John Davison Rockefeller's Little Ledger
約翰·戴維森·洛克菲勒的小賬本
I believe it is a religious duty to get all the money you can， fairly and honestly； to keep all you can， and to give away all you can.” So said John Davison Rockefeller， at the age of 60， when he was softly fingering the yellowed leaves of a precious document， his own Ledger， which he had kept as a 16-year-old assistant bookkeeper in a Cleveland commission house till now.
John Davison Rockefeller was the richest man in the world at the height of his career. Starting his business life as a poor boy in an office， with little formal education and no capital except what he saved by economy out of meager earnings， he finally became the pioneer of efficient business organization and of the modern corporation， the greatest philanthropist of his age and patron of higher education， scientific research and public health in the history of the world.
John D. Rockefeller's ancestors immigrated to America from near Coblenz on the Rhine in 1720. The early pioneer spirit and a simple and unyielding religious faith were always the traditions in the Rockefeller family. Rockefeller himself testified， during his infrequent reminiscences of his life， to the business lessons he received from his father almost as soon as he was able to walk and talk. His mother， who was a strict disciplinarian and “used a birch switch”， also encouraged him in hard work， economy and thrift.
Rockefeller's parents taught him to make charity to the poor， even when he was a small boy. Under his father's guidance， little Rockefeller kept from boyhood an account of every cent he received and spent and gave away everyday. The first of all these account books， a small paper-backed memorandum book， which became famous in later years as “Ledger A”， contained a record of everything， including “philanthropies” of a cent or two and small incidents of his early life.
Finding this little book twenty-five years later in a collection of old papers， Rockefeller recalled how he had economized so much in those days that he had even kept his accounts on the cover. Ledger A showed us that as a boy， Rockefeller began to give a cent to his Sunday school every Sunday. In one month there were entries of 10 cents to missions， 35 cents to his Sunday school teacher for a present and 10 cents to the poor people of his church， etc.