A DAILY MESSAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 12 February 1929, Page 1

A DAILY MESSAGE

DO !T BETTER ! Emkuson said “ If a man can wrii.e a better book, preach a hotter sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neigh hour, the world will make a beaten path to his door.” Elbert J-Jtibhnrd remarked that that statement, was true only if the mousetrap were well advertised. Emerson meant that the world knows a good thing when it sees it—that it pays to do anything better than the rest—that good craftsmanship in “any’) line will make a man successful or famous. And 'Hubbard merely remared, “Yess but it’s no use expecting to sell your book or your mouse-trap, however good it may be. unless you tell tbe world you have a book or a mouse-trap for sale. And they are both right. Antonio Stradivari, the famous violin-maker of Cremona, illustrates both points. This splendid craftsman carried the violin which bears his name to the highest perfection. He laboured with a thoroughness that has never been excelled; and lie made a hotter violin than anybody else in the world. The materials from which he made his violin cost but a few shillings; but there are violins and violins, and a Stradivari has been sold for £2500. The difference between the cost and the price the world was willing to give for “ a Stradivari ” represents the world’s appreciation of the “little better” than all the rest; and thus commenced the beaten path to the door of the man who could make better violins than all the rest. You may not lie a maker of violins nor a manufacturer of mouse-traps, hut if you are only a crossing-sweeper, and do your work better than all the rest, your promotion is certain. —M. PItESTON STANLEY.