Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-04-25
CHAPTER VIII.

tllt .ltsultS Oi HuIloIu buh-
 cans work completely justified \ the confident assertion he had made to Captain Hallam that a capa- ble man can learn anything if he really wants to.
 He rapidly familiarized himself with the technicalities as well as with the methods and broad principles of busi- ness. He sat up till midnight for many nights in succession in order to learn from the head bookkeeper the rather scant mysteries of bookkeeping. By observing the gaugers who measured coal barges to determine their contents he quickly acquired skill in doing that.
 It was so with everything. He was determined to master every art and mystery that in anywise pertained to business. whether the skill in question was or was not one that he was ever likely to need or to practice. z~s.
 His diligence. his conscientiousness in work. his readiness of resource, his alert intelligence and his sturdy in- tegrity daily commended him more and more to the head of the firm, and not many months had passed before ed the young Virginian as the confi- dentia adviser and assistant of Cap tain Hallam himself, though no formal appointment cf that kind had been made.
 But no advance of salary came to the young man as result. It was one of Captain Hallam's rules never to pay man more for his services than he must and never to advance mans Salary until the advance was asked for
 Captain Hallam was in no fiber of his being miser, but he acted always upon those cold blooded prudential principles that had brought him wealth. It was not money that this great captain of commerce worshiped, but success. Success was the one god of his idolatry. Outside of his busi ness he was liberal in the extreme. Even in his business operations he never hesitated at lavish expenditure where such expenditure promised good results. But he regarded all unneces- sary spending as waste, of the kind that imperils success.
 In his cynical moments, indeed, he sometimes said that If you have a keep him poor; otherwise you'll lose him" But in so saying he perhaps did himself an injustice. He was apt to feign a heartless selfshness that he did not feel. --...
 Little by little Guilford Duncan had learned all this as he had learned busi- ness methods. He had at first modest ly proposed to himself nothing more in the way of achievement than to make himself a valuable subordinate a private or at most a corporal or sargeant--in the ranks of the great ar my of work. But before many months had passed his modesty was compelled to yield somewhat to an increasingly clear understanding of conditions and possibilities. Somewhat to his own surprise he began to suspect himself of possessing capacities superior to those of the men about him and even superior to, those of many men who had risen to high place in commerce and finance.
 As Captain Hallam came more and more to rely upon the sagacity and character of this his most trusted man. he more and more brought young Dun can Into those confidential conferences with the leading men of affairs which were frequently necessary in the plan- ming and execution of important enter prises or in the meeting of difficulties and obstacles. In that way Duncan was brought into personal contact with the recognized masters, big and little, with railroad presidents, financiers, bankers. capitalists and other men whose positions were in a greater or less degree commanding.
 At first he modestly held himself as nothing more than the tool and servitor of these great men. but presently he began to suspect that they were not very great men after alto see that it was usually he himself who devised duu suE-tNAtu Aut Hl4SEs AhAA these men undertook. and he who saved them from mistakes In the execution of those enterprises.
 Guilford Duncan had never in his life kept a diary. He regarded that practice as q useless puerility and usu- ally an indulgence in morbid self com muning and unwholesome self con sciousness. but it was his practice sometimes late at night 10 set down upon paper such thoughts as had in- terested him during the day for the sole sake of formulating them in his own mind. Often he would in this way discuss with himself questions con cerning which he had not yet matured his opinion.
 i've been in conference this day" he wrote one night. with half a doZ- en nabo5s-nOt great nabObs. but sec ond rate ones. All this has put a new thought into my mind Why should not I. Guilford Duncan. make myself leader. a captain or even a command ing general of afairsl But the man who would do things of any conse- quenee in business ways must have .oney. The bank account Is his tool chest. "T suggested some combinations to- night to those nabobs. and they are going to carry them out They would ] never have thought of the eoubina- tiocs but for my suggestion But they can and will cary them out. with l great credit and profit to themselves. ! because they have command of money. l I rov,td ro~ a~1-, shsuk or rn1Tur-fux