Page:Life of Isaiah V Williamson.djvu/179

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Little Man of Large Soul
155

"Brooding over losses is not the way to make money. It unfits you for future business. You must not look back over the gloomy past." Going to his safe, Williamson brought out a bundle of papers, saying: "That bundle represents hundreds of thousands of dollars which I have lost—much of it through misplaced confidence in friends. The worst of it was, I not only lost the money but in many cases the friendship, and yet I never in my life sued a man for a debt. And so, of late years, I have resolved never to loan a man money without taking security; then I am sure not to lose both my money and the man's friendship. But I am going to break this rule with you, my friend. Tell me how much money you need to tide you over, and you shall have it."

All this shows that the way in which the Philadelphia Record pictured Mr. Williamson the year before he died is the more accurate delineation. Its sketch closes in this way: "As a capitalist he has been identified with a large number of commercial, financial and railroad enterprises. In all he has been a director. That he has been earnestly solicited