It has often been said that, if a man conceives the idea of becoming eminent in learning, and cannot toil through the million little drudgeries necessary to carry him on, his learning will soon be told. Or, if he undertakes to become rich, but despises the small and gradual advances by which wealth is ordinarily accumulated, his expectations will, of course, be the sum of riches.
All successful men have been remarkable, not only for general scope and vigor, but for their minute attention to details. Attention to details has for its result a “hitting of the mark,” a realization of our aims. Hap-hazard methods result in confusion, disorder and defeat.
CHAPTER XIX
Be Attentive to Details
To be successful a boy needs, as Arthur Helps said, “an almost ignominious love of detail.” To dream is not sufficient, he must learn to do, and in doing pay special attention to every part. A judge in Cincinnati wanted a rough fence built. When the carpenter came he said to him, “I want this fence mended. There are some unplaned boards, use them. It is out of sight from the house, so you need not take time to make a neat job. I can only pay you a dollar and a half.” On looking at it later the judge found the boards planed and the work finished with excellent neatness. The judge, thinking the young man had done it that he might claim more pay, said somewhat angrily, “I told you this fence was to be covered with vines. I do not care how it looks.” “I do,” said the carpenter. “How much do you charge?” asked the judge. “A dollar and a half,” said the man. “Why did you spend all that labor on it, if not for the money?” “For the job, sir.” “Nobody would have seen the poor work on it.” “But I should have known it was there, sir. No, I’ll only take the dollar and a half,” and he went his way. Ten years later this carpenter was the successful competitor for a great contract the judge had to give, successful among a crowd of others seeking it. “I knew,” said the judge, telling the story afterwards, “we should have only good, genuine work from him; I gave him the contract, and it made a rich man of him.”
WHAT YOU DO, DO WELL.
Whatever is worth engaging one’s interest and energies is worth doing well. Longworth remarked, “I have always had two things before me. Do what you undertake thoroughly. Be faithful in all accepted trusts.” William Grey, the celebrated Boston merchant, once censured a mechanic for some slovenly work, whereupon the latter, who had known Mr. Grey as a drummer in a regiment, slurred him for it. “And so I was,” replied Mr. Grey, “so I was. But, didn’t I drum well?” During a debate in Congress some years ago, a member of aristocratic birth replying to an opponent said, “When we were boys, he used to black my boots.” “And didn’t I black them well?” asked the other. “Yes, I must say in justice to the gentleman that he was called the best bootblack in town.” “Thank you, and let me add that is why I am here. I always tried to do as well as I could. If the member from ——, who taunts me with my lowly origin, had begun life as a bootblack, I fear that he would have been a bootblack still.”
It is said that the late Josiah Quincy was at one time conversing with Daniel Webster upon the importance of doing even the smallest things thoroughly and well, when the great man related an incident concerning a petty insurance case which was brought to him while a young lawyer. The fee promised was only twenty dollars, yet to do his client full justice, Webster found he must journey to Boston and consult the law library. This involved an expense of about the same amount as his fee; but after hesitating a little, he decided to go to Boston and consult the authorities, let the cost be what it might. He gained the case. Years after this, Webster was passing through the city of New York. An important insurance case was to be tried that day, and one of the counsel had been suddenly prostrated by illness. Money was no object, and Webster was asked to name his terms and conduct the case. “It is preposterous,” he said, “to expect me to prepare a legal argument at a few hours’ notice.” But when they insisted that he should look at the papers he consented. It was his old, twenty-dollar case over again, and having a remarkable memory, he had all the authorities in his mind, and he took the case and won it. The court knew he had had no time for preparation, and was astonished at the skill with which he handled the case. “So, you see,” said Webster, as he concluded, “I was handsomely paid, both in fame and money, for that journey to Boston.”
To do well anything that is to be done is a test of power, a proof of efficiency, a criterion of character and a sure way to promotion. Just as the usefulness and value of a stamp depends on its ability to stick, so concentration of interest and effort is the boy’s only secret of success. A burning glass becomes powerful only when focalized on one object, and a boy becomes master of the situation only when he bends mind and body to each detail, never yielding to doubt or discouragement.