Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1867-03-16
Aspirations to be Rich.
From the New York Tribune.

| From the New York Tribune.
A youth writes US as follows-and hi
case is like that of so many others tha
we treat it thus publicly, suppresslng hi
name:
"Dear Sir: am poor boy. 1 would lik
to get rich Now what shall do? l woul
like to quit this section. don't want to re
main on my fathers farm Please give me tn,
best advice you can, and oblige.
Yours G. G. S.
Ansscer.-The aspiration to be rich
though by no means the highest that cal
impel a career-is, in our view, whole
some and lardable The youth wht
says, Let me be rich any hoac, anG
before all other considerations" is very
likely to bring up in some State Prison
but he who consistently says, "Let me
first be just, honest, moral, dilligent
useful; then rich," is on the right road.
Every boy ought to aspire to be rich,
provided he can be without unfaithful-
ness to social obligation or to moral prin-
ciple.
But how shall We set about getting
rich we would concisely say:
L6HeSy TCSOtCC NCCC5 CO OtCS " NSOt.
1t is the fundamental mistake of most
boys to suppose that they can get richer
faster on money earned by others, than
on that earned respectively by themselves.
1t every youth of l8 to 25 years were
to-day offered $4,000 for ten years at
seven per cent, interest, two-thirds would
eagerly accept of it; when the probable
consequence is, that three-fourths of them
would die bankrupts and paupers. Boys
do not need money half so much as they
need to know how to save it. The boy
who, at the close of his first year of in
dependence, has earned and saved SlO0,
and invested or loaned it where it will
pay him in six or seven per cent, will
almost surely become rich if he lives !;
while he who closes his first year of
responsibility in debt, will probably live
and die in debt. There is no greater
mistake made by our American youth
than that of choosing to paw interest
rather than receive it. Interest. devoufs
us while we sleep; it absorbs our profits,
and aggrvates our losses. Let young
man at twenty-five have $1,000 loaned
on bond and mortgage, or invested in
public securities, and he will rarely want
money thereafter; in fact, that s. 900, in
vested at seven per cent, will of itself
make him rich before he is sixty. There
is no rule more important or wholesome
for our boys than that which teaches them
to go through life receiving interest
rather than paying it. Ofthe torments
which afiict this mortal sphere, the first
rank is held by Crime; the second by
Debt.
2. acquire promptly and thoroughly
SONS usefm calling. Some persuits are
more lucrative, some more respectable,
some more agreeable, than others but a
chimneysweep's is far better than none
at all. No matter how rich his parents
may be, boy should learn some trade if
he will. This city is full to-day of young
land old d)men who have been clerks, book
keepers, porters, &C., &C., yet can find
nothing to do, and are starving because
their foolish parents did not give them
trades. A trade is an estate, and almost
always a productive one. A good, eff
cient farm laborer can generally find pay
ing work if he does not insist ip looking
for it in city where it cannot well be;
while many college graduate flmishes
because nobody wants the only work he
knows how to do. Let nothing prevent
your acquiring skill in some branch of
productive industry.
3. Resolve not to be a rouer. GA roll
ing stone gathers no MOSS" but is con-
stantly thumped and knocked, and often
shivered to pieces. If you are honest and
industrious, you must be constantly max
ing reputation, which. if you remain in
one place helps you along the road to
fortune. Even hod-carrier ora street
sweeper who has proved that his promise
to appear on a given day and hour and
go to work may be trusted, has prop
erty in the confidence thus created. If
you cannot find work where you now are,
migrate but do it once for all. When
you have stuck your stake, stand by it |!
A. Comprehend that there is aoort al
most erergschere for him scho can do it,
An Italian named Bianconi settled in Ire
land some sixty years ago, and got very
rich there by gradually establishing lines
of passenger conveyances all over that
Island. Almost any man would have
said that he who went to Ireland to make
his fortune must be mad. He who knows
how, and will work, can get rich by grow
ing potatoes in New England, though he
has not FIVE cent stamp to begin with.
There is work that will pay for million
more people on the soil Of Connecticut
alone. There are millions of unproduc-
tive acres within days ride of this city
that might be bought and rendered large
ly fruitful at clear profit of 800 or more
per acre. A man in Niles, Mich, declin-
ed to go goldhunting in the Rocky Noun
tains because there was more gold in Niles
than he could get hold Of The reason
was good one, and it applies almost
every where. If you can find nothing
to do where You are, it is generally be-
cause you can do nothing.
S. Realize Ms<ss he uho earns sic pence
pr day more Than hsspends mast gcsricd,