It is always well to remember that the man who serves his country as
a good citizen, as a soldier, as a statesman, or in any other walk
of life, deserves our admiration as much as the missionary or the
minister of the Gospel--each and all such are servants of the great
King.
By far the greater portion of our lives is spent at the desk or the
counter, in the office, shop, or field; so that it is of the first
importance we should keep the strictest watch on our actions in our
work as well as in our leisure moments.
One of the most successful men in commerce and politics of the century
was Mr. W.H. Smith. Strange to say, the desires of his early days were
entirely opposed to business life. At the age of sixteen he greatly
desired to proceed to one of the universities, and prepare for
becoming a clergyman, but his parents being opposed to such a step he
gave up the idea in deference to their wishes.
It was a great disappointment to him to do this--yet he was able to
write, "It is my duty to acknowledge an overruling and directing
Providence in all the very minutest things, by being in whatever state
I am therewith content. My conclusion is, then, that I am at present
pursuing the path of duty, however imperfectly; wherever it may lead,
or what it may become, I know not."
Thus did William Henry Smith see the door of the Church closed upon
him with no vain regrets, but in a spirit of submission to his
father's wishes. Writing of these days many years later, when as
a Minister of the Crown he was in attendance upon her Majesty at
Balmoral, he says: "I thought my life was aimless, purposeless, and I
wanted something else to do; but events compelled me to what promised
to be a dull life and a useless one: the result is that few men have
had more interesting work to do".
In his earlier years W.H. Smith made a list of subjects for daily
prayer, embracing repentance, faith, love, grace to help, gratitude,
power to pray, constant direction in all things, a right understanding
of the Bible, deliverance from besetting sin, constancy in God's
service, relatives and friends, missionaries, pardon for all ignorance
and sin in prayer, etc., etc.; and it was one of the characteristics
of his nature that he felt prayer both in youth and age to be _a
necessity_.
It was a busy life in which Smith was launched at the commencement of
his career.
His father had already laid the foundation of the newsagency business
which is now of world-wide fame. Every week-day morning, summer and
winter, throughout the year, sunshine or rain, fog or snow, father
and son left their home for the business house in the Strand, at four
o'clock. Sometimes, indeed, the younger man was at his post as early
as three o'clock in the morning; and from the time he arrived at the
place of business there was constant work to be done. It was difficult
and anxious work too, and the constant strain told upon the young
man's health.
The collection and distribution of newspapers, which formed then the
chief part of the business of W.H. Smith & Son, was one that needed
the closest attention and the most untiring energy.
"First on the road" was old Mr. Smith's motto; and he carried it out.
Smith's carts were in attendance at all the great newspaper offices,
ready to carry off printed sheets to the Strand house for sorting and
packing; and thence they sped swiftly through the streets in the early
morning to catch the first trains for the country. Occasionally _The
Times_, which was the last printed journal, did not arrive at the
station till the final moment. The whistle would have sounded, the
doors would have all been locked, the guard would have given his
warning signal, when in would come at hurricane speed Smith's cart
bearing its load of "Thunderers". Ready hands would seize the papers,
and the last packet would perchance be thrown in as the train was
already steaming out of the station.
A great deal of the forwarding of newspapers was in those days done by
coaches. To catch these with the later papers, Smith had light carts
with fast horses. If the coaches had started, Smith's carts would
pursue for many miles, till they caught up the coaches at one of their
stopping places.
At the death of William IV. Smith made gigantic efforts to distribute
the papers early, and he got them into the country many hours before
the ordinary mails would have taken them. He even hired a special ship
to carry over the papers to Ireland, so that they reached Belfast on
the same day. By such means the fame of Smith grew rapidly, and the
business vastly increased. When Mr. W.H. Smith became a partner in
1846, at the age of twenty-one, it was valued at over £80,000.
But wear and tear and the anxieties of business life had made old Mr.
Smith often quick-tempered, and difficult to please; and the coming of
Mr. "W.H." into the business was hailed with pleasure by the workmen:
he was so full of tact and sympathy; and sometimes, when his father
had raised a storm of ill-feeling by some hasty expressions, he was
able to bring peace and calm by his pleasant and genial manner.
Yet he was every inch a man of business, and even more clear-headed
and far-seeing than the senior partner, his father.
It was he who commenced the railway bookstall business.
Every one knows the familiar look of Smith's bookstalls, with their
energetic clerks, and their armies of pushing newsboys, and perchance
think they were born with the railways and have grown up with them.
But such is not the case. It was not till about 1850 that Mr.
W.H. Smith secured the entire bookstall rights on the London and
North-Western Railway, much against his father's advice. The vast
improvement in the selection of books and the service of papers,
however, induced other companies to desire to have a similar
arrangement, till the chief portion of all the English railways came
to be girdled by Smith's bookstalls.
From this date the business advanced with giant strides. Managers and
clerks had to be engaged, the latter in large numbers. Here the genius
of Smith as a judge of character was abundantly shown. He came to a
determination almost at a glance, and seldom erred in his judgment.
In 1868 he was returned to Parliament, and in 1874 Mr. Disraeli
selected him for a place in his Ministry. A year later he was made
First Lord of the Admiralty. How serviceable he had been in the former
post may be judged by the remark made by Sir Stafford Northcote when
he lost Smith's assistance on his promotion to the higher position: "I
am troubled to know what to do without my right hand. I don't think he
made a slip in the whole three years."
Writing to his wife when he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty,
Mr. Smith says: "My patent has come to-day, and I have taken my
seat at the Board, who address me as 'Sir' in every sentence. It is
strange, and makes me shy at first; and I have to do what I hardly
like--to send for them, not to go to them; but I am told they expect
me, as their chief, to require respect."
He often wrote to his wife whilst the debates were going on in the
House of Commons. "Here I am, sitting listening to Arthur Balfour, who
is answering Mr. J. Morley," he writes; "and I have ears for him and
thoughts for my dear ones at home."
"Remember me in your prayers" is a request he often makes to his wife
and children. In 1886 the Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith became leader of the
House of Commons, and had thus reached one of the highest positions
any Englishman can occupy. "Old Morality" was the nickname by which he
was known; and this term is one of great honour. No man ever gained
higher respect from all parties, and no man was ever more fully
trusted by the people at large. Thus though Mr. Smith never entered
the Church, and perchance missed a bishopric, yet he was a good
citizen of the world and a humble Christian, devoting his best
energies to the service of his Queen and country.
"GREATER THAN AN ARCHBISHOP."