abor often of large numbers of men, great tact and
knowledge of human nature, constant self-culture, and growing
experience in the practical affairs of life--it must, we think, be
obvious that the school of business is by no means so narrow as some
writers would have us believe. Mr. Helps spoke much nearer the truth
when he said that consummate men of business are as rare almost as
great poets--rarer, perhaps, than veritable saints and martyrs.
Indeed, of no other pursuit can it so emphatically be said, as of
this, that "business makes men."

It has, however, been a favorite fallacy with dunces in all times
that men of genius are unfitted for business, as well as that
business occupations unfit men for the pursuits of genius. The
unhappy youth who committed suicide a few years since because he had
been "born to be a man and condemned to be a grocer," proved by the
act that his soul was not equal even to the dignity of grocer. For it
is not the calling that degrades the man, but the man that degrades
the calling. All work that brings honest gain is honorable, whether
it be of hand or mind. The fingers may be soiled, yet the heart
remain pure; for it is not material so much as moral dirt that
defiles--greed far more than grime, and vice than verdigris.

The greatest have not disdained to labor honestly and usefully for a
living, though at the same time aiming after higher things. Thales,
the first of the seven sages; Solon, the second founder of Athens,
and Hyperates, the mathematician, were all traders. Plato, called the
Divine by reason of the excellence of his wisdom, defrayed his
traveling expenses in Egypt by the profits derived from the oil which
he sold during his journey. Spinoza maintained himself by polishing
glasses while he pursued his philosophical investigations. Linnaeus,
the great botanist, prosecuted his studies while hammering leather
and making shoes. Shakespeare was the successful manager of a
theatre--perhaps priding himself more upon his practical qualities in
that capacity than on his writing of plays and poetry. Pope was of
opinion that Shakespeare's principal object in cultivating literature
was to secure an hones independence. Indeed, he seems to have been
altogether indifferent to literary reputation. It is not known that
he superintended the publication of a single play, or even sanctioned
the printing of one; and the chronology of his writings is still a
mystery. It is certain, however, that