l bet he never owned a dog, to say
nothing of a team like that."

He was assured that he was mistaken.

He became excited, and offered to bet any amount that that fellow was
the barber at Woodlawn, and he guessed he knew what he was talking
about, and that he would know that fellow among a million.

* * * * *

Before bringing this volume to a close I wish to say for the benefit of
those who may have met with reverses, and are possibly on the verge of
giving up all hope of achieving success, that during my "twenty years of
hus'ling" I found the great secret of every success I met with was
energy. Never quit, never give up, never look on the dark side, and no
matter how dismal the prospects seemed, or how rocky the past had been,
I never allowed myself to become disheartened or in any way discouraged.
The average man is too willing to let well enough alone. Instead of
making his business a constant study with a view of devising some new
method of conducting it, he is liable to sit down with a self-satisfied
conviction that so long as he is holding his own he should be satisfied.
No man can make a greater mistake than to adopt these old-fogy ideas.
The idea of being satisfied with their lot, I believe has kept many men
from progressing; it requires no energy whatever to conclude to let well
enough alone; it is a very easy resolution to make and not a hard one to
keep, and like the bad-luck excuse, is likely to afford much
satisfaction to those who are not ambitious to push ahead.

I believe every man should build up his hopes and aspirations, not to
extremes, but so far as to elevate his ideas to a realization that a
mere living should not satisfy him through life, and nothing short of
the best paying and most prominent position would gratify him.

The young man starting out in life who for a while only succeeds in
holding his own or possibly meets with reserves, should be manly enough
to find no fault, but he should be _too much of a man_ to remain
satisfied with a bare living.

It pays to be reasonably aggressive in all things. The man who shows a
disposition to look out for his own welfare and not be imposed upon by
others, will invariably receive the most attention and be taken the best
care of under all circumstances. He should not allow false pride or
dudish notions to interfere in the least with his business.

He should realize that the mere comforts of life with a respectable