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INTRODUCTION TO MIXED DRINKS.
wards; yet the imagination on my part was at that
time like that of the rest of boys of the same age. But
with the advance in age, this imagination faded, for it
had to; and now I began to learn. A period of a few
years passed and I began to believe I knew something;
undoubtedly I did, but how little! and every day con–
vinces me more and . more how much there is to be
learned, although I have given particular care to this
business close on to thirty years.
How often a man will overestimate himself, because
he happens to be successful, as well as another one
~ill
undervalue his dexterity because good luck did
not favor him. Perhaps you think I was born with a
fortune waiting for me; I was, but I was not to keep it,
and only my misfortune in younger years is the cause,
and has ever since been, that made me work hard and
seek new ideas. There is no more reason for a well-off
man to give up his ambition lhan there is for another,
who did not meet with suc-cess, to despair. Surely it is
a nice, pleasant feeling (or any one to be born rich; but
to be born with a silver spoon in the mouth and to die
with a fortune behind you, without having shown that
you accomplished something of value through your
daily toils and labors-no! I would rather be a dog
than a man without ambition and a record of toil.
My dear readers! Never was I guilty of not enjoy–
ing myself at every opportunity after business hours,
and I never will let the time pass by without doing so
hereafter. It is a pleasure to me to enjoy the labor,