Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-02-27
A WORD TO YOUNG MEN.

WORD TO YOUNG MRN.
In mercantile life ninety-five out of every
hundred fail. In other pursuits success is
not easily won. 1t comes not for being
apostrophised, or sentimentally yearned af-
ter. No conjuror's wand evokes it, no tales
of the Arabian Nights chronicle it. It is a
hard fact, gained inch by inch, after a toll
some ascent so gradual that when man
fully gains it he needs the acclaim of his
neighbors to make him sure of the fact.
The sooner, then, you can rid yourselves of
the day dream, so common to young men,
that you are suddenly to become rich by
some stroke of luck, and settle down to the
conviction that success in business can only
be won by persistent hard work, integrity,
economy, pluck and prudence, the sooner
you are prepared to begin the work of lay
ing the foundation of solid structure. I'm
til that conviction is gained you are fritter-
ing away the best years of your life, and
contracting habits that will counteract the
best efforts of after years. You are more
likely to be struck by lightning than by any
luck that will be of permanent benefit to
you. If you have forever parted company
with the hope of becoming suddenly rich
the ignis fItuus that has led many gifted
man to ruin-you are prepared to consider
the stepping stones to success already emu
merated.
PERSISTENT HARD WoRK.--Men who use
only their muscles imagine that men who
depend upon their brains are strangers to
hard work. Never was there greater mis-
take. Every successful merchant does more
real hard work in the first ten years of his
business career than any farmer or black
smith ever dreamed Of Make up your
10 f1x rlx nd 1ata If rv IN
throughly master the details of the business
upon which you propose to enter. The
habit of persistent, rapid work once formed,
and you have gained momentum that will
carry you satisfactorily through many
pinch in business where a less persistent
worker would find 1t vastly easier to lie
down and fail.
INTEGMTy.-Those who have read our ar
iicle on Commercial Honor" published
some weeks since in these columns, will
know what we mean by this. Whether it
be the result of business policy, or Christian
principles, or both, it is that quality that
makes man do exactly as he agrees, even
in the smallest things. A well known busi-
ness man of this city when in college years
ago, was so poor that he sometimes had to
borrow money to take letter out of the
post office. (Letters in those days were not
pre- paid, and one from distance cost
twenty-five cents). When he borrowed
small sum in this way, he always fixed the
time when he was TO pay it back, and when
that time came he always did it, even If he
had to borrow it elsewhere for that very
purpose. 1t is needless to say that even
while thus confessedly poor, he laid the
right foundation for good credit. Nobody
was afraid to trust him, for he paid exactly
when he agreed to, and in doing so became
as regal as a millionaire. But integrity in
c.udes more than mere punctuality, it in
cludes such an honest regard for the rights
of others that your customers can always
rely upon your giving them the worth of
their money A. I. Stewart, when small
retailer, insisted that his clerks should be
more particular to point out defects than to
recommend goods There is world of
wisdom in downright honesty.
ECONOMY. bootblack who earns So
60 week and lives on $3.4O, has already
begun to succeed. The man who has not
backbone enough to keep his expenses with
in his income is too pusillanimous to merit
success. He is bankrupt before he starts
in business. If you cannot save some
thing out of small salary you cannot
out of a large one The habit of saving
must be formed before any increase of
salary can do any good. If you cannot live
within your means on small salary,
large one will only prove a curse to you.
You think, perhaps, if you do not dine
at the Maison Doree, if you refrain from
cigars, billiards, theatres and other operas,
you are pattern of economy. You may be
very far from it. You may be spendthrift
without any of these. If your income is
small, true economy will lop off many things
that seem necessaries. As a nation we spend
too much money. 1t is time for us all to get
back to the simpler habits of twenty years
ago. Then two men that we now have in
mind, rich and successful, began as errand
boy at ST. week for the first year with
small annual increase, that after seven years
of faithful apprenticeship barely brought
their wages to 81 week. a millionaire of
Chicago, and not long since the great dry
goods merchant of Lake St., began by loan
ing to his employer small sums saved from
Just such a pittance as this. At that time
white beaver hats were in vogue among gen.
temen. He and his brother managed to
make one such hat do for both. OF course
when one went TO church, or an evening
party the other did not. Two other success
full business men of this city were about the
same time preparing for college. They
roomed together and in order to live within
their means boarded themselves. They
bought milk, butter, meat, corn-meal and
vegetables at low prices in those days and
cooked them in their room ia suit their
taste, and lived well. How much do you
think 1t cost them? Just thirty seven and
| a half cents a week each. Think of that
YOU Young men who feel that you have
cheated your epigastrium if you dine once
or twice on that sum! mo young man of
spirit would pinch himself in that way, you
exclaim, ''It's unmanly." Not bit of it.
1t is unmanly to live beyond your means
| If bare floors and the simplest necessities
| oil tn ta
situation cheerfully is evidence of the high
est type of manliness, to do otherwise is 10
be either besgar or scoundrel. We adj
yocate no stingy, narrow, sordid or mserly
views, but, if you wish to succeed in busi-
ness, and MAINTAIN your self-respect, then
we say first, last, and all the time lire scith-
in your means.
PLUoK.-A certain amount of dash, bold
ness, courage in the prosecution OF difficult
undertakings is necessary to the successful
business man. Without this quality he is
forever shivering in uncertainties, and for
ever allowing to 90 by, ,unimproved, the best
| opportunities. There is no enterprise with
out pluck, but it must always be attended
and held in check by
PKuDENCE.-By this we mean that good
Judgment which looks well on all sides and
steers the vessel that pluck propels clear ol
rocks, shoals and breakers. 1t is to be OBJ
served that pluck is usually predominate il
young, and prudence in old business men
When a man is young and has little to lose
doing is the most important. As he grows
rich what he refrains from doing becomes
more and more important, and hence the
conservatism that attends advanced years.
Persistent hard work, integrity, economy
pluck and prudence. You that combine
these qualities may go-and succeed, bu
remember, success in business is really glo
rious only when coupled with generous cul
ture, broad human sympathy and exalted