Hand them to him,
Skinner."
"I will take things in that order," said Richard, quietly running his
eye over the papers. There was a moment's silence. "It is proposed to
connect the bank with the speculations of the day."
"That is not fairly stated, Dick; it is too broad. We shall make a
selection; we won't go in the stream above ankle deep."
"That is a resolution, sir, that has been often made but never
kept--for this reason: you can't sit on dry land and calculate the
force of the stream. It carries those who paddle in it off their feet,
and then they must swim with it or--sink."
"Dick, for Heaven's sake, no poetry here."
"Nay, sir," said old Skinner, "remember, 'twas you brought the stream
in."
"More fool I. 'Flow on, thou shining Dick'; only the more figures of
arithmetic, and the fewer figures of speech, you can give old Skinner
and me, the more weight you will carry with us."
The young man colored a moment, but never lost his ponderous calmness.
"I will give you figures in their turn, But we were to begin with the
general view. Half-measures, then, are no measures; they imply a
vacillating judgment; they are a vain attempt to make a pound of
rashness and a pound of timidity into two pounds of prudence. You
permit me that figure, sir; it comes from the summing-book. The able
man of business fidgets. He keeps quiet, or carries something out."
Old Skinner rubbed his hands. "These are wise words, sir."
"No, only clever ones.
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