Steadily he worked at this, being at all times anxious to show good solid work, without any scamping.
To start with he had met with disappointments and failures, but he would not give in to then; when things looked their worst he kept a smiling face and stuck to it.
And in the end he came out successful, as every man does who is patient and sticks it out. He got a name for steady, persevering work, and for giving full value for any money paid to him.
For these reasons he obtained good contracts for building bridges, and soon enlarged his business into a very big one.
Among others, the great Tay bridge and the bridge over the Forth in
Scotland are his work.
He died a rich and highly respected man, but in the height of his power he never forgot that he began as a poor boy, and he always did what he could to help other poor boys to win their way to success.
He used, however, to say that success depended mainly on the boy himself. If a boy were determined to get on, and knew a handicraft or two, he would probably succeed, but if he merely dabbled in one thing and then another, and wasted his time in amusements, and could not stick it out when luck seemed against, him, that boy would be a failure, and would probably go on being a failure all his life.
* * * * *
THRIFT IS MANLINESS.
So you see if, as a Scout, you pick up and really practise what Scouting teaches you, it gives you every chance of being a success in life, since it teaches you to be active and enduring, to be trustworthy, to be obedient to your duty, to be thrifty, and to learn handicrafts.