The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1868-11-14

Vanderbilt for example, was a boatman.
sloop captain, and steamboat captain, for
nineteen years before he set up for himself
i'll the business of building and running
steamboats,, in which he gained more mon
ey than was ever before gained in single
lifetime, except by plumber. There is not
to-day in the whole world man who
knows as much about steamboats, and
steamships as this same Cornelius Wander
bilt.
Aster is another illustration. He learn
ed the fur business from the very rudi-
ments. He used to beat furs from morn
ing till night i'll his masters back shop,
and, after doing this awhile, he used to
take a basket of trinkets and nic-nacks.
and go around among the sloops and mar
kets, driving hard bargains with boatmen,
Indians and market-men for such skins as
they had brought to town. By-and-by he
shouldered his pack and tramped the coun-
try for peltries; and extending his journey,
at length he became familiar with every
place, every tribe, and every person con-
nectcd with the fur trade in North Ameri-
ca. Then he went to Europe, and learned
all about the market for furs and their
prices i'll evey part of the world. Few nell
have ever understood thing so well as
| Mr.. Astor understood the business of col
Letting, curing and selling furs. He knew
it, not as a clerk might have known it he
| knew it as man knows the trade to which
he has served long apprenticeship under
a watchful and exacting master
Another case i'll point was the first Roth
schild, who, from his twelfth to his twenty
seventh year, laboriously acquired lsnowl-
edge of money, first as errand-boy and mon
encounter to his father, and afterwards as
bankers clerk.
| Girard, too, was a Thorough sailor before
he ever owned a ship, and was personally
familiar with most of the commercial ports
long before he ever consigned cargo to
| one of them.
| There is my valued friend, John Gorham,
of Providence, the head of the largest man.
utactory of silver-ware in the world. He
did not go into his fathers counting-room
do al ClClh, btU lilUo Ills ltlICT SHOP DIS an
apprentice; and he learned how to do with
his own hands whatever he has since had
to direct others in doing.
But such examples are numberless..-
All my acquaintance with business men
teaches ME that the fundamental secret of
success in business is KNowLEDGE-real
acknowledgement knowledge as is only ac-
quired by becoming practically familiar
with methods and processes-such knowl-
edge, i'll fact, as man gets by taking hold
of work, and doing it until he can do it
easily and perfectly.
There is noble establishment in Broad
way, where many of us go occasionally for
the rehabilitation of our outer man. 1t
was in the grand upper room of this palace
like store, while l was being measured for
Il coat that I conceived the idea of writing
this article. In well-conducted establish
ments of every kind you will notice the
same faces year after year; for able men
naturally gather able men around them,
and employers and employed, by recipro-
cal justice and courtesy, become attached
to one another, and have neither motive
nor desire to sever the connection. And
yet, on that occasion, seeing around me
tie same sl<ilful and obliging persons that
| had seen there ten years before, I could
not but reflect how little chance they had
to advance from clerkship to mastership.
'.Suppose," thought I, "a lad of six
tccen or seventeen should propose to him
self. as an object in life, to become the pro-
prietor Of an establishment like this, what
would be the shortest and Ekeliest path for
him to strike into?"
feel certain that the best thing he could
do would be to apprentice himself to a good
tailor, and learn all there is to be known
about the making of Clothes Having acquir-
cd that acknowledgement with his head only,
but with his fingers as well-nothing would
be easier than to set up a small shop
Now, what is the differeece between a
small tailor-shop well placed and well con-
ductcd) and the overshadowing clothing
houses of Brooks or Devlin? Why, moth
ing but thirty years growth!
The knowledge which a clerk acquires is
part of tic indispensable equipment of a
man of business; but it is far from being
so vital to 4 grand success as that which
comes of true apprenticeship. Gibbon
says that going out with the militia on
training days was of material assistance to
him in writing the history of the great Ro-
man war. Just giving the word of COM
mand to q few companies of country mill
tia let kim into the secret of complicated
battles and great campaigns.
Learn trade, then, lads, you who aspire
to do something creditable and substantial
during your life. Would you be an archi-
tcct, and build the new Capitol west of the
Mississippi? Well, then, go apprentice to
the best carpenter or mason within your
reach Do you wish to be a SCULPTOR and
yet cannot pay a masters fee? Instead of
pining in your mothers chimney corner,
90 to the nearest stone cutters and cut
tomb stones
| The educ,ding effect of learning a good
trade has never been sufficiently consider
cd
| Why have we, nowadays, SO many SIM
pcring, silly girls about, who know moth
ing, can do nothing, and are nothing
They have been at school long enough to
get little knowledge, and they do not ap-
pear to be wanting in natural capacity and
yet, so empty are they of sense and retiec
ton, that, often when l look into their ex-
prcssionlcss countenances, find it difficult
to believe i'll the Immortality of their souls.
1t seems more reasonable to think that
such abortive efforts of nature should he
quietly absorbed or dissipated, like the
leaves which tlutter to the ground and are
no more seen.
What is the matter with these poor crea-
lures? The matter is: they have never
boiled potatoes ironed clothes, made pud-
dings, cleaned paint, made beds, nor in
any way seriously applied their minds and
hands to the exact and skilful performance
Of hOmeIy tasks They have missed the