SECTION I. On commencing Business.
Young men are usually in haste to
commence business for themselves. This is an
evil, and one which appears to me to be increasing.
Let me caution my readers to be on their guard against
it.
The evils of running in debt will
be adverted to elsewhere. I mention the subject
in this place, because the earlier you commence business,
the greater the necessity of resorting to credit.
You may, indeed, in some employments, begin on a very
small scale; but this is attended with serious disadvantages,
especially at the present day, when you must meet
with so much competition. Perhaps a few may be
furnished with capital by their friends, or by inheritance.
In the latter case they may as well use their
money, if they receive it; but I have already endeavored
to show that it is generally for the interest of young
men to rely upon their own exertions. It is extremely
difficult for a person who has ever relied on others,
to act with the same energy as those who have been
thrown upon their own resources. To learn the art
of inheriting property or receiving large gifts, and
of acting with the same energy as if left wholly to
our own resources, must be reserved, I believe, for
future and wiser generations of our race.
I repeat it, therefore, every person
had better defer going into business for himself,
until he can stand entirely on his own footing.
Is it asked how he can have funds from his own resources,
before he has actually commenced business for
himself? Why the thing is perfectly easy.
He has only to labor a few years in the service of
another. True it is, he may receive but moderate
wages during this time; but on the other hand, he
will be subjected to little or no risk.
Let 1,000 young men, at the age of
30 years, enter into business with a given amount
of capital, all acquired by their own hard earnings,
and let them pursue their business 30 years faithfully;
that is, till they are 60 years of age. Let 1,000
others commence at the age of 20, with three times
the amount of capital possessed by the former, but
at the same time either inherited, or loaned by their
friends, and let them pursue their calling till they
are 60 years of age; or for a period of 40 years.
We will suppose the natural talents, capacity for doing
business, and expenditures in fact every
thing, the same, in both cases. Now
it requires no gift of prophecy to foretell, with certainty,
that at 60 years of age a far greater proportion of
the 1,000, who began at 30 and depended solely on
their own exertions, will be men of wealth, than of
those who began at 20 with three times their capital.
The reason of these results is found in the very nature
of things, as I have shown both above, and in my remarks
on industry.
But these views are borne out by facts.
Go into any city in the United States, and learn the
history of the men who are engaged in active and profitable
business, and are thriving in the world, and my word
for it, you will find the far greater part began life
with nothing, and have had no resources whatever but
their own head and hands. And in no city is this
fact more strikingly verified than in Boston.
On the other hand, if you make a list of those who
fail in business from year to year, and learn their
history, you will find that a very large proportion
of them relied on inheritances, credit, or some kind
of foreign aid in early life; and not a
few begun very young.
There is no doctrine in this volume,
which will be more unpopular with its readers, than
this. Not a few will, I fear, utterly disbelieve
it. They look at the exterior appearance of some
young friend, a little older than themselves, who
has been lifted into business and gone on a
year or two, and all appears fair and encouraging.
They long to imitate him. Point them to a dozen
others who have gone only a little farther, and have
made shipwreck, and it weighs nothing or next to nothing
with them. They suspect mismanagement, (which
doubtless sometimes exists) and think they
shall act more wisely.
In almost every considerable shop
in this country may be found young men who have nearly
served out their time as apprentices, or perhaps have
gone a little farther, even, and worked a year or two
as journeymen. They have been industrious and
frugal, and have saved a few hundred dollars.
This, on the known principles of human nature, has
created a strong desire to make additions; and the
desire has increased in a greater ratio than the sum.
They are good workmen, perhaps, or if not, they generally
think so; and those who have the least merit, generally
have the most confidence in themselves. But if
there be one who has merit, there is usually
in the neighborhood some hawk-eyed money dealer, who
knows that he cannot better invest his funds than in
the hands of active young men. This man will search
him out, and offer to set him up in business; and
his friends, pleased to have him noticed, give security
for payment. Thus flattered, he commonly begins;
and after long patience and perseverance, he may, by
chance, succeed. But a much greater number are
unsuccessful, and a few drown their cares and perplexities
in the poisoned bowl, or in debauchery; perhaps
both thus destroying their minds and souls;
or, it may be, abruptly putting an end to their own
existence.
Young men are apt to reason thus with
themselves. ’I am now arrived at an age
when others have commenced business and succeeded.
It is true I may not succeed; but I know of no reason
why my prospects are not as good as those of A, B,
and C, to say the least. I am certainly as good
a workman, and know as well how to manage, and attend
to my own concerns, without intermeddling with those
of others. It is true my friends advise me to
work as a journeyman a few years longer; but it is
a hard way of living. Besides, what shall I learn
all this while, that I do not already know? They
say I shall be improving in the practical part
of my business, if not in the theory of it.
But shall I not improve while I work for myself?
Suppose I make blunders. Have not others done
the same? If I fall, I must get up again.
Perhaps it will teach me not to stumble again.
The fact is, old people never think the young know
or can do any thing till they are forty years old.
I am determined to make an effort. A good opportunity
offers, and such a one may never again occur.
I am confident I shall succeed.’
How often have I heard this train
of reasoning pursued! But if it were correct,
how happens it that those facts exist which have just
been mentioned? More than this; why do almost
all men assert gratuitously after they have spent
twenty years in their avocation, that although they
thought themselves wise when they began their profession,
they were exceedingly ignorant? Who ever met
with a man that did not feel this ignorance more sensibly
after twenty years of experience, than when he first
commenced?
This self flattery and self confidence this
ambition to be men of business and begin to figure
in the world, is not confined to any particular
occupation or profession of men, but is found in all.
Nor is it confined to those whose object in life is
pecuniary emolument. It is perhaps equally
common among those who seek their happiness in ameliorating
the condition of mankind by legislating for them, settling
their quarrels, soothing their passions, or curing
the maladies of their souls and bodies.
Perhaps the evil is not more glaring
in any class of the community than in the medical
profession. There is a strong temptation to this,
in the facility with which licenses and diplomas may
be obtained. Any young man who has common sense,
if he can read and write tolerably, may in some of
the States, become a knight of the lancet in three
years, and follow another employment a considerable
part of the time besides. He has only to devote
some of his extra hours to the study of anatomy,
surgery, and medicine, recite occasionally to a practitioner,
as ignorant, almost, as himself; hear one series of
medical lectures; and procure certificates that he
has studied medicine ‘three years,’ including
the time of the lectures; and he will be licensed,
almost of course. Then he sallies forth to commit
depredations on society at discretion; and how many
he kills is unknown. ’I take it for granted,
however,’ said a President of a College, three
years ago, who understood this matter pretty well,
’that every half-educated young physician, who
succeeds at last in getting a reputable share
of practice, must have rid the world, rather prematurely,
of some dozen or twenty individuals, at the least,
in order to qualify himself for the profession.’
The evil is scarcely more tolerable,
as regards young ministers, except that the community
in general have better means of knowing when they
are imposed upon by ignorance or quackery in this matter,
than in most other professions. The principal
book for a student of theology is in the hands of
every individual, and he is taught to read and understand
it. The great evil which arises to students of
divinity themselves from entering their profession
too early, is the loss of health. Neither the
minds nor the bodies of young men are equal to the
responsibilities of this, or indeed of any other profession
or occupation, at 20, and rarely at 25. Nothing
is more evident than that young men, generally, are
losers in the end, both in a pecuniary point of view
and in regard to health, by commencing business before
30 years of age. But this I have already attempted
to show.
As regards candidates for the ministry,
several eminent divines are beginning to inculcate
the opinion, with great earnestness, that to enter
fully upon the active duties of this laborious vocation
before the age I have mentioned, is injurious to themselves
and to the cause they wish to promote the
cause of God. And I hope their voices will be
raised louder and louder on this topic, till the note
of remonstrance reaches the most distant villages
of our country.
It has often occurred to me that every
modest young man, whatever may be his destination,
might learn wisdom from consulting the history
of the YOUNG MAN OF NAZARETH as well as of the illustrious
reformer who prepared the way for him. Our
young men, since newspapers have become so common,
are apt to think themselves thoroughly versed in law,
politics, divinity, &c.; and are not backward to exhibit
their talents. But who is abler at disputation
than HE who at twelve years of age proved a match
for the learned doctors of law at Jerusalem? Did
he, whose mind was so mature at twelve, enter upon
the duties of his ministry (a task more arduous
than has ever fallen to the lot of any human
being) at 18 or 20 years of age? But why not,
when he had so much to do? Or did he wait
till he was in his 30th year?
The great question with every young
man should not be, When can I get such assistance
as will enable me to commence business; but,
Am I well qualified to commence? Perfect
in his profession, absolutely so, no man ever will
be; but a measure of perfection which is rarely if
ever attained under 30 years of age, is most certainly
demanded. To learn the simplest handicraft employment
in some countries, a person must serve an apprenticeship
of at least seven years. Here, in America,
half that time is thought by many young men an intolerable
burden, and they long to throw it off. They wish
for what they call a better order of things.
The consequences of this feeling, and a growing spirit
of insubordination, are every year becoming more and
more deplorable.
SECTION II. Importance of Integrity.
Every one will admit the importance
of integrity in all his dealings, for however dishonest
he may be himself, he cannot avoid perceiving the
necessity of integrity in others. No society could
exist were it not for the measure of this virtue which
remains. Without a degree of confidence,
in transacting business with each other, even the savage
life would be a thousand times more savage than it
now is. Without it, a gang of thieves or robbers
could not long hold together.
But while all admit the sterling importance
of strict integrity, how few practise it! Let
me prevail when I entreat the young not to hazard
either their reputation or peace of mind for the uncertain
advantages to be derived from unfair dealing.
It is madness, especially in one who is just
beginning the world. It would be so, if by a single
unfair act he could get a fortune; leaving the loss
of the soul out of the question. For if a trader,
for example, is once generally known to be guilty
of fraud, or even of taking exorbitant profits, there
is an end to his reputation. Bad as the world
is, there is some respect paid to integrity, and wo
be to him who forgets it.
If a person habitually allows himself
in a single act not sanctioned by the great and golden
rule of loving others as we do ourselves, he has entered
a road whose everlasting progress is downward.
Fraudulent in one point, he will soon be so
in another and another; and so on to the
end of the chapter, if there be any end to it.
At least no one who has gone a step in the downward
road, can assure himself that this will not be the
dreadful result.
An honest bargain is that only in
which the fair market price or value of a commodity
is mutually allowed, so far as this is known.
The market price is usually, the equitable price of
a thing. It will be the object of every honest
man to render, in all cases, an equivalent for what
he receives. Where the market price cannot be
known, each of the parties to an honest contract will
endeavor to come as near it as possible; keeping in
mind the rule of doing to others as they would desire
others to do to them in similar circumstances.
Every bargain not formed on these principles is, in
its results, unjust; and if intentional, is fraudulent.
There are a great many varieties of
this species of fraud.
1. Concealing the market price.
How many do this; and thus buy for less, and sell
for more than a fair valuation! Why so many practise
this kind of fraud, and insist at the same time that
it is no fraud at all, is absolutely inconceivable,
except on the supposition that they are blinded by
avarice. For they perfectly know that their customers
would not deal with them at any other than market prices,
except from sheer ignorance; and that the advantage
which they gain, is gained by misapprehension of the
real value of the commodities. But can an honest
man take this advantage? Would he take it of a
child? Or if he did, would not persons of common
sense despise him for it?
But why not as well take advantage
of a child as of a man? Because, it may be answered,
the child does not know the worth of what he buys or
sells; but the man does, or might. But in the
case specified, it is evident he does not know
it, if he did he would not make the bargain.
And for proof that such conduct is downright fraud,
the person who commits it, has only to ask himself
whether he would be willing others should take a similar
advantage of his ignorance. ‘I do
as I agree,’ is often the best excuse such men
can make, when reasoned with on the injustice of their
conduct, without deciding the question, whether their
agreement is founded on a desire to do right.
2. Others misrepresent the
market price. This is done in various ways.
They heard somebody say the price in market was so
or so; or such a one bought at such or such a price,
or another sold at such a price: all of which
prices, purchases, and sales are known positively
to be different from those which generally prevail.
Many contrive to satisfy their consciences in this
way, who would by no means venture at once upon plain
and palpable lying.
3. The selling of goods or property
which is unsound and defective, under direct
professions that it is sound and good, is another variety
of this species of fraud. It is sometimes done
by direct lying, and sometimes by indefinite and hypocritical
insinuations. Agents, and retailers often assert
their wares to be good, because those of whom they
have received them declare them to be such.
These declarations are often believed, because the
seller appears or professes to believe them; while
in truth, he may not give them the least credit.
One of the grossest impositions of
this kind common as it is is
practised upon the public in advertising and selling
nostrums as safe and valuable medicines. These
are ushered into newspapers with a long train of pompous
declarations, almost always false, and always
delusive. The silly purchaser buys and uses the
medicine chiefly or solely because it is sold by a
respectable man, under the sanction of advertisements
to which that respectable man lends his countenance.
Were good men to decline this wretched employment,
the medicines would probably soon fall into absolute
discredit; and health and limbs and life would, in
many instances, be preserved from unnecessary destruction.
4. Another species of fraud consists
in concealing the defects of what we sell.
This is the general art and villany of that class of
men, commonly called jockeys; a class which,
in reality, embraces some who would startle at the
thought of being such; and whole multitudes
who would receive the appellation with disdain.
The common subterfuge of the jockey
is, that he gives no false accounts; that the purchaser
has eyes of his own, and must judge of the goods for
himself. No defence can be more lame and wretched;
and hardly any more impudent.
No purchaser can possibly discover
many of the defects in commodities; he is therefore
obliged to depend on the seller for information concerning
them. All this the seller well knows, and if an
honest man, will give the information. Now as
no purchaser would buy the articles, if he knew their
defects, except at a reduced price, whenever the seller
does not give this information, and the purchaser is
taken in, it is by downright villany, whatever
some may pretend to the contrary. Nor will the
common plea, that if they buy a bad article, they have
a right to sell it again as well as they can, ever
justify the wretched practice of selling defective
goods, at the full value of those which are more perfect.
5. A fraud, still meaner, is
practised, when we endeavor to lower the value
of such commodities as we wish to buy. ’It
is naught, it is naught, says the buyer, but when
he hath gone his way he boasteth,’ is as applicable
to our times, as to those of Solomon. The ignorant,
the modest, and the necessitous persons
who should be the last to suffer from fraud, are,
in this way, often made victims. A decisive tone
and confident airs, in men better dressed, and who
are sometimes supposed to know better than themselves,
easily bear down persons so circumstanced, and persuade
them to sell their commodities for less than they
are really worth.
Young shopkeepers are often the dupes
of this species of treatment. Partly with a view
to secure the future custom of the stranger, and partly
in consequence of his statements that he can buy a
similar article elsewhere at a much lower price, (when
perhaps the quality of the other is vastly inferior)
they not unfrequently sell goods at a positive sacrifice and
what do they gain by it? The pleasure of being
laughed at by the purchaser, as soon as he is out of
sight, for suffering themselves to be beaten down,
as the phrase is; and of having him boast of his bargain,
and trumpet abroad, without a blush, the value of
the articles which he had just been decrying!
6. I mention the use of false
weights and measures last, not because it is a
less heinous fraud, but because I hope it is less frequently
practised than many others. But it is a lamentable
truth that weights and measures are sometimes
used when they are known to be false; and quite
often when they are suspected to be so.
More frequently still, they are used when they have
been permitted to become defective through inattention.
They are often formed of perishable materials.
To meet this there are in most of our communities,
officers appointed to be sealers of weights and measures.
When the latter are made of substances known to be
liable to decay or wear, the proprietor is unpardonable
if he does not have them frequently and thoroughly
examined.
I have only adverted to some of the
more common kinds of fraud; such as the young are
daily, and often hourly exposed to, and against which
it is especially important, not only to their own
reputation, but to their success in business, that
they should be on their guard. I will just enumerate
a few others, for my limits preclude the possibility
of any thing more than a bare enumeration.
1. Suffering borrowed articles
to be injured by our negligenc. Detaining
them in our possession longer than the lender had reason
to expec. Employing them for purposes not
contemplated by the lende. The returning
of an article of inferior value, although in appearance
like that which was borrowe. Passing suspected
bank bills, or depreciated counterfeit or clipped
coin. Some persons are so conscientious on this
point, that they will sell a clipped piece for old
metal, rather than pass it. But such rigid
honesty is rather rar. The use of pocket
money, by the young, in a manner different from that
which was known to be contemplated by the parent, or
master who furnished i. The employment of
time in a different manner from what was intended;
the mutilating, by hacking, breaking, soiling, or in
any other manner wantonly injuring buildings, fences,
and other property, public or private; and
especially crops and fruit tree. Contracting
debts, though ever so small, without the almost certain
prospect of being able to pay the. Neglecting
to pay them at the time expecte. Paying
in something of less value than we ough.
Breaches of trus. Breaking of promise.
Overtrading by means of borrowed capital.
SECTION III. Method in Business.
There is one class of men who are
of inestimable value to society and the
more so from their scarcity; I mean men
of business. It is true you could hardly
offer a greater insult to most persons than to say
they are not of this class; but you cannot have been
very observing not to have learned, that they who
most deserve the charge will think themselves the
most insulted by it.
Nothing contributes more to despatch,
as well as safety and success in business, than method
and regularity. Let a person set down in his
memorandum book, every morning, the several articles
of business that ought to be done during the day;
and beginning with the first person he is to call
upon, or the first place he is to go to, finish that
affair, if possible, before he begins another; and
so on with the rest.
A man of business, who observes this
method, will hardly ever find himself hurried or disconcerted
by forgetfulness. And he who sets down all his
transactions in writing, and keeps his accounts, and
the whole state of his affairs, in a distinct and
accurate order, so that at any time, by looking into
his books, he can see in what condition his concerns
are, and whether he is in a thriving or declining way; such
a one, I say, deserves properly the character of a
man of business; and has a pretty fair prospect of
success in his plans. But such exactness seldom
suits the man of pleasure. He has other things
in his head.
The way to transact a great deal of
business in a little time, and to do it well, is to
observe three rule. Speak to the poin.
Use no more words than are necessary, fully to express
your meanin. Study beforehand, and set down
in writing afterwards, a sketch of the transaction.
To enable a person to speak
to the point, he must have acquired, as one essential
pre-requisite, the art of thinking to the point.
To effect these objects, or rather this object,
as they constitute in reality but one, is the
legitimate end of the study of grammar; of the importance
of which I am to speak elsewhere. This branch
is almost equally indispensable in following the other
two rules; but here, a thorough knowledge of numbers,
as well as of language, will be demanded.
SECTION IV. Application to Business.
There is one piece of prudence, above
all others, absolutely necessary to those who expect
to raise themselves in the world by an employment
of any kind; I mean a constant, unwearied application
to the main pursuit. By means of persevering
diligence, joined to frugality, we see many people
in the lowest and most laborious stations in life,
raise themselves to such circumstances as will allow
them, in their old age, that relief from excessive
anxiety and toil which are necessary to make the decline
of life easy and comfortable.
Burgh mentions a merchant, who, at
first setting out, opened and shut his shop every
day for several weeks together, without selling goods
to the value of two cents; who by the force of application
for a course of years, rose, at last, to a handsome
fortune. But I have known many who had a variety
of opportunities for settling themselves comfortably
in the world, yet, for want of steadiness to carry
any scheme to perfection, they sunk from one degree
of wretchedness to another for many years together,
without the least hopes of ever getting above distress
and pinching want.
There is hardly an employment in life
so trifling that it will not afford a subsistence,
if constantly and faithfully followed. Indeed,
it is by indefatigable diligence alone, that a fortune
can be acquired in any business whatever. An
estate procured by what is commonly called a lucky
hit, is a rare instance; and he who expects to have
his fortune made in that way, is about as rational
as he who should neglect all probable means of earning,
in hopes that he should some time or other find a
treasure.
There is no such thing as continuing
in the same condition without an income of some kind
or other. If a man does not bestir himself, poverty
must, sooner or later, overtake him. If he continues
to expend for the necessary charges of life, and will
not take the pains to gain something to supply the
place of what he deals out, his funds must at length
come to an end; and the misery of poverty fall upon
him at an age when he is less able to grapple with
it.
No employment that is really useful
to mankind deserves to be regarded as mean. This
has been a stumbling stone to many young men.
Because they could not pursue a course which they
deemed sufficiently respectable, they neglected business
altogether until so late in life that they were ashamed
to make a beginning. A most fatal mistake.
Pin making is a minute affair, but will any one call
the employment a mean one? If so, it is
one which the whole civilized world encourage, and
to which they are under lasting obligation daily.
Any useful business ought to be reputable, which is
reputably followed.
The character of a drone is always,
especially among the human species, one of the most
contemptible. In proportion to a person’s
activity for his own good and that of his fellow creatures,
he is to be regarded as a more or less valuable member
of society. If all the idle people in the United
States were to be buried in one year, the loss would
be trifling in comparison with the loss of only a
very few industrious people. Each moment
of time ought to be put to proper use, either in business,
in improving the mind, in the innocent and necessary
relaxations and entertainments of life, or in the care
of the moral and religious part of our nature.
Each moment of time is, in the language of theology,
a monument of Divine mercy.
SECTION V. Proper Time of Doing Business.
There are times and seasons for every
lawful purpose of life, and a very material part of
prudence is to judge rightly, and make the best of
them. If you have to deal, for example, with a
phlegmatic gloomy man, take him, if you can, over
his bottle. This advice may seem, at first view,
to give countenance to a species of fraud: but
is it so? These hypochondriacal people have their
fits and starts, and if you do not take them when
they are in an agreeable state of mind, you are very
likely to find them quite as much below par, as the
bottle raises them above. But if you deal with
them in this condition, they are no more themselves
than in the former case. I therefore think the
advice correct. It is on the same principles,
and in the same belief, that I would advise you, when
you deal with a covetous man, to propose your business
to him immediately after he has been receiving, rather
than expending money. So if you have to do with
a drunkard, call on him in the morning; for then,
if ever, his head is clear.
Again; if you know a person to be
unhappy in his family, meet him abroad if possible,
rather than at his own house. A statesman will
not be likely to give you a favorable reception immediately
after being disappointed in some of his schemes.
Some people are always sour and ill humored from the
hour of rising till they have dined.
And as in persons, so in things, the
time is a matter of great consequence; an eye
to the rise and fall of goods; the favorable season
of importing and exporting; these are some
of the things which require the attention of those
who expect any considerable share of success.
It is not certain but some dishonest
person, under shelter of the rule, in this chapter,
may gratify a wish to take unfair advantages of those
with whom he deals. But I hope otherwise; for
I should be sorry to give countenance, for one moment,
to such conduct. My whole purpose (in this place)
is to give direction to the young for securing their
own rights; not for taking away the rights of others.
The man who loves his neighbor as himself, will not
surely put a wrong construction on what I have written.
I would fain hope that there is no departure here or
elsewhere, in the book, from sound christian morality;
for it is the bible, on which I wish to see all moral
rules based.
SECTION VI. Buying upon Trust.
‘Owe no man any thing,’
is an apostolic injunction; and happy is he who has
it in his power to obey. In my own opinion, most
young men possess this power, did they perceive the
importance of using it by commencing right.
It is not so difficult a thing always to purchase
with ready money, as many people imagine. The
great difficulty is to moderate our desires and diminish
our wants within bounds proportioned to our income.
We can expend much, or live on little; and this, too,
without descending to absolute penury. It is truly
surprising to observe how people in similar rank,
condition, and circumstances, contrive to expend
so very differently. I have known instances of
young men who would thrive on an income which would
not more than half support their neighbors in circumstances
evidently similar.
Study therefore to live within your
income. To this end you must calculate.
But here you will be obliged to learn much from personal
experience, dear as her school is, unless you are willing
to learn from that of others. If, for example,
your income is $600 a year, and you sit down at the
commencement of the year and calculate on expending
$400, and saving the remainder, you will be very liable
to fail in your calculation. But if you call
in the experience of wiser heads who have travelled
the road of life before you, they will tell you that
after you have made every reasonable allowance for
necessary expenses during the year, and believe yourself
able to lay up $200, you will not, once in ten times,
be able to save more than two thirds of that
sum and this, too, without any sickness
or casualty.
It is an important point never
to buy what you do not want. Many people
buy an article merely because it is cheap, and they
can have credit. It is true they imagine they
shall want it at some future time, or can sell it
again to advantage. But they would not buy at
present, if it cost them cash, from their pockets.
The mischief is that when the day of payment is distant,
the cost seems more trifling than it really is.
Franklin’s advice is in point; ’Buy what
thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell
thy necessaries;’ and such persons
would do well to remember it.
The difference between credit and
ready money is very great. Innumerable things
are not bought at all with ready money, which would
be bought in case of trust; so much easier, is it,
to order a thing than to pay for it.
A future day, a day of payment must come, to be sure;
but that is little thought of at the time. But
if the money were to be drawn out the moment the thing
was received or offered, these questions would arise;
Can I not do without it? Is it indispensable?
And if I do not buy it, shall I suffer a loss or injury
greater in amount than the cost of the thing?
If these questions were put, every time we make a
purchase, we should seldom hear of those suicides which
disgrace this country, and the old world still more.
I am aware that it will be said, and
very truly, that the concerns of merchants, the purchasing
of great estates, and various other large transactions,
cannot be carried on in this manner; but these are
rare exceptions to the rule. And even in these
cases, there might be much less of bills and bonds,
and all the sources of litigation, than there now
is. But in the every day business of life, in
transactions with the butcher, the baker, the tailor,
the shoemaker, what excuse can there be for pleading
the example of the merchant, who carries on his work
by ships and exchanges?
A certain young man, on being requested
to keep an account of all he received and expended,
answered that his business was not to keep account
books: that he was sure not to make a mistake
as to his income; and that as to his expenditure,
the purse that held his money, would be an infallible
guide, for he never bought any thing that he did not
immediately pay for. I do not mean to recommend
to young men not to keep written accounts, for as
the world is, I deem it indispensable.
Few, it is believed, will deny that
they generally pay, for the same article, a fourth
part more, in the case of trust, than in that of ready
money. Suppose now, the baker, butcher, tailor,
and shoemaker, receive from you $400 a year.
Now, if you multiply the $100 you lose, by not paying
ready money, by 20, you will find that at the end of
twenty years, you have a loss of $2,000, besides the
accumulated interest.
The fathers of the English church,
forbade selling on trust at a higher price than for
ready money, which was the same thing in effect as
to forbid trust; and this was doubtless one
of the great objects those wise and pious men had
in view; for they were fathers in legislation and
morals, as well as in religion. But we of the
present age, seem to have grown wiser than they, and
not only make a difference in the price, regulated
by the difference in the mode of payment, but no one
is expected to do otherwise. We are not only allowed
to charge something for the use of the money,
but something additional for the risk of the
loss which may frequently arise, and most
frequently does arise from the misfortunes
of those to whom we thus assign our goods on trust.
The man, therefore, who purchases
on trust, not only pays for being credited, but he
also pays his share of what the tradesman loses by
his general practice of selling upon trust; and after
all, he is not so good a customer as the man who purchases
cheaply with ready money. His name, indeed,
is in the tradesman’s book, but with that name
the tradesman cannot buy a fresh supply of goods.
Infinite, almost, are the ways in
which people lose by this sort of dealing. Domestics
sometimes go and order things not wanted at all; at
other times more than is wanted. All this would
be obviated by purchasing with ready money; for whether
through the hands of the party himself, or those of
some other person, there would always be an actual
counting out of the money. Somebody would see
the thing bought, and the money paid. And as
the master would give the steward or housekeeper a
purse of money at the time, he would see the
money too, would set a proper value upon it, and would
just desire to know upon what it had been expended.
Every man, who purchases for ready
money, will naturally make the amount of the purchase
as low as possible, in proportion to his means.
This care and frugality will make an addition to his
means; and therefore, at the end of his life, he will
have a great deal more to spend, and still be as rich
as if he had been trusted all his days. In addition
to this, he will eat, and drink, and sleep in peace,
and avoid all the endless papers, and writings, and
receipts, and bills, and disputes, and lawsuits, inseparable
from the credit system.
This is by no means intended as a
lesson of stinginess, nor is it any part of
my purpose to inculcate the plan of heaping up
money. But purchasing with ready money really
gives you more money to purchase with; you can afford
to have a greater quantity and variety of enjoyments.
In the town, it will tend to hasten your pace along
the streets, for the temptation at the windows is
answered in a moment by clapping your hand upon your
pocket; and the question; ’Do I really want
it?’ is sure to recur immediately; because the
touch of the money will put the thought into your
mind.
Now supposing you to have a fortune,
even beyond your actual wants, would not the money
which you might save in this way, be very well applied
in acts of real benevolence? Can you walk or ride
a mile, in the city or country, or go to half a dozen
houses; or in fact can you open your eyes without
seeing some human being, born in the same country
with yourself, and who, on that account alone, has
some claim upon your good wishes and your charity?
Can you, if you would, avoid seeing one person, if
no more, to whom even a small portion of your annual
savings would convey gladness of heart? Your own
feelings will suggest the answer.
SECTION VII. Of entrusting Business to others.
‘If you wish to have your business
done, go; if not, send.’ This is an old
maxim; and one which is no less true than old.
Every young man, on setting out in the world, should
make it a rule, never to trust any thing of consequence
to another, which he can, without too much difficulty,
perform himself.
1. Because, let a person have
my interest ever so much at heart, I am sure I regard
it more myself.
2. Nothing is more difficult
than to know, in all cases, the characters of those
we confide in. How can we expect to understand
the characters of others, when we scarcely know our
own? Which of us can know, positively, that he
shall never be guilty of another vice or weakness,
or yield to another temptation, and thus forfeit public
confidence? Who, then, will needlessly trust
another, when he can hardly be sure of himself?
3. No substitute we can employ,
can understand our business as well as ourselves.
4. We can change our measures
according to changing circumstances; which gives us
those opportunities of doing things in the best way,
of which another will not feel justified in availing
himself.
As for dependants of every kind, it
should ever be remembered that their master’s
interest sometimes possesses only the second place
in their hearts. Self-love, with such, will be
the ruling principle of action; and no fidelity whatever
will prevent a person from bestowing a good deal of
thought upon his own concerns. But this must,
of necessity, break in more or less upon his diligence
in consulting the interest of his employers.
How men of business can venture, as they sometimes
do, to trust concerns of great importance, for half
of every week in the year, (which is half the whole
year) to dependants, and thus expect others to take
care of their business, when they will not be at the
trouble of minding it themselves, is to me inconceivable!
Nor does the detection, from time to time, of fraud
in such persons, seem at all to diminish this practice.
There is a maxim among business people,
’never to do that for themselves which they
can pay another for doing.’ This, though
true to a certain extent, is liable to abuse.
If every body, without discrimination, could be safely
trusted, the maxim might be more just; since
nothing is more obvious than that laborers are often
at hand, whose time can be bought for a much less
sum of money than you would yourself earn in the meantime.
I have often known people make or mend little pieces
of furniture, implements of their occupations, &c.
to save expense, when they could have earned, at their
labor during the same time, twice the sum necessary
to pay a trusty and excellent workman for doing it.
But, as I have already observed, persons
are not always at hand, in whom you can confide; so
that the certainty of having a thing done right, is
worth much more than the loss of a little time.
Besides, God has never said how much we must
do in this world. We are indeed to do all we
can, and at the same time do it well; but how much
that is, we must judge. He is not necessarily
the most useful man who does even the greatest amount
of good; but he who does the most good,
attended with the least evil.
But we should remember that what others
do, is not done by ourselves. Still, an
individual may often do many little things without
any hindrance to his main object. For example,
I would not thank a person to make or mend my pen,
or shave me; because I can write as much, or perform
as much business of any kind, in a week or month probably
more if I stop to mend my pens, shave myself
daily, make fires, saw and split wood, &c. as if I
do not. And the same is true of a thousand other
things.
SECTION VIII. Over Trading.
I have already classed this among
the frauds into which business men are in danger of
falling; and I cannot but think its character will
be pretty well established by what follows.
Over trading is an error into which
many industrious, and active young men are apt to
run, from a desire of getting rich more rapidly than
they are able to do with a smaller business. And
yet profusion itself is not more dangerous. Indeed,
I question whether idleness brings more people to
ruin than over trading.
This subject is intimately connected
with credit, for it is the credit system that
gives such facilities to over trading. But of
the evils of credit I have treated fully elsewhere
I will only add, under this head, a few remarks on
one particular species of trading. I refer to
the conduct of many persons, with large capitals, who,
for the sake of adding to a heap already too large,
monopolize the market, or trade for a profit
which they know dealers of smaller fortunes cannot
possibly live by. If such men really think that
raising themselves on the ruin of others, in this
manner, is justifiable, and that riches obtained in
this manner are fairly earned, they must certainly
have either neglected to inform themselves, or stifled
the remonstrances of conscience, and bid defiance
to the laws of God.
SECTION IX. Making Contracts beforehand.
In making bargains with
workmen, for example always do it beforehand,
and never suffer the matter to be deferred by their
saying they will leave it to your discretion.
There are several reasons why this
ought to be donst. It prevents any difficulty
afterward; and does no harm, even when the intentions
of both parties are perfectly good. If you
are dealing with a knave, it prevents him from accomplishing
any evil designs he may have upon yod. Young
people are apt to be deceived by appearances, both
from a credulity common to their youth and inexperience,
and because neither the young nor the old have any
certain method of knowing human character by externals.
The most open hearted are the most liable to be imposed
upon by the designing.
It will be well to have all your business of
course all contracts as far as may be practicable,
in writing. And it would be well if men of business
would make it a constant rule, whenever and wherever
it is possible, to draw up a minute or memorial of
every transaction, subscribed by both, with a clause
signifying that in case of any difference, they would
submit the matter to arbitration.
Nothing is more common than for a
designing person to put off the individual he wishes
to take advantage of, by saying; We shan’t
disagree. I’ll do what’s right about
it; I won’t wrong you, &c. And then when
accounts come to be settled, and the party who thinks
himself aggrieved, says that he made the bargain with
the expectation of having such and such advantages
allowed him, No, says the sharper, I never
told you any such thing.
It is on this account that you cannot
be too exact in making contracts; nor is there indeed
any safety in dealing with deceitful and avaricious
people, after you have taken all the precaution in
your power.
SECTION X. How to know with whom to deal.
There are two maxims in common life
that seem to clash with each other, most pointedly.
The first is, ’Use every precaution with a stranger,
that you would wish you had done, should he turn out
to be a villain;’ and secondly, ’Treat
every man as an honest man, until he proves to be
otherwise.’
Now there is good advice in both these
maxims. By this I mean that they may both be
observed, to a certain extent, without interfering
with each other. You may be cautious about hastily
becoming acquainted with a stranger, and yet so far
as you have any concern with him, treat him like an
honest man. No reasonable person will complain
if you do not unbosom yourself to him at once.
And if he is unreasonable, you will not wish
for an intimate acquaintance with him.
My present purpose is to offer a few
hints, with a view to assist you in judging of the
characters of those with whom it may be your lot to
deal. Remember, however, that like all things
human, they are imperfect. All I can say is that
they are the best I can offer.
There is something in knavery that
will hardly bear the inspection of a piercing eye;
and you may, more generally, observe in a sharper an
unsteady and confused look. If a person is persuaded
of the uncommon sagacity of one before whom he is
to appear, he will hardly succeed in mustering impudence
and artifice enough to bear him through without faltering.
It will, therefore, be a good way to try one whom you
have reason to suspect of a design upon you, by fixing
your eyes upon his, and bringing up a supposition
of your having to do with one whose integrity you
suspected; stating what you would do in such a case.
If the person you are talking with be really what
you expect, he will hardly be able to keep his countenance.
It will be a safe rule, though
doubtless there are exceptions to it, to
take mankind to be more or less avaricious. Yet
a great love of money is a great enemy to honesty.
The aged are, in this respect, more dangerous than
the young. It will be your wisdom ever to be cautious
of aged avarice; and especially of those who,
in an affected and forced manner, bring in religion,
and talk much of duty on all occasions; of
all smooth and fawning people; of those who are very
talkative, and who, in dealing with you, endeavor
to draw off your attention from the point in hand
by incoherent or random expressions.
I have already advised you how to
proceed with those of whom you have good reason to
be suspicious. But by all means avoid entertaining
unnecessary suspicions of your fellow beings; for it
will usually render both you and them the more miserable.
It is often owing to a consciousness of a designing
temper, in ourselves, that we are led to suspect others.
If you hear a person boasting of having
got a remarkably good bargain, you may generally conclude
him by no means too honest; for almost always where
one gains much in a bargain, the other loses.
I know well that cases occur where both parties are
gainers, but not greatly so. And when you hear
a man triumph in gaining by another’s loss, you
may easily judge of his character.
Let me warn you against the sanguine
promisers. Of these there are two sorts.
The first are those who from a foolish custom of fawning
upon all those whom they meet with in company, have
acquired a habit of promising great favors which they
have no idea of performing. The second are a
sort of warm hearted people, who while they lavish
their promises have some thoughts of performing them;
but when the time comes, and the sanguine fit is worn
off, the trouble or expense appears in another light;
the promiser cools, and the expectant is disappointed.
Be cautious of dealing with an avaricious
and cruel man, for if it should happen by an unlucky
turn of trade that you should come into the power
of such a person, you have nothing to expect but the
utmost rigor of the law.
In negotiating, there are a number
of circumstances to be considered; the neglect of
any of which may defeat your whole scheme. These
will be mentioned in the next section.
SECTION XI. How to take Men as they are.
Such a knowledge of human character
as will enable us to treat mankind according to their
dispositions, circumstances, and modes of thinking,
so as to secure their aid in all our laudable
purposes, is absolutely indispensable. And while
all men boast of their knowledge of human nature,
and would rather be thought ignorant of almost every
thing else than this, how obvious it is that there
is nothing in regard to which there exists so much
ignorance!
A miser is by no means a proper person
to apply to for a favor that will cost him
any thing. But if he chance to be a man of principle,
he may make an excellent partner in trade, or
arbitrator in a dispute about property; for he will
have patience to investigate little things, and to
stand about trifles, which a generous man would scorn.
Still, as an honest man, and above all as a Christian,
I doubt whether it would be quite right thus to derive
advantage from the vices of another. In employing
the miser, you give scope to his particular vice.
A passionate man will fly into a rage
at the most trifling affront, but he will generally
forget it nearly as soon, and be glad to do any thing
in his power to make up with you. It is not therefore
so dangerous to disoblige him, as the gloomy,
sullen mortal, who will wait seven years for an opportunity
to do you mischief.
A cool, slow man, who is somewhat
advanced in age, is generally the best person to advise
with. For despatch of business, however, make
use of the young, the warm, and the sanguine.
Some men are of no character at all; but always take
a tinge from the last company they were in. Their
advice, as well as their assistance, is usually good
for nothing.
It is in vain to think of finding
any thing very valuable in the mind of a covetous
man. Avarice is generally the vice of abject spirits.
Men who have a very great talent at making money,
commonly have no other; for the man who began with
nothing, and has accumulated wealth, has been too
busy to think of improving his mind; or indeed, to
think of any thing else but property.
A boaster is always to be suspected.
His is a natural infirmity, which makes him forget
what he is about, and run into a thousand extravagances
that have no connection with the truth. With those
who have a tolerable knowledge of the world, all his
assertions, professions of friendship, promises, and
threatenings, go for nothing. Trust him with
a secret, and he will surely discover it, either through
vanity or levity.
A meek tempered man is not quite the
proper person for you; his modesty will be
easily confounded. The talkative
man will be apt to forget himself, and blunder out
something that will give you trouble.
A man’s ruling passion is the
key by which you may come at his character, and pretty
nearly guess how he will act in any given circumstances,
unless he is a wit or a fool; they act chiefly
from caprice.
There are likewise connections between
the different parts of men’s characters,
which it will be useful for you to study. For
example, if you find a man to be hasty and passionate,
you may generally take it for granted he is open and
artless, and so on. Like other general rules,
however, this admits of many exceptions.
A bully is usually a coward.
When, therefore, you unluckily have to deal with such
a man, the best way is to make up to him boldly, and
answer him with firmness. If you show the least
sign of submission, he will take advantage of it to
use you ill.
There are six sorts of people, at
whose hands you need not expect much kindness.
The sordid and narrow minded, think of nobody
but themselves. The lazy will not take
the trouble to oblige you. The busy have
not time to think of you. The overgrown rich
man, is above regarding any one, how much soever
he may stand in need of assistance. The poor
and unhappy often have not the ability. The
good natured simpleton, however willing, is
incapable of serving you.
The age of the person you are
to deal with is also to be considered. Young
people are easily drawn into any scheme, merely from
its being new, especially if it falls in with their
love of pleasure; but they are almost as easily discouraged
from it by the next person they meet with. They
are not good counsellors, for they are apt to be precipitate
and thoughtless; but are very fit for action, where
you prescribe them a track from which they know they
must not vary. Old age, on the contrary, is slow
but sure; very cautious; opposed to new schemes and
ways of life; inclining, generally, to covetousness;
fitter to consult with you, than to act
for you; not so easily won by fair speeches or long
reasonings; tenacious of old opinions, customs, and
formalities; apt to be displeased with those, especially
younger people, who pretend to question their judgment;
fond of deference, and of being listened to.
Young people, in their anger, mean less than they
say; old people more. You may make up for an injury
with most young men; the old are generally more slow
in forgiving.
The fittest character to be concerned
with in business, is, that in which are united an
inviolable integrity, founded upon rational principles
of virtue and religion, a cool but determined temper,
a friendly heart, a ready hand, long experience and
extensive knowledge of the world; with a solid reputation
of many years’ standing, and easy circumstances.
SECTION XII. Of desiring the good opinion of others.
A young man is not far from ruin,
when he can say, without blushing, I don’t
care what others think of me. To be insensible
to public opinion, or to the estimation in which we
are held by others, by no means indicates a good and
generous spirit.
But to have a due regard to public
opinion is one thing, and to make that opinion the
principal rule of action, quite another. There
is no greater weakness than that of letting our happiness
depend too much upon the opinion of others.
Other people lie under such disadvantages for coming
at our true characters, and are so often misled by
prejudice for or against us, that if our own conscience
condemns us, their approbation can give us little
consolation. On the other hand, if we are sure
we acted from honest motives, and with a reference
to proper ends, it is of little consequence if the
world should happen to find fault. Mankind, for
the most part, are so much governed by fancy, that
what will win their hearts to-day, will disgust them
to-morrow; and he who undertakes to please every body
at all times, places, and circumstances, will never
be in want of employment.
A wise man, when he hears of reflections
made upon him, will consider whether they are just.
If they are, he will correct the faults in question,
with as much cheerfulness as if they had been suggested
by his dearest friend.
I have sometimes thought that, in
this view, enemies were the best of friends.
Those who are merely friends in name, are often unwilling
to tell us a great many things which it is of the
highest importance that we should know. But our
enemies, from spite, envy, or some other cause, mention
them; and we ought on the whole to rejoice that they
do, and to make the most of their remarks.
SECTION XIII. Intermeddling with
the affairs of others.
There are some persons who never appear
to be happy, if left to themselves and their
own reflections. All their enjoyment seems to
come from without; none from within. They are
ever for having something to do with the affairs of
others. Not a single petty quarrel can take place,
in the neighborhood, but they suffer their feelings
to be enlisted, and allow themselves to “take
sides” with one of the parties. Those who
possess such a disposition are among the most miserable
of their race.
An old writer says that ’Every
one should mind his own business; for he who is perpetually
concerning himself about the good or ill fortune of
others, will never be at rest.’ And he says
truly.
It is not denied that some men are
professionally bound to attend to the concerns of
others. But this is not the case supposed.
The bulk of mankind will be happier, and do more for
others, by letting them alone; at least by avoiding
any of that sort of meddling which may be construed
into officiousness.
Some of the worst meddlers in human
society are those who have been denominated match-makers.
A better name for them, however, would be match-breakers,
for if they do not actually break more matches than
they make, they usually cause a great deal of misery
to those whom they are instrumental in bringing prematurely
together.
Many people who, in other respects,
pass for excellent, do not hesitate to take sides
on almost all occasions, whether they know much about
the real merits of the case or not. Others judge,
at once, of every one of whom they hear any thing
evil, and in the same premature manner.
All these and a thousand other kinds
of ‘meddling’ do much evil. The tendency
is to keep men like Ishmael, with their hands against
every man, and every man’s hands against theirs.
SECTION XIV. On Keeping Secrets.
It is sometimes said that in a good
state of society there would be no necessity of keeping
secrets, for no individual would have any thing to
conceal. This may be true; but if so, society
is far very far from being as
perfect as it ought to be. At present we shall
find no intelligent circle, except it were the society
of the glorified above, which does not require occasional
secrecy. But if there are secrets to be kept,
somebody must keep them.
Some persons can hardly conceal a
secret, if they would. They will promise readily
enough; but the moment they gain possession of the
fact, its importance rises in their estimation, till
it occupies so much of their waking thoughts, that
it will be almost certain, in some form or other,
to escape them.
Others are not very anxious to conceal
things which are entrusted to them. They may
not wish to make mischief, exactly; but there is a
sort of recklessness about them, that renders them
very unsafe confidants.
Others again, when they promise, mean
to perform. But no sooner do they possess the
treasure committed to their charge, than they
begin to grow forgetful of the manner of coming
by it. And before they are aware, they reveal
it.
There are not many then, whom it is
safe to trust. These you will value as they do
diamonds, in proportion to their scarcity.
But there are individuals who
merit your highest confidence, if you can but find
them. Husbands, where a union is founded as it
ought to be, can usually trust their wives. This
is one of the prominent advantages of matrimony.
It gives us an opportunity of unbosoming our feelings
and views and wishes not only with safety, but often
with sympathy.
But confidence may sometimes be reposed,
in other circumstances. Too much reserve makes
us miserable. Perhaps it were better that we should
suffer a little, now and then, than that we should
never trust.
As an instance of the extent to which
mankind can sometimes be confided in, and to show
that celibacy, too, is not without this virtue, you
will allow me to relate, briefly, an anecdote.
A certain husband and wife had difficulties.
They both sought advice of a single gentleman, their
family physician. For some time there was hope
of an amicable adjustment of all grievances; but at
length every effort proved vain, and an open quarrel
ensued. But what was the surprise of each party
to learn by accident, some time afterward, that both
of them had sought counsel of the same individual,
and yet he had not betrayed the trust.
In a few instances, too, secrets have
been confided to husbands, without their communicating
them to their wives; and the contrary. This was
done, however, by particular request. It is a
requisition which, for my own part, I should be very
unwilling to make.
SECTION XV. Fear of Poverty.
The ingenious but sometimes fanciful
Dr. Darwin, reckons the fear of poverty as a disease,
and goes on to prescribe for it.
The truth is, there is not much real
poverty in this country. Our very paupers are
rich, for they usually have plenty of wholesome food,
and comfortable clothing, and what could a Croesus,
with all his riches, have more? Poverty
exists much more in imagination than in reality.
The shame of being thought poor, is a great
and fatal weakness, to say the least. It depends,
it is true, much upon the fashion.
So long as the phrase ‘he is
a good man,’ means that the person spoken of
is rich, we need not wonder that every one wishes to
be thought richer than he is. When adulation
is sure to follow wealth, and when contempt would
be sure to follow many if they were not wealthy; when
people are spoken of with deference, and even lauded
to the skies because their riches are very great;
when this is the case, I say, we need not wonder if
men are ashamed to be thought poor. But this is
one of the greatest dangers which young people have
to encounter in setting out in life. It has brought
thousands and hundreds of thousands to pecuniary ruin.
One of the most amiable features of
good republican society is this; that men seldom
boast of their riches, or disguise their poverty, but
speak of both, as of any other matters that are proper
for conversation. No man shuns another because
he is poor; no man is preferred to another because
he is rich. In hundreds and hundreds of instances
have men in this country, not worth a shilling, been
chosen by the people to take care of their rights
and interests, in preference to men who ride in their
carriages.
The shame of being thought poor leads
to everlasting efforts to disguise one’s
poverty. The carriage the domestics the
wine the spirits the decanters the
glass; all the table apparatus, the horses,
the dresses, the dinners, and the parties, must be
kept up; not so much because he or she who keeps or
gives them has any pleasure arising therefrom, as
because not to keep and give them, would give rise
to a suspicion of a want of means. And
thus thousands upon thousands are yearly brought into
a state of real poverty, merely by their great anxiety
not to be thought poor. Look around you carefully,
and see if this is not so.
In how many instances have you seen
amiable and industrious families brought to ruin by
nothing else but the fear they should be?
Resolve, then, from the first, to set this false shame
at defiance. When you have done that, effectually,
you have laid the corner-stone of mental tranquillity.
There are thousands of families at
this very moment, struggling to keep up appearances.
They feel that it makes them miserable; but you can
no more induce them to change their course, than you
can put a stop to the miser’s laying up gold.
Farmers accommodate themselves to
their condition more easily than merchants, mechanics,
and professional men. They live at a greater
distance from their neighbors; they can change their
style of living without being perceived; they can
put away the decanter, change the china for something
plain, and the world is none the wiser for it.
But the mechanic, the doctor, the attorney, and the
trader cannot make the change so quietly and unseen.
Stimulating drink, which is a sort
of criterion of the scale of living, (or
scale to the plan,) a sort of key to the
tune; this is the thing to banish first
of all, because all the rest follow; and in a short
time, come down to their proper level.
Am I asked, what is a glass of wine?
I answer, it is every thing. It creates
a demand for all the other unnecessary expenses; it
is injurious to health, and must be so. Every
bottle of wine that is drank contains a portion of
spirit, to say nothing of other drugs still
more poisonous; and of all friends to the doctors,
alcoholic drinks are the greatest. It is nearly
the same, however, with strong tea and coffee.
But what adds to the folly and wickedness of using
these drinks, the parties themselves do not always
drink them by choice; and hardly ever because
they believe they are useful; but from mere
ostentation, or the fear of being thought either rigid
or stingy. At this very moment, thousands
of families daily use some half a dozen drinks, besides
the best, because if they drank water only, they
might not be regarded as genteel; or might be suspected
of poverty. And thus they waste their property
and their health.
Poverty frequently arises from the
very virtues of the impoverished parties. Not
so frequently, I admit, as from vice, folly, and indiscretion;
but still very frequently. And as it is according
to scripture not to ‘despise the poor, because
he is poor,’ so we ought not to honor the rich
merely because he is rich. The true way is to
take a fair survey of the character of a man as exhibited
in his conduct; and to respect him, or otherwise,
according to a due estimate of that character.
Few countries exhibit more of those
fatal terminations of life, called suicides, than
this. Many of these unnatural crimes arise
from an unreasonable estimate of the evils of poverty.
Their victims, it is true, may be called insane; but
their insanity almost always arises from the dread
of poverty. Not, indeed, from the dread of the
want of means for sustaining life, or even decent
living; but from the dread of being thought or known
to be poor; from the dread of what is called
falling in the scale of society.
Viewed in its true light, what is
there in poverty that can tempt a man to take away
his own life? He is the same man that he was before;
he has the same body and the same mind. Suppose
he can foresee an alteration in his dress or
his diet, should he kill himself on that account?
Are these all the things that a man wishes to live
for?
I do not deny that we ought to take
care of our means, use them prudently and sparingly,
and keep our expenses always within the limits of
our income, be that what it may. One of the effectual
means of doing this, is to purchase with ready money.
On this point, I have already remarked at length,
and will only repeat here the injunction of St. Paul;
‘Owe no man any thing;’ although the fashion
of the whole world should be against you.
Should you regard the advice of this
section, the counsels of the next will be of less
consequence; for you will have removed one of the
strongest inducements to speculation, as well as to
overtrading.
SECTION XVI. On Speculation.
Young men are apt to be fond of speculation.
This propensity is very early developed first
in the family and afterwards at the school.
By speculation, I mean the purchasing of something
which you do not want for use, solely with a view
to sell it again at a large profit; but on the sale
of which there is a hazard.
When purchases of this sort are made
with the person’s own cash, they are not so
unreasonable, but when they are made by one who is
deeply indebted to his fellow beings, or with money
borrowed for the purpose, it is not a whit better
than gambling, let the practice be defended by whom
it may: and has been in every country, especially
in this, a fruitful source of poverty, misery, and
suicide. Grant that this species of gambling
has arisen from the facility of obtaining the fictitious
means of making the purchase, still it is not the less
necessary that I beseech you not to practise it, and
if engaged in it already, to disentangle yourself
as soon as you can. Your life, while thus engaged,
is that of a gamester call it by what smoother
name you may. It is a life of constant anxiety,
desire to overreach, and general gloom; enlivened
now and then, by a gleam of hope or of success.
Even that success is sure to lead to farther adventures;
till at last, a thousand to one, that your fate is
that of ‘the pitcher to the well.’
The great temptation to this, as well
as to every other species of gambling, is, the success
of the few. As young men, who crowd to the
army in search of rank and renown, never look into
the ditch that holds their slaughtered companions,
but have their eye constantly fixed on the commander-in-chief;
and as each of them belongs to the same profession,
and is sure to be conscious that he has equal merit,
every one dreams himself the suitable successor of
him who is surrounded with aides-de-camp, and
who moves battalions and columns by his nod; so
with the rising generation of ‘speculators.’
They see those whom they suppose nature and good laws
made to black shoes, or sweep chimneys or streets,
rolling in carriages, or sitting in palaces, surrounded
by servants or slaves; and they can see no earthly
reason why they should not all do the same. They
forget the thousands, and tens of thousands, who in
making the attempt, have reduced themselves to beggary.
SECTION XVII. On Lawsuits.
In every situation in life, avoid
the law. Man’s nature must be changed,
perhaps, before lawsuits will entirely cease; and yet
it is in the power of most men to avoid them, in a
considerable degree.
One excellent rule is, to have as
little as possible to do with those who are fond
of litigation; and who, upon every slight occasion,
talk of an appeal to the law. This may be called
a disease; and, like many other diseases, it
is contagious. Besides, these persons, from their
frequent litigations, contract a habit of using the
technical terms of the courts, in which they take
a pride, and are therefore, as companions, peculiarly
disgusting to men of sense. To such beings a
lawsuit is a luxury, instead of being regarded as a
source of anxiety, and a real scourge. Such men
are always of a quarrelsome disposition, and avail
themselves of every opportunity to indulge in that
which is mischievous to their neighbors.
In thousands of instances, men go
to law for the indulgence of mere anger. The
Germans are said to bring spite-actions
against one another, and to harass their poorer neighbors
from motives of pure revenge. But I hope this
is a mistake; for I am unwilling to think so ill of
that intelligent nation.
Before you decide to go to law, consider
well the cost, for if you win your suit and
are poorer than you were before, what do you gain by
it? You only imbibe a little additional anger
against your opponent; you injure him, but at the
same time, injure yourself more. Better to put
up with the loss of one dollar than of two; to which
is to be added, all the loss of time, all the trouble,
and all the mortification and anxiety attending a
lawsuit. To set an attorney at work to worry
and torment another man, and alarm his family as well
as himself, while you are sitting quietly at home,
is baseness. If a man owe you money which he
cannot pay, why add to his distress, without even the
chance of benefiting yourself? Thousands
have injured themselves by resorting to the law, while
very few, indeed, ever bettered their condition by
it.
Nearly a million of dollars was once
expended in England, during the progress of a single
lawsuit. Those who brought the suit expended
$444,000 to carry it through; and the opposite party
was acquitted, and only sentenced to pay the cost
of prosecution, amounting to $318,754. Another
was sustained in court fifty years, at an enormous
expense. In Meadville, in Pennsylvania, a petty
law case occurred in which the damages recovered were
only ten dollars, while the costs of court were one
hundred. In one of the New England States, a lawsuit
occurred, which could not have cost the parties less
than $1,000 each; and yet after all this expense,
they mutually agreed to take the matter out of court,
and suffer it to end where it was. Probably it
was the wisest course they could possibly have taken.
It is also stated that a quarrel occurred between
two persons in Middlebury, Vermont, a few years since,
about six eggs, which was carried from one court
to another, till it cost the parties $4,000.
I am well acquainted with a gentleman
who was once engaged in a lawsuit, (than which none
perhaps, was ever more just) where his claim was one
to two thousand dollars; but it fell into such a train
that a final decision could not have been expected
in many months; perhaps not in years.
The gentleman was unwilling to be detained and perplexed
with waiting for a trial, and he accordingly paid the
whole amount of costs to that time, amounting to $150,
went about his business, and believes, to this hour,
that it was the wisest course he could have pursued.
A spirit of litigation often disturbs
the peace of a whole neighborhood, perpetually, for
several generations; and the hostile feeling thus
engendered seems to be transmitted, like the color
of the eyes or the hair, from father to son.
Indeed it not unfrequently happens, that a lawsuit
in a neighborhood, a society, or even a church, awakens
feelings of discord, which never terminate, but at
the death of the parties concerned.
How ought young men, then, to avoid,
as they would a pestilence, this fiend-like spirit!
How ought they to labor to settle all disputes should
disputes unfortunately arise, without this
tremendous resort! On the strength of much observation, not
experience, for I have been saved the pain of
learning in that painful school, on this subject, I
do not hesitate to recommend the settlement of such
difficulties by arbitration.
One thing however should be remembered.
Would you dry up the river of discord, you must first
exhaust the fountains and rills which form it.
The moment you indulge one impassioned or angry feeling
against your fellow being, you have taken a step in
the high road which leads to litigation, war and murder.
Thus it is, as I have already told you, that ‘He
that hateth his brother is a murderer.’
I have heard a father for
he hath the name of parent, though he little deserved
it gravely contend that there was no such
thing as avoiding quarrels and lawsuits. He thought
there was one thing, however, which might prevent
them, which was to take the litigious individual and
’tar and feather’ him without ceremony.
How often is it true that mankind little know ‘what
manner of spirit they are of;’ and to how many
of us will this striking reproof of the Saviour apply!
Multitudes of men have been in active
business during a long life, and yet avoided every
thing in the shape of a lawsuit. ’What man
has done, man may do;’ in this respect, at the
least.
SECTION XVIII. On Hard Dealing.
Few things are more common among business-doing
men, than hard dealing; yet few things reflect
more dishonor on a Christian community. It seems,
in general, to be regarded as morally right, in
defiance of all rules, whether golden or not, to
get as ’good a bargain’ in trade, as possible;
and this is defended as unavoidable, on account of
the state of society! But what produced
this state of society? Was it not the spirit
of avarice? What will change it for the better?
Nothing but the renunciation of this spirit, and a
willingness to sacrifice, in this respect, for the
public welfare.
We are pagans in this matter,
in spite of our professions. It would be profitable
for us to take lessons on this subject from the Mohammedans.
They never have, it is said, but one price for an article;
and to ask the meanest shopkeeper to lower his price,
is to insult him. Would this were the
only point, in which the Christian community are destined
yet to learn even from Mohammedans.
To ask one price and take another,
or to offer one price and give another, besides being
a loss of time, is highly dishonorable to the parties.
It is, in fact, a species of lying; and it answers
no one advantageous purpose, either to the buyer or
seller. I hope that every young man will start
in life with a resolution never to be hard in his
dealings.
‘It is an evil which will correct
itself;’ say those who wish to avail themselves
of its present advantages a little longer. But
when and where did a general evil correct itself?
When or where was an erroneous practice permanently
removed, except by a change of public sentiment?
And what has ever produced a change in the public sentiment
but the determination of individuals, or their combined
action?
While on this topic, I will hazard
the assertion even at the risk of its being
thought misplaced that great effects are
yet to be produced on public opinion, in this country,
by associations of spirited and intelligent young
men. I am not now speaking of associations for
political purposes, though I am not sure that even
these might not be usefully conducted; but
of associations for mutual improvement, and for the
correction and elevation of the public morals.
The “Boston Young Men’s Society,”
afford a specimen of what may be done in this way;
and numerous associations of the kind have sprung
up and are springing up in various parts of the country.
Judiciously managed, they must inevitably do great
good; though it should not be forgotten
that they may also be productive of immense
evil.