Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-04-27
Importance of Business Habits.

What would not rather do than read
a contract, tumble over a company of old
musty writings, slave to my own busi-
ness; or, what is worse, to those of an
other man, as so many do, -a-days, to
get money. / could never prevail with
myself either to read over my deeds or ex-
anime my principal affairs, which ought of
necessity to pass through my knowledge
and inspection. / had rather be told, at
two months end, that l have spent four
hundred crowns, than to have my ears bat
tered every night with three, five, seven.'"
The aversion for business details which
Montaigne thus expressed, is entertained
by very many who have not formed busi-
ness habits in youth. Rather than bother
their heads with accounts" they will incur
the risk of financial losses. They dislike
the sight of figures, and serenely grow OBJ
livious to all rules of arithmetic acquired
in boyhood. And yet no individual yields
to this repugnance without doing injustice
to himself and those in any way depend
ent upon him, and ultimately being COM
PEELED, along with Montaigne, to bitterly
mourn such inexcusable childish laziness
and negligence" Those whose lives are
not devoted to money making, can least
afford to neglect the care of what money
does come into their possession. The very
fact that their resources are small should
act as an additional incentive for carefully
outstanding them. But instead of this
being the case, it is quite too common for
thoseengagedin professional pursuits to dis
dain, or assume to disdain, money getting
or saving, holding that they are inconsis-
tent with genius or the attainment of pro-
fessional eminence. "The wisdom"
wrote Bacon, touching negotiation or
business, hath not been hitherto collected
into writing, to the great derogation of
learning and the profession of learning"
How often do we find minister who
boasts that he leaves everything of a
pecuniary nature to his wife to attend to,
or physician who declares, with perhaps
a feigned Indifference, that he never looks
after bad debts. Ten to one if such per-
sons do not always have to maintain a
struggle with poverty. Lamartine, in mid
die life, frequently gave expression to a
contempt for arithmetic, and in declining
years his hat was kept in constant circula-
ton. Hazlitt pictured business man as a
groveling individual requiring mo ideas
but those of custom and interest" But had
he looked upon business habits and pru-
dence in different light, he might have
spent the eventide of his life in quiet and
repose instead of having to keep his pen
Increasingly at work for bread money
This disregard of money matters explains,
more than anything else, why it is that so
many who live by brain-work never
achieve pecuniary independence. No
matter how much they might earn, their
pockets would always be sieves.
Instead OF checking professional or in
tellectual advancement and preferment,
business training and experience directly
promote them. Napoleon the Great,
Wellington, Isaac Newton, Spenser, Ri
cardO, Wordsworth, Scott, DR.. Johnson
and Fox, afford striking illustrations OF
how much individuals, though not pursu.
ing individual pursuits, are benefited by
business habits. 1t is written of yelling
ton, that " his magnificent business quail.
| ties were everywhere felt. By the care
with which he provided for every contin-
| gency, and the personal attention which
he gave to every detail, he laid the found
alton of his great success" "Wher
have broken down, it will almost invari
ably be found that neglect of little Things
was the rock on which they split"
Nearly all young men leave college 1g
nOrant of the most ordinary details of busi
ness, and thousands of alumni, scattered
through the country, to-day keenly regre
that some of the time given to the study
of classics was not spent in obtaining
knowledge of the practical matters o
life" Most of our universities of learn
ing are now making feature of physica
culture. They should go a step further
and make the formation of business hab
its an important part of the curriculum
at the same time deprecating tn
feeling of contempt for such habits ant
training which now prevails so largel.
among collegians. 1t will generally
found that the alumni who have made tbei
mark in the world, were compelled b
poverty to contrive and plan how to max
both ends meet, when pursuing their co
lege course, thus obtaining the experienc
and training outside of the course whic
should be comprised in it, for the benef
of all, rich and poor alike.
Whatever vocations parents may inten
their children to pursue, they should yer
early impress upon them the importance
acquiring business habits. 1t is good pla
to provide them with miniature memoraI
dunn books, and teach them to keep dali
record of their finances, giving them
penny for this and that thing, now an
then deducting from their ducats for O
, fenses committed, and requiring them t
daily balance their accounts. Nothin,
we are satisfied from personal observation
is so calculated to sharpen the wits
juveniles, to impress them with the in
portance of economy and foresight, {
early training of this character.-Hed77
, and Home.
A RESIDENT of Gold Flat, Cal, had
{ fayorite hen which got a bone into til