waiting for reinforcements is the one who conquers. George Eliot says: "No great deed was ever done by falterers who ask for certainty." Take the initiative; decide quickly. The man who can't decide worries about the matter, and the more he worries about it the more muddled he becomes. Investigate the thing, and then decide once for all. The man who stands alone, and who is capable of standing alone, is constantly pushed forward to victory by all the great forces in the universe. The man who doesn't try to stand alone is in a heap.

"The successful man is the man who knows a good thing when he sees it." To be able to know a good thing when you see it, is a valuable asset to one's capital. There are two kinds of people who don't know a good proposition when they see it. Those who think it is too good to be true, and those who think its so good that perhaps it might be made better.

A young man in the employ of a certain company was called in to renew his contract for a year. He expected to get about $75 a month, but his firm offered him $100 a month.

He thought there must be a big profit in the business if they could afford that, and that per

haps they could afford more. He didn't act agreeably surprised; he didn't say he appreciated the advance, but said he would let them know in a day or so. He actually asked for a little more. Negotiations were then broken off, and he finally hired for half what he was first offered.

Decision marks the man of power. Decide a thing, and it is there with no "ifs" to contend with. Be able to cope with the strong. It takes energy to decide, but it saves time. Two-thirds of life is wasted in making up one's mind.

"There is no grander sight in the world than a young man fired with a great purpose, dominated by one unwavering aim. He is bound to win. The world stands aside and lets him pass. He does not have one-half the opposition to overcome that the undecided, purposeless man has, who, like driftwood, runs against all sorts of snags to which he must yield because he has no momentum to force them out of his way. What a sublime spectacle to see a youth going straight to his goal, cutting his way through difficulties and surmounting obstacles which dishearten others, as though they were stepping stones."

DOING A BIG BUSINESS ON A SMALL

MARGIN.

DOING a big business on a small margin means giving everyone a chance. It means more help, more customers, more opportunity for growth, more self-satisfaction, and more profit. The man who is big enough to do a big business on a small margin, is big enough to sacrifice the nickel to get the dollar. Some men are so penurious that they are afraid to take any risk. They are afraid to let go of a penny; and when they get a dollar they squeeze the life out of the eagle. If such a man makes a fortune, he makes it by saving a penny at a time. The other man develops a fortune in brains and far-sighted business ability, and if he has a misfortune and loses his all, he can begin over again and build up another fortune in a few years.

The man who does a small business on a big margin, has nothing left if he loses his fortune; he can but begin over again and save a penny

at a time just as the miser does. His little business has not given him an experience that's worth anything. He has lived unto himself and has never been heard of by the world. A man must make money; he must have a margin. Everyone wants him to make a profit, but he wrongs himself most of all when he tries to make an unreasonable profit. The big business on a small margin is one of the keynotes of

success.

Successful men put more into their business than mere physical energy, force, and brains; they put into it gentleness, kindness, and charity. The man who is not fair nor generous will never feel right, and he won't consider himself a real success. It is a misfortune to be unreasonably selfish. When the theatre is on fire, we think it is brutal for strong men to crush weak women and children to death in their mad rush for safety; but how much worse it is for calm, collected, sharp, shrewd men to take advantage of the innocent and unsuspecting, and by means of technicalities beat them out of house and home to add to their own ill-gotten gains. The man who gets all he can and keeps all he gets, regardless of the "how," will never