In his relations with others, one should never forget his good breeding.  It is a general regard for the feelings of others that springs from the absence of all selfishness.  No one should behave in the presence of others as though his own wishes were bound to be gratified or his will to control.

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In the more active sphere of business, as in the larger localities where there is close competition, the small merchant frequently outstrips his more powerful rival by one element of success, which may be added to any stock without cost, but cannot be withheld without loss.  That element is civility.  A kind and obliging manner carries with it an indescribable charm.  It must not be a manner that indicates a mean, groveling, timeserving spirit, but a plain, open, and agreeable demeanor that seems to desire to oblige for the pleasure of doing so, and not for the sake of squeezing an extra penny out of a customer’s purse.

INTEGRITY.

The sole reliance of a business man should be in the integrity of his transactions, and in the civility of his demeanor.  He should make it the interest and the pleasure of a customer to come to his office or store.  If he does this, he will form the very best “connections,” and so long as he continues this system of business, they will never desert him.

No real business man will take advantage of a customer’s ignorance, nor equivocate nor misrepresent.  If he sells goods, he will have but one price and a small profit.  He will ere long find all the most profitable customers—­the cash ones—­or they will find him.

If such a man is ever deceived in business transactions, he will never attempt to save himself by putting the deception upon others; but submit to the loss, and be more cautious in future.  In his business relations, he will stick to those whom he finds strictly just in their transactions, and shun all others even at a temporary disadvantage.

The word of a business man should be worth all that it expresses and promises, and all engagements should be met with punctilious concern.  An indifferent or false policy in business is a serious mistake.  It is fatal to grasp an advantage at ten times its cost; and there is nothing to compensate for the loss of a neighbor’s confidence or good will.

The long-established customs and forms of business, which in these times are assumed to be legitimate, already have within them enough of the elements of peculiarity, commonly termed “tricks of trade,” or, in the sense of any particular business, “tricks of the trade.”  Therefore it does not behoove any active man to make gratuitous additions of a peculiar nature to the law of business.  On the contrary, all should strive to render business transactions less peculiar than they are.

ECONOMY.

One may rest in the assurance that industry and economy will be sure to tell in the end.  If in early life these habits become confirmed, no doubt can exist as to the ultimate triumph of the merchant in attaining a competency.