Self Control
If he had I would have been
"sunk. "
With less than a dollar in change in my pocket, I picked out the cloth
for three of the most expensive suits I ever owned, and ordered that
they be made up for me at once.
The three suits came to $375.00!
I shall never forget the remark made by the tailor as he took my measure. Glancing first at the three bolts of expensive cloth, which I had selected, and then at me, he inquired:
"Dollar-a-year man, eh?"
ALL anyone really requires, as a capital on which to start a successful career, is a sound mind, a healthy body and a genuine desire to be of as much service as possible to as many people as possible.
"No," said I, "if I had been fortunate enough to get on the dollar-a year payroll I might now have enough money to pay for these suits." The tailor looked at me with surprise. I don't think he got the joke.
One of the suits was a beautiful dark gray; one was a dark blue; the other was a light blue with a pin stripe. Fortunately I was in good standing with my tailor, therefore he did not ask when I was going to pay for those expensive suits. I knew that I could and would pay for them in due time, but could I have convinced him of that?
This was the thought, which was running through my mind, with hope against hope that the question would not be brought up. I then visited my haberdasher, from whom I purchased three less expensive suits and a complete supply of the best shirts, collars, ties, hosiery and underwear that he carried.
My bill at the haberdasher's amounted to a little over
$300.00. With an air of prosperity I nonchalantly signed the charge ticket
and tossed it back to the salesman, with instructions to deliver my purchase
the following morning. The feeling of renewed self-reliance and success had
begun to come over me, even before I had attired myself in my newly
purchased outfit.
I was out of the war and $675.00 in debt, all in less than twenty-four hours. The following day the first of the three suits ordered from the haberdasher was delivered. I put it on at once, stuffed a new silk handkerchief in the outside pocket of my coat, shoved the $50.00 I had borrowed on my ring down into my pants pocket, and walked down Michigan Boulevard, in Chicago, feeling as rich as Rockefeller.