“Hurry up your bids, gentlemen. Tempus Fugit, as the astronomer says. Time flies. Yes, time flies; and so do the little vermin this comb is warranted to lay low. Will no one give me a bid? I never saw a lousy man buy a comb in my life. You needn’t be ashamed. You won’t find a sale on record, from the time Noah made a clearing sale on closing business at the ark, where the purchaser needed the article for his own use. Slip it in the package the next time you want to send some books to a starving cripple who has just lost his spectacles, and when you are nosing around for something to put in the contribution box for the poor, benighted heathen, think how handy it would be to have it in the house. Does nobody say five cents? Third and last call at—thank you. You’ll take it. Sold at five cents. You’re a clear-headed man for sure, and I hope there is more in the crowd.” There was a laugh at this, and I began to feel more confident than ever. I kept on at the combs until I had sold the entire assortment. By and by I opened a watch. The crowd was willing, but slow to start. Each man wanted to take time to consider the outside figure he was willing to pay for the article, provided he had the least thought of purchasing. I was satisfied to let the customer have plenty of time, because he might make a bid, even if it was within the figure he placed as the top notch. If he once began bidding, such a limit would cut no ice at all. After some preliminary remarks I shouted at the top of my voice: “Under or over the top of God’s green earth I never saw the like before. You stand perpetually blind to your own interests, and wait for the other fellow to get the bargain. When I offer you a fifty dollar watch I can’t even get a four dollar bid on it, and still you wonder why you are poor. “Now, gentlemen, remember that this is a fact, a tried, tested and practical fact. Everywhere in this generation, the human mind is busier than ever in extending its prerogatives. If you don’t believe me turn to the ninth chapter of Isaiah and read the twenty-fourth verse where it says, ‘It is easier for an elephant to walk through the eye of a needle than a poor man to enter into the kingdom of heaven,’ “The physical necessity of mental activity in every practical sense confers upon the mind the power of determining the actual strength of longevity. So, prepare yourselves, gentlemen, for one of the most startling revelations yet to come. We are living in times when people know what goods are. To keep abreast with them we must organize and increase our capacity to thirty million times its natural strength and power.