Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-10-14
HELP YOURSELVES.
BY w. NJ. THAYER.

BY w. NJ. THAYER,
MANY boys and girls make failure in
life because they do not learn to help
themselves. They depend on father and
mother even to hang up their hats and to
find their playthings. When they be-
come men and women, they will depend
on husbands and wives to do the same
thing. "a nail to hang hat on" said
an old man of eighty years, ais worth
everything to a boy" He had been
Through the mill" as people say, 80 tnat
he knew. His mother had a nail for him
when he was boy-"a nail to hang his.
hat on" and nothing else. 1t was
"Henry's nail from January to January,
year in and out, and no other member Of
the family was allowed to appropriate til for
any purpose whatever 1t the broom by
chance was hung thereon, or an apron or
coat, it was soon removed, because that
nail was "to hang Henry's hat on" And
that nail did much for Henry; it helped
make him what he was in manhood-a
careful, systematic, orderly man, at homo
and abroad, on his farm and in his house.
He never wanted another to do what he
could do for himself. tt
Young folks are apt to think that GER
tain things, good in themselves, are not
honorable. TO be blacksmith or boot
maker, to work on o farm or drive o.
team, is beneath their dignity, as COM
pared with being merchant, or practis-'
ing medicine or law This is PRIDE, an
enemy to success and happiness. No
necessary labor is discreditable. 1t is
never dishonerable to be useful. 1t is be-
meath no ones dignity to earn bread by
the sweat of the brow. When boys who
have such false notions of dignity become
men, they are ashamed to help themselves
as they ought, and Tor want of this quality
they live and die unhonored. Trying to
save their dignity, they lose it.
Here is fact we have from very sue
cessful merchant. When he began bust
ness for himself, he carried his wares from
shop to shop. At length his business in
creased to such an extent that he hired q
room at the Marlboro Hotel, in Boston,
during the business season, and thither
the merchants, having been duly notified,
would repair to make purchases. Among
all his customers, there was only one
man who would carry to his store the
goods which he had purchased. The
buyers asked to have their goods carried,
and often this manufacturer would carry
them himself But there was one mer-
chant, and the largest buyer of the whole
number, who was not ashamed to be
seen carrying a case of goods through
the streets. Sometimes he would pur-
chase four cases, and he would say, "Now,
/ will take two, and you take two, and we
will carry them right over to the store"
So the manufacturer and the merchant
often went through the streets of Boston
quite heavily loaIel. This merchant, of
all the number who went to the Marlboro
Hotel for their purchases, succeeded in
business. He became q wealthy man
when all the others failed. The maniac
tuTer, who was not ashamed to help him
self, is now livipg-one of the wealthy
men of Massachusetts,, ready to aid, by his
generous gifts, every good object that
comes along, and honored by all who
know him.
You have often heard and read the
maxim, "God helps those who help
themselves" Ia it not truef-MerTy's
HyeelgD