Year: 1879

How did he get it? Not by having a
rich father, for he was the son of labor
er. The secret was, his beautiful accu-
racy. He began as an errand boy, and
did his work accurately. His leisure
time he used in perfecting his writing
and arithmetic. After while he learned
to telegraph. At each step his employer
commended his accuracy, and relied on
what he did because he was sure it was
just right"


And it is thus with every occupation.
The accurate boy is the favored one.
Those who employ men do not wish to
be on the constant lookout, as though
they were rogues or fools. If a carpen-
ter must stand at his journeyman's elbow
to be sure his work is right, or if a cashier
he might as well do the work himself as
to employ another one to do it in that
way; and it is very certain that the en-
ployer will get rid of such an inaccurate
workman as soon as possible.


L knew such young man. He had a
good chance to do we'll, but he was so in
accurate and 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 imperfect paper.
II was lawyer without business, be-
cause he lacked the noble quality. of 'ac-
curacy.


Just across the street from him was
another young lawyer, who was proverb-
ial for accuracy. He was famous for
searching titles, and when he wrote out
the history of title to piece of prop
erty, it was taken for granted as Just So
His aim was absolute accuracy in every
thing. If he copied a conveyance or
cited legal authority or made state
ment, he aimed to do it exactly. The
consequence is, he is having a valuable
practice at the bar and is universally es-
teemed.


"But," says some boy, when become
man that is the way shall do. l mean
to be very accurate" Perhaps SO; 1
could tell better if knew just how you
do your work now. There are several
ways of getting lesson. One is to get it
"tolerably well, which does not cost
much labor; the other is to get it fault
lessly well, which costs a great deal of
labor. A boy can get general idea of
his lesson in a jify;" but to get it accu-
rately is very. hard, and requires both
time and industry. If you, my boy, to-
day are getting your lesson in the slip
shod way, you will grow up slipshod
man; but if to day your habit is to get
every lesson with perfect accuracy, l will
warrant you will do that way when you
become man. How is it?


Millions of persons in the world are
clamoring for work, and work is abund-
ant; but they are careless, inaccurate,
unreliable, untrustworthy. Shake off
your stupidity, idle one; get wide awake
and do your work well. Accurate, per-
feet, for even dot or a point may shell
ter you or turn you out of doors.


To illustrate the Importance of accura-
cy and careful, honest work, take this
instance 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 pre-
pairing manuscript, and think anything
in the guise of handwriting will do that
can either be deciphered or guessed at
1t was a suit brought to recover damages
from telegraph company for errors
committed in transmitting a message, by
which the party suing suffered pc
cuniary loss. On the trial the original
message, as written and handed to the
operator, was offered in evidence, and
was so illegibly written that no two per-
sons could agree from the marks submit
ted what it did contain. Whereupon
'n0 JuuSe sIluCIeu tue jury tnaG ii peo
pie wrote their dispatches in such hand
that the contents are uncertain, they
have no right to recover damages from
the dispatcher because he failed to read
it correctly, and that if damages do re-
suit from such causes, the sender and
not the company should bear the loss.
This was good common sense, which is
the essence of common law"


Some persons take no care at all in
anything they do, forgetting that the in
terests of others, as well as themselves,
depend upon the character of their work.
1t is not only o matter of cents and dol
lars. but it is matter of morals.