Next I tried to get work in the grounds, and failed; and then began the hardest struggle for existence I have ever had. At the time I thought it a terrible experience, but I have realised since that the year I spent in Chicago has been worth more to me in education than all the years previous to it. It taught me the value of money; to curb my temper, even under the greatest provocation; to hang on to one job, no matter what it was, till I had another one better; and, last but not least (since I became an employer of labour), always to give a young, inexperienced lad a chance and see what is in him. I have in hundreds of places been met with the answer, “We only need experienced men,” and have wondered how on earth a man was to get experience unless some one would give him a chance to start and learn. I met with much hardness, and also with exceptional kindness; and now that I have pulled through, I am glad that I went through the experience. I am afraid I am getting long-winded over what we call “hard-luck” stories here, but it really seems a bad state of affairs that a man who is really willing to work, and is not particular what the work is, has actually to go hungry for the want of it. The greatest curse to the English name in the United States is a class of Englishmen who are known as “remittance-men.” They are content to live on what they are able to get from home, and live as “gentlemen,” but would be insulted if you asked them why they do not go to work. I have met hundreds of such men, who would tell you that the reason they do not work is that they cannot find work that a gentleman could do, and could not think of taking other work, as they have the family name in their keeping. They are the laughing-stock of the communities in which they live. CHAPTER VI Looking for Work—An Englishman’s Disadvantages—Addressing Envelopes—Running a Lift—Bogus Advertisements—Various Jobs.