about the position next above you. When you can point out new methods to
your employer, advance new ideas, or suggest new channels of trade or
lines of work, you are surely on the way to promotion. Only, be sure
that your new ideas are practical. There is no more direct road to the
confidence of your employer than for him to see that you understand any
part of his affairs better than he does himself. Employ your spare
moments in studying the business. While the other clerks are joking, do
you be learning. While the students at the boarding-house in Andover
were chaffing each other during the wait for breakfast, Joseph Cook
would turn to a big dictionary in one corner of the room and look out a
word. He climbed many stairs above them.