactions,
+ doing one thing at a time, always meeting appointments with punctuality,
+ you find leisure for pastime and recreation; whereas the man who only half
+ does one thing, and then turns to something else, and half does that, will
+ have his business at loose ends, and will never know when his day's work
+ is done, for it never will be done. Of course, there is a limit to all
+ these rules. We must try to preserve the happy medium, for there is such a
+ thing as being too systematic. There are men and women, for instance, who
+ put away things so carefully that they can never find them again. It is
+ too much like the "red tape" formality at Washington, and Mr. Dickens'
+ "Circumlocution Office,"&mdash;all theory and no result.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ When the "Astor House" was first started in New York city, it was
+ undoubtedly the best hotel in the country. The proprietors had learned a
+ good deal in Europe regarding hotels, and the landlords were proud of the
+ rigid system which pervaded every department of their great establishment.
+ When twelve o'clock at night had arrived, and there were a number of
+ guests around, one of the proprietors would say, "Touch that bell, John;"
+ and in two minutes sixty servants, with a water-bucket in each hand, would
+ present themselves in the hall. "This," said the landlord, addressing his
+ guests, "is our fire-bell; it will show you we are quite safe here; we do
+ everything systematically." This was before the Croton water was
+ introduced into the city. But they sometimes carried their system too far.
+ On one occasion, when the hotel was thronged with guests, one of the
+ waiters was suddenly indisposed, and although there were fifty waiters in
+ the hotel, the landlord thought he must have his full complement, or his
+ "system" would be interfered with. Just before dinner-time, he rushed down
+ stairs and said, "There must be another waiter, I am one waiter short,
+ what can I do?" He happened to see "Boots," the Irishman. "Pat," said he,
+ "wash your hands and face; take that white apron and come into the
+ dining-room in five minutes." Presently Pat appeared as required, and the
+ proprietor said: "Now Pat, you must stand behind these two chairs, and
+ wait on the gentlemen who will occupy them; did you ever act as a waiter?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I know all about it, sure, but I never did it."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Like the Irish pilot, on one occasion when the captain, thinking he was
+ considerably out of his course, asked, "Are you certain you understand
+ what you are doing?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Pat replied, "Sure and I knows every rock in the channel."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ That moment, "bang" thumped the vessel against a rock.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Ah! be-jabers, and that is one of 'em," continued the pilot. But to
+ return to the dining-room. "Pat," said the landlord, "here we do
+ everything systematically. You must first give the gentlemen each a plate
+ of soup, and when they finish that, ask them what they will have next."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Pat replied, "Ah! an' I understand parfectly the vartues of shystem."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Very soon in came the guests. The plates of soup were placed before them.
+ One of Pat's two gentlemen ate his soup; the other did not care for it. He
+ said: "Waiter, take this plate away and bring me some fish." Pat looked at
+ the untasted plate of soup, and remembering the instructions of the
+ landlord in regard to "system," replied: "Not till ye have ate yer supe!"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Of course that was carrying "system" entirely too far.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ READ THE NEWSPAPERS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Always take a trustworthy newspaper, and thus keep thoroughly posted in
+ regard to the transactions of the world. He who is without a newspaper is
+ cut off from his species. In these days of telegraphs and steam, many
+ important inventions and improvements in every branch of trade are being
+ made, and he who don't consult the newspapers will soon find himself and
+ his business left out in the cold.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ BEWARE OF "OUTSIDE OPERATIONS"
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ We sometimes see men who have obtained fortunes, suddenly become poor. In
+ many cases, this arises from intemperance, and often from gaming, and
+ other bad habits. Frequently it occurs because a man has been engaged in
+ "outside operations," of some sort. When he gets rich in his legitimate
+ business, he is told of a grand speculation where he can make a score of
+ thousands. He is constantly flattered by his friends, who tell him that he
+ is born lucky, that everything he touches turns into gold. Now if he
+ forgets that his economical habits, his rectitude of conduct and a
+ personal attention to a business which he understood, caused his success
+ in life, he will listen to the siren voices. He says:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I will put in twenty thousand dollars. I have been lucky, and my good
+ luck will soon bring me back sixty thousand dollars."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A few days elapse and it is discovered he must put in ten thousand dollars
+ more: soon after he is told "it is all right," but certain matters not
+ foreseen, require an advance of twenty thousand dollars more, which will
+ bring him a rich harvest; but before the time comes around to realize, the
+ bubble bursts, he loses all he is possessed of, and then he learns what he
+ ought to have known at the first, that however successful a man may be in
+ his own business, if he turns from that and engages ill a business which
+ he don't understand, he is like Samson when shorn of his locks his
+ strength has departed, and he becomes like other men.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ If a man has plenty of money, he ought to invest something in everything
+ that appears to promise success, and that will probably benefit mankind;
+ but let the sums thus invested be moderate in amount, and never let a man
+ foolishly jeopardize a fortune that he has earned in a legitimate way, by
+ investing it in things in which he has had no experience.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ DON'T INDORSE WITHOUT SECURITY
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ I hold that no man ought ever to indorse a note or become security, for
+ any man, be it his father or brother, to a greater extent than he can
+ afford to lose and care nothing about, without taking good security. Here
+ is a man that is worth twenty thousand dollars; he is doing a thriving
+ manufacturing or mercantile trade; you are retired and living on your
+ money; he comes to you and says:
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "You are aware that I am worth twenty thousand dollars, and don't owe a
+ dollar; if I had five thousand dollars in cash, I could purchase a
+ particular lot of goods and double my money in a couple of months; will
+ you indorse my note for that amount?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You reflect that he is worth twenty thousand dollars, and you incur no
+ risk by endorsing his note; you like to accommodate him, and you lend your
+ name without taking the precaution of getting security. Shortly after, he
+ shows you the note with your endorsement canceled, and tells you, probably
+ truly, "that he made the profit that he expected by the operation," you
+ reflect that you have done a good action, and the thought makes you feel
+ happy. By and by, the same thing occurs again and you do it again; you
+ have already fixed the impression in your mind that it is perfectly safe
+ to indorse his notes without security.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ But the trouble is, this man is getting money too easily. He has only to
+ take your note to the bank, get it discounted and take the cash. He gets
+ money for the time being without effort; without inconvenience to himself.
+ Now mark the result. He sees a chance for speculation outside of his
+ business. A temporary investment of only $10,000 is required. It is sure
+ to come back before a note at the bank would be due. He places a note for
+ that amount before you. You sign it almost mechanically. Being firmly
+ convinced that your friend is responsible and trustworthy; you indorse his
+ notes as a "matter of course."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Unfortunately the speculation does not come to a head quite so soon as was
+ expected, and another $10,000 note must be discounted to take up the last
+ one when due. Before this note matures the speculation has proved an utter
+ failure and all the money is lost. Does the loser tell his friend, the
+ endorser, that he has lost half of his fortune? Not at all. He don't even
+ mention that he has speculated at all. But he has got excited; the spirit
+ of speculation has seized him; he sees others making large sums in this
+ way (we seldom hear of the losers), and, like other speculators, he "looks
+ for his money where he loses it." He tries again. endorsing notes has
+ become chronic with you, and at every loss he gets your signature for
+ whatever amount he wants. Finally you discover your friend has lost all of
+ his property and all of yours. You are overwhelmed with astonishment and
+ grief, and you say "it is a hard thing; my friend here has ruined me,"
+ but, you should add, "I have also ruined him." If you had said in the
+ first place, "I will accommodate you, but I never indorse without taking
+ ample security," he could not have gone beyond the length of his tether,
+ and he would never have been tempted away from his legitimate business. It
+ is a very dangerous thing, therefore, at any time, to let people get
+ possession of money too easily; it tempts them to hazardous speculations,
+ if nothing more. Solomon truly said "he that hateth suretiship is sure."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So with the young man starting in business; let him understand the value
+ of money by earning it. When he does understand its value, then grease the
+ wheels a little in helping him to start business, but remember, men who
+ get money with too great facility cannot usually succeed. You must get the
+ first dollars by hard knocks, and at some sacrifice, in order to
+ appreciate the value of those dollars.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ We all depend, more or less, upon the public for our support. We all trade
+ with the public&mdash;lawyers, doctors, shoemakers, artists, blacksmiths,
+ showmen, opera stagers, railroad presidents, and college professors. Those
+ who deal with the public must be careful that their goods are valuable;
+ that they are genuine, and will give satisfaction. When you get an article
+ which you know is going to please your customers, and that when they have
+ tried it, they will feel they have got their money's worth, then let the
+ fact be known that you have got it. Be careful to advertise it in some
+ shape or other because it is evident that if a man has ever so good an
+ article for sale, and nobody knows it, it will bring him no return. In a
+ country like this, where nearly everybody reads, and where newspapers are
+ issued and circulated in editions of five thousand to two hundred
+ thousand, it would be very unwise if this channel was not taken advantage
+ of to reach the public in advertising. A newspaper goes into the family,
+ and is read by wife and children, as well as the head of the home; hence
+ hundreds and thousands of people may read your advertisement, while you
+ are attending to your routine business. Many, perhaps, read it while you
+ are asleep. The whole philosophy of life is, first "sow," then "reap."
+ That is the way the farmer does; he plants his potatoes and corn, and sows
+ his grain, and then goes about something else, and the time comes when he
+ reaps. But he never reaps first and sows afterwards. This principle
+ applies to all kinds of business, and to nothing more eminently than to
+ advertising. If a man has a genuine article, there is no way in which he
+ can reap more advantageously than by "sowing" to the public in this way.
+ He must, of course, have a really good article, and one which will please
+ his customers; anything spurious will not succeed permanently because the
+ public is wiser than many imagine. Men and women are selfish, and we all
+ prefer purchasing where we can get the most for our money and we try to
+ find out where we can most surely do so.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ You may advertise a spurious article, and induce many people to call and
+ buy it once, but they will denounce you as an impostor and swindler, and
+ your business will gradually die out and leave you poor. This is right.
+ Few people can safely depend upon chance custom. You all need to have your
+ customers return and purchase again. A man said to me, "I have tried
+ advertising and did not succeed; yet I have a good article."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ I replied, "My friend, there may be exceptions to a general rule. But how
+ do you advertise?"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "I put it in a weekly newspaper three times, and paid a dollar and a half
+ for it." I replied: "Sir, advertising is like learning&mdash;'a little is
+ a dangerous thing!'"
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ A French writer says that "The reader of a newspaper does not see the
+ first mention of an ordinary advertisement; the second insertion he sees,
+ but does not read; the third insertion he reads; the fourth insertion, he
+ looks at the price; the fifth insertion, he speaks of it to his wife; the
+ sixth insertion, he is ready to purchase, and the seventh insertion, he
+ purchases." Your object in advertising is to make the public understand
+ what you have got to sell, and if you have not the pluck to keep
+ advertising, until you have imparted that information, all the money you
+ have spent is lost. You are like the fellow who told the gentleman if he
+ would give him ten cents it would save him a dollar. "How can I help you
+ so much with so small a sum?" asked the gentleman in surprise. "I started
+ out this morning (hiccuped the fellow) with the full determination to get
+ drunk, and I have spent my only dollar to accomplish the object, and it
+ has not quite done it. Ten cents worth more of whiskey would just do it,
+ and in this manner I should save the dollar already expended."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ So a man who advertises at all must keep it up until the public know who
+ and what he is, and what his business is, or else the money invested in
+ advertising is lost.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Some men have a peculiar genius for writing a striking advertisement, one
+ that will arrest the attention of the reader at first sight. This fact, of
+ course, gives the advertiser a great advantage. Sometimes a man makes
+ himself popular by an unique sign or a curious display in his window,
+ recently I observed a swing sign extending over the sidewalk in front of a
+ store, on which was the inscription in plain letters,
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ "DON'T READ THE OTHER SIDE"
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Of course I did, and so did everybody else, and I learned that the man had
+ made all independence by first attracting the public to his business in
+ that way and then using his customers well afterwards.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Genin, the hatter, bought the first Jenny Lind ticket at auction for two
+ hundred and twenty-five dollars, because he knew it would be a good
+ advertisement for him. "Who is the bidder?" said the auctioneer, as he
+ knocked down that ticket at Castle Garden. "Genin, the hatter," was the
+ response. Here were thousands of people from the Fifth avenue, and from
+ distant cities in the highest stations in life. "Who is 'Genin,' the
+ hatter?" they exclaimed. They had never heard of him before. The next
+ morning the newspapers and telegraph had circulated the facts from Maine
+ to Texas, and from five to ten millions off people had read that the
+ tickets sold at auction For Jenny Lind's first concert amounted to about
+ twenty thousand dollars, and that a single ticket was sold at two hundred
+ and twenty-five dollars, to "Genin, the hatter." Men throughout the
+ country involuntarily took off their hats to see if they had a "Genin" hat
+ on their heads. At a town in Iowa it was found that in the crowd around
+ the post office, there was one man who had a "Genin" hat, and he showed it
+ in triumph, although it was worn out and not worth two cents. "Why," one
+ man exclaimed, "you have a real 'Genin' hat; what a lucky fellow you are."
+ Another man said, "Hang on to that hat, it will be a valuable heir-loom in
+ your family." Still another man in the crowd who seemed to envy the
+ possessor of this good fortune, said, "Come, give us all a chance; put it
+ up at auction!" He did so, and it was sold as a keepsake for nine dollars
+ and fifty cents! What was the consequence to Mr. Genin? He sold ten
+ thousand extra hats per annum, the first six years. Nine-tenths of the
+ purchasers bought of him, probably, out of curiosity, and many of them,
+ finding that he gave them an equivalent for their money, became his
+ regular customers. This novel advertisement first struck their attention,
+ and then, as he made a good article, they came again.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Now I don't say that everybody should advertise as Mr. Genin did. But I
+ say if a man has got goods for sale, and he don't advertise them in some
+ way, the chances are that some day the sheriff will do it for him. Nor do
+ I say that everybody must advertise in a newspaper, or indeed use
+ "printers' ink" at all. On the contrary, although that article is
+ indispensable in the majority of cases, yet doctors and clergymen, and
+ sometimes lawyers and some others, can more effectually reach the public
+ in some other manner. But it is obvious, they must be known in some way,
+ else how could they be supported?
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ BE POLITE AND KIND TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business.
+ Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove
+ unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The truth
+ is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the
+ patronage bestowed upon him. "Like begets like." The man who gives the
+ greatest amount of goods of a corresponding quality for the least sum
+ (still reserving for himself a profit) will generally succeed best in the
+ long run. This brings us to the golden rule, "As ye would that men should
+ do to you, do ye also to them" and they will do better by you than if you
+ always treated them as if you wanted to get the most you could out of them
+ for the least return. Men who drive sharp bargains with their customers,
+ acting as if they never expected to see them again, will not be mistaken.
+ They will never see them again as customers. People don't like to pay and
+ get kicked also.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ One of the ushers in my Museum once told me he intended to whip a man who
+ was in the lecture-room as soon as he came out.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "What for?" I inquired.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Because he said I was no gentleman," replied the usher.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Never mind," I replied, "he pays for that, and you will not convince him
+ you are a gentleman by whipping him. I cannot afford to lose a customer.
+ If you whip him, he will never visit the Museum again, and he will induce
+ friends to go with him to other places of amusement instead of this, and
+ thus you see, I should be a serious loser."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "But he insulted me," muttered the usher.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ "Exactly," I replied, "and if he owned the Museum, and you had paid him
+ for the privilege of visiting it, and he had then insulted you, there
+ might be some reason in your resenting it, but in this instance he is the
+ man who pays, while we receive, and you must, therefore, put up with his
+ bad manners."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ My usher laughingly remarked, that this was undoubtedly the true policy;
+ but he added that he should not object to an increase of salary if he was
+ expected to be abused in order to promote my interest.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ BE CHARITABLE
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Of course men should be charitable, because it is a duty and a pleasure.
+ But even as a matter of policy, if you possess no higher incentive, you
+ will find that the liberal man will command patronage, while the sordid,
+ uncharitable miser will be avoided.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Solomon says: "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is
+ that withholdeth more than meet, but it tendeth to poverty." Of course the
+ only true charity is that which is from the heart.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The best kind of charity is to help those who are willing to help
+ themselves. Promiscuous almsgiving, without inquiring into the worthiness
+ of the applicant, is bad in every sense. But to search out and quietly
+ assist those who are struggling for themselves, is the kind that
+ "scattereth and yet increaseth." But don't fall into the idea that some
+ persons practice, of giving a prayer instead of a potato, and a
+ benediction instead of bread, to the hungry. It is easier to make
+ Christians with full stomachs than empty.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ DON'T BLAB
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they
+ make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing is
+ gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost. Say nothing about your profits,
+ your hopes, your expectations, your intentions. And this should apply to
+ letters as well as to conversation. Goethe makes Mephistophilles say:
+ "Never write a letter nor destroy one." Business men must write letters,
+ but they should be careful what they put in them. If you are losing money,
+ be specially cautious and not tell of it, or you will lose your
+ reputation.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020">
+ <!-- H2 anchor --> </a>
+ </p>
+ <div style="height: 4em;">
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </div>
+ <h2>
+ PRESERVE YOUR INTEGRITY
+ </h2>
+ <p>
+ It is more precious than diamonds or rubies. The old miser said to his
+ sons: "Get money; get it honestly if you can, but get money:" This advice
+ was not only atrociously wicked, but it was the very essence of stupidity:
+ It was as much as to say, "if you find it difficult to obtain money
+ honestly, you can easily get it dishonestly. Get it in that way." Poor
+ fool! Not to know that the most difficult thing in life is to make money
+ dishonestly! Not to know that our prisons are full of men who attempted to
+ follow this advice; not to understand that no man can be dishonest,
+ without soon being found out, and that when his lack of principle is
+ discovered, nearly every avenue to success is closed against him forever.
+ The public very properly shun all whose integrity is doubted. No matter
+ how polite and pleasant and accommodating a man may be, none of us dare to
+ deal with him if we suspect "false weights and measures." Strict honesty,
+ not only lies at the foundation of all success in life (financially), but
+ in every other respect. Uncompromising integrity of character is
+ invaluable. It secures to its possessor a peace and joy which cannot be
+ attained without it&mdash;which no amount of money, or houses and lands
+ can purchase. A man who is known to be strictly honest, may be ever so
+ poor, but he has the purses of all the community at his disposal&mdash;for
+ all know that if he promises to return what he borrows, he will never
+ disappoint them. As a mere matter of selfishness, therefore, if a man had
+ no higher motive for being honest, all will find that the maxim of Dr.
+ Franklin can never fail to be true, that "honesty is the best policy."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ To get rich, is not always equivalent to being successful. "There are many
+ rich poor men," while there are many others, honest and devout men and
+ women, who have never possessed so much money as some rich persons
+ squander in a week, but who are nevertheless really richer and happier
+ than any man can ever be while he is a transgressor of the higher laws of
+ his being.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The inordinate love of money, no doubt, may be and is "the root of all
+ evil," but money itself, when properly used, is not only a "handy thing to
+ have in the house," but affords the gratification of blessing our race by
+ enabling its possessor to enlarge the scope of human happiness and human
+ influence. The desire for wealth is nearly universal, and none can say it
+ is not laudable, provided the possessor of it accepts its
+ responsibilities, and uses it as a friend to humanity.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ The history of money-getting, which is commerce, is a history of
+ civilization, and wherever trade has flourished most, there, too, have art
+ and science produced the noblest fruits. In fact, as a general thing,
+ money-getters are the benefactors of our race. To them, in a great
+ measure, are we indebted for our institutions of learning and of art, our
+ academies, colleges and churches. It is no argument against the desire
+ for, or the possession of wealth, to say that there are sometimes misers
+ who hoard money only for the sake of hoarding and who have no higher
+ aspiration than to grasp everything which comes within their reach. As we
+ have sometimes hypocrites in religion, and demagogues in politics, so
+ there are occasionally misers among money-getters. These, however, are
+ only exceptions to the general rule. But when, in this country, we find
+ such a nuisance and stumbling block as a miser, we remember with gratitude
+ that in America we have no laws of primogeniture, and that in the due
+ course of nature the time will come when the hoarded dust will be
+ scattered for the benefit of mankind. To all men and women, therefore, do
+ I conscientiously say, make money honestly, and not otherwise, for
+ Shakespeare has truly said, "He that wants money, means, and content, is
+ without three good friends."
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <br /><br /><br /><br />
+ </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Art of Money Getting, by P. T. Barnum
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF MONEY GETTING ***
+
+***** This file should be named 8581-h.htm or 8581-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ http://www.gutenberg.org/8/5/8/8581/
+
+Produced by Wayne N. Keyser in honor of his Parents, Clifton
+B. and Esther N. Keyser; and David Widger
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+ </body>
+</html>