for their success upon the active co-operation of his staff, from the highest to the lowest. The very messenger-boy can cause failure by being late with the delivery of a letter. Work is largely its own. reward. You may have read the lines:

"To set the cause above renown,

To love the game beyond the prize."

That would make a good business creed for you and me. You must "play the game," not for the money it brings but for its own sake.

When you find a successful man you find a worker. He works hard when he has no need to work. He works because he loves work, and the reason he has succeeded is because he has always loved it.

A traveller once told me that in certain parts of Spain, if you go into a shop and ask if an article is in stock, the shopkeeper will say, "I don't know. Come back to-morrow and I will tell you." No man ever made the best use of his talents by putting off his work. "Give us this day our daily bread," says the Lord's Prayer. If we ask for, and expect, this prompt supply from the Creator, we should yield back our prompt daily work in return. No matter how strong your will, nor how high your hope, your mind is unbalanced and incomplete unless you use your faculties vigorously and conscientiously. To-morrow brings its own duties.

To-day is the appointed time.

Throw off sloth and

doubt. The energy and the work of the world wait upon your effort. Shall they wait because you may wish to be idle, or because you fear to attempt ? If so, you too must expect to wait for your "daily bread"; or, in other words, for your SUCCESS.

CHAPTER VII

STUDY

"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings ; so you shall come easily by what others have laboured hard for. Prefer knowledge to wealth, for one is transitory, the other perpetual."

IT

SOCRATES.

T is a condition of the enjoyment of power that it should be increased by use. You cannot live upon your mental capital so well as upon the income which it brings you; and just as in commerce the more you put by the bigger your income will be, so with your mental power, the more you can add to it the more force you can exert.

Nothing worth doing can be accomplished without study. The man who leaves his mental work behind him and devotes himself entirely to pleasure after office hours, must remain a routine worker all his life. You must know your business thoroughly before you can size up its possibilities. You cannot plan big projects and carry them through unless you are familiar with all the detail work which will be necessary. Some men, by performing routine well, rise to comfortable positions, but they remain routine workers. The captains of industry are

recruited from the thinkers, the men who dream dreams and then convert them into practical realities.

Consider the meanings of the word "study." Here are some of them: "To bestow pains upon "; "to apply the mind to"; "to examine closely, in order to learn thoroughly"; "to form and arrange by thought"; "to con over." There are others to the same point, but you will notice that all these varying meanings suggest the active and well-considered employment of the brain to achieve a definite purpose. Taking the meanings in their order, we find that the word demands care, an effort of the mind, close attention, system and reflection.

Now, the purpose of study is to acquire some knowledge which will be useful. If you are in business, study that business and learn all you can about it. You can study books on commercial correspondence, on law, on book-keeping, or you can study shorthand and typewriting. If you have a knowledge of law, what is there to prevent you reading for the Bar? You can save money for your fees, and you can get coached, then you can take your examinations one by one, and finally get called. It will be much better to study definitely for the Bar than just to study law in a desultory fashion. You can be sure that if you get called your employers will be very glad to make use of your special qualifications.

If you are an accountant, study for the examinations of the Institute of Secretaries; or if your firm advertises largely, take a course of advertising lessons. Whatever branch of learning you take up, study it thoroughly in such a way that you will get expert guidance. If you want to study art or literature, there are plenty of lectures at the polytechnics which will give you what you want. If you live in a town where these facilities are not available, hunt round for subscribers and get a course of University Extension Lectures through the winter. Even if you are only keen on some hobby, study it. There are endless possibilities in photography which will well repay careful study. There are fretwork, carpentry, engineering, and a score of other things upon which you can use your mind. You have some particular talent that an experienced teacher can develop for you. Study with a teacher if you can, or, if that is not possible, take in the paper that deals with your hobby and ask the editor to advise you upon a choice of books that will teach you all you want to know about it.

If a thing is worth using your mental effort upon, it is worth the full force of your mind. I want to fire your ambition to excel in everything you undertake. Do not be content to know just as much as the average man. If you are you can never be anything above the average. Just a little more