The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1879-07-19
Accuracy q Path to Wealth.


freshing to read an article on the fol
lowing, contributed 10 the Methodist
by John D. Knox, of Topeka, Kan
sas, on the Importance of exaetness.
The author commences with the i'm
portance of accuracy in the value of
testimony, all depending on its ex-
actness. and proceeds to say: The
professed end of logic is to teach men
to think, to judge and reason with
precision and accuracy. S. Martin
asks: What makes the scholar I?
Exactness. What is most likely to
secure success in the learned profes.
sions? Exactness. What laises men
Of various callings to the highest
position attainable by persons in
their occupations? Exaetness. What
makes mans word pass current as
gold? His known exactness. What,
above all things, is essential in the
laboratory Exactness.'
Mr.. Martin is right. Exactness,
accuracy, perfection in all the work
you undertake will bring you a sure
reward. And the record of o noted
man is found in these words: "He
became an honorable man, successful
merchant, and bank president" His
splendid career commenced in black
ing pair of boots we'll when boy,
and he continued "doing we'll all
through life, whether blacking boots
or managing finance. What he did
he did accurately, and, of course, it
did not have to be done over or i'm
proved or mended, but always gave
satisfaction and secured oommenda.
ton.
President Tuttle, on 'sHow to Get
the Best Place." gives us this in
stance: 81 saw young man in the
| office of q Western Railway Super
intendent. He was occupying a po-
sition that four hundred boys in the
city would have wished to get. 1t
was honorable and 'it paid well,'
besides being in the line Of promo
ton. How did he get it? Not by
| having a rich father, for be was the
son of a laborer. The secret was, his
beautiful accuracy. He began as an
errand boy, and did his work accur-
ately. His leisure time he used in
perfecting his writing and arithmetic.
After while he learned to telegraph.
At each step his employer COM
mended his accuracy, and relied on
what he did because he was sure it
was just right"
And it is thus with every oecupa-
tion. The accurate boy is the fa-
vored one. Those who employ men
do not wish to be on the constant
lookout, as though they were rogues
or fools. If a carpenter must stand
at his journeyman's elbow to be sure
his work is right, or if a cashier
must run over his book-keeper's COL
umns, he might as well do it himself
as to employ another one to do it in
that way; and it is very certain that
the employer will get rid of such an
inaccurate workman as soon as pos
sible.
| knew such a young man. He had
good chance to do we'll, but he was
so inaccurate and so unreliable that
people were afraid to trust him. If
he wrote a deed or mortgage or a
contract, he was sure to leave out
something or put in something to
make it an imperfect paper. He was
a lawyer without business, because
he lacked the noble quality of accu-
! racy.
Just across the street from him
was another young lawyer, who was
proverbial for accuracy. He was
famous for searching titles, and when
he wrote out the history of title to
a piece of property, it was taken for
| granted as just so. His aim was
absolute accuracy in everything. If
be copied a conveyance or cited a
legal authority or made statement,
he aimed to do it exactly. The con-
sequence is, he is having a valuable
practice at the bar and is universally
esteemed.
"But," says some boy, "when l
become man that is the way shall
do. | mean to be very accurate"
Perhaps SO; I could tell better if /
knew just how you do your work
now. There are several ways of get
ting a lesson. One is to get it
"tolerably WE'LL" which does not
cost much labor; the other is to get
it faultlessly well, which costs a great
deal of labor. A boy can get a gen.
eral idea of his lesson ain jiffy;"
but to get it accurately is very hard,
and requires both time and industry
If you, my boy, to-day are getting
your lesson in the slipshod way, you
will grow up slipshod man; but if
today your habit is to get every
lesson with perfect accuracy, will
warrant yon will do that way when
you become man. How is it2
Millions of persons in the world
are clamoring for work, and work is
abundant; but they are careless, in
accurate, unreliable, untrustworthy.
Shake off your stupidity, idle one;
get wide awake and do your work
well. Accurate, perfect, for even q
dot or point may shelter you or turn
you out of doors.
To illustrate tho Importance of |
careful, honest work, take this in
stance of loss by bad penmanship: |
"a decision was rendered by Judge !
Van Brunt, of New York, which |
may be of interest to those who are
careless in preparing manuscript, and |
think anything in the guise of hand
writing will do that can either be
deciphered or guessed at. 1t was o
suit brought to recover damages
from telegraph company for errors
committed in transmitting q message,
by which the party suing suffered
pecuniary loss. On the trial the
original message, as written and
handed to the operator, was offered
in evidence, and was so iilegibly
written that no two persons could /
agree from the marks submitted
what it actually did contain. Where
upon the judge instructed the jury
that if people wrote their dispatches
in such hand that the contents are
they have no right to re-
cover damages from the dispatcher
because he failed to read it correctly;j
and that if damages do result from
such causes, the sender and not the
company should bear the loss. This
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