Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-06-10
From Packard's Monthly MaEazine.I
Clerks and Apprentices.
BY JAMES PATRON.

patton akin to thst which he after
wards exercised, and in which his great
success was made.
Vanderbilt, for example, was boat
man, sloop captain, and steamboat cap
tain, for nineteen years before he set
up for himselfin the business of build
ing and running steamboats,, in which
he gained more money than was ever
before gained in a single lifetime, ex-
cept by plunder. There Is not to-day
in the whole world a man who knows
as much about steamboats, and steam
ships as this same Cornelius Wander
bilt.
Astor is smother illustration. He
learned the fur business from the
very rudiments. He used to beat furs
from morning till night in his masters
back shop, and after doing this awhile,
he used to take a basket of trinkets
and nick-nacks, and go round among
the sloops and markets, driving hard
bargains with boatmen, Indians and
market-men for such skins as they had
brought to town. By-and-by he shoul-
dered his pack and tramped the couu-
try for peltries; and, extending his
journey, at length he became familiar
with every place, every tribe, and
every person connected with the fur
trade in North America. Then he
went TO Europe, and learned all about
the market for furs and their prices in
every part of the world. Few men
have ever understood a thing so we'll
as Mr.. Astor understood the business
of collecting, curing and selling furs.
He knew it, not as a clerk might have
known it; he knew it as a man knows
the trade to which he has served a
long apprenticeship under a.watchfu
and exacting master.
Another case IN point was the first
Rothschild, who, from his twelfth to
his twenty-seventh year, laboriously ac-
quired a knowledge of money, irst as
errand boy and money-couuter 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 a cargo 10 one of them.
There is my valued friend, John Cor
ham, of Providence, the head of the
largest mandatory of silver ware in
the world. He did not go into his
fathers counting-room as a clerk, but
into his fathers shop as an apprentice:
and he learned how to do with his own
hands whatever he has since had to
direct others in doing.
D,,A -,,,l, Iarlo-,
All my acquaintance with business men
teaches me that the. fundamental Sc
cret of success in business is KNOW
LEDGE-real acknowledgements knowl-
edge as is only acquired by becoming
practically familiar with methods and
proeesses-such knowledge, in fact, as
man gets by taking hold of work,
and doing it until he can do it easily
and perfectly.
There is a noble establishment in
Broadway, where many of US 90, occa-
sionally, 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 n coat, that
conceived the idea of writing this arti-
Gle. In well-conducted establishments
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 re
ciprocal Justice and courtesy, become
attached to one another, and have nei-
ther motive nor desire to sever the
connection. And yet, on that occasion I
seeing around me the same skilful and
obliging persons that had seen there
ten years before, could not but reAectj
how little chance they had to advance
from clerkship to msstership.
Suppose" thought I, "a lad Of six
teen or seventeen should propose to
himself, as an object in life, to become |
the proprietor of an establishment ike |
this-what would be the shortest and /
likeliest path for him to strike into?"
1 feel certain that the best thing he
could do would be toapprentice himself
to & good tailor, and learn al there is |
to be known about the making of /
clothes. Having acquired that know
ledge-not with his head only butwith |
his fingers as well-nothing would be
easier than to set up q small shop
Now, what is the difference between a
small tailor-shop (well placed and well
conducted) and the overshadowing
clothing house of Brooks or Devlin 81
Why, nothing but thirty years growth
The knowledge which a clerk &C
quires is part of the indispensable |
equipment of q man of business but
it is TAR from being so vital to grand I
success as that which comes of a true
Gibbon says, that 60
ing out with the militia on training
days was of material assistance to him
in writing the history of the great
Roman wars. just giving the word OF
command to a few companies of eoun-
try militia let him into the secret of
complicated battles and great cam
paigns.
Learn a trade, then, lads, you who
aspire to do something creditable and
during your life. Would
you be an architect, and build the new
Capitol west of the Mississippi Well,
then, go apprentice to the best carpen-
ter or mason within your reach. Do
you wish to be sculptor, and yet can
not pay masters fee? Instead Of pi-
ming in your mothers chimney corner,
90 to the nearest stone e-eutter's and cut
The educating efectof learninga good
trade has never been sufficiently con-
,idered. i
why have we, nowadays. so many
silly girls about, who know
can do nothing, and are moth
ing? They have been at school long
enough to get little knowledge, and
hey do not appear to be wanting in
natural capacity; and yet, so empty
ire they of sense and reflection, that,
,ften WhensI look into their expires
iionless countenances, find it difficult
10 believe in the immortality of their
iouls. 1t seems more reasonable to [
.hink that such abortive efforts of Ma
.ure would be quietly absorbed or dis
Iipated, like the leaves which Hutter
% the ground, and are no more seen.
What is the matter with these poor
The matter IS: they have !
never boiled potatoes, ironed clothes,
made puddings, cleaned paint, made I
,eds, nor in any other way seriously
applied their minds and hands to the !
,xsct and skilful performance Of home
y tasks. They have missed the pre-
.ious education which comes Of careful :
y-done work. If any good soul would
axe half dozen Of these unfortunate
eings, and give them a good three :
ears drill in the work of well order .
d house, the educating effect would ;
stonish every one who knew them
-ou cannot boil an egg precisely right
-ithnnf eating q Ettla adncatinn n1t 9