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COMMON-SEnse

PUBLISHED ON THE 5TH OF EACH MONTH AT 88 WABASH AVE., CHICAGO Copyrighted. 1906, by Common-Sense Publishing Co. (Not Inc.)

VOLUME VI. No. 5.

MAY, 1906

Subscription price, $1.00 per year in advance. Foreign subscriptions, $1.50.

Care marks small minds.

A man of strength has both friends and foes.

A cheery heart minimizes the clods along the roughest path.

All people sin-when they sin-on the side of their natural leanings.

Be a part of your surroundings and yet above them.

Acquire force of character; it will do more for you than any other one attribute.

Use your head to plan, and your hand to execute your head's planning.

Make your members serve your own best interests, with the loyalty of close friends.

Change of climate will not change your temper. Conquer yourself and any climate. will do.

The greatest enjoyment is sweet and deserved rest after toil in which one's heart is a co-worker.

He who would succeed in business, permanently, must be true to his word and true to his work.

The successful man is he who can keep to the ruling of his calm judgment while in the thick of the fight.

In business be very positive of what you will not do, and you will have little trouble determining what you will do.

Do not go to extremes of thought in this day of open denunciation of so much in our national life that should merit only our deepest respect. All is not God on the one hand nor devil on the other.

Your will should be your law.

The Mecca of our desires grows dearer with delay.

There is a world of difference between sweet candor and brutal frankness.

Never admit you are down and out and you never will be.

Genius may be a form of madness, but do not mistake all madness for genius.

When you lose confidence in yourself you have nothing of value left to lose.

Take two reckonings of yourself: of your attainments, and of your imperfections.

There is a cause for every effect-don't be satisfied till you have gotten back to it.

Keep a firm hold on the reins. You drivedon't be driven headlong by what you call cir

cumstances.

Every man owes it to his profession to make that profession a prouder one for his having. entered it.

Walk out into the country-listen to the music of a brook-it will silence your discon

tent.

After all, the world does not love great men so much for what they actually do as for what they earnestly strive to do.

Often it seems that we are reduced to a choice of two evils; but even in this case there is always the lesser evil, and we can at least choose that.

The imagination is one of the biggest parts of the mental makeup; be comforted when things seem all askew, remembering that nothing is really as bad as it seems.

A conceited person cannot judge men; he is always too full of himself to see far into the minds or acts of others.

Everybody admires the man or woman who is equal to himself, who is not continually drawing upon one's sympathy-treasury.

The person whose manner conveys the im pression of calm assurance gains strength fron his very appearance of having it.

Never be dismayed at the failure of your plans; find the reason, and attack the problem with stronger weapons next time.

Take the best path for you regardless of the advice of others; and then make it your business to develop it into the best path you could possibly have taken.

In the darkest moments remember that the time will come when you can look back to this black hour with self-pity that you could have been so miserable.

In every case where you have been disappointed in a person, think hard and see if the very characteristics which have so surprised and disappointed you did not show in small out-croppings early in your acquaintance. You refused to be warned, that was all.

Let these glorious spring days shed their warmth and beauty over and through you; give way to their refreshing influence and you will find beautiful and ennobling thoughts growing out of your mind as the flowers grow out of the earth.

Have you advertised your business this season as brightly as old Mother Earth has the coming of spring? Is everything about your premises fresh, sweet, attractive, and alluring? If not you have no right to expect success.

Let a man's acts, not his words, commend him to you; test him well before you too cordially welcome him within the sacred portals of your confidence and friendship. It is not necessary that you make an intimate friend of every one whom you find it pleasant to pass. an hour with.

If you are working along your chosen lines. to the very best of your ability, you are gradually advancing. Your progress may not be apparent to you now, but it will be when a greater number of milestones mark the distance between you and that day you began seriously thinking, planning, and working.

A THOUSAND-DOLLAR-A-YEAR WORD

Wouldn't you enjoy drawing a thousand dollars a year for one word? Writers who get a dollar a word for their stories are looked upon as exceedingly fortunate wielders of the pen; but W. A. Hungerford receives every year one thousand times that amount for the word humanic, which he was clever enough to invent for a firm of shoe manufacturers.

The story is told of a young woman, who by the death of her father was suddenly left in the position of president of a manufacturing company. The other directors supposed of course she would resign, as she was president in name only, not having had any business experience whatever. She disappointed them, however, thinking it "would be great fun" to be president. Now this young woman possessed a rather reckless, daring spirit, and she plunged into a bold advertising campaign that shocked the conservatism of the staid old directors beyond all power of control. They were sure the firm was going to the very dogs and they could hardly restrain the desire to depose her without ceremony. While they were fuming and fussing in their efforts to find a way to check her mad extravagances, as they called them, the advertising had an opportunity to get in its work, and the returns began coming in so heavily that the office was swamped with the extra business. Then the staid old directors did open their eyes and stare. This goes to show how people often stumble onto the right way of doing business and make a greater success than the conservative plodder who follows long established precedent.

HELP PAY FOR THE BANDWAGON OR KEEP OUT OF IT

Don't be willing to climb in the band wagon and ride comfortably along when you had no part in getting it ready for the trip. It's a poor sort of a man who will continually accept courtesies from others without making proper returns; and it's a selfish, cowardly business man who will accept a full share of prosperity which he has in no way helped to bring about. Many men will not contribute one cent toward pushing business or advertising their town, but they are always there ready to profit by the benefits of other people's energy and initiative. Many men will not even bother to vote for better government-they are perfectly satisfied to live on in the community enjoying the good results of other more enterprising men's attention to municipal matters.

Take your part in the game-help every really worthy enterprise in your communitybe partly responsible for every move forward.

It's a mistaken idea that because a business

Common-Sense

is already represented in your town or in the business world in general that there is no room for another business in the same line.

No one doctor ever pleased everybody; no one lawyer ever won all the clients; no one grocer can get the monopoly with housekeepers; and no one firm can do all the business in any one line. Competition is an advantage. If you have some article in mind you want to put on the market, go boldly ahead with it, even though there may be a dozen already being offered. There is only one thing for you to make sure of-that your article is fully as meritorious as any of its competitors, and a little better, if possible.

MODERNIZING THE BUSINESS OF WRITING

Julian Hawthorne, the author, is lamenting the fact that literature is not what it once was. He says: "Everybody can write nowadays, but the literary geniuses are as rare as ever and never before had such difficulty in getting at hearing. The newspaper spirit has banished them and has closed above us the gates of the spiritual plane."

Mr. Hawthorne may long for the old atticstarvation days of aspiring geniuses, but the practical person cannot but see a vast improvement over those romantic and dramatic times, in the purely business aspect of modern writing. The pursuit of literature is no longer a certain path to world-wide fame or total oblivion; there is, on the other hand, a sane middle course. It is a very well-paying business, in which the product, manuscripts, are sent to a live market, with every encouragement for the writer to think that a substantial check will be the answer, providing the writer has properly prepared the manuscript and used judgment in his choice of a publisher.

Today writing is a business governed by well-established laws. Literature has come out of its dark hole of uncertainty and is pursued in the open, as any other line of activity. This is a matter for congratulation.

As to the quality of modern writing, while much of it is trash, this was always the case; and better stories than are written today were never penned since man began setting down for the delight of others the strange working. out of human life through all its entangled experiences. Go through the best magazines of the day, and you will find in every one of them at least one short story worthy of living as a masterpiece. While descriptive articles and character sketches are written in a finished, exquisite, true-to-nature style that was never employed in the earlier days.

The newspapers have taught the magazines that if they hope to be read and appreciated by the great public, they must give close atten

7

tion to the human interest side of their stories and articles. The newspapers have pushed the magazines ahead at a livelier pace, and on the other hand the magazines have taught the newspapers that the public appreciates something besides merely news, gossip, etc. Each has benefitted the other, while the public and the great fraternity of ambitious writers have been benefitted most of all.

NEGLECT OF SOCIAL NICETIES FATAL TO SUCCESSFUL CAREER.

Some men have to be "shown" and then they fail to profit by the demonstration; others need only the suggestion in order to act. The former are partial failures all their lives and in many cases total failures. The latter never entirely fail.

We try to forget that Lincoln ate with his knife and received friends in his shirt sleeves. We don't love Lincoln for these crudities, but in spite of them. It had to be as great a soul as Lincoln's to overshadow such vulgarities. The average man seeking success has no such great soul, and if he has posterity will appreciate the soul, and his present day companions will appreciate his observance of the ordinary rules of refined society.

It seems impossible to believe that in this day of free advice, of "mothers' clubs," of lectures and suggestions on the bringing up of children, and the importance of teaching them what should be done and what should not be done, that any child should have escaped his share of the teaching and training which would make it morally impossible for him to do the unforgivable things; but such is the case. Many a man is in an obscure position, fretting and fuming because his rightful position on earth seems more and more inaccessible each year, who has the ability to take his place far up the line, but is held back by small vulgarities that place him without the pale of a gentleman's realm. He thinks those small matters are of no consequence; he refuses to take the hint, administered in the companionship of people of refinement if not more broadly; and so he stays at the bottom of the ladder.

CRUDE HABITS MAR THE MAN

The city business man is always in a hurry; the country man thinks no one sees him but his family, and that they do not count. And so the crude habits are formed and the man is marred.

A salesman who had made a good record as inside man with his house failed utterly when he went on the road. He was deeply chagrined. He knew he was a good salesman. He had proved that through years of efficient service. It was his great ambition to travel for the firm;

and now, after securing the privilege, he couldn't "make good." On one of his return trips, feeling despondent over the matter, he frankly owned himself a failure, and the manager of the house went out to lunch with the old employe, taking this opportunity to probe the matter and cheer up his man. Lunch was ordered, and the salesman began at once the story of his experiences. The waiter interrupted the stream of talk, to serve them, and then, as the salesman began to eat, the manager's eyes were opened. The salesman crummed crackers into his soup until it was of the consistency of milk toast, after which he ate it out of the end of his spoon, in great gulps; later, when the meat was served, he used his knife as the means of conveyance to his throat, and had totally and entirely "licked the platter clean" before the manager had really gotten well started; then he leaned back, and while picking his teeth with loud and disgusting "suckings" between times, he continued his story. When the manager had

finished lunch and the salesman had finished his story, the former asked just one question: "Did you often go out to dinner with your merchants or buyers?"

TABLE MANNERS EXPLAIN FAILURE

"Always!" quickly responded the salesman. "I used every method to win their confidence and friendship."

Then the manager, wise if brutal, leaned slowly across the table and said: “Mr. you couldn't sell me a stick of gum!"

"Why, what do you mean?" exclaimed the bewildered salesman.

"I mean just this. No man whose personal habits are so obtrusively vulgar as are yours could have the slightest influence with me. Had I lunched with you before sending you on the road, I would never have disgraced our house by giving it such a representative.'

This man had the good sense to swallow his mortification, take the hint, and reform his habits in this as in other particulars. He is today one of the best salesmen on the road-and one of the most gentlemanly ones. Other men, of a stubborn and "set" nature, also thin skinned, see no moral wrong in such vulgarities, and when told in even less brutal ways, wrap the cloak of their own obstinacy about them and continue in their total neglect of the niceties of civilized society. They are held back all their lives by their own conduct; and if they are so unfortunate as to marry, some woman's finer sensibilities are trampled upon daily, while she tries in her heart of hearts to remember only his good qualities, in the presence of his grossness.

PREVENTED MINISTER'S ADVANCEMENT

A young minister, who above all men has no excuse for such crudities, had several bad

habits that annoyed his women relatives. One of these was always leaving his teaspoon in his cup when he drank from it. One day one of them sitting by him gently lifted his spoon from his cup and placed it in his saucer. Instantly he picked it up and put it back in his cup. That was ten years ago. A short time ago I met the minister and the first thing I noticed was his drinking his tea from a cup with the spoon in it; being curious in the matter, I made inquiry and found that he held the same class of pastorate today as he had held when starting on his career. The better churches had never been assigned to him. I was not surprised at this, although he was a more able man in the pulpit than many who occupied better positions.

Another business man, an advertising man for a magazine, always announces his arrival before the presence of his would-be buyer of space with a loud snort and conspicuous use of his handkerchief. He also wonders why it is that he can't get business from the large firms. He has probably been told of the offensiveness of this habit by look, if not by actual words, time and time again, but he has never connected it—and various other things in the same line with his small success. If he had he would probably have corrected his manners, just as he was willing to go to the tailor and be fitted in up-to-date clothes when he recognized the fact that overalls and plow shoes would not give him admittance to the offices of gentlemen in the capacity of solicitor.

Men seem willing enough to buy suitable clothing, learn a line of strong talk, take all kinds of hints on selling points, and in every way make themselves presentable for the work they are undertaking; but when it comes to their personal lacks they grow touchy and back

away.

NO EXCUSE FOR VULGAR HABITS

No man should need to be told any point about any matter of this kind. His eyes are there to see with, his ears to hear with, and there are plenty of real gentlemen all about him to learn from. He should take the hint from their superior habits, compare himself with them, and see that if he gobbles his food, when they do not, he is wrong and they are right, and instantly take a complete inventory of himself and begin weeding out every objec

tionable trait.

I had occasion to watch the careers of two young farmers who went to the city to make their fortunes. They were equally crude in every way, having had no experience off of the farms of their respective fathers. Number One was a nice looking young fellow and seemed to take like a duck to water to every touch of refinement with which he came in contact. He

Common-Sense

hadn't been in the city long before any one would have taken him for a city bred youth. The other held to his countrified ways. At the end of five years Number One was one of the most gentlemanly employes in his house, was invited to the home of his employer, eventually married the daughter of the house, and is today a partner, and a man of more gentlemanly bearing could not be found the whole length and breadth of the business world. He has succeeded financially and socially. He is the mainstay of a tremendous business, has made. a good woman happy, and is a worthy citizen. His life is a success, one-tenth because of his good qualities of heart and mind, and ninetenths because he assumed all the attributes of a gentleman as fast as he learned them. The other man is still adding long columns of figures ten hours a day and twisting his legs around a stool at a lunch counter while he gobbles his luncheon. And yet in the "district school" he was considered the brighter of the two.

It is true beyond all question, that having strong qualifications for success, polish will add fourfold to its measure, and having the smallest degree of success qualities polish will carry you beyond the far brighter man who ignores this truth.-Editor COMMON-SENSE in Chicago Tribune.

THE DANCING RIVULET

BY A. MILO BENNETT.

Down the mountain softly flowing,
Runs the Rivulet along.

In its pathway idly sowing
Harvests of eternal song.
Like the laughter of a fairy
Bright and bonny as can be.
Onward, downward light and airy
Ever flowing to the sea.

Dancing over rocks and pebbles,

Foaming, dashing here and there. Playing with sunshine in its revels. And anon with sordid care

As through gloomy shadows passing Light and air it cannot get, Changing as the daylight changes Those who can get none of it.

Sometimes dancing on right merrily,
Never heeding pain or woe.
And again flowing surily,

Needing sunshine like the Po.
Men are like the little brooklet,
Onward rushing to their fate.
Both need sunshine to endure it,
And this early-not too late.

SUNSET ON THE NILE

9

A Vision at Eventide on the Banks of the Nile.

BY CARL NORMAN.

Halfa Camp, Wadi Halfa, Soudan. The yellow sand hills, bare and rugged, are bathed in the purple glow of sunset. The golden shafts of departing light kiss the swift running waters. The heat of the day has passed, and the cool air of eventide fans the cheek.

Far down the river, in the full light of the departing sun, is seen a fleet of boats, spread out, like a miniature Armada, across the waters. They stem the current with difficulty, for it is flood-time. The strong north wind fills their great lateen sails, but they are as though painted there. It is a fight between river and wind.

Standing on the bank, the shouts of the boatmen, borne on the wind, reach us plainly. They are making for the shore. Let us await them, for here is their destination.

See, the foremost boat breaks away from the rest. She is heading straight for us. Her huge sail is close-hauled. The wind is beating the river. As she swings out of the current and moves into the calmer waters near the bank, her pace increases. Her berth is here, but she will never slow down in time. The Reis is in the stern, gesticulating. Watch how sharply he puts down the helm. The painted stem swings slowly out again into the current and the boat comes clumsily to rest.

Instantly all is in commotion. Half a dozen boys, wading into the water, spring on board.. They climb the towering mast like monkeys. With what dexterity they make fast the sail!

The spar bends with their weight like a willow.

The Reis steps down. He is instantly surrounded. Arabs, Fellaheen, and well-wishers all, greet him with every oriental ceremony. Salaam, Salaam, Salaamon Alaikom! Peace be upon you! May Allah preserve you! The air is filled with their shouting. See, farther down, the other boats of the fleet are one by one breaking away and coming slowly to anchorage.

Their sails are still flapping, as the sun, casting one last red gleam across the sandy wastes, sinks slowly behind the hills.

Up from the water, the shouts of the oriental reach us, borne now faintly upon the breeze. But stillness broods over the desert. Nature is at rest, and the Nile flows on in peace.

There's philosophy in this epitaph, found on the Earl of Devon's tomb:

What we gave, we have:
What we spent, we had:
What we left, we lost.

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