he had
occasion to cast up any sum, and, laying the spoons in a row before him,
he counted upon them thus:

One, two, three, and another, one odd spoon, and t'other | | | | | |

By this he told up to six; if he had any occasion to tell any farther,
he began again, as we do after the number ten in our ordinary
numeration; and by this method, and running them up very quick, he would
count any number under thirty-six, which was six spoons of six spoons,
and then, by the strength of his head, he could number as many more as
he pleased, multiplying them always by sixes, but never higher.

I give this instance to show how far the application of a man's head
might go to supply the defect, but principally to show (and it does
abundantly show it) what an absolute necessity there is for a tradesman
to be very diligent and exact in keeping his books, and what pains those
who understand their business will always take to do it.

This tradesman was indeed a country shopkeeper; but he was so
considerable a dealer, that he became mayor of the city which he lived
in (for it was a city, and that a considerable city too), and his
posterity have been very considerable traders in the same city ever
since, and they show their great-grandfather's six counting spoons and
his hieroglyphics to this day.

After some time, the old tradesman bred up two of his sons to his
business, and the young men having learned to write, brought books into
the counting-house, things their father had never used before; but the
old man kept to his old method for all that, and would cast up a sum,
and make up an account with his spoons and his drawers, as soon as they
could with their pen and ink, if it were not too full of small articles,
and that he had always avoided in his business.

However, as I have said above, this evidently shows the necessity of
book-keeping to a tradesman, and the very nature of the thing evidences
also that it must be done with the greatest exactness. He that does not
keep his books exactly, and so as that he may depend upon them for
charging his debtors, had better keep no books at all, but, like my
shopkeeper, score and notch every thing; for as books well kept make
business regular, easy, and certain, so books neglected turn all into
confusion, and leave the tradesman in a wood, which he can never get out
of without damage and loss. If ever his dealers know that his books are
ill kept, they play upon him, and impose horrid