QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.
Reading edition
ON MONEY.
"What are you going to do when you get through college?" said one schoolboy to the other a short time ago.
"I'm going to make a lot of money, and then buy a seat in the United States Senate," was the reply.
"Why don't you go to work to get into the Senate direct?"
"Because it's too hard work; and when you've got money you can get anything else you want."
That is a popular idea among young men, who have made "American" almost synonymous with "money-maker." There seems to be an idea among not only young but old men that if you make money in any way you will be fitted for anything else. In a certain way this is true. For if you can buy anything, you can buy men who know what you do not know, and hire them to do certain things for you that take lifetimes to accomplish. The truth is that if you start now and make up your mind to make money first, you will not be able to do anything but money-making business, and if you fail in this, there will be no other course open to you. This does not mean that a money-making business is an unworthy one; that idea is common among certain classes of short-sighted clergymen; but it does mean that to start out with no idea but choosing a business only with regard to money is wrong, and is likely to turn out to your disadvantage. We have all seen in school, and will see in college, fellows who have large allowances. They certainly can do things which are beyond us. Such men can have a better time because they have money, and they can give their friends a better time. But unless they have other qualities their money is of no advantage; it may quite frequently be a great disadvantage. The point is that a fellow at school must be a good chap. He must have a certain amount of chivalry, of self-respect, of generosity, and good-fellowship. If he has all these, he is a good chap anyway, and sure to be a leader and a friend of all in the school. If he has a lot of money also, and knows how to use it, he is all the better chap. If he has the money and none of the qualities mentioned, his money does him not the least good, and may very likely do him harm. You will find the thing just the same at college, for college is only a little larger school. There are many fellows at college who have money and use it well, but the mere fact that a man has cash in his pocket does not get him on to athletic teams, or into college clubs or societies, or at the head of his class. It helps him on if he's a good chap; it holds him back if he isn't. Then by-and-by, when you get through college, you will find it just the same in businesses of all kinds. Money seems to help a good man along, and seems to be the worst enemy of a bad man. So that to think only of money first, and then of doing fine things with it after it is gained, is putting the cart before the horse. And if you want to be in the Senate, it's the wrong way to go at it to go down to South America and work in a gold-mine for twenty years simply and solely to "raise the cash" for the purpose of buying the votes of a State, even if such a procedure were moral and right, which is unquestionably not the case. Rather make up your mind what you want to do, and then try to make a financial success of it, as well as all other kinds of successes. If it is the hide and leather business, try to make money each year, but try also to make money fairly, to learn the trade thoroughly, and to keep pace with the literature, the politics, the life of your own day. If it is the ministry or law or literature, try to make both ends meet each year, and to make money just the same, but don't forget that all these branches of work require something besides cash to make them successes. In a certain way it is just as wrong to try to believe that money is an evil as it is to let yourself believe that money is the only thing worth having. It is a great and good thing when you have learned how to use it, and a mighty poor thing when it is abused. Decide therefore on what work you will set out, without regard to money, and then try to make a financial as well as an intellectual success of it.
SWIFT VESSELS OF PAST DECADES.
There are but few spots of the ocean's surface that are not traversed by steamships, and possibly no spot into which the tramp steamship has not poked its nose. Years ago this could be claimed for the famous clippers of the United States, but steam has crowded them out of use, and to-day hardly a dozen sail under our flag. The States of Maine and New Hampshire produced many magnificent clippers. The Challenge, the Sea-Witch, the Young America, the Swordfish, the Dreadnought, Queen of Clippers, Witch of the Wave, Spitfire, Witchcraft, and over one hundred others that might be named, carried the American flag triumphantly around the world, and obtained the highest rates of freight even in British ports. The ship Natchez, of New York, 523 tons, though not a clipper, made the passage from Hong-kong (China) to New York in 72 days. She was originally a New Orleans and Havre packet, flat on the floor, to enable her to cross the bar at the mouth of the Mississippi, and had sharp ends. Probably one of the most pathetic endings of a famous clipper-ship is that of the Great Admiral, built in 1869, and owned by the heirs of William F. Weld & Co.; she is now lying idle, and though in excellent order, will probably be dismantled and converted into a coal-barge. She is the only famous clipper left of all the fine fleet of nearly one hundred sail once owned by William T. Weld & Co. The firm, like its shipping, is a thing of the past. The ship Charger, of 1378 tons, built in 1874 by Henry Hastings, though still afloat at last accounts, was not making money for her owner. The splendid ships North American and South American, built by Mr. Hastings, and once prominent in the California trade, were wrecked a few years ago.
Since the disappearance of clippers we have built ships of 3000 and 4000 tons for the Pacific grain trade, and though full modelled, they more than hold their own against all nations. Our Atlantic coasting trade is carried on in huge schooners, ranging from 500 to 1500 tons, with three, four, and five masts. Many of these had centre-boards, but most of the new vessels are built without them.
Although Baltimore has the credit of first applying the term "clippers" to fast vessels, all maritime nations have aimed to excel on the water. The French ships were generally better sailers than the English, and hence, when beaten in naval warfare, often escaped capture. At the battle of St. Vincent, though they defeated more than twenty sail of French and Spaniards, they captured only four, and two of these were taken by Nelson. But whenever the English captured a fast sailing-vessel they copied her lines. Emerson says, "the Frenchman invented the collar, but the Englishman added the shirt."
THE DISADVANTAGES OF PLAGIARISM.
A rather amusing story is told of a certain so-called "popular preacher," the Rev. Dr. D——, whose marvellous powers of eloquence invariably gathered him large audiences. People wondered at his sermons, and proclaimed him an intellectual genius. Now the doctor was a plagiarist who patched up his own exceedingly poor sermons by introducing here and there passages from the sermons of celebrated divines, but the ingenuous way in which he accomplished this prevented discovery. Then, too, his audiences, he calculated, were not students of theology, and therefore not likely to detect his appropriations. But in this he made his mistake, and his exposure took place as follows:
One day an elderly gentleman entered the church and took a seat in the first row. As the doctor proceeded with his sermon the gentleman broke in now and then with such remarks as, "That's Sherlock." "Ah, from Tillotson." "Now it's Blair," etc.
The doctor stood it for a little while, but at last, full of wrath, he said:
"My dear sir, if you do not restrain your impertinent remarks and hold your tongue, I'll have you ejected."
The elderly gentleman, looking the doctor calmly in the face, said, "That's his own."
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Stamp Department.
Practically all the 1897 catalogues are now on the market. The best catalogue, containing a list of all varieties of stamps, envelopes, postal cards, etc., can be had for 58c., postage prepaid, of any dealer; but there are a number of smaller catalogues, adapted to the wants of all except specialists and advanced collectors, which can be bought for 10c. each. These smaller catalogues are having a great sale, as the new albums omit the scarce varieties in perforations, water-marks, etc., which appeal to those specialists who are able to invest large sums in stamps, all of whom keep their treasures in blank albums. The catalogues and the albums conform to each other.
C. E. Steele.—The rare 6c. Proprietary is the orange. The 1823 dime is worth 25c.
S. G. Rippey.—You can buy a dime of 1837 for 35c.
H. C. Z.—Tokens have no value. The coins can be bought for 5c. or 10c.
Beverley S. King, 31 New York Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., and W. E. Shreve, Ridley Park, Pa., wish to exchange stamps.
O. H. Purcell.—The $1 Columbian is worth $5. The others may be worth more in a few years than at present.
A. Kellogg.—The U. S. Revenues most in demand are the general issues. As yet the private proprietary match and medicine stamps can be bought, as a rule, as cheaply to-day as five years ago. Probably their turn will come in a year or two. If they should become fashionable, there will be some remarkable changes in prices.
F. X. Schmidt.—Die A, 1887, usually called the "rejected die," can be easily identified. The bust points to the space between the third and fourth teeth of the inside row. In the regular issue, Die B, the bust points to space between the second and third teeth.
R. Bulkley.—You probably have the regular rose 1861 stamp, of which there are many shades. The pink is excessively rare. A very few copies are known.
W. Leveridge.—None of the coins are scarce, and several of them are now uncurrent, and therefore worth bullion only, but they are interesting aside from intrinsic value.
Thomas Laurie.—Many pen and ink cancellations have been removed from stamps, but the stamps present a "cleaned" appearance quite different from the real unused. Most postage-stamps have been printed in oil colors; and most cancellations have been made with oily inks. Where this has been the case it is impossible to remove cancellation without taking out the ink of the stamp itself. No premium on the 1894 dollar. There were few made, but still plenty to go around and leave some in dealers' hands.
M. A. T.—The portraits used in the present U. S. stamps are as follows: 1c., Franklin; 2c., Washington; 3c., Jackson; 4c., Lincoln; 5c., Grant; 6c., Garfield; 8c., Sherman; 10c., Webster; 15c., Taylor; 30c., Jefferson; 90c., Perry.
C. Rawson.—I cannot give you values on long lists of common stamps. You can get this and much other information from a 10c. catalogue. If the catalogue fails, I am glad to do what I can in justice to all the readers of the stamp column.
A. T. G.—Yes! Join the A.P.A. if you want to buy the new issues. It will cost $1.80 per year for membership fees.
James Mellen.—It is extremely difficult to distinguish originals from reprints of the first Samoa issues. Counterfeits also abound, but these can be distinguished. The early Heligoland stamps are also difficult to identify. The government sold the original dies and plates to a German dealer, who reprinted the stamps in the correct colors.
J. P. Nelker.—The early stamps of Lagos and Labnan are very scarce, used or unused, although many thousands of the lower values were used in making up packets in the '80s. It would not be worth your while collecting them unless you are prepared to spend much money.
Albert Green.—Your plan of collecting one at least of all the stamp-issuing countries is very good, as far as it goes, but you will make it much better by collecting one stamp of each set where the design is different or the color changed. Usually there are several cheap stamps in every issue, and they illustrate the set quite as well as if they were rare varieties or high values.
Philatus.
The price of good things oft is high, But wise housekeepers tell That Ivory Soap is cheap to buy And best to use, as well.