ot clearly traceable
to its serving the public with fidelity. An old clerk of Mr. A. T.
Stewart of New York informed us that, in the day of small things, many
years ago, when Mr. Stewart had only a retail dry-goods store of
moderate extent, one of the rules of the establishment was this: "_Don't
recommend goods; but never fail to point out defects_." Now a man
struggling with the difficulties of a new business, who lays down a rule
of that nature, must be either a very honest or a very able man. He is
likely to be both, for sterling ability is necessarily honest. It is not
surprising, therefore, that Mr. Stewart is now the monarch of the
dry-goods trade in the world; and we fully believe that the history of
all _lasting_ success would disclose a similar root of honesty. In all
the businesses which have to do with the precious metals and precious
stones, honesty is the prime necessity; because in them, though it is
the easiest thing in the world to cheat, the cheat is always capable of
being detected and proved. A great silver-house holds itself bound to
take back an article of plate made forty years ago, if it is discovered
that the metal is not equal in purity to the standard of the silver coin
of the country in which it was made. The entire and perfect natural
honesty, therefore, of Jabez Gorham, was the direct cause of the
prosperity of the house which he founded. He is now a serene and healthy
man of eighty-two, long ago retired from business. He walks about the
manufactory, mildly wondering at the extent to which its operations have
extended. "It is grown past me," he says with a smile; "I know nothing
about all this."

In the year 1805, this venerable old man was an apprentice to that Mr.
Dodge who began in Providence the manufacture of ear-rings, breastpins,
and rings,--the only articles made by the Providence jewellers for many
years. In due time Jabez Gorham set up for himself; and he added to the
list of articles the important item of watch-chains of a peculiar
pattern, long known in New England as the "Gorham chain." The old
gentleman gives an amusing account of the simple manner in which
business was done in those days. When he had manufactured a trunkful of
jewelry, he would jog away with it to Boston, where, after depositing
the trunk in his room, he would go round to all the jewellers in the
city to inform them of his arrival, and to say that his jewelry would be
ready in his room for inspection on the fo