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"Tlrere've been a great many boys begin as low down as you. Dick, that have grown up respectable and honored. But they had to work pretty hard for it."
"I'm willin' to work hard." said Dick.
"And you must not only work hard, but work in the right way."
"What's the right way?"
"You began in the right way when you determined never to steal, or do anything mean or dishonorable, however strongly tempted to do so. That will make people have confidence in you when they come to know you. But, in order to succeed well, you must manage to get as good an education as you can. Until you do. you cannot get a position in an office or countingroom, even to run errands."
"That's so," said Dick, soberly. "I never thought how awful ignorant I was till now."
"That can be remedied with perseverance," said Frank. "A year will do a great deal for you."
"I'll go to work and see what I can do," said Dick energetically.
—Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks, by Horatio Alger Jr.
In the days of his youth. Chuck Percy befriended a kindly gentleman by the name of Mr. Silverstein, the proprietor of the corner delicatessen. Chuck, a curious and observant boy, noticed that Mr. Silverstein rarely closed his place of business.
"Mr. Silverstein, sir, don't you ever close your place of business and go out and have some fun?" inquired the lad solicitously, as was his warm and friendly fashion.
"Young man," responded the kindly gentleman soberly, "I own this business. It is all mine. This is my fun."
Mr. Silverstein and his delicatessen have since passed into oblivion. But Charles Harting Percy did not. He applied himself, worked hard and persevered, and by dint of luck and pluck became a wealthy, successful businessman who is now the Republican candidate for Governor in his home state of Illinois, and—who knows?—may become something even bigger before he turns 50. To this day, Percy recalls his conversation with Mr. Silverstein. "I've never forgotten this," he says, "because he was right. It's fun working when you're working for yourself. Having your own equity, working your own business, having a feeling that what you're doing is building something for yourself—these things are important. I found that out."