Osterwald, the Parisian banker, began life a
poor man. He was accustomed every evening to drink a pint of beer
for supper at a tavern which he visited, during which he collected
and pocketed all the corks that he could lay his hands on. In
eight years he had collected as many corks as sold for eight louis
d'ors. With that sum he laid the foundations of his fortune--
gained mostly by stock-jobbing; leaving at his death some three
millions of francs. John Foster has cited a striking illustration
of what this kind of determination will do in money-making. A
young man who ran through his patrimony, spending it in profligacy,
was at length reduced to utter want and despair. He rushed out of
his house intending to put an end to his life, and stopped on
arriving at an eminence overlooking what were once his estates. He
sat down, ruminated for a time, and rose with the determination
that he would recover them. He returned to the streets, saw a load
of coals which had been shot out of a cart on to the pavement
before a house, offered to carry them in, and was employed. He
thus earned a few pence, requested some meat and drink as a
gratuity, which was given him, and the pennies were laid by.
Pursuing this menial labour, he earned and saved more pennies;
accumulated sufficient to enable him to purchase some cattle, the
value of which he understood, and these he sold to advantage.
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