10 



But I may be addressing some young man who is dis- 

 posed to leave the farm with a view of entering into 

 trade — manufacturing or merchandizing — in the hope of 

 living more easily, and acquiring large, perhaps sud- 

 den, wealth. 



As to acquiring large and sudden w^ealth by merchan- 

 dizing, we might as well face the facts at the outset. It 

 is true that the merchant handles more cash than the 

 farmer. It is also true that here and there a merchant 

 prospers. A few among the multitude amass large for- 

 tunes, and on these the gaze is fixed of every farmer's 

 son who is tempted to desert the plantation for the 

 counting-room. 



But we have already remarked that the men who ac- 

 quire these large estates have special gifts for this venj 

 thing — as truly so as Raphael for painting, as Praxiteles 

 for sculpture, as Bezaleel and Aholiab for producing the 

 artistry which adorned the Tabernacle of the Wilder- 

 ness; and there ^iq fanners who have the same gift for 

 accumulating j)roperty, who rise from poverty to opu- 

 lence, no matter where they dwell, on the wide wes- 

 tern prairie, or in the narrowest, roughest, most unprom- 

 ising district of New England. But these prosperous 

 farmers are overlooked by those who rush from the 

 plough and flail to the yard-stick and ledger. 



It cannot l)e disputed the mercantile profession has 

 a, fair field in this country. Almost every one who 

 wishes can enter it and find something to do, while 

 many attain a good degree of success. But this is only 

 one side of the picture. The other side discloses the 

 fact that the career of multitudes of those engaged in 

 commercial pursuits is one constant struggle with anxi- 

 ties and difficulties, perhaps temptations to knavishness, 



