invalid, who was parting his whiskers to free them from the hidden
lumps, meanwhile endeavoring to console Alfred: "Never mindt, Alfred.
Never mindt. Your shirt vill vash all right, und my viskers, too,"
parting his whiskers and dumping a few more deposits, he remarked: "It's
purty badt I know, but, Alfred, it might a bin wusser. 'Ust s'posin' dem
schickens roostin' over us hadt been Texas steers."

* * * * *

"The sooner a man goes into business, the sooner he will be able to
retire; that is, if he is baked done. If he ain't, he better let
somebody do business for him. My boy, it's better to go into business
too young than too old. If you happen to spill the beans, you've got the
vim to pick them up again."

"Well, Uncle Henry, if I have good luck this season, I'm going to make a
break for myself."

"Good luck, huh? If you're lookin' for luck to help you, you'll be so
near-sighted you can't see a business chance across a narrow alley. If
luck got you anything you might. There ain't no luck coming to any man
that waits on it. Every man that's got any get-up in him always has bad
luck. He brings it on himself, then he just beats luck out. There ain't
no good luck. It's grit and judgment agin dam-fool notions. And grit and
judgment wins out nearly every time. I'd rather drive a bad bargain than
drive a dray. You can drive a dozen bargains a day. You can drive only
one dray. One of your bargains may buck, the other eleven win out. A
minstrel show is alright, but, mind, it's a lifetime job, going into
business. You ought to know what you're doing. But, I'd thought you'd go
into the circus business."

"Well, I would, Uncle Henry, but I haven't got the capital. It takes
more money than I ever hope to possess. Besides, I want a business
wherein I can make a reputation for myself."

"You better go into a business where you can make money. The reputation
will make itself. If you can't make money, you can't make reputation."

"But it's my ambition to have the biggest minstrel show in the country."

"Well, you do that which you feel would be the most agreeable to you.
When I went into the grocery business in Burlington, everybody behind my
back predicted I would lose out. Everybody told me to my face I'd win
out. Make up your mind to stand on your own judgment."

Sam Flickinger, editor of the _Ohio State Journal_, wrote the first
mention of the Al. G. Field Minstrels. He gave Alfred desk roo