KEEP YOUR PROMISE.

In no way, perhaps, can a young man destroy his business character more effectually than by obtaining the reputation of one who breaks his promises. The mercantile world, in placing under its ban the individual who suffers his note to be protested, is less unjust than is popularly supposed. Instances of hardship, we are willing to concede, do occasionally arise under the operation of this rule; but they are less frequent than is generally believed, and not more cruel than in similar exceptional cases. Nine men out of ten who fail, owe their insolvency either to having traded beyond their means to a careless management of their affairs-or to criminal speculations. That is, they have undertaken more than they could perform, and this while knowing at the time of the promise that there was great doubt whether they could meet their engagements. Perhaps, indeed, they had no deliberate intention of violating their promise; but they either were more ignorant than they should have been of their ability to perform, or they trusted too confidentially to the chances of the future, or they took heavier risks subsequently than was consistent with their liabilities. The innocent, therefore, suffer but rarely by this species of mercantile proscription. On the other hand, the rule is absolutely necessary to the commercial world, for without it payments could scarcely ever be depended on, and financial distress would frequently be alarmingly increased. Strict business in

tegrity, in this particular, depends much on the general character. A person who pays little regard to slight ́promises, usually is somewhat careless of greater ones also. Defects of this kind, like flaws in machinery, never lessen, but always grow worse, until finally, under the strain of a powerful temptation, they often break down a man's career for ever. The most punctual men in keeping a trivial engagement, we have always found to be the exactest in their business transactions. Washington was a memorable example of particularity in small things as well as great, and his strict probity in the latter was unquestionably the result, in a considerable degree, of his fidelity in the former.

In our experience also, the men who never kept an engagement to the moment-the men who were proverbially always "behind time," have been, mostly, those who have failed subsequently in business. We have learned, too, to be cautious of those who are over-ready to promise. It is the individual who carefully considers before he makes a pledge, who can be most surely depended on to keep it. A multiplicity of promises necessarily prevents the promiser from observing them all; for one conflicts with the other, and disables even the best intentioned. A disregard of promises, finally, is like a fungus, which imperceptibly spreads over the whole character, until the moral perceptions are perverted, and the man actually comes to believe he does no wrong, even in breaking faith with his warmest friends.

SUCCESS IN LIFE DEPENDS ON PERSEVERANCE.

SUCCESS in life mainly depends upon perseverance. When a man has determined to follow a certain line of business, he must at the same time resolve to persevere until success crowns his efforts. He must never be cast down by the difficulties which may beset his path; for whoever conquers difficulty, conquers a weakness of his own frail nature likewise. How many men have commenced business under the most favourable auspices, and yet, when a cloud has momentarily overshadowed their path, have lost all command over themselves, and fled before the temporary gloom, instead of persevering on until the cloud has been dispersed, and sunshine once more smiled upon their efforts! Others, more fickle, have thought their business, in some minor departments, unworthy of their perseverance and energy; and forgetting the golden maxim, that "whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well," have ceased to persevere in small matters, until sloth has entered deeply into their minds, and their whole business greatly neglected.

We are too apt to attribute success in business to good fortune, instead of great perseverance. This is a great evil, and should be eschewed, as it leads many to suppose that Dame Fortune will do that for them which they are unwilling to do for themselves.

The history of every great success in business is the history of great perseverance. By perseverance the

mind is strengthened and invigorated, and the difficulty that once seemed so formidable, is a second time surmounted with ease and confidence.

Energy and great perseverance are never thrown away in a good cause, or left unrewarded; and, to every man of business, perseverance should be his motto, and then he may look with confidence to fortune as his reward.

A MODEL WAREHOUSE.

We find the following interesting account of the mode of conducting business arrangements in a dry goods store in Philadelphia, in the columns of a southern journal. Precision in such matters begets thrift and prosperity, and we hope the precepts of the annexed article may be universally carried out in business communities.

"The amount of sales made at this store is about three hundred thousand dollars annually; each department in the store is alphabetically designated. The shelves and rows of goods in each department are numbered; and upon the tag attached to the goods is marked the letter of the department, the number of the shelf, and row on that shelf to which such piece of goods belongs. The cashier receives a certain sum extra per week, and he is responsible for all worthless money received. Books are kept, in which the sales of each clerk are entered for the day, and the salary of the clerk cast as a percentage on each day, week, and year, and at the foot of the page the

aggregate of these sales appears, and the percentage that it has cost to effect these sales is easily calculated for each day, month, or year. The counters are designated by an imaginary colour, as the blue, green, brown, &c., counter.

The yardsticks and counter brush belonging to it are painted to correspond with the imaginary colour of the counter; so, by a very simple arrangement, each of these necessaries is kept where it belongs, and, should any be missing, the faulty clerks are easily known.

All wrapping-paper coming into the store is immediately taken to a counter in the basement, where a lad attends with a pair of shears, whose duty it is to cut the paper into pieces to correspond with the size of the parcels sold at the different departments, to which he sees that it is transferred. All pieces too small for this, even to the smallest scraps, are by him put into a sack, and what is usually thrown away by our merchants, yields to this systematic man some twenty dollars per year. In one part of the establishment is a tool-closet, with a work-bench attached; the closet occupies but little space, yet in it we notice almost every useful tool, and this is arranged with the handsaw to form the centre, and the smaller tools radiating from it in sun form; behind each article is painted, with black paint, the shape of the tool belonging to that place. It is, consequently, impossible that any thing should be out of place except through design; and, if any tool is missing, the wall will show the shadow without the substance.

Such is the salutary influence exerted by order, that those who enter this employ habitually careless and reck