] This second man was always well
dressed, and he appeared to be a prominent business or professional
man. Everything in his appearance and manner attracted the admiration
of the boy. Without knowing it, John was selecting an ideal--he was
studying the people whom he saw and hoping to be unlike this one and
to be like that one.

[Illustration: Fig. 117]

"'Some day,' he said to himself, as the prosperous, well-dressed man
walked by, 'when I grow up, I hope I shall be just like him.' He had
chosen his ideal. The man was one of the leading merchants of the
city, and when John found this to be so, he was still more firmly
determined to pattern his life after the man whom he admired.

"A short time after this John's folks--his father, mother, brothers
and sisters--removed to another part of the city--and to the boy's
great surprise, he found that the merchant lived just a square away.
Incidentally, too, he found that the laboring man lived right next
door to his new home.

"And, right then and there, John learned one of the great lessons of
his life. What did he learn about the merchant? He learned that the
man, while he looked pleasant and kindly, was selfish and unkind. He
learned that the making and hoarding of money was his great object in
life. He learned that he cared but little for the comfort and welfare
of other people. He learned that the man's family was unhappy because
no home can be happy when selfishness and unkindness reign.

"What else did he learn? He learned that the laboring man who lived
next door was one of the finest men he ever knew. He learned that the
whole family was so kind and helpful that he soon forgot the merchant
and his fine clothes. He learned that the laboring man with his wife
had been willing to live humbly and work hard in order that their
children might be kept in school and then go to college. He learned
that all the children of the neighborhood liked to go to this man's
home where everybody seemed to have such a jolly good time. He found
that the Bible was opened every day while the Scriptures were read,
and that the dust never had a chance to gather on its covers.

"So one day, when John was looking out of the window of his place of
employment, and received a happy smile from his friend, the working
man, he said to himself, 'I've changed my mind. Clothes don't count
for everything. To be a good man depends upon what's _inside_,
and not what's on the outside. When I grow up, I