Franklin long maintained himself by his trade of printing. He was a
hard-working man,--thrifty, frugal and a great saver of time. He worked
for character as much as for wages; and when it was found that he could
be relied on, he prospered. At length he was publicly recognized as a
great statesman, and as one of the most scientific men of his time.

Ferguson, the astronomer, lived by portrait painting, until his merits
as a scientific man were recognized. John Dollond maintained himself as
a silk weaver in Spitalfields. In the course of his studies he made
great improvements in the refracting telescope; and the achromatic
telescope, which he invented, gave him a high rank among the
philosophers of his age. But during the greater part of his life, while
he was carrying on his investigations, he continued, until the age of
forty-six, to carry on his original trade. At length he confined himself
entirely to making telescopes; and then he gave up his trade of a silk
weaver. Winckelmann, the distinguished writer on classical antiquities
and the fine arts, was the son of a shoemaker. His father endeavoured,
as long as he could, to give his hoy a learned education; but becoming
ill and worn-out, he had eventually to retire to the hospital.
Winckelmann and his father were once accustomed to sing at night in the
streets to raise fees to enable the boy to attend the grammar school.
The younger Winckelmann then undertook, by hard labour, to support his
father; and afterwards, by means of teaching, to keep himself at
college. Every one knows how distinguished he eventually became.

Samuel Richardson, while writing his novels, stuck to his trade of a
bookseller. He sold his books in the front shop, while he wrote them in
the back. He would not give himself up to authorship, because he loved
his independence. "You know," he said to his friend Defreval, "how my
business engages me. You know by what snatches of time I write, that I
may not neglect that, and that I may preserve that independency which is
the comfort of my life. I never sought out of myself for patrons. My own
industry and God's providence have been my whole reliance. The great are
not great to me unless they are good, and it is a glorious privilege
that a middling man enjoys, who has preserved his independency, and can
occasionally (though not stoically) tell the world what he thinks of
that world, in hopes to contribute, though by his mite, to mend it."

The late Dr. Olynthus Gregory, in addressing the Deptford Mechanics'
Institution at their first anniversary, took the opportunity of
mentioning various men in humble circumstances (some of whom he had been
able to assist), who, by means of energy, application, and self-denial,
had been able to accomplish great things in the acquisition of
knowledge. Thus he described the case of a Labourer on the turnpike
road, who had become an able Greek scholar; of a Fifer, and a Private
Soldier, in a regiment of militia, both self-taught mathematicians, one
of whom became a successful schoolmaster, the other a lecturer on
natural philosophy; of a journeyman Tin-plate worker, who invented rules
for the solution of cubic equations; of a country Sexton, who became a
teacher of music, and who, by his love of the study of musical science,
was transformed from a drunken sot to an exemplary husband and father;
of a Coal Miner (a correspondent of Dr. Gregory's), who was an able
writer on topics of the higher mathematics; of another correspondent, a
labouring Whitesmith, who was also well acquainted with the course of
pure mathematics, as taught at Cambridge, Dublin, and the military
colleges; of a Tailor, who was an excellent geometrician, and had
discovered curves which escaped the notice of Newton, and who laboured
industriously and contentedly at his trade until sixty years of age,
when, by the recommendation of his scientific friends, he was appointed
Nautical Examiner at the Trinity House; of a ploughman in Lincolnshire,
who, without aid of men or books, discovered the rotation of the earth,
the principles of spherical astronomy, and invented a planetary system
akin to the Tychonic; of a country Shoemaker, who became distinguished
as one of the ablest metaphysical writers in Britain, and who, at more
than fifty years of age, was removed by the influence of his talents and
their worth, from his native country to London, where he was employed to
edit some useful publications devoted to the diffusion of knowledge and
the best interests of mankind.

Students of Art have had to practise self-denial in many ways. Quentin
Matsys, having fallen in love with a painter's daughter, and determined
to win her. Though but a blacksmith and a farrier, he studied art so
diligently, and acquired so much distinction, that his mistress
afterwards accepted the painter whom she had before rejected as the
blacksmith. Flaxman, however, married his wife before he had acquired
any distinction whatever as an artist. He was merely a skilful and
promising pupil. When Sir Joshua Reynolds heard of his marriage, he
exclaimed, "Flaxman is ruined for an artist!" But it was not so. When
Flaxman's wife heard of the remark, she said, "Let us work and
economize; I will never have it said that Ann Denbam ruined John Flaxman
as an artist." They economized accordingly. To earn money, Flaxman
undertook to collect the local rates; and what with art and industry,
the patient, hard-working, thrifty couple, after five years of careful
saving, set out for Rome together. There Flaxman studied and worked;
there he improved his knowledge of art; and there he acquired the
reputation of being the first of English sculptors.

The greater number of artists have sprung from humble life. If they had
been born rich, they would probably never have been artists. They have
had to work their way from one position to another; and to strengthen
their nature by conquering difficulty. Hogarth began his career by
engraving shop-bills. William Sharp began by engraving door-plates.
Tassie the sculptor and medallist, began life as a stone-cutter. Having
accidentally seen a collection of pictures, he aspired to become an
artist and entered an academy to learn the elements of drawing. He
continued to work at his old trade until he was able to maintain himself
by his new one. He used his labour as the means of cultivating his skill
in his more refined and elevated profession.

Chantry of Sheffield, was an economist both of time and money. He saved
fifty pounds out of his earnings as a carver and gilder; paid the money
to his master, and cancelled his indentures. Then he came up to London,
and found employment as a journeyman carver; he proceeded to paint
portraits and model busts, and at length worked his way to the first
position as a sculptor.

Canova was a stone-cutter, like his father and his grandfather; and
through stone-cutting he worked his way to sculpture. After leaving the
quarry, he went to Venice, and gave his services to an artist, from whom
he received but little recompense for his work. "I laboured," said he,
"for a mere pittance, but it was sufficient. It was the fruit of my own
resolution; and, as I then flattered myself, the foretaste of more
honourable rewards,--for I never thought of wealth." He pursued his
studies,--in drawing and modelling; in languages, poetry, history,
antiquity, and the Greek and Roman classics. A long time elapsed before
his talents were recognised, and then he suddenly became famous.

Lough, the English sculptor, is another instance of self-denial and hard
work. When a boy, he was fond of drawing. At school, he made drawings of
horses, dogs, cows, and men, for pins: that was his first pay; and he
used to go home with his jacket sleeve stuck full of them. He and his
brothers next made figures in clay. Pope's Homer lay on his father's
window. The boys were so delighted with it, that they made thousands of
models--one taking the Greeks, and the other the Trojans. An odd volume
of Gibbon gave an account of the Coliseum. After the family were in bed,
the brothers made a model of the Coliseum, and filled it with fighting
gladiators. As the boys grew up, they were sent to their usual outdoor
work, following the plough and doing the usual agricultural labour; but
still adhering to their modelling at leisure hours. At Christmas-time,
Lough was very much in demand. Everybody wanted him to make models in
pastry for Christmas pies,--the neighbouring farmers especially, "It was
capital practice," he afterwards said.

At length Lough went from Newcastle to London, to push his way in the
world of art. He obtained a passage in a collier, the skipper of which
he knew. When he reached London, he slept on board the collier as long
as it remained in the Thames. He was so great a favourite with the men,
that they all urged him to go back. He had no friends, no patronage, no
money; What could he do with everything against him? But, having already
gone so far, he determined to proceed. He would not go back--at least,
not yet. The men all wept when he took farewell of them. He was alone in
London; under the shadow of St. Paul's.

His next step was to take a lodging in an obscure first floor in
Burleigh Street, over a greengrocer's shop; and there he began to model
his grand statue of Milo. He had to take the roof off to let Milo's head
out. There Haydon found him, and was delighted with his genius. "I
went," he says, "to young Lough, the sculptor, who has just burst out,
and has produced a great effect. His Milo is really the most
extraordinary thing, considering all the circumstances, in modern
sculpture. It is another proof of the efficacy of inherent genius." [1]
That Lough must have been poor enough at this time, is evident from the
fact that, during the execution of his Milo, he did not eat meat for
three months; and when Peter Coxe found him out, he was tearing up his
shirt to make wet rags for his figure, to keep the clay moist. He had a
bushel and a half of coals during the whole winter; and he used to lie
down by the side of his clay model of the immortal figure, damp as it
was, and shiver for hours till he fell asleep.

[Footnote 1: Haydon's _Autobiography_, vol. ii., p, 155.]

Chantrey once said to Haydon, "When I have made money enough, I will
devote myself to high art." But busts engrossed Chantrey's time. He was
munificently paid for them, and never raised himself above the
money-making part of his profession. When Haydon next saw Chantrey at
Brighton, he said to him, "Here is a young man from the country, who has
come to London; and he is doing precisely what you have so long been
dreaming of doing."

The exhibition of Milo was a great success. The Duke of Wellington went
to see it, and ordered a statue. Sir Matthew White Eidley was much
struck by the genius of young Lough, and became one of his greatest
patrons. The sculptor determined to strike out a new path for himself.
He thought the Greeks had exhausted the Pantheistic, and that heathen
gods had been overdone. Lough began and pursued the study of lyric
sculpture: he would illustrate the great English poets. But there was
the obvious difficulty of telling the story of a figure by a single
attitude. It was like a flash of thought. "The true artist," he said,
"must plant his feet firmly on the earth, and sweep the heavens with his
pencil. I mean," he added, "that the soul must be combined with the
body, the ideal with the real, the heavens with the earth."

It is not necessary to describe the success of Mr. Lough as a sculptor.
His statue of "The Mourners" is known all over the world. He has
illustrated Shakespeare and Milton. His Puck, Titania, and other great
works, are extensively known, and their genius universally admired. But
it may be mentioned that his noble statue of Milo was not cast in bronze
until 1862, when it was exhibited at the International Exhibition of
that year.

The Earl of Derby, in recently distributing the prizes to the successful
pupils of the Liverpool College[1], made the following observations:--

"The vast majority of men, in all ages and countries, must work before
they can eat. Even those who are not under the necessity, are, in
England, generally impelled by example, by custom, perhaps by a sense of
what is fitted for them, to adopt what is called an active pursuit of
some sort.... If there is one thing more certain than another, it is
this--that every member of a community is bound to do something for that
community, in return for what he gets from it; and neither intellectual
cultivation, nor the possession of material wealth, nor any other plea
whatever, except that of physical or mental incapacity, can excuse any
of us from that plain and personal duty.... And though it may be, in a
community like this, considered by some to be a heterodox view, I will
say that it often appears to me, in the present day, that we are a
little too apt in all classes to look upon ourselves as mere machines
for what is called 'getting on,' and to forget that there are in every
human being many faculties which cannot be employed, and many wants
which cannot be satisfied, by that occupation. I have not a word to
utter against strenuous devotion to business while you are at it. But
one of the wisest and most thoroughly cultivated men whom I ever knew,
retired before the age of fifty, from a profession in which he was
making an enormous income, because, he said, he had got as much as he or
any one belonging to him could want, and he did not see why he should
sacrifice the rest of his life to money-getting. Some people thought him
very foolish. I did not. And I believe that the gentleman of whom I
speak never once repented his decision."

[Footnote 1: A collection ought to be made and published of Lord Derby's
admirable Addresses to Young Men.]

The gentleman to whom Lord Derby referred was Mr. Nasmyth, the inventor
of the steam hammer. And as he has himself permitted the story of his
life to be published, there is no necessity for concealing his name. His
life is besides calculated to furnish one of the best illustrations of
our subject. When a boy, he was of a bright, active, cheerful
disposition. To a certain extent he inherited his mechanical powers from
his father, who, besides being an excellent painter, was a thorough
mechanic. It was in his workshop that the boy made his first
acquaintance with tools. He also had for his companion the son of an
iron-founder, and he often went to the founder's shop to watch the
moulding, iron-melting, casting, forging, pattern-making, and smith's
work that was going on.

"I look back," Mr. Nasmyth says, "to the hours of Saturday afternoons
spent in having the run of the workshops of this small foundry as the
true and only apprenticeship of my life. I did not trust to reading
about such things. I saw, handled, and helped when I could; and all the
ideas in connection with them became in all details, ever after,
permanent in my mind,--to say nothing of the no small acquaintance
obtained at the same time of the nature of workmen."

In course of time, young Nasmyth, with the aid of his father's tools,
could do little jobs for himself. He made steels for tinder-boxes, which
he sold to his schoolfellows. He made model steam-engines, and sectional
models, for use at popular lectures and in schools; and by selling such
models, he raised sufficient money to enable him to attend the lectures
on Natural Philosophy and Chemistry at the Edinburgh University. Among
his works at that time, was a working model of a steam carriage for use
on common roads. It worked so well that he was induced to make another
on a larger scale. After having been successfully used, he sold the
engine for the purpose of driving a small factory.

Nasmyth was now twenty years old, and wished to turn his practical
faculties to account. His object was to find employment in one of the
great engineering establishments of the day. The first, in his opinion,
was that of Henry Maudslay, of London. To attain his object, he made a
small steam-engine, every part of which was his own handiwork, including
the casting and forging. He proceeded to London; introduced himself to
the great engineer; submitted his drawings; showed his models; and was
finally engaged as Mr. Maudslay's private workman.

Then came the question of wages. When Nasmyth finally left home to begin
the world on his own account, he determined _not to cost his father
another farthing_. Being the youngest of eleven children, he thought
that he could maintain himself, without trenching farther upon the
family means. And he nobly fulfilled his determination. He felt that the
wages sufficient to maintain other workmen, would surely be sufficient
to maintain him. He might have to exercise self-control and self-denial;
but of course he could do that. Though but a youth, he had wisdom enough
and self-respect enough to deny himself everything that was unnecessary,
in order to preserve the valuable situation which he had obtained.

Well, about the wages. When Mr. Maudslay referred his young workman to
the chief cashier as to his weekly wages, it was arranged that Nasmyth
was to receive ten shillings a week. He knew that, by strict economy, he
could live within this amount. He contrived a small cooking apparatus,
of which we possess the drawings. It is not necessary to describe his
method of cooking, nor his method of living; it is sufficient to say
that his little cooking apparatus (in which he still takes great pride)
enabled him fully to accomplish his purpose. He lived within his means,
and did not cost his father another farthing.

Next year his wages were increased to fifteen shillings. He then began
to save money. He did not put it in a bank, but used his savings for the
purpose of making the tools with which he afterwards commenced business.
In the third year of his service, his wages were again increased, on
account, doubtless, of the value of his services. "I don't know," he has
since said, "that any future period of my life abounded in such high
enjoyment of existence as the three years I spent at Maudslay's. It was
a glorious situation for one like myself,--so earnest as I was in all
that related to mechanism--in the study of men as well as of machinery.
I wish many a young man would do as I then did. I am sure they would
find their reward in that feeling of constant improvement, of daily
advancement, and true independence, which will ever have a charm for
those who are earnest in their endeavours to make right progress in life
and in the regard of all good men."

After three years spent at Maudslay's, Mr. Nasmyth returned to Edinburgh
to construct a small stock of engineering tools suitable for starting
him in business on his own account. He hired a workshop and did various
engineering jobs, in order to increase his little store of money and to
execute his little stock of tools. This occupied him for two years; and
in 1834 he removed the whole of his tools and machinery to Manchester.
He began business there in a very humble way, but it increased so
rapidly that he was induced to remove to a choice piece of land on the
banks of the Bridgewater Canal at Patricroft, and there make a
beginning--at first in wooden sheds--of the now famous Bridgewater
Foundry.

"There," says he, "I toiled right heartily until December 31st, 1856,
when I retired to enjoy, in _active_ leisure, the result of many an
anxious and interesting day. I had there, with the blessing of God,
devoted the best years of my life to the pursuit of a business of which
I was proud. And I trust that, without undue vanity, I may be allowed to
say that I have left my mark upon several useful inventions, which
probably have had no small share in the mechanical works of the age.
There is scarcely a steamship or locomotive that is not indebted to my
steam hammer; and without it, Armstrong and Whitworth guns and
iron-plated men-of-war could scarcely have existed."

But though Nasmyth retired from business at the age of forty-eight, he
did not seek repose in idleness. He continues to be as busy as the
busiest; but in an altogether different direction. Instead of being tied
to the earth, he enjoys himself amongst the stars. By means of
telescopes of his own making, he has investigated the sun, and
discovered its "willow leaves;" he has examined and photographed the
moon, and in the monograph of it which he has published, he has made us
fully acquainted with its geography. He is also a thorough artist, and
spends a considerable portion of his time in painting,--though he is too
modest to exhibit. The last time we visited his beautiful home at
Hammerfield, he was busy polishing glasses for one of his new
telescopes,--the motive power being a windmill erected on one of his
outhouses.

Another word before we have done. "If," said Nasmyth, "I were to try to
compress into one sentence the whole of the experience I have had during
an active and successful life, and offer it to young men as a rule and
certain receipt for success in any station, it would be composed in
these words--'Duty _first!_ Pleasure _second!_' From what I have seen of
young men and their after-progress, I am satisfied that what is
generally termed 'bad fortune,' 'ill luck,' and 'misfortune,' is in nine
cases out of ten, simply the result of _inverting_ the above simple
maxim. Such experience as I have had, convinces me that absence of
success arises in the great majority of cases from want of self-denial
and want of common sense. The worst of all maxims is 'Pleasure _first!_
Work and Duty _second!_"




CHAPTER VI.

METHODS OF ECONOMY.


"It was with profound wisdom that the Romans called by the same name
courage and virtue. There is in fact no virtue, properly so called,
without victory over ourselves; and what cost us nothing, is worth
nothing."--_De Maistre_.

"Almost all the advantages which man possesses above the inferior
animals, arise from his power of acting in combination with his fellows;
and of accomplishing by the united efforts of numbers what could not be
accomplished by the detached efforts of indivduals."--_J.S. Mill_.

"For the future, our main security will be in the wider diffusion of
Property, and in all such measures as will facilitate this result. With
the possession of property will come Conservative instincts, and
disinclination for rash and reckless schemes.... We trust much,
therefore, to the rural population becoming Proprietors, and to the
urban population becoming Capitalists."--_W.R. Greg_.


The methods of practising economy are very simple. Spend less than you
earn. That is the first rule. A portion should always be set apart for
the future. The person who spends more than he earns, is a fool. The
civil law regards the spendthrift as akin to the lunatic, and frequently
takes from him the management of his own affairs.

The next rule is to pay ready money, and never, on any account, to run
into debt. The person who runs into debt is apt to get cheated; and if
he runs into debt to any extent, he will himself be apt to get
dishonest. "Who pays what he owes, enriches himself."

The next is, never to anticipate uncertain profits by expending them
before they are secured. The profits may never come, and in that case
you will have taken upon yourself a load of debt which you may never get
rid of. It will sit upon your shoulders like the old man in Sinbad.

Another method of economy is, to keep a regular account of all that you
earn, and of all that you expend. An orderly man will know beforehand
what he requires, and will be provided with the necessary means for
obtaining it. Thus his domestic budget will be balanced; and his
expenditure kept within his income.

John Wesley regularly adopted this course. Although he possessed a small
income, he always kept his eyes upon the state of his affairs. A year
before his death, he wrote with a trembling hand, in his Journal of
Expenses; "For more than eighty-six years I have kept my accounts
exactly. I do not care to continue to do so any longer, having the
conviction that I economize all that I obtain, and give all that I
can,--that is to say, all that I have."[1]

[Footnote 1: Southey's _Life of Wesley_, vol. ii., p. 560.]

Besides these methods of economy, the eye of the master or the mistress
is always necessary to see that nothing is lost, that everything is put
to its proper use and kept in its proper place, and that all things are
done decently and in order. It does no dishonour to even the highest
individuals to take a personal interest in their own affairs. And with
persons of moderate means, the necessity for the eye of the master
overlooking everything, is absolutely necessary for the proper conduct
of business.

It is difficult to fix the precise limits of economy. Bacon says that if
a man would live well within his income, he ought not to expend more
than one-half, and save the rest. This is perhaps too exacting; and
Bacon himself did not follow his own advice. What proportion of one's
income should be expended on rent? That depends upon circumstances. In
the country about one-tenth; in London about one-sixth. It is at all
events better to save too much, than spend too much. One may remedy the
first defect, but not so easily the latter. Wherever there is a large
family, the more money that is put to one side and saved, the better.

Economy is necessary to the moderately rich, as well as to the
comparatively poor man. Without economy, a man cannot be generous. He
cannot take part in the charitable work of the world. If he spends all
that he earns, he can help nobody. He cannot properly educate his
children, nor put them in the way of starting fairly in the business of
life. Even the example of Bacon shows that the loftiest intelligence
cannot neglect thrift without peril. But thousands of witnesses daily
testify, that men even of the most moderate intelligence, can practise
the virtue with success.

Although Englishmen are a diligent, hard-working, and generally
self-reliant race, trusting to themselves and their own efforts for
their sustenance and advancement in the world, they are yet liable to
overlook and neglect some of the best practical methods of improving
their position, and securing their social well-being. They are not yet
sufficiently educated to be temperate, provident, and foreseeing. They
live for the present, and are too regardless of the coming time. Men who
are husbands and parents, generally think they do their duty if they
provide for the hour that is, neglectful of the hour that is to come.
Though industrious, they are improvident; though money-making, they are
spendthrift. They do not exercise forethought enough, and are defective
in the virtue of prudent economy.

Men of all classes are, as yet, too little influenced by these
considerations. They are apt to live beyond their incomes,--at all
events, to live up to them, The upper classes live too much for display;
they must keep up their "position in society;" they must have fine
houses, horses, and carriages; give good dinners, and drink rich wines,
their ladies must wear costly and gay dresses. Thus the march of
improvidence goes on over broken hearts, ruined hopes, and wasted
ambitions.

The vice descends in society,--the middle classes strive to ape the
patrician orders; they flourish crests, liveries, and hammercloths;
their daughters must learn "accomplishments"--see "society"--ride and
drive--frequent operas and theatres. Display is the rage, ambition
rivalling ambition; and thus the vicious folly rolls on like a tide. The
vice again descends. The working classes, too, live up to their
means--much smaller means, it is true; but even when they are able, they
are not sufficiently careful to provide against the evil day; and then
only the poorhouse offers its scanty aid to protect them against want.

To save money for avaricious purposes is altogether different from
saving it for economical purposes. The saving may be accomplished in the
same manner--by wasting nothing, and saving everything. But here the
comparison ends. The miser's only pleasure is in saving. The prudent
economist spends what he can afford for comfort and enjoyment, and saves
a surplus for some future time. The avaricious person makes gold his
idol: it is his molten calf, before which he constantly bows down;
whereas the thrifty person regards it as a useful instrument, and as a
means of promoting his own happiness and the happiness of those who are
dependent upon him. The miser is never satisfied. He amasses wealth that
he can never consume, but leaves it to be squandered by others, probably
by spendthrifts; whereas the economist aims at securing a fair share of
the world's wealth and comfort, without any thought of amassing a
fortune.

It is the duty of all persons to economize their means,--of the young as
well as of the old. The Duke of Sully mentions, in his Memoirs, that
nothing contributed more to his fortune than the prudent economy which
he practised, even in his youth, of always preserving some ready money
in hand for the purpose of meeting circumstances of emergency. Is a man
married? Then the duty of economy is still more binding. His wife and
children plead to him most eloquently. Are they, in the event of his
early death, to be left to buffet with the world unaided? The hand of
charity is cold, the gifts of charity are valueless, compared with the
gains of industry, and the honest savings of frugal labour, which carry
with them blessings and comforts, without inflicting any wound upon the
feelings of the helpless and bereaved. Let every man, therefore, who
can, endeavour to economize and to save; not to hoard, but to nurse his
little savings, for the sake of promoting the welfare and happiness of
himself while here, and of others when he has departed.

There is a dignity in the very effort to save with a worthy purpose,
even though the attempt should not be crowned with eventual success. It
produces a well-regulated mind; it gives prudence a triumph over
extravagance; it gives virtue the mastery over vice; it puts the
passions under control; it drives away care; it secures comfort. Saved
money, however little, will serve to dry up many a tear--will ward off
many sorrows and heartburnings, which otherwise might prey upon us.
Possessed of a little store of capital, a man walks with a lighter
step--his heart beats more cheerily. When interruption of work or
adversity happens, he can meet them; he can recline on his capital,
which will either break his fall, or prevent it altogether. By
prudential economy, we can realize the dignity of man; life will be a
blessing, and old age an honour. We can ultimately, under a kind
Providence, surrender life, conscious that we have been no burden upon
society, but rather, perhaps, an acquisition and ornament to it;
conscious, also, that as we have been independent, our children after
us, by following our example, and availing themselves of the means we
have left behind us, will walk in like manner through the world in
happiness and independence.

Every man's first duty is, to improve, to educate, and elevate
himself--helping forward his brethren at the same time by all reasonable
methods. Each has within himself the capability of free will and free
action to a large extent; and the fact is proved by the multitude of men
who have successfully battled with and overcome the adverse
circumstances of life in which they have been placed; and who have risen
from the lowest depths of poverty and social debasement, as if to prove
what energetic man, resolute of purpose, can do for his own elevation,
progress, and advancement in the world. Is it not a fact that the
greatness of humanity, the glory of communities, the power of nations,
are the result of trials and difficulties encountered and overcome?

Let a man resolve and determine that he will advance, and the first step
of advancement is already made. The first step is half the battle. In
the very fact of advancing himself, he is in the most effectual possible
way advancing others. He is giving them the most eloquent of all
lessons--that of example; which teaches far more emphatically than words
can teach. He is doing, what others are by imitation incited to do.
Beginning with himself, he is in the most emphatic manner teaching the
duty of self-reform and of self-improvement; and if the majority of men
acted as he did, how much wiser, how much happier, how much more
prosperous as a whole, would society become. For, society being made up
of units, will be happy and prosperous, or the reverse, exactly in the
same degree as the respective individuals who compose it.

Complaints about the inequality of conditions are as old as the world.
In the "Economy" of Xenophon, Socrates asks, "How is it that some men
live in abundance, and have something to spare, whilst others can
scarcely obtain the necessaries of life, and at the same time run into
debt?" "The reason is," replied Isomachus, "because the former occupy
themselves with their business, whilst the latter neglect it."

The difference between men consists for the most part in intelligence,
conduct, and energy. The best character never works by chance, but is
under the influence of virtue, prudence, and forethought.

There are, of course, many failures in the world. The man who looks to
others for help, instead of relying on himself, will fail. The man who
is undergoing the process of perpetual waste, will fail. The miser, the
scrub, the extravagant, the thriftless, will necessarily fail. Indeed,
most people fail because they do not deserve to succeed. They set about
their work in the wrong way, and no amount of experience seems to
improve them. There is not so much in luck as some people profess to
believe. Luck is only another word for good management in practical
affairs. Richelieu used to say that he would not continue to employ an
unlucky man,--in other words, a man wanting in practical qualities, and
unable to profit by experience; for failures in the past are very often
the auguries of failures in the future.

Some of the best and ablest of men are wanting in tact. They will
neither make allowance for circumstances, nor adapt themselves to
circumstances: they will insist on trying to drive their wedge the broad
end foremost. They raise walls only to run their own heads against. They
make such great preparations, and use such great precautions, that they
defeat their own object,--like the Dutchman mentioned by Washington
Irving, who, having to leap a ditch, went so far back to have a good run
at it, that when he came up he was completely winded, and had to sit
down on the wrong side to recover his breath.

In actual life, we want things done, not preparations for doing them;
and we naturally prefer the man who has definite aims and purposes, and
proceeds in the straightest and shortest way to accomplish his object,
to the one who describes the thing to be done, and spins fine phrases
about doing it. Without action, words are mere maundering.

The desire for success in the world, and even for the accumulation of
money, is not without its uses. It has doubtless been implanted in the
human heart for good rather than for evil purposes. Indeed the desire to
accumulate, forms one of the most powerful instruments for the
regeneration of society. It provides the basis for individual energy and
activity. It is the beginning of maritime and commercial enterprise. It
is the foundation of industry, as well as of independence. It impels men
to labour, to invent, and to excel.

No idle nor thriftless man ever became great. It is amongst those who
never lost a moment, that we find the men who have moved and advanced
the world,--by their learning, their science, or their inventions.
Labour of some sort is one of the conditions of existence. The thought
has come down to us from pagan times, that "Labour is the price which
the gods have set upon all that is excellent." The thought is also
worthy of Christian times.

Everything depends, as we shall afterwards find, upon the uses to which
accumulations of wealth are applied. On the tombstone of John Donough,
of New Orleans, the following maxims are engraved as the merchant's
guide to young men on their way through life:--

"Remember always that labour is one of the conditions of our existence.

"Time is gold; throw not one minute away, but place each one to
account.

"Do unto all men as you would be done by.

"Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day.

"Never bid another do what you can do yourself.

"Never covet what is not your own.

"Never think any matter so trifling as not to deserve notice.

"Never give out what does not come in.

"Do not spend, but produce.

"Let the greatest order regulate the actions of your life.

"Study in your course of life to do the greatest amount of good.

"Deprive yourself of nothing that is necessary to your comfort, but
live in honourable simplicity and frugality.

"Labour then to the last moment of your existence."

Most men have it in their power, by prudent arrangements, to defend
themselves against adversity, and to throw up a barrier against
destitution. They can do this by their own individual efforts, or by
acting on the principle of co-operation, which is capable of an almost
indefinite extension. People of the most humble condition, by combining
their means and associating together, are enabled in many ways to defend
themselves against the pressure of poverty, to promote their physical
well-being, and even to advance the progress of the nation.

A solitary individual may be able to do very little to advance and
improve society; but when he combines with his fellows for the purpose,
he can do a very great deal. Civilization itself is but the effect of
combining. Mr. Mill has said that "almost all the advantages which man
possesses over the inferior animals, arise from his power of acting in
combination with his fellows, and of accomplishing, by the united
efforts of numbers, what could not be accomplished by the detached
efforts of individuals."

The secret of social development is to be found in co-operation; and the
great question of improved economical and social life can only receive a
satisfactory solution through its means. To effect good on a large
scale, men must combine their efforts; and the best social system is
that in which the organization for the common good is rendered the most
complete in all respects.

The middle classes have largely employed the principle of association.
No class has risen so rapidly, or done more by their energy and industry
to advance the power and progress of England. And why? Because the most
active have always been the most ready to associate, to co-operate, and
to combine. They have combined when they were attacked, combined when
they had an abuse to destroy, or a great object to accomplish. They have
associated together to manufacture articles of commerce, to make canals,
to construct railways, to form gas companies, to institute insurance and
banking companies, and to do an immense amount of industrial work. By
combining their small capitals together, they have been able to
accumulate an enormous aggregate capital, and to execute the most
gigantic undertakings.

The middle classes have accomplished more by the principle of
co-operation than the classes who have so much greater need of it. All
the joint stock companies are the result of association. The railways,
the telegraphs, the banks, the mines, the manufactories, have for the
most part been established and are carried on by means of the savings of
the middle classes.

The working classes have only begun to employ the same principle. Yet
how much might they accomplish by its means! They might co-operate in
saving as well as in producing. They might, by putting their saved
earnings together, become, by combination, their own masters. Within a
few years past, many millions sterling have been expended in strikes for
wages. A hundred millions a year are thrown away upon drink and other
unnecessary articles. Here is an enormous capital. Men who expend or
waste such an amount can easily become capitalists. It requires only
will, energy, and self-denial. So much money spent on buildings, plant,
and steam-engines, would enable them to manufacture for themselves,
instead of for the benefit of individual capitalists. The steam-engine
is impartial in its services. It is no respecter of persons; it will
work for the benefit of the labourer as well as for the benefit of the
millionaire. It will work for those who make the best use of it, and who
have the greatest knowledge of its powers.

The greater number of workmen possess little capital save their labour;
and, as we have already seen, many of them uselessly and wastefully
spend most of their earnings, instead of saving them and becoming
capitalists. By combining in large numbers for the purposes of
economical working, they might easily become capitalists, and operate
upon a large scale. As society is now constituted, every man is not only
justified but bound in duty as a citizen, to accumulate his earnings by
all fair and honourable methods, with the view of securing a position of
ultimate competence and independence.

We do not say that men should save and hoard their gains for the mere
sake of saving and hoarding; this would be parsimony and avarice. But we
do say that all men ought to aim at accumulating a sufficiency--enough
to maintain them in comfort during the helpless years that are to
come--to maintain them in times of sickness and of sorrow, and in old
age, which, if it does come, ought to find them with a little store of
capital in hand, sufficient to secure them from dependence upon the
charity of others.

Workmen are for the most part disposed to associate; but the association
is not always of a healthy kind. It sometimes takes the form of Unions
against masters; and displays itself in the Strikes that are so common,
and usually so unfortunate. Workmen also strike against men of their own
class, for the purpose of excluding them from their special calling. One
of the principal objects of trades-unions is to keep up wages at the
expense of the lower paid and unassociated working people. They
endeavour to prevent poorer men learning their trade, and thus keep the
supply of labour below the demand.[1] This system may last for a time,
but it becomes ruinous in the end.

[Footnote 1: On the 31st January, 1875, a labourer in the employment of
Messrs. Vickers, Sheffield, who had not served an apprenticeship, was
put on to turn one of the lathes. This being contrary to the rules of
the union, the men in the shop struck work. It is a usual course for men
of the union to "strike" in this manner against persons of their own
condition, and to exercise a force not resting in law or natural right,
but merely on the will of a majority, and directly subversive of the
freedom of the individual.]

It is not the want of money that prevents skilled workmen from becoming
capitalists, and opening the door for the employment of labouring men
who are poorer and less skilled than themselves. The work-people threw
away half a million sterling during the Preston strike, after which they
went back to work at the old terms. The London building trades threw
away over three hundred thousand pounds during their strike; and even
had they obtained the terms for which they struck, it would have taken
six years to recoup them for their loss. The colliers in the Forest of
Dean went back to work at the old terms after eleven weeks' play, at the
loss of fifty thousand pounds. The iron-workers of Northumberland and
Durham, after spending a third of the year in idleness, and losing two
hundred thousand pounds in wages, went back to work at a reduction of
ten per cent. The colliers and iron-workers of South Wales, during the
recent strike or lock-out, were idle for four months, and, according to
Lord Aberdare, lost, in wages alone, not less than three millions
sterling!

Here, then, is abundance of money within the power of
working-men,--money which they might utilize, but do not. Think only of
a solitary million, out of the three millions sterling which they threw
away during the coal strike, being devoted to the starting of
collieries, or iron-mills, or manufactories, to be worked by
co-operative production for the benefit of the operatives themselves.
With frugal habits, says Mr. Greg, the well-conditioned workman might in
ten years easily have five hundred pounds in the bank; and, combining
his savings with twenty other men similarly disposed, they might have
ten thousand pounds for the purpose of starting any manufacture in which
they are adepts.[1]

[Footnote 1: "The annual expenditure of the working classes alone, on
drink and tobacco, is not less than ВЈ60,000,000. Every year, therefore,
the working classes have it in their power to become capitalists
(_simply by saving wasteful and pernicious expenditure_) to an extent
which would enable them to start at least 500 cotton mills, or coal
mines, or iron works, _on their own account_, or to purchase at least
500,000 acres, and so set up 50,000 families each with a nice little
estate of their own of ten acres, on fee simple. No one can dispute the
facts. No one can deny the inference."--_Quarterly Review,_ No. 263.]

That this is not an impracticable scheme, is capable of being easily
proved. The practice of co-operation has long been adopted by workpeople
throughout England. A large proportion of the fishery industry has been
conducted on that principle for hundreds of years. Fishermen join in
building, rigging, and manning a boat; the proceeds of the fish they
catch at sea is divided amongst them--so much to the boat, so much to
the fishermen. The company of oyster-dredgers of Whitstable "has existed
time out of mind,"[2] though it was only in 1793 that they were
incorporated by Act of Parliament. The tin-miners of Cornwall have also
acted on the same principle. They have mined, washed, and sold the tin,
dividing the proceeds among themselves in certain proportions,--most
probably from the time that the Phoenicians carried away the produce to
their ports in the Mediterranean.

[Footnote 2: Reports on the Paris Universal Exhibition, 1867, vol. vi.,
p. 252.]

In our own time, co-operation has been practised to a considerable
extent. In 1795, the Hull Anti-Mill Industrial Society was founded. The
reasons for its association are explained in the petition addressed to
the Mayor and Aldermen of Hull by the first members of the society. The
petition begins thus: "We, the poor inhabitants of the said town, have
lately experienced much trouble and sorrow in ourselves and families, on
the occasion of the exorbitant price of flour; and though the price is
much reduced at present, yet we judge it needful to take every
precaution to preserve ourselves from the invasions of covetous and
merciless men in future." They accordingly entered into a subscription
to build a mill, in order to supply themselves with flour. The
corporation granted their petition, and supported them by liberal
donations. The mill was built, and exists to this day. It now consists
of more than four thousand members, each holding a share of twenty-five
shillings. The members belong principally to the labouring classes. The
millers endeavoured by action at law to put down the society, but the
attempt was successfully resisted. The society manufactures flour, and
sells it to the members at market price, dividing the profits annually
amongst the shareholders, according to the quantity consumed in each
member's family. The society has proved eminently remunerative.

Many years passed before the example of the "poor inhabitants" of Hull
was followed. It was only in 1847 that the co-operators of Leeds
purchased a flour-mill, and in 1850 that those of Rochdale did the same;
since which time they have manufactured flour for the benefit of their
members. The corn-millers of Leeds attempted to undersell the Leeds
Industrial Society. They soon failed, and the price of flour was
permanently reduced. The Leeds mill does business amounting to more than
a hundred thousand pounds yearly; its capital amounts to twenty-two
thousand pounds; and it paid more than eight thousand pounds of profits
and bonuses to its three thousand six hundred members in 1866, besides
supplying them with flour of the best quality. The Rochdale District
Co-operative Corn-mill Society has also been eminently successful. It
supplies flour to consumers residing within a radius of about fifteen
miles round Rochdale[1]. It also supplies flour to sixty-two
co-operative societies, numbering over twelve thousand members. Its
business in 1866 amounted to two hundred and twenty-four thousand
pounds, and its profits to over eighteen thousand pounds.

[Footnote 1: Its history is given in the Reports above referred to, p.
269.]

The Rochdale Corn-mill grew out of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society, which formed an epoch in the history of industrial co-operative
institutions. The Equitable Pioneers Society was established in the year
1844, at a time when trade was in a very bad condition, and working
people generally were heartless and hopeless as to their future state.
Some twenty-eight or thirty men, mostly flannel weavers, met and formed
themselves into a society for the purpose of economizing their hard-won
earnings. It is pretty well known that working-men generally pay at
least ten per cent. more for the articles they consume, than they need
to do under a sounder system. Professor Fawcett estimates their loss at
nearer twenty per cent. than ten per cent. At all events, these
working-men wished to save this amount of profit, which before went into
the pockets of the distributers of the necessaries,--in other words,
into the pockets of the shopkeepers.

The weekly subscription was twopence each; and when about fifty-two
calls of twopence each had been made, they found that they were able to
buy a sack of oatmeal, which they distributed at cost-price amongst the
members of the society. The number of members grew, and the
subscriptions so increased, that the society was enabled to buy tea,
sugar, and other articles, and distribute them amongst the members at
cost-price. They superseded the shopkeepers, and became their own
tradesmen. They insisted from the first on payments in cash. No credit
was given.