and official position. There is no place in society, no post in government, from which the merchant is excluded. On the contrary, his command of money, and the facilities afforded by his relations of business, place him in a prominent position, and render him the fit and active director and agent in the whole circle of public charities, and in the numberless endowments for literary and liberal purposes. Having thus opened to him a wide sphere of usefulness, he should enter upon it with a consciousness of its dignity and importance, and qualify himself for the discharge of its various duties, by an assiduous and liberal cultivation of his mind and morals."

There is the highest

There are degrees of success. round of the ladder, and there is the round next to it. He who cannot reach the former, may reach the latter. Says William Arthur: "Though all cannot gain eminence, every honest, frugal, and hard-working man can make his way." A young man may become a successful merchant, though he may not be a Lawrence or Peabody. He may gain eminence in the legal profession, and yet not make a Webster. He may distinguish himself as a philosopher without being a Franklin. He may prove that he is a superior mechanic and yet not be able to make a piano. Arkwright made the spinning-jenny, but he could not make a watch. So a man may fail in one pursuit and succeed in another. Tact may adapt him to one occupation more than to another. It is worth while for laudable ambition to ponder these facts; remembering the French proverb, "Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premiér"— "A man may shine in the second rank, who would be eclipsed in the first."

The conclusion of the whole matter is, that there is success in every useful occupation for him who will pay its price. God does not chaffer with men on these momentous affairs. He has but one price for honourable distinction; we can take it or leave it. The irresolute, limp young man who expects to find success "marked down some day, as merchants bandy their goods, is doomed to bitter disappointment. It is a fair price that God has set upon it, and he is not half a man who attempts to get it for less. Carlyle said: "He who has battled, were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he who could stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision-wagons, or even rest unwatchfully abiding by the stuff."" The expectation of difficulties and obstacles characterizes true manhood. Willingness to begin in a small way, advance slowly, and bend all the energies to the controlling purpose of life, also, belong to winners in this race. The young man who begins where his rich father left off, usually ends where his father began.

Samuel Budgett presented the subject in a nutshell when he said: "THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS ARE TACT, PUSH, AND PRINCIPLE."

We will not deny that there are born merchants, mechanics, philosophers, inventors, and scholars, whose success appears to be their birthright; but such examples are not half so numerous as many persons imagine. So, too, the elements of success which we shall discuss in this volume, may be inherited by a few, but such cases are too rare to interpose serious objections to the general view, that they are legitimate subjects of culture. That Astor was a born merchant

we may readily concede. That Burritt was born with uncommon aptitude to acquire knowledge, particularly a knowledge of languages, is patent. That Shakespeare was a born poet, is agreed; and the same was true of Burns, Milton, and others. That Alexander, Napoleon, and Washington were born generals, we are not disposed to question. Truer still it may have been of Carnot, who was taken to the theatre in his childhood, where a siege was indifferently represented. The little fellow saw the attacking party was exposed to the sweep of a battery, and he astonished the audience by crying out to the commanding officer to change his position or his men would be shot. In manhood, he was the chairman of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution, directed the operations of fourteen armies, and triumphantly turned back the invaders who rushed down from the Alps and Pyrenees. That Nelson was born with courage above most of his fellows, is proven by the facts of his childhood and age. When a little boy he strayed away and was lost. Diligent search was made for him, and he was found, at length, sitting by a stream of water which he was unable to cross. "I wonder, child," said his grandmother, "that hunger and fear did not drive you home." Fear!" exclaimed the fearless boy, 66 'I never saw fear--what is it?" Just the lad to grow into the hero of the Nile and Trafalgar. That Walter Scott inherited an imagination of remarkable power, and a true poetical genius, his whole life attests. At the age of eighteen months he was sent to reside with his grandfather at Sandy-Knowle, in the neighbourhood of some fine crags. To these crags he was sometimes sent in charge of the shepherd, who would often lay him beside the sheep.

Being forgotten one day upon the Knolls when a thunderstorm came on, his aunt ran to bring him in, and found him lying on his back, the tempest beating in his face, while the little chap was laughing, and shouting at the top of his voice with every peal of thunder and flash of lightning, "Bonnie! bonnie!" That style of genius pervaded his productions in after-life. The same was true of Schiller, who was found by his father perched in the top of a tree during a severe tempest, watching "the artillery of heaven" with strange delight. On being asked what he was there for, he answered that he wanted "to see where the thunder came from." We need not multiply examples, however. It is sufficient for our purpose to concede the occasional influence of natural endowment in a successful career, leaving the proof that this is only exceptional, as well as the evidence of the transforming power of culture, to the elaboration of our theme in subsequent chapters.

TAC

II.

TACT-WHAT IS IT?

ACT is the ability to use natural powers, acquisitions, and opportunities to the best advantage. Under its facile sway a single talent accomplishes more than five or even ten talents without it. It manipulates moderate abilities so as to outstrip real mental greatness, proving that "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Emerson puts it thus-

"Tact clinches the bargain,

Sails out of the bay,

Gets the vote in the senate,

Spite of Webster or Clay."

Any man of fifty years can find striking illustrations of this fact by recalling the associates of his youth and noting the career of each one. Perhaps the least promising of the youthful group is now the most uccessful man of all, while the boy of acknowledged alents has made a complete failure of life. The dull youth has become the energetic, prosperous citizen. The bright, precocious urchin has flattened out, and exibits but a pitiable manhood. The mediocrity of youth

higher than its talents to-day. The tortoise has ace. These are facts that the history of each abundantly furnishes. The story of the Mates on the sheep-farm of Australia has its