Litchfield enquirer., 1854-08-31
Make a Character for Yourself.

young t'adesmah, having bought and paid for bag of coffee, proceeded 10 wheel it home himself; the shrewd old merchant immediately offered to trust his new customer to as many more bags as the latter might desire. The trait oi charter revealed by the young man in being his own porter, had given the mil lionaire confidence in him at once. His reputation was made with Girard. He became favored dealer with the enter p'ising mel chant. throve rapidly, and in the end amassed fortune.
 No mere capital will do so much for young men as character. Nor will al. ways even capital and connexion cons bined. In our own experience, we have known many beginners who have utterly tailed, though backed by ample means, and assisted by the influence of large circle of friends. In some cases. indeed, considerable experience as well as indus> try and perseverance, have been added to these advantages, yet without secu- ring success. We have known such persons, after failure in their first pur. suit, to try second, and even a third. yet with no better result, although still still assisted by capital, by friends and even by their own activity. The secret was that they had missed, somehow, making a character for themselves.
 On the other hand, it is a common occurrence to see yonng men begin with- out cent, yet rapidly rise .o fortune. They achieve this triumph by establish ing, at the outset reputation for being co competent business men. Few are so fortunate as to do this by single chal. acteristic act, like the purchaser who won Gi'ard's good will by wheeling home the bag, for generally neither veteran merchants are as shrewd as the famous millionaire. nor young dealers as ener- getic as his customer. But consistent life of sagacity, economy and industry, invariably establishes the right kind of reputation in the end. Confidence grows up. in influential Quaters, towards the young beginner. Old merchants shake their heads approvingly, and say, "he is of the right stuff and can get along" Credit comes, as it were un. sought. Connexion follows. The reps utaiion of the new aspirants widens and deepens; his transactions begin 10 be quoted as authority trade flows in on him from every quarter: and, a few years. he rerires with competence, or remains to become a millionaire. All this is the result of establishing, at the outset, a character of the right sort.
 We may say to every young man about to start in life, to make char. acter for yourself as soon as possible. Let it also be distinctive one. It is better to havs name for excelling all others in some one thing than to enjoy simply notorety for merely general merit. Are you mechanic !? outstrp your fellows in skill. Are you young lawyer ?-become super,or in particu- lar branch. Are youa clerk ?--be the best book keeper your employers have Are you in store ?-.,make yourself ac~ quainted with the various buyers. In short. become known for an excellence peculiar to yourself; acquire speciality, as it is called and success is certain, because you will have. as it were, a monopoly. and can dictate your own terms.
 Money may be lost. without fault of our own, by some one or another of the accidents of life. Connexions may be broken up. by death or failure. or charge of interests. But character re~ mains through all. It belongs to tie 1 individual, and is above the chances of fate. Thousands. who have lost all else, have recoerved themselves by having a character to start anew with but no man, without business character, has ever risen from the ruin caused by the loss of capital, or the destruction of con. nexion.