of all kinds from the net that very soon the fishermen had the
satisfaction of seeing him punished for his mean conduct.

"What he took was scarcely more than what the smartest among them had
taken, and his net, filthy from the mud, torn by the roots that he was
unable to avoid, was soon good for nothing."

Might it not be from this fable that we have taken the expression, "to
fish in troubled waters," of which without a doubt the good Yoritomo
furnished the origin many, many centuries ago?

His prophetic mind is unveiled again in the following advice that not a
business man of the twentieth century would reject.

"Common sense," he says, "when it is a question of the relations of men
as to what concerns business or society, ought to adopt the
characteristic of that animal called the chameleon.

"His natural color is dull, but he has the gift of reflecting the color
of the objects on which he rests.

"Near a leaf, he takes the tint of hope.

"On a lotus, he is glorified with the blue of the sky.

"Is this to say that his nature changes to the point of modifying his
natural color?

"No; he does not cease to possess that which recalls the color of the
ground, and the ephemeral color which he appropriates is only a
semblance, in order that he may be more easily mistaken for the objects
themselves.

"The man who boasts of possessing common sense, altho preserving his
personality, ought not to fail, if he wants to succeed, to reflect that
of the person whom he wishes to aid him in succeeding."

Let it not be understood for a moment, that we advise any one to act
contrary to the impulses of justice.

But cleverness is a part of common sense in business, and assimilation is
essential to success.

It is not necessary to abandon one's convictions in order to
reflect principles which, without contradicting them, give them a
favorable color.

Common sense can remain intact and be differently colored, according as
it is applied to the arts, politics, or science.

It would not deserve its name if it did not know how to yield to
circumstances, in order to adorn the momentary caprice with flowers
of reason.

In the primitive ages, common sense consisted in keeping oneself in a
perpetual state of defense; attack was also at times prescribed, by
virtue of the principle that it is pernicious to allow one's rights to be
imperiled.

Attack was also at times a form of repression.

It was also a lesson in obedience a