The result was, that in less than two years from the time he was
receiving sixty dollars a week, he went to a third large publishing
house at ten thousand dollars a year, and also with an interest in the
business.

The salary is of very little importance to you in comparison with the
reputation for integrity and efficiency you have left behind you and
the experience you have gained while earning the salary. These are the
great things.

In olden times boys had to give years of their time in order to learn a
trade, and often would pay their employer for the opportunity. English
boys used to think it was a great opportunity to be able to get into a
good concern, with a chance to work without salary for years in order
to learn their business or trade. Now the boy is paid for learning his
trade.

Many employees may not think it is so very bad to clip their hours, to
shirk at every opportunity, to sneak away and hide during business
hours, to loiter when out on business for their employer, to go to
their work in the morning all used up from dissipation; but often when
they try to get another place their reputation has gone before them,
and they are not wanted.

Others excuse themselves for poor work on the ground that their
employer does not appreciate their services and is mean to them. A
youth might just as well excuse himself for his boorish manners and
ungentlemanly conduct on the ground that other people were mean and
ungentlemanly to him.

My young friends, you have nothing to do with your employer's character
or his method of doing things. You may not be able to make him do what
is right, but you can do right yourself. You may not be able to make
him a gentleman, but you can be one yourself; and you can not afford to
ruin yourself and your whole future just because your employer is not
what he ought to be. No matter how mean and stingy he may be, your
opportunity for the time is with him, and it rests with you whether you
will use it or abuse it, whether you will make of it a stepping-stone
or a stumbling-block.

The fact is that your present position, your way of doing your work, is
the key that will unlock the door above you. Slighted work, botched
work, will never make a key to unlock the door to anything but failure
and disgrace.

There is nothing else so valuable to you as an opportunity to build a
name for yourself. Your reputation is the foundation for your future
success, and if you slip r