QU0R BUSINESS BOYS,

261

 

ON DECK.—A MORNING CANTER,

OUR BUSINESS BOYS,

(What Eighty-three Business Men Say.)

 

By Rev. F. E. Crark.

 

iI.
ROCKS OF DANGER.

AVE you ever read the story of Midas, boys?
If you have, you remember that when he
was a baby the ants carried grains of wheat into
his mouth, to show that one day he would be the
tichest of all men, and, sure enough, when he grew
up he had more money than any man that ever
lived, for everything that he touched turned to gold.
But this was a great plague to him, because even his
food turned to gold as soon as he touched it.
‘Moreover he had ass’s ears given him, and that
was a great trial, for he could not hide them, though
he kept his Phrygian cap over them as well as he
could. At last he dug a hole in the ground, and
whispered into that hole, ‘King Midas has ass’s
ears.” Then he covered up the hole. After that
he felt relieved, because he had told some one or
some thing his unpleasant secret ; but a reed sprang
up on that same spot and whispered the secret all
about.
Now Midas, as a business man, was not a first-class

success, though he had so much gold. So if you
gain ever so much money at the expense of a good
education, or good manners, or a good conscience,
these defects will be like Midas’ ears. You can’t
hide them, and the money will not make you happy,
and people will really laugh at your ears more
than they will admire your gold; and however hard
you try to conceal them, the secret will continually
be whispered, just as the reed of the old story
whispered as it swayed in the wind, “King Midas
has ass’s ears.”

That you may get along well in the world, without
these defects which often accompany riches, I have asked
a hundred business men, as I told you last month, to
point out the particular dangers which threaten boys
and young men in business at the present day, and
I will tell you what eighty-three of them say, as I told
you what they said of requisites for success,

I think likely that some of you have often wished
that you were commercial travellers, or “drummers,”
as you call them, and have thought you would be
perfectly happy if you could change places with
them. Now. the commercial traveller you have in