sure that unknown, without friends or prestige, it would be useless to try to establish myself as a teacher of music; so I gave that means of earning a livelihood scarcely any consideration.  And even had I considered it possible to secure pupils, as I then felt, I should have hesitated about taking up a work in which the chances for any considerable financial success are necessarily so small.  I had made up my mind that since I was not going to be a Negro, I would avail myself of every possible opportunity to make a white man’s success; and that, if it can be summed up in any one word, means “money.”

I watched the “want” columns in the newspapers and answered a number of advertisements, but in each case found the positions were such as I could not fill or did not want.  I also spent several dollars for “ads” which brought me no replies.  In this way I came to know the hopes and disappointments of a large and pitiable class of humanity in this great city, the people who look for work through the newspapers.  After some days of this sort of experience I concluded that the main difficulty with me was that I was not prepared for what I wanted to do.  I then decided upon a course which, for an artist, showed an uncommon amount of practical sense and judgment.  I made up my mind to enter a business college.  I took a small room, ate at lunch counters, in order to economize, and pursued my studies with the zeal that I have always been able to put into any work upon which I set my heart.  Yet, in spite of all my economy, when I had been at the school for several months, my funds gave out completely.  I reached the point where I could not afford sufficient food for each day.  In this plight I was glad to get, through one of the teachers, a job as an ordinary clerk in a downtown wholesale house.  I did my work faithfully, and received a raise of salary before I expected it.  I even managed to save a little money out of my modest earnings.  In fact, I began then to contract the money fever, which later took strong possession of me.  I kept my eyes open, watching for a chance to better my condition.  It finally came in the form of a position with a house which was at the time establishing a South American department.  My knowledge of Spanish was, of course, the principal cause of my good luck; and it did more for me:  it placed me where the other clerks were practically put out of competition with me.  I was not slow in taking advantage of the opportunity to make myself indispensable to the firm.

What an interesting and absorbing game is money-making!  After each deposit at my savings-bank I used to sit and figure out, all over again, my principal and interest, and make calculations on what the increase would be in such and such time.  Out of this I derived a great deal of pleasure.  I denied myself as much as possible in order to swell my savings.  As much as I enjoyed smoking, I limited myself to an occasional cigar, and that was generally of a variety which in my old days at the “Club” was known as a “Henry Mud.”  Drinking I cut out altogether, but that was no great sacrifice.