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Show MEANT TO SUCCEED RISk OP TWO MEN PROM SMALL BEOINrilNQS. Natural .Hustlers and Workers Were " Marshall O. Roberts and Leland Stanford Smart Trick-Worked by the Former. ' It was Marshal O. Roberts who originated the Idea of giving his store an air of prosperity by lilting his counters coun-ters with the appearance ofi goods, says a writer In Spare Moments, when he could not afford the actual stock. ' In 1835 young Roberts had managed to scrape together a few hundred dollars, dol-lars, the result of many years' close saying, though he was only 21 at the time. He had decided to try his hand "at the hardware and shipping supply business. Tho .first thing wae to And a suitable building In a suitable location. But the two requirements could not be 'found together, 30 he was finally compelled com-pelled to take a large building, In which his small stock seemed com-rJotely com-rJotely lost After arranging his shelves In ever-possible ever-possible way to make them appear to good advantage, he gave up In disgust, "They' look like' so many samples," he complaln'od, and, It Is said, Immediately Immedi-ately went out and orderod a load of' bricks sent to the store. These ho took ono 'by ohe and neatly wrapped, tying a sample of a, nail or a screw or a rivet to the end that would be visible. The bricks were about the size ot many of his boxes, and when tho shelves wero filled with them his store appeared to be Exceedingly well stocked. Naturally customers were drawn to the firm that kept the largest stock. According to tho same authority Leland Stanford's first earnings wero tho result of digging horseradish, washing it, and carrying It to the nearest near-est town. He' received, as his share of the enterprise, 25 cents. Ho was then six years old. In his eighth year he worked hard gathering chestnuts, which he sold for $25. During tho successive years bo tolled toll-ed on the farm Jn the summer and attended at-tended school In the winter, all tho time dreaming ot a college education rjid later of becoming a .lawyer. When he was 18 there was no money In sight for tho carrying out ot his cherished plans and the outlook, to say the least, was not encouraging. Consequently be balled with delight his father's offer of-fer to allow him the profits from clearing clear-ing a' tract ot woodland recently purchased. pur-chased. Ho was to have all he could iQEko sellng cordwood. He went at it with zest, hiring other woodeboppera to help him, and before a year of the hardest kind ot toll had ended ho Had chopped and shipped mora than 2,000 cords of wood and' had in the bank $2,000. Ho did not lose sight of his purposo, but used tho money ,to finish his common school education and then at a law school. ' |
