The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-01-12
HOW HE G0TSTARTED
A MERCHANT TELLS or HIS WIN
MING RY a SHOW or HONESTY.

After Many Failures In Attempts 90
"Catch on" He worked N Little Scheme
ON the Business Man VIII Called him
80 Sterling. Honest Fellow
lyon wish to know how / got my
start in Chicago, eh? Well, I don't
mind telling you about it now, although
you may not indorse the means / adopt.
ed"
Here the merchant prince laughed
heartily. withdrawing his cigar for the
purpose. After o moment or two he re-
sumed:
Il had come here from the ii
q gawky farmer boy, ignorant OF the
| ways of the world and disposed to re-
gard every city chap as a sharper. Be.
fore leaving home / had a settlement
with my guardian, who turned over to
me $500 in cash, all the possessions ]
bad in the world.
THE distress Of the panic of 1857 had
not passed, and things were awfully
dull here. After securing a modest
boarding house / applied myself with
diligence to the seeking of employment,
in the meantime assiduously studying
bookkeeping every evening. The 81
years Of my life had been spent upon the
farm, and / was utterly ignorant of all
business methods. Hence I sought hum
BILE work, being willing to begin at the
lowest rung of the ladder. But some
how / didn' It catch on I must have been
what is vulgarly called an 'ornery' chap
-unouuth in speech, vulgar in manner
and easily abashed. Still / ~persevered,
offering myself as porter, coachman,
day lahorer, gardener, helper in grocery
stores-in short, any kind of work that
demanded muscle without too much ex
perience. Once in awhile / got q Job of
saving wood, cutting grass and tending
garden, but I spent far more than !
earned, although / lived very econom.
ically. Month after month passed III this
way until nearly one-half of my capital
was exhausted
MY necessities led mo to much cogi.
tation, and having made rapid progress
in my study of bookkeeping as well as
in knowledge Of good English / finally
concluded to aspire to something higher.
A prerequisite to this step was the doff-
ing of my old jeans suit, which had be-
come decidedly seedy. The tailor's bill
made a big iEroad upon my diminishing
capital, and the thought of liz set my
teeth on edge. Out / went day after day
among the merchants, offering my sery-
ices as q bookkeeper, accountant, ship
ping clerk or salesman, but / found no
takers. The market was suffering from
an o~versupply of tho commodity, and
the demand was nil.
Finally | decided that something
had to be done. / could not and would
not be penniless in big city. lam nat
Of a sanguine temperament. bnt
six months of enforced idleness to one
who loves work are enough 20 beclond
the %sunniest temper. But / see you are
impatie at. A change did final
ly come. One day Mr.. Davis, the head
Of the big dry goods store on Lake
street, was surprised out of his usual
squanimity by the rushing in OF an excit-
individual, myself, holding in his
hand q small bundle and saying bro
ri
~ have found, sir, a package of
money! hundred dollars, / think. I
Inn a stranger in the city and wish you
20 keep it until you find the owner
when he found breath, Mn. Davis,
Who recalled me MS who had applied
o him more than once for employment,
lemurred, insisting that / should leave
t in the hands of the police.
"'That will not do, sir. I know your
equation and can confidently leave the
with you / am desperately poor
md unemployed, and any im,utatial