Year: 1875

By JAMES PARTON.


If DR.. Franklin could real ze his de
sire of visiting the earth occasionally
how he would laugh IN reading owe,
that codicil OF his own viii. in which
be bequeaths fund to asaist ambition
young men to establish themselves IL
business He left a thousand pound.
each to Boston and Philadelphia, tbs
income of which was to be lent in sumo
of two hundred dollars TO young meI
for term of yesfs at moderate interest
In those days two hundred dollars wat
enough to give competent man a star
Ia most of the ordinary aYoeations, anC
he always remembered With intense
gratitude how he had himself beer
assisted into business by loans of simi
lar amount.


Imagine the benevolent old gentle.
man, with his snowy locks and gold
headed cane, looking in upon our pres
ent world. He enters machine shop
andi shown single "tooI" which coSi
fifteen thousand dollars. He visits 6
clothing store, where the boOkkeeper's
apartment is a structure of carved wal.
nut worth more than tue entire stock.
in-trade of a merchant tailor in the Old
days of pigtail and powder. He drops
IN at newspaper Office, and sees a re-
port of a trial that costs more per diem
than he used to spend for news in the
PennsJ lvania Gazette during q whole
year.


The next thing he would want to do
would be to call upon a lawyer and in
qulre whether q materialized spirit
could lawfully alter or strike out a CO.
dicI! OF will, made when the same
spirit had worn material foIm, His
notion of setting a person up in bust
ness upon capital that would not nov
purchase good set of shutters would
strike him as being rather absurd. The
very lock on safe may cost as much.


can fancy the young men who might
be presented to the smiling philosopher,
bantering him little upon his bequest.
and perhaps calling in question some
OF the maums of poor Richards alma
nae. They might say, with some ap-
pearance of truth, that it is not of much
use young mans saving his pennies,
or his dollars either, in these times,
when if he could save his whole saIary
for whole life it would not buy a tenth
share in the establishment which en-
ploys him. I can fancy the old man
standing silent for awhile, listening
blaEdly to their remonstrance, and then
making q reply in this fashion:


True, my lads; with all your say
ings you could not buy out nor perhaps
buy into, Mr.. Stuart or the Gorhano
silver works but there are several
things you can save besides money.
When was twelve years old began
to save up knowledge and managed
to save a little OF that kind of capitsI
every day till I was ready to begin bus
mess on my own account, and then I
found that knowledge was Just the kind
of capital most essential in my branch
of business. You can all save no
knowledge, my boys. Skill and dex-
terity IN your occupations are also
things which you can accumulate day
by day. Character and reputation are
forms of wealth which are gathered
slowly, but last long and carry far.
The future masters of the world are
saving such things as these, while per-
haps they have scarcely a dollar to bless
themselves with when they have paid
their weekly expenses. Save knowI-
edge, save skill, save strength, save
character and let nae tell You, lads,
that as soon as you have saved enough
of these, the mere money you want VIII
invite your acceptance, though you
should need it by the million. "


Something like this, perhaps, the old
man would say, only he would say it in
his own racy, numerous, inimitable
manner. And such considerations can
alone keep up the courage of young
ambition, toiling in the midst of these
huge businesses of the present time.
The men who are now at the head of
great enterprises cannot live forever,
and as they pass from the scene they
will not be succeeded by the men who
have saved up the most money, but by
the men who have saved most knowl-
edge, skill, character and force, all of
which enter into the sum-tOtal of quail
iication for the posts of difficulty. It
is the fttest who survive.


A great number of people-indeed,
nearly the whole population of the globe
can never reasonably expect to accu-
mulste much property, for there is not
property enough in existence to make
many rich. But all the well disposed
can save up something which tends to
make the future pleasant and se~ ure
There are mothers who cannot save any
dollars, but who are saving up boys
and girls that viii stand as g bulwark
round their old age, rendering it at once
safe. Joyous and honorable. There are
poor people who are accommodating a
rich fund of love In the hearts of friends
and neighbors, which viii be better
than money in time of trouble; and
there are rich people who are laying up
wrath and contempt to sting and blast
them by and by.


We are all saving up something for
the future. It may be well, now and
then, for us to ask ourselves what it is.