“Of course,” said Big Kennedy when we talked privately of the situation, “you understand. I'm down an' out, done for an' as good as dead right now. But it's better to frame th' play as I've proposed. Don't change th' sign over th' door for a month or two; it'll give you time to stiffen your grip. There's dubs who would like th' job, d'ye see, an' if they found an openin' they'd spill you out of th' place like a pup out of a basket. It's for you to get your hooks on th' levers, an' be in control of th' machine before I die.” Then, with a ghastly smile: “An' seein' it's you, I'll put off croakin! till th' last call of th' board.”
Big Kennedy, seeking that quiet which had been the physician's prescription, went away. When, later by ten months, he came back, his appearance was a shock to me. The great, bluff man was gone, and he who feebly took me by the hand seemed no more than a weak shadow of that Big John Kennedy whom I had followed. The mere looks of him were like a knife-stab. He stayed but a day, and then returned to his retreat in the silent hills. Within a month Big Kennedy was dead.
“You've got things nailed,” said he, on the last evening, “an' I'm glad it's so. Now let me give you a few points; they may help you to hold down your place as Boss. You're too hungry for revenge; there's your weakness. The revenge habit is worse than a taste for whisky. Th' best you can say for it is it's a waste of time. When you've downed a man, stop. To go on beatin' him is like throwin' water on a drowned rat.
“When it comes to handin' out th' offices an' th' contracts, don't play fav'rites. Hand every man what's comin' to him by th' rules of th' game. It'll give you more power to have men say you'll do what's square, than that you'll stick by your friends. Good men—dead-game men, don't want favors; they want justice.
“Never give a man the wrong office; size every man up, an' measure him for his place th' same as a tailor does for a suit of clothes. If you give a big man a little office, you make an enemy; if you give a little man a big office, you make trouble.
“Flatter th' mugwumps. Of course, their belfry is full of bats; but about half th' time they have to be your pals, d'ye see, in order to be mugwumps. An' you needn't be afraid of havin' 'em around; they'll never ketch onto anything. A mugwump, as some wise guy said, is like a man ridin' backward in a carriage; he never sees a thing until it's by.
“Say 'No' nineteen times before you say 'Yes' once. People respect th' man who says 'No,' an' his 'Yes' is worth more where he passes it out. When you say 'No,' you play your own game; when you say 'Yes,' you're playin' some other duck's game. 'No,' keeps; 'Yes,' gives; an' th' gent who says 'No' most will always be th' biggest toad in his puddle.
“Don't be fooled by a cheer or by a crowd. Cheers are nothin' but a breeze; an' as for a crowd, no matter who you are, there would always be a bigger turn-out to see you hanged than to shake your mit.
“Always go with th' current; that's th' first rule of leadership. It's easier; an' there's more water down stream than up.
“Think first, last, an' all th' time of yourself. You may not be of account to others, but you're the whole box of tricks to yourself. Don't give a man more than he gives you. Folks who don't stick to that steer land either in bankruptcy or Bloomin'dale.