If you hold a fiduciary position in a Wall Street banking house, or bank, remember that the information you acquire regarding the secrets and inside facts of the business of your employers belongs to them alone and must not be divulged or spoken of to anyone. Very often you will hear of “tips” being circulated there as inside information. Never put faith in such tips, as an employee who would give away the secrets of the firm he works for would be unscrupulous enough to lie to you, and I warn you not to make a close friend of such a person. Do not think that I look upon you as boys in tendering this piece of advice, but rather as a veteran addressing new recruits.
The trait of tenacity of purpose is very often a natural gift; but if you have not this persistence by nature you must cultivate it. For, with it, you can succeed, you can make difficulties bend, you can make opposition give way, and doubt and hesitancy yield to confidence and success. Without it, the more shining qualities of our nature will not insure your success, nor avert failure and disaster.
At the time the Suspension Bridge over the Niagara River was to be erected the great question was how to get the cable over. A kite was elevated, which, with a favoring wind, alighted on the opposite shore. To its insignificant little string a cord was attached which was drawn over, then a rope, then a larger one, and then a cable; until the great bridge between the United States and Canada was completed.
First across the gulf we cast
Kite-borne threads till lines are passed,
And habit builds the bridge at last.
In like manner, my friends, our whole character is made up of little things, of threads and strands and ropes of habit. Let us be sure that they are always good and sound.
Next to the unwisdom of selecting and following bad or incompetent advisers in matters of business, there are also certain persons whom, if you wish to do well and make a fortune honestly, you should be careful to avoid. You will not always know them by their appearance; in fact, that is often the worst rule to go by, for they are generally well disguised. It is in their manner and conversation that you will find them out, and, that this be the easier, I have made a collection of their characteristics, as follows:
Avoid a man
Who vilifies his benefactor;