Chapter I: Front Matter

young should determine to rise. We may usually become what we desire to be. An anecdote. Studying the lives of eminent and useful men. 27-30

Section II. Motives to action.--A regard to our own happiness. To family and friends. To society. To country. To the will of God. The love of God, the highest motive. 31-38

Section III. Industry.--No person has a right to live without labor. Determine to labor as long as you live. Mistaken method of teaching industry. Labor in the open air. Manual labor schools. 38-43

Section IV. Economy.--False and true; Examples of the false. Time is money. Sixty minutes shown to be an hour. Economical habits. 1. Do every thing at the time. Anecdote. 2. Every thing should have its place. Examples. 43-47

Section V. Indolence.--The indolent only half human. Characteristics of an indolent man. His epitaph. 47-49

Section VI. Early Rising and rest.--He who would rise early, must _retire_ early. Morning air. Advantages of early rising. 1. Things go better through the day. 2. Morning hours more _agreeable_. 3. Danger of the _second nap_. 4. Early risers long-lived. 5. One hour's sleep before midnight worth two after. 6. Saving of _time_ and _money_. Estimates. Examples of early rising. 49-55

Section VII. Duty to Parents.--Reasons. 1. For the sake of our own reputation. 2. From love to our parents. 3. Better to _suffer_ wrong, than to _do_ wrong. 4. Nothing gained by going away. Franklin an exception to the general rule. No sight more beautiful than a well ordered and happy family. Obedience the great lesson of life. 56-59

Section VIII. Faithfulness.--Our duty to our employers. Common error of the young. Examples. The Mahratta prince. 59-61

Section IX. On Forming Temperate Habits.--Drunkenness and gluttony. Indulgence short of these Indulgences very _expensive_. Spending time at meals. Water drinkers the best guests. Temperate habits tend to health. Ecclesiasticus. Examples of rational living. Tea, coffee, soups, and all warm drinks injurious. General rules. 62-70

Section X. Suppers.--Customs of our ancestors; and of the Jews. Advantages gained by avoiding suppers. Eating-houses. 70-73

Section XI. Dress.--Its uses. Neither be first nor last in a fashion. Fondness for dress. Women not often misled by dress. 73-75

Section XII. Bashfulness and Modesty.--We _may_ be both bashful and impudent. Bashfulness injurious. Set up for just what we are, and no more. 76-78

Section XIII. Politeness and Good Breeding.--Not to be despised. In what good breeding consists. How acquired. Ten plain rules. 78-82

Section XIV. Personal Habits.--Business of the day planned in the morning. Dressing, shaving, &c. Shaving with cold water. Anecdote. 82-88

Section XV. Bathing and Cleanliness.--Connection of Cleanliness with Moral Purity. Neglect of this subject. 88-89

Section XVI. Little Things.--Not to be disregarded. Zimmerman. The world _made up_ of little things. 89-93

Section XVII. Anger, and the means of restraining it. Avoid the first steps. An error in education. Opinion of Dr. Darwin. The Quaker and the Merchant. Zimmerman's method of _overcoming_ anger. Unreasonableness of returning evil for evil. 93-99

CHAPTER II.--ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS.

Section I. Commencing Business.--Avoid debt. Do not begin too early. Facts stated. Why young men do not take warning. Students of Medicine and Divinity. Examples for imitation. 100-108

Section II. Importance of Integrity.--Thieves and robbers respect it. What it is. Many kinds of dishonesty. 1. Concealing the market price. 2. Misrepresenting it. 3. Selling unsound or defective goods, and calling them sound and perfect. Quack medicines. 4. Concealing defects. 5. Lowering the value of things we wish to buy. 6. Use of false weights and measures. Other kinds of dishonesty. 108-115

Section III. Method.--Memorandum book; its uses. Rules for doing much business in little time. 116-117

Section IV. Application to Business.--Every person ought to have one principal object of pursuit, and steadily pursue it. Perseverance of a shopkeeper. All _useful_ employments respectable. Character of a _drone_. 117-120

Section V. Proper Time and Season of doing Business.--When to deal with the gloomy; the intemperate; those unhappy in domestic life; men involved in public concerns. 120-122

Section VI. Buying upon Trust.--Live within our income. _Calculate._ Buy nothing but what you need. Estimates and examples to show the folly of credit. Not intended as lessons of stinginess. 122-127

Section VII. We should endeavor to do our business ourselves. Four reasons. Trusting dependants. We can do many little things without hindrance. 127-130

Section VIII. Over Trading.--A species of _fraud_. Arises from a desire to get rich rapidly. Wickedness of monopolies. 130-131

Section IX. Making contracts beforehand. Always make bargains beforehand. Three reasons. If possible, reduce every thing to writing. 131-132

Section X. How to know with whom to deal.--Two rules. How to detect a knave. All men by nature, avaricious. Avoid those who boast of _good bargains_. Avoid sanguine promisers. 133-135

Section XI. How to take Men as they are.--How to regard a miser; a passionate man; a slow man; the covetous; those ruled by their wives; the boasting; the mild tempered; the bully. Six sorts of people from whom you are not to expect much aid or sympathy in life: the sordid, the lazy, the busy, the rich, those miserable from poverty, and the silly. 136-140

Section XII. Of desiring the good opinion of others.--Those not far from ruin who _don't care_.--The other extreme to be avoided. 140-141

Section XIII. Intermeddling with the affairs of others.--Matchmakers. Taking sides in quarrels. Ishmaelites. 142-143

Section XIV. On keeping Secrets.--Who may safely be trusted. Anecdotes. 143-145

Section XV. Fear of Poverty.--Little real poverty in this country. Shame of being thought poor leads to worse evils than poverty itself. Fear of poverty often a cause of suicide. 145-150

Section XVI. Speculation.--The habit early formed. It is a species of gaming. Its sources. 150-152

Section XVII. Lawsuits.--Avoid the law. Litigiousness, a disease. Consider what is gained by it. Examples of loss. Subdue the passions which lead to it. Lawsuits unnecessary. 152-156

Section XVIII. Hard dealing.--Its unchristian nature. _Two prices._ Habits of the Mohammedans. 156-157

CHAPTER III.--ON AMUSEMENTS AND INDULGENCES.

Section I. On Gaming.--Every gambler a robber. The _first_ player. Gaming _produces_ nothing. Corrupts manners. Discourages industry. Opinions of Locke and others. What tremendous evils it leads to. France, England. Different sorts of gaming. 1. _Cards_, _dice_, and _billiards_. 2. _Shooting matches._ These brutal practices still sometimes tolerated. 3. _Horse racing_ and _cock fighting_. A recent bull fight. 158-171

Section II. On Lotteries.--Lotteries the _worst_ species of Gaming. They are a species of swindling. Estimates to show their folly. Appeal to the reader. 171-176

Section III. The Theatre.--A school of vice. Injurious to health. Diseases produced by it. Its danger to morals. Opinions and facts from Griscom, Rousseau, Hawkins, Tillotson, Collier, Hale, Burgh, and Plato. Anecdote. Antiquity of theatres. No safety but in _total abstinence_. 176-183

Section IV. Use of Tobacco.--1. _Smoking._ Picture of its evils in Germany. Tobacco consumed in the United States. When it was introduced. None recommend it to their children. A most powerful poison. Savages fond of it, in proportion to their degradation. No poisonous plant, so much used, except the _betel_ of India. How smoking can be abolished. 2. _Chewing._ Apologies for the practice. Tobacco _does not_ preserve teeth. 3. _Taking snuff._ Disgust and danger of this habit. 183-191

Section V. Useful Recreations.--Recreations in the open air. Playing ball; quoits; nine pins, &c. Skating. Dancing. Its uses and dangers. Reading sometimes a recreation. Sports of the field considered. 191-194

CHAPTER IV.--IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.

Section I. Habits of Observation.--We should keep our 'eyes open.' Anecdote from Dr. Dwight. Avoid pedantry. Anecdote of a surgeon;--of the elder and younger Pliny. 195-199

Section II. Rules for Conversation.--Rules of profiting from it. Hear others. Do not interrupt them. Avoid those who use vulgar or profane language. Speak late yourself. Avoid great earnestness. Never be overbearing. 199-202