The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1923-09-14

Whenever l think of love and mar
riage ! think of wray. That clerkly
figure. That clerkly mind. He was
among those | met during my first
years In New York. Like so many of
the millions seeking to make their
way, he was busy about his affairs,
and, fortunately, with the limitations
OF the average man he had the ambi-
tons OF the average man. He WAS
connected with one OF those CONNER.
cial agencies which inquire into the
standing Of business men and report
their findings, for a price, to other
business men. He was interested In
his work and seemed satisfied that In
time he was certain to achieve what
WAS perhaps a fair enough ambition
managership of some branch Of the
great concern he was connected with
and which might have paid him so
much as FIVE or six thousand year.
The thing about him that interested
me, apart from a genial and pleasing
disposition, was that with all this
wealth of opportunity before him for
studying the human mind, its re-
sources and resourcefulness, its inhi-
billions and lberations it's humor,
tragedy and general stiffness and
changefulness, he concerned himself
chiefly with the bare facts Of the diff.
ferent enterprises whose character he
was supposed to investigate Were
they solvent7 Could and did they pay
their bills? What was their capital
stock? How much cash did they have
on hand7 Such was the nature
of the data he needed, and to this,
largely, he confined himself
Nevertheless, he was at times
amused or astonished or made angry
or self-righteous by the tricks, the Sc
cretiveness. the errors and downright
meanness Of spirit of so many he came
in contact with. As for himself, he
had the feeling that he was person
of no little character that he was
honest, Straightforward, not ms linn
tied or worthless as some Of these
others. On this score, MS on some
others, he was convinced that he
would succeed. II man did as he
should do, If he Were industrious and
honest and courteous md few more
Of those many things we all know we
ought to he, he was bound to get along
better than those who did not What
an honest, Industrious, careful, cour-
teous man not do better than those
who are none of those things? What
nonsense II must he SO. OF course
there were accidents and sickness,
and men here AID there stole from
one another, as he faw well illustrated
In his own labors and banks failed.
And there were trusts and ccmbina-
tons being formed even then which
did not seem to be entirely IN tune
with the interests Of the average man.
But even so-all things considered
if the average man followed the above
rules he was sure to fare better than
the other fellow. There was spch a
thing as approximate justice. Good
did prevail, in the main, and the
wicked were punished.
As for love and marriage, he held
definite views about these also. Not
that he was unduly narrow or In
cllned to censure those whose lives
had not worked out as well as he
hoped his own would, but there was
fine line Of tact somewhere in this
matter Of marriage which led to sue
cess also. quite as the qualities out
lined above led. or should lead, to sue
cess in matters more material or prac-
teal. One had to understand a little