o it may be with
the country boy. The opening, when it does come, may be in the very
opposite direction from that in which he is looking. If he is wise he
will slip into it, however different it may be from what he wants. He
will at least be earning money, and can keep up his search for what he
does want until he finds it. If he is faithful and energetic he will
gain the approval of his employers, and be able to take a city reference
with him when he leaves for the "something better."

He may even find that there are unsuspected opportunities in the place
that seemed so unpromising to him when he took it. A great deal depends
upon the boy. Some boys will rise more quickly in one place than in
another. The boy who is bound to rise will get to the top no matter
where he finds himself. Few boys would take a position behind the
counter in a retail store if they could get anything better, yet some
clerks rise to be floor-walkers, and some floor-walkers rise to be
buyers, and some buyers become partners and proprietors and amass great
wealth.

I know one young man who had a good position in a wholesale hardware
house, who gave it up to take a place at lower wages in a retail store.
He argued that as the retail hardware business was not one which usually
attracted energetic and ambitious young men he would meet with little
competition from his fellow clerks. He was right. They knew only one
side of hardware, the retail side. He knew hardware inside and out. He
soon found that he knew more than the proprietor, and showed him how he
could buy to better advantage. Then he said he thought he would go back
to his old place, but his employer offered him an interest in the
business, and he staid.

I know another boy who had some experience in retail clothing in an
interior town. He came to New York, answered an advertisement, and
obtained work in a large retail clothing house here. Then he studied
clothes. When he had learned all about clothes, he studied cloths. He
made friends with young men of his own age who were employed in
importing houses and commission houses, and learned the difference
between English cloths and French cloths and American cloths. Whenever
he could he would go into other clothing stores, price their goods,
perhaps try on a suit, and observe their methods. One day a
fellow-salesman came to him, and said: "I have just come into a legacy
of twenty thousand dollars, and I am going into business on my own
acco