in which wheat is
not grown, but cabbages and carrots for the London market; and here
seating himself upon a gate, he gave his mind up to a close study
of the subject. First he took from his pocket a short list which he
always carried, and once more read over the names and figures which
it bore.

Barlywig, L40,000 per annum.

How did Barlywig begin such an outlay as that? He knew that Barlywig
had, as a boy, walked up to town with twopence in his pocket, and in
his early days, had swept out the shop of a shoemaker. The giants of
trade all have done that. Then he went on with the list:--

Holloway . . . . L30,000 per annum.
Moses . . . . 10,000 "
Macassar Oil . . 10,000 "
Dr. De Jongh . . 10,000 "

What a glorious fraternity! There were many others that followed with
figures almost equally stupendous. Revalenta Arabica! Bedsteads!
Paletots! Food for Cattle! But then how did these great men begin?
He himself had begun with some money in his hand, and had failed.
As to them, he believed that they had all begun with twopence. As
for genius and special talent, it was admitted on all sides that
he possessed it. Of that he could feel no doubt, as other men were
willing to employ him.

"Shall I never enjoy the fruits of my own labour?" said he to
himself. "Must I still be as the bee, whose honey is robbed from him
as soon as made?

The lofty rhyme I still must build,
Though other hands shall touch the money.

Will this be my fate for ever?--

The patient oxen till the furrows,
But never eat the generous corn.

Shall the corn itself never be my own?"

And as he sat there the words of Poppins came upon his memory. "You
advertising chaps never do anything. All that printing never makes
the world any richer." At the moment he had laughed down Poppins with
absolute scorn; but now, at this solitary moment he began to reflect
whether there might be any wisdom in his young friend's words. "The
question has been argued," he continued in his soliloquy, "by the
greatest philosopher of the age. A man goes into hats, and in order
to force a sale, he builds a large cart in the shape of a hat, paints
it blue, and has it drawn through the streets. He still finds that
his sale is not rapid; and with a view of increasing it, what shall
he do? Shall he make his felt hats better, or shall he make his
wooden hat bigger? Poppins and the philosopher say that the for