oad-headed nail in the centre, which was as the body of the
sun, and the thrums whisking round, flinging the water about every way
by innumerable little streams, describing exactly the rays of the sun,
darting light from the centre to the whole system.

If ignorant Betty, by the natural consequences of her operation,
instructed the astronomer, why may not the meanest shoemaker or pedlar,
by the ordinary sagacity of his trading wit, though it may be indeed
very ordinary, coarse, and unlooked for, communicate something, give
some useful hint, dart some sudden thought into the mind of the
observing tradesman, which he shall make his use of, and apply to his
own advantage in trade, when, at the same time, he that gives such hint
shall himself, like Betty and her mop, know nothing of the matter?

Every tradesman is supposed to manage his business his own way, and,
generally speaking, most tradesmen have some ways peculiar and
particular to themselves, which they either derived from the masters
who taught them, or from the experience of things, or from something in
the course of their business, which had not happened to them before.

And those little _nostrums_ are oftentime very properly and with
advantage communicated from one to another; one tradesman finds out a
nearer way of buying than another, another finds a vent for what is
bought beyond what his neighbour knows of, and these, in time, come to
be learned of them by their ordinary conversation.

I am not for confining the tradesman from keeping better company, as
occasion and leisure requires; I allow the tradesman to act the
gentleman sometimes, and that even for conversation, at least if his
understanding and capacity make him suitable company to them, but still
his business is among those of his own rank. The conversation of
gentlemen, and what they call keeping good company, may be used as a
diversion, or as an excursion, but his stated society must be with his
neighbours, and people in trade; men of business are companions for men
of business; with gentlemen he may converse pleasantly, but here he
converses profitably; tradesmen are always profitable to one another; as
they always gain by trading together, so they never lose by conversing
together; if they do not get money, they gain knowledge in business,
improve their experience, and see farther and farther into the world.

A man of but an ordinary penetration will improve himself by conversing
in matters o