started in the hands of a powerful firm, and concentrated under control of a competent manager, the enterprise, which had proved so disastrous to many isolated local traders, began to advance by leaps and bounds. One after another the great railway companies ceded to Smith & Son the exclusive right to erect bookstalls at their stations. It was not easy to meet the requirements of such sudden expansions as were caused by acquiring the whole of the London and South-Western system about 1852, that of the London and Brighton a few years later, and that of the Great Western in 1862. To man and supply with literature. so many new stations involved taking on an immense number of new hands, as well as considerable capital expenditure. But the junior partner had a quick eye for capabilities, and was constantly on the watch to secure the services of young men in the great wholesale houses, who, as the firm of Smith & Son rose in reputation, often came to ask for employment. He never let a promising young fellow past him, but was always ready to engage him, even if, as would sometimes happen, there was no niche into which he could be fitted at the moment.1

1 This faculty of detecting "form at a glance" (if it may be permitted to borrow from the phraseology of a system so foreign to Smith's habits and character as the turf) never left him. During his later years it happened that he attended a meeting of fifteen

THE YOUNGER SMITH'S RULE.

57

Sometimes a young man, "too big for his boots," would show an inclination to sniff at being put in charge of a railway bookstall. The trade had an indifferent reputation at first, and such an appointment was not looked upon as that of a legitimate bookseller.

"We'll raise it, Mr

"replied young Smith to one who had offered some such objectionwe'll raise it. I am not at all sure that it may not be made as respectable as Paternoster Row." These young men were educated to gauge the literary taste of the various districts. Some curious information, showing how this varied according to locality, is given in the Times article quoted from above.

Stations have their idiosyncrasies. Yorkshire is not partial to poetry. It is difficult to sell a valuable book at any of the stations between Derby, Leeds, and Manchester. Religious books hardly find a purchaser at

or twenty persons, held to promote a certain object, in the house of his colleague, the Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P. One of the gentlemen present, at the request of Mr Stanhope, acted as secretary during the proceedings, which lasted about an hour. Twelve months later, Smith went to Mr Stanhope and asked the name of the gentleman who had acted as secretary on that occasion, for he said he had been so favourably impressed with his business-like qualities in the short time he had witnessed them that he wished to meet him again, in order, if a second interview confirmed his impressions, to offer him a high and lucrative post in the house in the Strand.

Liverpool, while at Manchester, at the other end of the line, they are in high demand.

One secret of young Smith's influence upon young men, and the ascendancy which he gained over them, was the patience he showed in waiting for development of character and powers. So long as he saw a man willing-so long as his shortcomings could be explained by inexperience and not by negligence-he was most slow to discourage him by rebuke: he used to say that he preferred, even at the risk of temporary loss of profits, to let a man find out his own mistakes rather than check him at once. No one knew better than Smith the truth of the adage, ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius; but no one bore more constantly in mind that to be carved into an effigy is not the only use to which timber may be put, and that, of the two, a gatepost is more often of service than a god.

It was remarkable how soon each new hand entering the employment seemed to imbibe the spirit pervading the concern,-to become jealous for its character and zealous in its interests. No doubt this may be accounted for in part by the system of allowing the clerks a liberal percentage on the sales at their stalls; but it is not possible to discourse with one of the staff who knew the business in its beginnings, without acquiring the