National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1867-03-08
Aspirations to be Rich.

A youth writes us as follows--and
his case is like that of so many 9th
ers that we treat it thus publicly.
supprcssing his name:
"Dear Sir-I am a poor boy. |
would like to get rich. Now what
shall do? would like to quit
this section. / don't want to re
main on my fathers farm. Please
give me the best advice you can, and
oblige, Yours, G. G. s."
Answer The aspiration to be
rich-though by no means the high.
est that can impel career-is, III
our view, wholesome and laudable.
The youth who says Let me he rich
any how, and before all other con.
siderations,' is very likely to bring
up in some state prison; but he
who constantly says, Let me first
be just, honest, moral, diligent, use
ful, then rich is on the right road.
Every boy ought to aspire to he rich
provided he can be without unfaith-
fulness to social obligations or to
moral principle.
But how shall he set about get
ting rich! We would concisely
say
/. Firmly resolve never to owe a
debt. 1t is the fundamental mis-
take of most boys to suppose that
they can get rich faster on money
earned by others than on that earn
ed respectively by themselves. If
every youth of Is to 20 years We're
to-day offered $4,000 for ten years
at Z per cent. interest, twO-thirdS of
them would eagerly accept it, when
the probable consequence is that
three fourths of them would die
bankrupts and panpcrs. Boys do
not need money half SO much as
they need to know how to earn and
save it. The boy who at the end of
his first year of Independence, has
earned and saved 800 dollars and
invested or loaned. it where it will
pay him six per cent, Will almost
surely become rich 1.-The lives while
he who closes his first year of re-
sponsibility in debt, will probably
live and die in debt. There is no
greater mistake made by our Amer
lean youth than that of choosing to
pay interest rather than receive it.
Interest devours us, while we sleep;
it absorbs Oul profits and aggra
Yates our losses. Let a young man
at 25 have $1,000 loaned on bond
and mortgage, or invested in public
securities, and he Will rarely want
money thereafter in fact, that ST.
600, invested at seven per cent,
will OF itself make him rich before
he is sixty. Thele is no rule more
import ant or wholesome for our
boys, than that which teaches them
to go through life receiving rather
than paving interest. OF the tor
ments which afilict this mortal
sphere, the first rank is held by
Crime; the second by Debt.
.. Acquire promptly and thor
ough)y some useful calling. Some
pursuits are more lucrative, some
more respectable, some more agree
able than others; but Il chimney
sweeps is far better than none at all
No matter how rich his parents may
be, a boy should learn trade; no
matter how poor he may be, a boy
NAV learn some trade if he will
This city is full to-day of young (and
old men who have been clerks and
bookcepers, pOrters, &c, &c., yet
can find nothing to do, and are
starving because their friends did
not give them trades. a trade is
an estate, and almost always pro,
ductive one. a good efficient farm
labarer can generally find paying
work if he does not insist on look
ing for it in city where it cannot
well be; while many college grad
uate famishes because nobody wants
the only work he knows how to do
Let nothing prevent your accquir
ing skill in some branch of produc
, tive industry.
3. Resolve not to be a rover.-'A
, rolling stone gathers no moss, bu
is constantly thumped and knock
ed and often shivcred to pieces. |
Won are honest and Industrious, yol
, must be constantly making reputa
, tion, which if YOU remain III on'
place, helps you along the road t.
fortune. Even u hWl-carrier, %
street sweeper, who has proved
that his promise to appear ON Ger
tain day and hour, aud 20 to work
may be rustcd, has a property u
, the confidence thus created. II go
cannot find your work where yo'
now are, migrate; but do it one
for all. When you have stuck you
stake stand by it.
4. Comprehend that there is wor
almost everywhere for him who ca
) do il. An italian named Biancon
> settled in Ireland some sixty year
!, ago, and got very rich by gradual,
: establishing lines OF passenger con
u ycyances all over that Island. A'
: most any man would have SAID 'ni'
y bc who went to Ireland to make iI
:. fortune must bc mad. He "n' ~
@ knows how, and will work, can ee.
W rich growing potatoes IN new n"s ,s,
G land, though he hasn't nvc ee,i' ,n,
s stnmp 10 begin with. There is wor1
@ that win pay for million more peo
r. ~" % an Tho soil of Connecticut alone
Il TThere are millions Of unproductiV'
"a i"c'' a Joy,s ride of this city