make
Christians with full stomachs than empty.

DON'T BLAB

Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets. If they
make money they like to tell their neighbors how it was done. Nothing
is gained by this, and ofttimes much is lost. Say nothing about your
profits, your hopes, your expectations, your intentions. And this
should apply to letters as well as to conversation. Goethe makes
Mephistophilles say: "Never write a letter nor destroy one." Business
men must write letters, but they should be careful what they put in
them. If you are losing money, be specially cautious and not tell of it,
or you will lose your reputation.

PRESERVE YOUR INTEGRITY

It is more precious than diamonds or rubies. The old miser said to
his sons: "Get money; get it honestly if you can, but get money:" This
advice was not only atrociously wicked, but it was the very essence of
stupidity: It was as much as to say, "if you find it difficult to obtain
money honestly, you can easily get it dishonestly. Get it in that way."
Poor fool! Not to know that the most difficult thing in life is to make
money dishonestly! Not to know that our prisons are full of men who
attempted to follow this advice; not to understand that no man can
be dishonest, without soon being found out, and that when his lack
of principle is discovered, nearly every avenue to success is closed
against him forever. The public very properly shun all whose integrity
is doubted. No matter how polite and pleasant and accommodating a man
may be, none of us dare to deal with him if we suspect "false weights
and measures." Strict honesty, not only lies at the foundation of
all success in life (financially), but in every other respect.
Uncompromising integrity of character is invaluable. It secures to its
possessor a peace and joy which cannot be attained without it--which no
amount of money, or houses and lands can purchase. A man who is known
to be strictly honest, may be ever so poor, but he has the purses of
all the community at his disposal--for all know that if he promises to
return what he borrows, he will never disappoint them. As a mere matter
of selfishness, therefore, if a man had no higher motive for being
honest, all will find that the maxim of Dr. Franklin can never fail to
be true, that "honesty is the best policy."

To get rich, is not always equivalent to being successful. "There are
many rich poor men," while there are many others, honest