th the knack of making money, to
achieve financial comfort. The life insurance companies are as safe
as any money institution can be. You are compelled to save in order
to pay your premiums, and you probably need that sort of whip. And
those dependent upon you are protected against the financial
distress that would be caused by your death. I believe life
insurance to be the best way to save money, at least for one who
knows little about money.

VIII

IF I WERE TWENTY-ONE I WOULD STUDY THE ART OF PLEASING

Much of the content from life is due to having pleasant people
around you. Hence I would form habits and cultivate manners that
would please them.

For instance, I would make my personal appearance as attractive as
possible. I would look clean, well-dressed, and altogether as
engaging as the material I had to work with would allow.

I would be punctual. To keep people waiting is simply insolent
egotism.

I would, if my voice were unpleasant, have it cultivated until it
became agreeable in tone. I would speak low. I would not mumble, but
learn the art of clear, distinct speech. It is very trying to
associate with persons who talk so that it is a constant effort to
understand their words.

I would learn the art of conversation, of small talk. I would equip
myself to be able to entertain the grouchiest, most blase people.
For there is hardly a business in the world in which it is not a
great advantage to be able to converse entertainingly.

The secret of being a good conversationalist is probably a genuine,
unselfish interest in others. That and practice. It consists more in
making the other person talk than in talking yourself.

I would learn how to write so that it would not burden people to
read it. In this matter, one hint: The English language is composed
of separate letters, hence, when you have written one letter, if you
will move your pen along before you write the next we shall be able,
probably, to discover what you intend, no matter how imperfectly you
compose your separate letters.

I would not argue. I never knew one person in my life that was
convinced by argument. Discuss, yes; but not argue. The difference
is this: in discussion you are searching for the truth, and in
argument you want to prove that you are right. In discussion,
therefore, you are anxious to know your neighbour's views, and you
listen to him. In argument, you don't care anything about his
opinions, you want him to he