usband. He judged of
women as of men--by little things; and he was right.

A druggist advertised for an assistant, and he had applications from a
score of young man. He invited them all to come to his shop at the same
time, and set them each to make up a pennyworth of salts into a packet.
He selected the one that did this little thing in the neatest and most
expert manner. He inferred their general practical ability from their
performance of this smallest bit of business.

Neglect of little things has ruined many fortunes and marred the best of
enterprises. The ship which bore home the merchant's treasure was lost
because it was allowed to leave the port from which it sailed with a
very little hole in the bottom. For want of a nail the shoe of the
aide-de-camp's horse was lost; for want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
for want of the horse, the aide-de-camp himself was lost, for the enemy
took him and killed him; and for want of the aide-de camp's
intelligence, the army of his general was lost: and all because a little
nail had not been properly fixed in a horse's shoe!

"It will do!" is the common phrase of those who neglect little things.
"It will do!" has blighted many a character, blasted many a fortune,
sunk many a ship, burnt down many a house, and irretrievably ruined
thousands of hopeful projects of human good. It always means stopping
short of the right thing. It is a makeshift. It is a failure and defeat.
Not what "will do," but what is the best possible thing to do,--is the
point to be aimed at! Let a man once adopt the maxim of "It will do,"
and he is given over to the enemy,--he is on the side of incompetency
and defeat,--and we give him up as a hopeless subject!

M. Say, the French political economist, has related the following
illustration of the neglect of little things. Once, at a farm in the
country, there was a gate enclosing the cattle and poultry, which was
constantly swinging open for want of a proper latch. The expenditure of
a penny or two, and a few minutes' time, would have made all right. It
was on the swing every time a person went out, and not being in a state
to shut readily, many of the poultry were from time to time lost. One
day a fine young porker made his escape, and the whole family, with the
gardener, cook, and milkmaid, turned out in quest of the fugitive. The
gardener was the first to discover the pig, and in leaping a ditch to
cut off his escape, got a sprain that kept him to