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from nothing, to begin at their first entry 

 into life, and give you a journal of it. 

 This was the case with Mr. Bell, of Phila- 

 delphia. He asked me to dine with him ; 

 when he gave me the history of his pro- 

 gress : and at that time, not knowing but 

 I should settle in the country, I made a 

 point to take great notice of these men's 

 stories, that I might acquire the knowledge 

 of growing rich, as I could clearly see it 

 was not to be accomplished by farming. I 

 found that the first money Mr. Bell acquir- 

 ed (what is called fortunate money, since 

 all his great riches arose from it) was by 

 buying damaged hats, that had been im- 

 ported, and were rotten — a pretty large 

 quantity of them for a very small sum of 

 money. He used to sit up, and in the 

 night, for fear any one should see him, to 

 trim them for sale : had they been seen be- 

 fore dressing, the market would have been 

 over. The method he adopted to make 

 them saleable was a singular one : it was by 

 oiling, and afterwards pressing them with a 



