Self Help

me over a thousand dollars a month in net profits. Again I was beginning to near the end of the rainbow. Again I knew I had at last found my niche in the world's work; that nothing could 7 swerve me from my course or divert my attention from the automobile business. My banker knew that I was prospering, therefore he loaned me money with which to expand. A peculiar trait of bankers - a trait which may be more or less developed in the remainder of us also - is that they will loan us money without any hesitation when we are prosperous! My banker loaned me money until I was hopelessly in his debt, then he took over my business as calmly as if it had belonged to him, which it did! From the station of a man of affairs who enjoyed an income of more than a thousand dollars a month, I was suddenly reduced to poverty. Now, twenty years later, I thank the hand of Fate for this forced change; but at that time I looked upon the change as nothing but failure. The rainbow's end had disappeared, and with it the proverbial pot of gold which is supposed to be found at its end. It was many years afterwards that I learned the truth that this temporary defeat was probably the greatest single blessing that ever came my way, because it forced me out of a business that in no way helped me to develop knowledge of self or of others, and directed my efforts into a channel which brought me a rich experience of which I was in need. For the first time in life I began to ask myself if it were not possible for one to find something of value other than money and power at the rainbow's end. This temporary questioning attitude did not amount to open rebellion, mind you, nor did I follow it far enough to get the answer. It merely came as a fleeting thought, as do so many other thoughts to which we pay no attention, and passed out of my mind. Had I known as much then as I now know about the Law of Compensation, and had I been able to interpret experiences as I can now interpret them, I would have recognized that event as a gentle nudge from the hand of Fate. 8 After putting up the hardest fight of my life, up to that time, I accepted my temporary defeat as failure and thus was ushered in my next and fourth turning-point, which gave me an opportunity to put into use the knowledge of law that I had acquired. FOURTH TURNING POINT Because I was my wife's husband and her people had influence I secured the appointment as assistant to the chief counsel for one of the largest coal companies in the world. My salary was greatly out of proportion to those usually paid to beginners, and still further out of proportion to what I was worth; but pull was pull, and I was there just the same. It happened that what I lacked in legal skill I more than made up through the application of the principle of performing more servic