Daily Kennebec journal., 1870-08-18
Mistellaneous.
THE SECRET OF LUCK.


with a very ragged coat to my back, and
possessed of capital of twopence. did
not know a soul in the town. Half a CEN
tury has passed over my head since that
day. | have now a professional busi.
ness worth three thousand Il year. My
estate of Goldsworth Hall now yields me
fifteen hundred year: and have one or
two other little investments not altogether
to be despised. / was chief magistrate of
Sillerton, a town which has upward OF fifty
thousand inhabitants. | am, say, pro-
fcssional man, and my success, such as it
is, has not been achieved by lucky specu-
lation, like that of many who succeed in
trade, | have run no risks. | have
worked my way slowly up the hill, step by
step; and my own success has as much
astonishcd me, as their own want OF it has,
! see, astonished many of those who began
life in advance of me. AS have always
observed that to disclose the secret machin-
cry of success acts somehow rs an anodyne
to the sting of failure, now purpose to
afford this compensation to those to whom
| can see that my better fortune has been
the cause OF some jealousy and heartburn
ing.
The causes of fame, one of your literary
men says, are obvious, while those of for
tune are hidden. Hidden, suppose they
are. from foolish, impractical men but
| really, they are not very difficult to discover
by man of plain common sense, who is
not blinded by self-conceit.
When seventeen, | was promoted from
messenger to be clerk in the Office OF one
of the leading attorneys in Sillerton. My
salary for three years was thirty pounds,
and lived on five and twenty. am not,
however going to take up time with an ac-
count of how fought with poverty, or OF
how ] made myself sound lawyer by
studying while others were smoking or
sleeping. | have known many men who
We're as diligent us | was, but who stuck
in the mud, nevertheless. You will hardly
make your way in business without being
industrious, and without knowing your
busincss-and these qualifications, so tar
as have seen, are ordinarily quite sutfi-
cicnt to keep business which has been
made for YOU, butnot to make one.
saw this very early in life yet was
not what is called a clever fellow, | never
thought | was. My fellew clerk, Sam.
could write business letter in quarter
of the time it took me. Then. Sans letter
was neat, sharp and to the point, while
mine was hardly respectable grammar.
Conceive. then the astoni>hment of SAM
of myself, and of the whole office, when
the situation of corresponding clerk-the
most dlgnitied and best paid in the Office
was given to me. could not understand
it at that time, but subsequently, the mys-
terry was made plain to me.
Two of those above me had a mark
against them for immoral conduct, while
the temperament of my friend Sam was
not business one. He had an irresistible
tendency, both in speech and correspond
dence, to let men see what he thought OF
them. My own letters, can see on look
ing back, never fell into this error, and so
never got our masters into hot water. So
long as we gained our point, and did what
was fair ourselves, where was the use OF
letting one man see that you thought him
silly, and another that you thought him
dishonest? | took precious good care to
see as far rs other people; but | took, if
possible greater care that nobody should
see how much saw. My cue was always
to make Il man, if possible, well pleased
with himself, and, at the same time, to
make him feel that he could not get the
better of me.
Then | was always good-humored.
was not going to let a man cut me be-
cause he had done me an injury-nor, on
the other hand, was going to cut him be-
cause / saw he suspected that | had done
him one. While | strove, and | believe
with success, to be good-humored and
pleasant to every one, avoided excessive
intimacy with any one-having observed
that this is almost always the prelude to a
quarrel-first comes hot weather. then a
thunder storm, and then cold. | never
was confidential" as it is called, with
any one. Was anybody ever so without
repentng of it
/ had a hard fight, too, and | was on
the other side of thirty, before | saw my
way to being anything more than Il clerk
saw good many men get step or two
in advance of me, through luck, but |
never consumed my energy in jealous
frettng on this account. Nature gave me
good digestion, and took the affairs OF
life coolly and with good temper. My
chance would come-and even if it did
not, though desired fortune, l was fru
gal and could enjoy life without it. Ar
uncle of SANS, ! remember. who haC
much in his power, passed him over in 8
good appointment The cause was plain
The young man TO whom he gave it was
the son of man from whom the uncle
expected something. Could anything
have been more reasonable and natural
Yet what did the silly Sam do lie
wrote an angry letter to bis uncle, full OF
bosh about "conduct to his own brothers
son-the brother who had helped him so
generously when he was poor etc. Now
how can men expect the world to reward
them if they won't adapt themselves to it ?
DO they think it is going out OF its daily
path to meet their notions of justice and
generosity? No good, it was plain to me,
could ever come Of being out of humol
with any one, and hardly ever felt the
inclination. If Il man tried to cheat me,
didn't allow him, but | felt no anger with
him. Men pursued their own interests
| pursued mine. endeavored by good
humor. knowledge of business, and atten-
ton, and by scrupulous conformity to the
usages of society, to merit the reward
which society has to give; and by patience
| got it,.
soon saw that of all things to be avoid
ed by those who have their position tc
make, is the atfectation of conventional
non conformity. Who but an ass, Sam
! 4