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step, I know; and if you can all become as much
respected and honored, and as truly successful as
they, I shall be very glad.

This was the substance of the letter I sent to each
of these men in your behalf:

DEAR SIR:

As I am desirous of finding out, from our business men, the
principles of action which shall be of real value to our boys and
young men, will you help me by telling me:

I. What experience has taught you to be the most essential
conditions of true business success at the present day?

II. What especial dangers, from a practical business man’s
point of view, threaten the young men of to-day?

I shall be particularly glad of helpful items from your own ex-
perience.

Of these one hundred busy men to whom I sent
this letter, eighty-three replied, many of them sending
me long answers of eight, ten, or a dozen pages; and
you may safely believe that the interest taken by the
business men of Portland, in helping business boys
on in life, is felt by all sterling business men every-
where.

As these letters came, I drew off on a long roll of
paper, the suggestions ee each, putting the different
“virtues”? and “vices” under the names of those
who mentioned them until I had several yards of good
advice for you.

Did you ever hear of measuring good advice by the
yard? Well, this advice weighs a good deal as well
as measures a good deal.

To prove that it does, I will give you one of the
letters just as it came to me:

DEAR SIR:

Replying with pleasure to your inquiries, I should say, an-
swering question first (What are the most essential elements of
true business success ?):

Patient, persistent dig, dig, dig; at it every
minute.

Reputation (founded on fact) for honest
dealing every time.

Luck, and fortunate circumstance, caught
on the fly.

30 per cent, i
30 per cent. i
1o per cent. j
20 per cent. { Snap!

To per cent. | More persistent dig.

 

 

Ioo per cent. — Success.
To the second inquiry (What especial dangers threaten the
young men and boys of to-day?) :
I. Theatres, whether nasty or veneered, and glucose litera-
ture unsettle young men for plain character-building.
II. Cigarettes !!!
III. Slovenly morals of their employers, and of many of our

OUR BUSINESS BOYS,

public men. The spongy minds of youth eagerly absorb the im.
pure of other men’s example, but reject the better part.

IV. Too much coddling, and too few thumps, make young
men like dough, that shows a dimple for each touch of sin.

But we should not be very wise if we did not stop
a moment to ask what true success is. Many of my
correspondents have something to say about this at
the beginning of their letters. Every rich man is not,
by any means, truly successful; every poor man is
not, by any means, unsuccessful.

“You may win in one way and lose in another,”
says Cunningham Geikie, whose book for young men
I wish you would all buy and read; “and, if the loss
is greater, the balance, after all, is on the wrong side.
I take it, that the only success worth the name, is
when a man gains a living, or a competence, or
wealth, without paying too dear for it.

“You may buy gold too dear. If you give health
for it, you make a poor bargain; if you sell your fac-
ulties for it, and think of nothing but gaining wealth,
you give pearls for a bauble; if you give your soul for
it, your self-respect, your character, your conscience,
your peace, your hope, or any one of them, if you
could sell them singly, what will you think of the ex-
change when you come to feel what it means? True
success is when a fair share of this world does not
cost either moral, or intellectual, or physical health, or
life.”

And in this connection, he quotes from Izaak Wa}-
ton, The boys all have a fellow-feeling for Izaak
Walton, I know, because he used to like to go fish
ing just as they do, and he has written some delight
ful things about this sport, so they will listen to wha!
he says on another point:

“JT have a rich neighbor who is always so busy that
he has no leisure to laugh; the whole business of his
life is to get money and more money. We see but the
outside of the happiness of some rich men; few con-
sider them to be like the silkworm who, when she
seems to play, is, at the very same time, spinning her
own bowels, and consuming herself; and this many
rich men do, loading themselves with corroding cares
to keep what they have. Let us, therefore, be thank-
ful for health and a competence.”

Says one business man of Portland, whom we all
think has been remarkably successful all through his
life: “A young man, I believe, should give a fair
portion of his time to reading and study. He should
never devote his life wholly to money-getting.. I
have devoted certain hours strictly to business; but