"MISTAKES."

"Dead Men Never Make Mistakes."

One of the great mistakes made to-day is that of not paying sufficient attention to or of placing the proper value on the mistakes of others.

The world says it is not interested in knowing of the misfortunes and mistakes of others. They will tell you that they do not care to hear about the "dead ones"-and so they keep right on making mistakes themselves. Did you ever notice how greedily we devour the articles written on the successes of men-how they obtained their wealth-how much income a day and a minute-how long it would take to spend it-and how many hogsheads it would take if it were in pennies and nickels? We become dazed by the stories of the Merchant Princes and Ticker Kings. We study the methods of the fortunate, instead of studying the fortunate ones themselves, and so are blind to our own weaknesses.

The lessons of mistakes cannot be overestimated. If the youth of this country would strive to learn. the mistakes of others, it might enable them to prevent their own; for you will invariably find that an error is committed, because we do not do things thoughtfully and leisurely.

You seldom find the calm, deliberate thinker at fault. He studies the possibilities of mistakes. He studies his own mistakes as well as those of others and profits thereby. Mistakes to such a man are not misfortunes, for they sharpen his wits and his genius. Fortunate indeed is the man who learns life's lessons without making a mistake. It is like acquiring learning at reduced tuition. The wise become wiser as they make mistakes.

Take a whist game for instance. The one who learns is the one who takes a mental review of the game, and notices the mistakes made in order to avoid them in the next play. The one who doesn't care to make any progress, is the one who never notices the mistakes. Just so in the game of life. We love to listen to those who have succeeded in reaching the coveted goal-be it wealth, or fame, or honor; and how natural it seems to him to turn a deaf ear to those who have failed in their efforts. We refuse to listen to those men who alone are in position to prevent us from going against those very rocks ourselves. Rocks that the more fortunate, perhaps, escaped by the merest chance. Now why shouldn't it be just as necessary to know what NOT to do as what to do? Is there any reason why you and I should make the same mistakes and take years to learn of what others could tell us about in as many minutes?

I do not approve of the opinion that we can learn

only from knowing how men achieved prominence. and prosperity. It is equally important and beneficial to know how these prizes were lost, or how men even missed winning and possesssing them? Why should we simply be constantly theorized on how to do a certain thing and not to be shown the other equally valuable side of the story? The wise doctor assiduously studies which certain remedies. have failed to cure, in order that they do not commit the same error. The successful lawyer endeavors to ascertain what particular tactics or points lost. the case just as eagerly as he does the winning features. Business men have always watched the methods that have proven failures, and thus avoid them. Then why not, in all our efforts and habits and principles, strive to profit by the mistakes of others and listen to them as appreciatively as we do to the stories of "How I got there?"

The tales and counsels on Why men fail" by men who have always been a success; is of no greater value than the reasons why men failed, as told by men who have failed. They are the commercial and social lighthouses that keep us off the rock of ruin.

History shows innumerable cases where brilliant, well educated men have lost the battle through some flaw or other. One man might say that "I was too confiding," another will say "I was not sufficiently cautions" or again, I "did not protect myself as I went along;" another, "I wasted too many precious hours"-another will say that "I was not wise in the choosing of my associates." The man who can study others and study himself, and discover these mistakes-such a man, who can then act on them, materially lessens his chances of missteps.

Only recently two bright young business menmen whom I have always highly regarded and admired for their capabilities, were in my office in an unusually hilarious mood. I perceived that they had been "indulging." When they left I meditated on the fact that if they could see themselves as others saw them, they would have realized the great mistake they were making and I lost respect for these fellows. Were I a drinking man I would certainly say to myself:. "What a great mistake this practice is-what dangers a man undergoes?-if this is the impression I make on people, not another drop for me.'

The work of economy and thrift of years can quickly be undone by one thoughtless and hasty act. The lessens of honor and character taught us by our parents can be quickly brought to the ground by one act of indiscretion. The father who fearlessly and frankly takes his son and tells him of that father's mistakes and how they occurred, is doing more to guide that boy right and prevent a repetition, than all the effervescent sermonizings ever indulged in-but it is a fact that parents do not do enough of this. They leave it for others to teach, and, perhaps, in the wrong way or perhaps when too late. The entire world is based on the errors and follies of past history. If more sons were made aware of the mistakes of their elders, the future generation would be safer and stronger socially, spiritually and financially.

It is mistakes that teach us the lessons of life that make perfection and progress. S. A. D.

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If the young man will study the trait of character dominating the successful man, he will detect that resemblance in the line of fixitiveness of purpose which would be ordinarily termed "family trait.'

Religion and education! What two factors have counted for more in the history of human progress? And it was to a woman, the mother of Napoleon, that France, in the Napoleonic era, owed the encouragement of both.

No mother can tell to what heights her son may climb. And the women who may in time be recognized as truly great are those who fit their sons for the places of greatness.

Politeness of the old-fashioned kind has gone out of fashion. We suggest to women that it is their duty to correct men's ways and for the sake of general decency to revive some of the old notions as to man's conduct and the respect due women.

"The greatest women of history are those who have brought up their sons to do the greatest deeds."

Had Ponce de Leon been a twentieth century business man instead of a sixteenth century cavalier, he would have sought, not the elixir of youth, but advantageous spot for a sign board, for the live man of today knows that the proper variety of advertising is the motive power that will whirl him to success. In the last twenty-five years the advertising spirit has swept through this country like the railroads, till the unadvertised business is now plodding along like the man with the ox-team, who wants to cross the continent and some day may, if he does not fall before the trip is finished. The advertising spirit has even crossed the seas, and with New World pluck has taken off its hat in the green valleys of Switzerland, then raced merrily up the frozen Alpine peaks to their very summits, there to extol in ten-foot letters the hold-fast seams of Dash's overalls or the cultivating properties of Blank's Hair Tonic. Some day it will inscribe the back-bone of the great Sphinx herself, with the name of the lotion that has preserved her complexion through the centuries.

But advertising has now become a science-an art. It has blossomed like a seedling in the sun, throwing out shoot after shoot, hints of its wonderful capabilities. There are today no branches. of industry, of finance, nor even of art that are successfully conducted without advertising mediums. Artists and literateurs are engaging press agents and managers-those hard-worked factotums so long relegated to the actor, the singer, the bandmaster. They are learning that the public is a great overgrown child; that it must have its im agination ever whetted, that anticipation is the mother of appreciation and for the public to enjoy a square meal of any sort, mental or physical, it must first have a good, sharp advertising cock

tail!

A LESSON ON THE COAL STRIKE There is a lesson in economy in the coal strike just ended. Previous to the beginning of it did you think for a moment of the value and comfort attached to having fuel (coal in particular) so near at hand and at a reasonable price. I dare say you did

not.

How many regrets householders have had this past few months of the reckless waste of coal in the past when no strike was on, and it was always in sufficient quantities to buy. Now it is selling at a price in most cases beyond their reach, while had they been more sparing with it while using they could have saved money-yes-put it in the bank; would have no regrets on this point and be better able to pay present prices.

But fuel is not the only article wasted in the home. Food is now at a higher price than for several years, and liable at any time to go higher. Just think how much is wasted in your own home-not intentionally, but through carelessness. If a famine was to come in any one line of food, how you would censure yourself for not appreciating the good of it while you had it..

You may not be able to get those around you to be less wasteful and more saving in every-day necessities, but you can do a great deal yourself.

God has given us the necessaries of life-the rich man has no more right to waste them than his poorer brother.

This subject may seem somewhat out of the ordinary for Common-Sense readers, but economy should have a friend in every man who earns his own living.

Remember the wise saying, "Economy makes an casy chair for old age." Thos. C. Malloy.

Don't think of the past wrongs-think of what good you can do in the future and act accordingly.

If you fail in any one thing let it be a stepping stone to your next effort-you will at last con quer.