ne. All
that is wanted, is sufficient firmness and perseverance. I used to
like a glass of ale, too, and a plate of oysters, but I saw that the
expense was rather a serious matter, and that the indulgence did not
do me a particle of good. So I gave them up, also; and if you try
hard enough, you can do it, too."

"I don't know--perhaps I might; but somehow or other, it strikes me
that seventy or eighty dollars a year, laid by in the Savings' Bank,
is rather a dear saving, if made at the expense of every comfort a
poor man has. What good is the money going to do?"

"A strange question, that, to ask, Johnson. I will tell you what
good it is going to do me. I intend saving every cent I can possibly
lay by, until I get five hundred dollars; and then I mean to set up
my trade for myself, and become a master-workman. After that, I hope
to get along a little faster, and be able to send my children, who
will be pretty well advanced by the time, to better schools. I shall
also be able, I hope, to get help for my wife, who will need
assistance in the house."

"All very well to talk about, but not so easily done," replied
Johnson.

"I don't know. For every effect there is an adequate cause. The
cause of all this will be the saving of seventy-five dollars a year.
This I have been doing for three years, and I hope to be able to do
it for three or four years longer. Then the desired effect, in a
capital of five hundred dollars, upon which to commence business,
will be produced. Is it not so?"

"Yes, I suppose it is. But it is one thing to commence business, and
another thing to succeed in it. There are plenty of chances in favor
of your losing every cent you have, and then being obliged to go
back to journey-work, which will not be the most agreeable thing in
the world. For my part, I would much rather enjoy what little I have
as I go along, than stint and deny myself every thing comfortable
for six or seven years, in order to set up business for myself, and
then lose every dollar. It is not every man, I can tell you, who is
fit to go into business, nor every man who can succeed, if he does.
The fact is, there must be journeymen as well as master-workmen. As
for me, I have no taste for going into business, and don't believe I
should succeed if I did set up for myself. I expect to work
journey-work all my life, and might just as well take my comfort as
I go along."

"I shall not attempt to dispute what you say about some men b