234 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-MASTERY
I have in mind a typical example of this, and of what a person can
accomplish when he or she awakens to a full understanding of the value
of Self-Confidence. The incident to which I refer happened in the city
of Chicago, while I was engaged in the work of character analysis.
One day a homeless man presented himself at my office and asked
for an interview. As I looked up from my work and greeted him, he
said, "I have come to see the man who wrote this little book," and he
removed from his pocket a copy of a book entitled Seif-Corifidence, which
I had written many years previously. "It must have been the hand of
fate;' he continued, "that slipped this book into my pocket yesterday
afternoon, because I was about ready to go out there and punch a hole
in Lake Michigan. I had about come to the conclusion that everything
and everybody, including God, had it in for me, until I read this book
and it gave me a new viewpoint and brought me the courage and the
hope that sustained me through the night. I made up my mind that if
I could see the man who wrote this book he could help me get on my
feet again. Now I am here and I would like to know what you can do
for a man like me."
While he was speaking I had been studying him from head to foot
and I am frank to admit that down deep in my heart I did not believe
there was anything I could do for him, but I did not wish to tell him
so. The glassy stare in his eyes, the lines of discouragement in his face,
the posture of his body, the ten days' growth of beard on his face, the
nervous manner about this man all conveyed to me the impression that
he was hopeless, but I did not have the heart to tell him.
So I asked him to sit down and tell me his whole story. I asked him
to be perfectly frank and tell me, as nearly as possible, just what had
brought him down to the ragged edge of life. I promised him that after
I heard his entire story I would then tell him whether or not I could
be of service to him. He related his story, in lengthy detail, the sum and
substance of which was this: He had invested his entire fortune in a small
manufacturing business. When the world war began in 1914, it was