A successful merchant, whose name is well-known throughout our
country, very tersely sums up the means by which true success may
be attained. "It is just this," he says: "Do your best every day,
whatever you have in hand."

This simple rule, if followed in sunshine and in storm, in days of
sadness as well as days of gladness, will rear for the builder a
Palace Beautiful more precious than pearls of great price, more
enduring than time.





"THE MILL BOY OF THE SLASHES"


A picturesque, as well as pathetic figure, was Henry Clay, the
little "Mill Boy of the Slashes," as he rode along on the old
family horse to Mrs. Darricott's mill. Blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked,
and bare-footed, clothed in coarse shirt and trousers, and a
time-worn straw hat, he sat erect on the bare back of the horse,
holding, with firm hand, the rope which did duty as a bridle. In
front of him lay the precious sack, containing the grist which was
to be ground into meal or flour, to feed the hungry mouths of the
seven little boys and girls who, with the widowed mother, made up
the Clay family.

It required a good deal of grist to feed so large a family,