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BiRNUM'S RULES FOB SUCCESS
IN BUSINESS.
1. Select the kikv 0/ iuttness thai
suits your natural inclinations and
temperameut. Some nun are naturally
mechanics ; others have a strong aver
sion to auythiug like machinery, and so
on ; one man has a natural taste for one
occupation, and another for another. 'I
am glad that we do not all think alike,'
said Dick Homespun, 'for if we did,
everybody would think my gal, Sukcy
Snipes, the sweetest creature in all crea
tion, aad they would all be trying to
court her at once,'
I never could succeed as a merchant.
I bave tried it unsucccsfully several
times. I never could be content with a
fixed salary, for mine is a purely specu
lative disposition, while others are just tbe
reverse ; and iherelore, all should be care
ful to select those occupations that suit
them best.
2. Lei your pledged tmrd ever be
sacied. Never promise to do a thing .
without performing it with the most rigid
promptness. Nothing is more valuable
to a man in business than the name of
always doing as be agrees, and that to
the moment. A strict adherence to this
rule gives a man the command of half
the spate funds within the range of his
acquaintance, and always encircles him
with a host of friends who may be de
pended upon in almost any conceivable
emergency.
3. Whatever you do, do with all your
inu/ At. Work at it if necessary early
and late, in Beason and out of seasoD
not leaving a stone unturned, and nevei
deferring for a single hour that which
can he done just as well nau-. The old
proverb is full of truth and meaning
'VVhatevr is worth doing at all, is worth
doing well.' Many a man acquires a
fortune by doing lii« business tlioroughly,
while his neighbour remains poor for life
because he only half does his business.
AmbitioD, energy,iadustry, perseverance,
are indispensable requisites lor suc^h^
in business. ?i,'^TB
4. Sobriety. Use no dem^cS^
viloxicalwff drinks. As no man can
succeed in business unless he has a brain
to enable him $0 lay his plans, and rea
son to guide him in their execution, so,
no matter how bountifully a man may
be blest with intelligence, if his brain is
is muddled, and his judgment warped
by intoxicating drinks, it is impossible
for him to carry on business successfully.
How many good opportunities have pas
sed never to return, while a man was
sipping a 'social glass' with his friend !
How many foolish bargrins bave been
made under the influence of the nervine
which temporarily makes its victims so
rich! How many important chances
have been put off till to-morrow, and
thence for ever, because the winc-cnp
has thrown the system into a state of
lassitude, neutralizing the energies so
essential to success in business. The

use of intoxicatiug drinks ae a beverage
ifl as mwh ao infatuation as is the smok
ing of opium by the Chinese, and the
former is quite as destructive to the
sucoesB of the business man as the
latter.
5. Let hope predominate ?, but be not
tootisonary. Many prrnouR are always
kept poor.beoause Ibey aru too visionary
Every projeot looks to th;:m like certain
success, and therefore (hey keep chang
ing from one business to another, always
in hot water, always 'under the barrow.'
The plan of 'counting the cliickens be
fore they are hatched' is an error of
ancient date, but it does not seem to im
prove by age.
6. Z)o not scatter your powers. En
gage in one kind of business only, and
stkstc to it faithfully until you succeed,
or until you coBolude to abandon it. A
constant bamaeriog on one nail, will
generally drive ic home at last, so that
ft be clinched. When a man's undivided
attention is centred on one object, bis
mind is constantly suggesting some
improvements of value, which would
escape him if his brain were occupied
by a dozen different subjects »t once.
Many a fortune has slipped tb rough menB
fingers'by engaging in too many occupa
tions at onee.
7. Engage proper employes. Never
employ a man of bad habits, when one
whose habits are good can be found to
fill his situation. I have generally been
extremely fortunate in having faithful
and competent persons to fill the respon
sible situations in my business, and a
man oan scarcely be too grateful for such
b. blessing. When you find a man un
fit to fill his station, either from ioca
V*-rm7 or peculiarity of character or die
:--j Jjto, dispense with his services, and
thfrot drag out a miserable existence in
tho vain attempt to change his nature.
It i» utterly impossible to do so. 'You
oannot make a silk purse,' etc. He was
created for some other sphere. Let him
find and fill it.
8. Advertise pour businest. Do not
hide your light under a bushel. What
ever your occupation or calling may be,
if it needs suppoit from tbe public,
advertise it thoroughly and efficiently,
in some shape or other, that will arrest
publio attention. I freely confess that
what success I have bad in my life may
fairly be attributed more to tbe public
press than to nearly all other causes
combined. There may possibly be oc
cupations that do not require advertising,
but I cannot well conoeira wh»t tbey
are.
Men in business will sometimes tell
you that they have tried advertising,
and that it did not pay. This is only
when advertising fs done sparingly and
gradgiDgly. HoraoBopathie doses of ad*
vertising will not pay perhaps— it is like
half a portion of physio, makiug the
patient eiok, but effecting nothing. Ad
minister liberally, and the cure will be
sure and permanent.
Some say, 'they cannot afford to ad
vertise ;' they mistake— they cannot
afford not to advertise, lo this country,
where everybody reads the newspapers,
the man must have a thiok skull who
does not see that these are the cheapest
and best mediums through which be can
speak to the public, where he is to find
his customers. Put on tbe appearance
of business, and generally tbe reality
will follow. Tbe farmer plants his seed,
and while he is sleeping, his corn and
potatoes are growirjg. So with adver
tising. While you are sleeping, or eat
ing, or conversing with one set of cus
tomers, your advertisement is being read
by hundreds and thousands of persons
who never saw you, nor beard of your
business, and never would, had it not
been for your advertisement appearing in
the newspapers.
The business men of this country do
not, as a general thing, appreciate the
advantages of advertising thoroughly.
Occasionally (he public are aroused at
witnessing the success of a Bwaim, a
Braadretb, a Townsend, a Genin, or a
Boot, and express astonishment at tbe
rapidity with which these gentlemen ac
quire fortunes, not reflecting that the
same path is open to all who dare pursue
it. Bat it needs nerve and faith. The
former to enable you to launch out thou
sands on the uncertain waters of the
futnre ; the latter to teach you thit after
many days it shall surely return, bring
ing an hundred or a thousand fold to
him who appreciates the advantages of
'printer's ink' properly applied.
9. Avoid extravagance ; and always
live considerably within your income, if
you can do so without alisolufe starva
tion I It needs no prophet to tell us that
those who live fully up to their means,
v-ithout any thought of a reverse in life
rijj never attain to a pecuniary independ
mrJw.
Men and women accustomed to gratify
every whim and caprice will find it hard
at first to cut down their various un
necessary expenses, and will feel it a
self-denial to live in a smaller house
than they have been accustomed to, wi A
less expensive furniture, less company,
less ooBtly clothing, a less number 0(
balls, parties, theatre-goings, oarriage
ridings, pleasure excursions, oigaramok
inge, liquor-drinkings, etc., etc., eto, ;
but, after all, if they will try tbe plan
of laying by a 'nest egg,' or, in other
words, a small sum of money, after
paying all expenses, they will bo sur
prised at the pleasure to be derived from
constantly adding to their little 'pile,'
as well as from all the economical habits
which follow in the pursuit of this pecu
liar pleasure.
The old suit of clothes, and the old
bonnet and dress, will answer for an
other season ; the Cioton or Bpriog water
will taste better than Champagne; ft
1

brisk walk will prove mere exbileratiug
tban a vide in the finest ooacb ; a social
family ehat, an evening's reading in the
family oirole, or an hour's play or 'bunt
the slipper1' and 'blind man's buff,' will
be far more pleasant tban a fifty or five
hundred dollar party, .when tbe reflec
tion on the difference in cost is indulged
in by thaw who begin to know lhv plea-
sure iff taxing.
Thousands of men are kept poor, and
t»ns of thousands sre male so af:er they
litve acquired quite sufficient to support
them well through life, in consequence ol
laying their plans of living on too exten
sive a platform. Some families in this
country expend twenty thousand dollars
per annum, and som* ranch more, and
would ecawsly know bow to lire on a less
lam.
Froapeiity U a more sev»re ordeal than
adversity, especially sudden prosperity.
'Susy eomo, easy po,' is an old and true
proverb. 'Pride,' when permitted full
sway, ia the great undying cankerworm
whioh gnaws the very vital* of a man's
worldly possessions, let them be small o.1
great, hundred* or millions. Many per
sons, as they bsgin to prosper, immediately
commenoe expending for luxuries, until in
a short time their expenses swallow np
their income, aud they become rained in
their ridiculous attempts to keep up ap
pearanoea, and make a 'sensation.'
I know a gentleman of fortune, who says
that when he first began to prosper, bis
wife 'would have' a new and elegant sofa,
'that sala,' he says, 'cost me thirty thou
sand dollars!' Tlia riddle is thus explained :
When tbe sofa reaobed tbe house, it
was found necessary to get chairs to
'match,' then side-boards, carpets and
tables, 'to correspond' with them, and
so on through the entire stock of furni
ture, when at last it was found that the
house itself waB quite too small and old
fashioned for tbe furniture, and a new
one was built to correspond with the sofa
and et ceteras ; '6bus,' added my friend,
'running up an outlay of thirty thousand
dollars caused by that single sofa, and
saddling on roe, in the shape of servants,
equipage, and the necessary expenses
attendant upon keeping up a fine 'estab-
lishment' a yearly outlay of eleven
thousand dollar?, and a tight piooh at
that ; whereas ten years ago, we lived
with much more real ooafort, beoanse
with much less eare, on so many hun
dreds, The truth is,' he continued,
'that sofa would have brought me to
inevitable bankruptcy, had pot a most
unexampled tide of prosperity kept me
above it,'
JO. Do not depend upon others. —
Your success must depend upon your
own individual exertions. Triwt not to
the assistance of friends ; but learn that
every man must be the architect of bis
own fortune.
With proper attention to the foregoing
rules, and such observations as a roan
of sense will pick up in his own experi
ence, tbe road to competence will not, T
think, usually be found a difficult one.
P. T. Babnum.

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