"MY DEAR JOHN: I want to remind you that wherever you find work, you must
consider that work your own. Do not go into it, as some boys do, with the
feeling that you will do as little as you can and get something better
soon, but make up your mind that you will do as much as possible, and make
yourself so necessary to your employer that he will never let you go. You
have been a good son to me, and I can truly say that I have never known you
to shirk. Be as good in business, and I am sure God will bless your
efforts."
"H'm!" said the lawyer, reading it over the second time. "That's pretty
good advice, John, excellent advice. I rather think I will try you, even
without the references."
John has been with him six years, and last spring was admitted to the bar.
"Do you intend taking that young man into partnership?" asked a friend
lately.
"Yes, I do. I could not get along without John; he is my right-hand man!"
exclaimed the lawyer, heartily.
And John always says the best reference he ever had was his mother's good
advice and honest praise.
--_Selected_.