“There is one prayer that is always answered, and that is the prayer of labor.”

NEVER knew a man of merit neglected; it was generally by his own fault that he failed of success,” said Dr. Sam Johnson whose friends ranged from the greatest men of Europe to hangers on of the wharfs of London.

He himself came up to London with a single piece of money as his whole fortune, and many nights he walked the streets because he had no place to lay his head. That was early in the 1730’s, but his writings lifted him before his death to be literary dictator of his times, and handed his brilliant mind down to us.

The man who wrote Robinson Crusoe was the son of a butcher; so was Cardinal Wolsey.

Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was a tinker.

Dr. Livingston, the African explorer, was a weaver.

Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, was a day laborer; and so was Cook, the venturesome navi?gator whose voyages into the unknown Pacific Ocean were the marvel of the eighteenth century.

The man who painted “The Spirit of 76″ was a wagon-painter, a returned soldier of the Civil War, his name was Archibald M. Willard, and his whole education in art was what he gave himself, together with a few weeks’ instruction from a village portrait painter.

Thomas Edison was a railroad newsboy and a station telegraph operator.

James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, grew up among the scientific instruments lying around his father’s shop. He had delicate health, but was always studying and working on his models of engines. At the same time he was earn?ing a living for his family by making and mending scientific and musical instruments, surveying roads, superintending the construction of canals, doing anything that would earn an honest shilling. After years of labor, his engine was introduced to the world in these words :

“I sell here, sir, what all the world desires to have–power.'’

Such men as these took pride in having stepped out from among millions of men who had the same surroundings, but who never did the hard work necessary to rise in the world.

They felt as a famous Bishop did, when he was taunted by a lord with having been a tallow chandler when he was young, who replied:

“If you had been born in the same condition, you would still be but a maker of candles.'’

Sir Humphrey Davy, the inventor of the miner’s safety lamp, was a country druggist’s apprentice. After he had become rich and famous, he spoke of himself in these words:

‘’ What I am I have made myself; I say this with?out vanity, and in pure simplicity of heart.”

Labor is the test of a man.

The industrious man who labors for his bread and saves his money, awakens to a consciousness of power which enables him to succeed.

“Try to make a work of art of whatever you have in hand.”

Thrift is more common among the rich than among the poor, and it is this unfortunate fact which permits many rich people to grow richer and keeps many poor people poor all their lives.

A rich man, and particularly a man who has been rich for some time, is never ashamed to be caught saving money. Your luncheon probably costs you more every day than Russell Sage ever spent for his mid-day meal.

A multi-millionaire recently found himself in a popular-priced lunch room sitting next to one of his own clerks. The waiter’s checks lay side by side; the employer on glancing at the two checks discovered that his own was 35 cents and his clerk’s 95 cents; his only comment was, “If I had your appetite and you had my money we would soon both be broke-but at that, Hollis, I fear you are extravagant.”

Extravagant living breeds unhappiness and poverty, while carefulness and thrift breed happiness and riches. Choose.

“Economy is no disgrace; it is better living on a little than outliving a great deal.”–Emerson.

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Tags: The Secret of Wealth