industry in his business duties was great. He entered the house of Carter & Bendee with the determination to rise in it. He worked faithfully, and was the first at his post in the morning, and the last to leave it at night. When the style of the firm was changed to Allen & Ticknor, he was promoted to a more important place. He proved himself from the first one of the most valuable and trustworthy assistants in the house, and his merits were promptly recognized. From the lowest place in the house, he worked his way up steadily until he became the manager of the establishment. Each promotion brought with it an increase of salary. Knowing well that "a penny saved at present is a pound gained in future" to a young man striving to rise in the world, he practiced the most conscientious economy. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with every detail of the publishing trade; and although, of late years, he has had the supervision more especially of the literary department of his large business, there are few publishers in this country more intimate with the business and mechanical branches of their trade.
In 1846, just twelve years after his entrance into the house, his clerkship came to an end, and he became a partner in the establishment, the style of the firm being Ticknor & Fields. He took an active share in the business; and while full credit must be given to Mr. Ticknor for the extraordinary success which the firm enjoyed, it can not be denied that Mr. Fields' share in this work was very great, and fully equal to that of his partner. His acknowledged literary abilities won him friends among the most gifted writers of the country, and these naturally sought his assistance in presenting their works to the world. Their friendship induced an intelligent confidence in his literary taste and mercantile integrity, and it was a decided gain for them to secure one so generally esteemed and trusted as their publisher. Young writers, still struggling for fame, felt that in submitting their works to his inspection they would receive the patient examination of not only a conscientious reader, but of one whose own literary abilities rendered him unusually competent for the task. The public generally learned to share this confidence in his