ght it all out
with himself. He determined he would be cheerful, brave, and strong. He
forced himself to smile, and soon was able to laugh at himself for
presenting such a ridiculous appearance. He met the next customer with a
hearty greeting of good cheer. All the forenoon he grew stronger in his
determination to let nothing move him to gloom again. About noon the
daily Boston paper came and announced the possible failure of that bank.
Almost instantly the news flew about town, and a wild mob assailed the
bank, screaming for their money. But the cheerful cashier met them with
a smile and made fun of their excitement. The eighteenth man demanding
his money was an old German, who, seeing the cashier count out the money
so coolly and cheerfully, drew back his bank-book and said: "If you have
the money, we don't want it now! But we thought you didn't have it!"
That suggestion made the crowd laugh, and in half an hour the crowd had
left and those who had drawn their money in many cases asked the cashier
to take it back. The cashier now is a most successful manufacturer and
railroad director, stout-hearted and cheerful. He often refers to the
fight he had that morning with his "insignificant, flabby little self."

To appreciate one's power at command is the first consideration. A man
from Cooperstown, New York, visited St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota, in the
early fifties of the last century and laughed loud and long at the
ridiculous little mill which turned out a few bags of flour and sawed a
few thousand feet of lumber. It was indeed ludicrous. He could think of
no comparison except an elephant drawing a baby's tin toy. His laughter
led to a heated discussion and investigation. An army officer at Fort
Snelling, who was a civil engineer, was asked to make an estimate of the
Mississippi River's horse-power at St. Anthony Falls. His report was
beyond the civilian's belief. He said there was power enough to turn the
wheels to grind out ten thousand barrels of flour a day and to cut logs
into millions of square feet of board every hour. The estimate was below
the facts, but was not accepted for ten years. Then was constructed the
strong dam which built up the great city of Minneapolis and represents
the finest and most vigorous civilization of our age. Nevertheless,
there still runs to waste ten thousand horse-power. In the first
paper-mill erected at South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts, the horse-power
used was less than one hundre