relatives of any kind to come to the rescue. Donald knew, and his mother knew too, that he must shift for himself, to sink or swim.After two days' rest, the boy embarked on his solitary journey once again, relying on his bicycle to save shoe-leather. He returned home regularly, but with a despondent look as he faced the reality of struggling to find work among many competitors. Despite lacking age, character, and experience, he possessed dogged perseverance, a key quality for success.

Mrs. Boyd decided that the situation could not continue, and a chance encounter with an old gentleman brought hope. The old gentleman, Mr. Bethune, recognized the boy from a previous encounter and offered him a chance at employment. Donald's mother, overwhelmed with relief, shared her son's story, leading to Mr. Bethune offering Donald a starting position with ten shillings a week.

The story avoids the trap of unrealistic luck or extraordinary events, instead focusing on the theme that a person's destiny is often shaped by their own actions. While Donald's journey to success may be long and arduous, his perseverance and hard work may eventually lead him to the top.He had "a fair field, and no favor." Indeed, he neither wished nor asked
favor. He determined to stand on his own feet from the first. He had
hard work and few holidays, made mistakes, found them out and corrected
them, got sharp words and bore them, learnt his own weak points and--not
so easily--his strong ones. Still he did learn them; for, unless you can
trust yourself, be sure nobody else will trust you.This was Donald's great point. HE WAS TRUSTED. People soon found out
that they might trust him; that he always told the truth, and never
pretended to do more than he could do; but that which he could do, they
might depend upon his doing, punctually, accurately, carefully, and
never leaving off till it was done. Therefore, though others might
be quicker, sharper, more "up to things" than he, there was no one so
reliable, and it soon got to be a proverb in the office of Bethune &
Co.--and other offices, too--"If you wish a thing done, go to Boyd."I am bound to say this, for I am painting no imaginary portrait, but
describing an individual who really exists, and who may be met any day
walking about Edinburgh, though his name is not Donald Boyd, and there
is no such firm as Bethune & Co. But the house he does belong to values
the young fellow so highly that there is little doubt he will rise in
it, and rise in every way, probably to the very top of the tree,
and tell his children and grandchildren the story which, in its main
features, I have recorded here, of how he first began facing the world.    BY THE AUTHOR OF 

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