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Full text of "Leaders of men, or, Types and principles of success, as illustrated in the lives and careers of famous Americans of the present day"

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WILLIAM   McKiNLEY 

THE    MARTYRED   LEADER 


LEADERSofMEN 

or 

TYPESandPRINCIPLESof  SUCCESS 

As  Illusfrafed  in  the 

Lives  and  Careers  ofFamousAmericans 

of  the  Present  Day 


Edited  by 
HENRY  W.  RUOFF,  M.A.,  D.C.L. 

Author  of  "  Woman  in  the  Middle  Age*,"  "  Home  and 
State,"  "Century  Book  of  Facts,"  Etc. 


A  IN 


SPRINGFIELD  :  MASSACHUSETTS 
SAN  JOSE      CHICAGO       TORONTO      INDIANAPOLIS 


THS  NEW  YORK 


1 


Copyright  1902 
KING-RICHARDSON  COMPANY 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 

'HE  following  pages  have  been  prepared  with  two  dis- 
tinct purposes  in  view:  first,  to  give  a  closer  view 
of  a  number  of  distinguished  contemporary  Ameri- 
cans ;  and,  second,  to  set  out,  in  bold  relief,  the 
most  important  elements  of  success,  as  they  are  conceived 
and  attested  by  these  eminent  personages.  There  is  no 
kind  of  reading  at  the  same  time  more  stimulating,  more 
entertaining,  and  more  genuinely  instructive  than  biog- 
raphy ;  especially  if  such  biography  brings  us  face  to 
face  with  the  most  practical  and  vital  problems  and  ques- 
tions of  everyday  life. 

The  material  for  this  work  has  been  drawn  from  many 
persons  and  sources.  For  the  sketch  of  John  D.  Long, 
we  are  especially  indebted  to  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Robbins ;  for 
that  of  Cardinal  Gibbons,  to  Rev.  Charles  W.  Currier  ; 
for  that  of  John  W.  Daniel,  to  Mr.  E.  A.  Herndon  ;  for 
that  of  Charles  Emory  Smith,  to  Mr.  Clarence  E.  Daw- 
son  ;  for  that  of  David  Starr  Jordan,  to  Prof.  William  J. 
Neidig  ;  for  that  of  Henry  Watterson,  to  Mr.  Ernest  L. 
Aroni ;  and  for  that  of  Senator  W.  A.  Clark,  to  Mr. 
Joaquin  Miller.  All  sketches  included,  indeed,  have  been 
prepared  by  unusually  capable  writers.  The  instructive 
discussions  of  the  various  elements  of  success  are  almost 
as  diverse  in  authorship  as  the  biographies,  although  the 
veteran  author,  Mr.  William  M.  Thayer,  has  been  the 
largest  contributor. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  this  combination  of  living 
careers,  coupled  with  wise  and  instructive  counsel,  may 
especially  appeal  to  the  youth  of  both  sexes  as  well  as  to 
many  others  older  in  years. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  ONE— LEADERS  IN  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

CHAPTER  I.  PAGE 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT,  ........  25 

On  Success  ^— Sketch  of  his  Life  —  A  Leader  from  Youth  —  From 
Weakling  to  Athlete  —  Enters  Public  Life  —  Career  in  the  Assem- 
bly —  Combined  Writing  with  Hunting  —  Efforts  to  Reform  Gotham 

-  In  the  Navy  Department  —  Leader  of  Rough  Riders  —  The  First 
Battle  —  His  Triumph  at  Philadelphia  —  President. 

DECISION  OF  CHARACTER,       ........  42 

CHAPTER  II. 

WILLIAM  PIERCE  FRYE,          ........  51 

On  Success  —  His  Life  and  Career  —  At  College  —  Enters  the  Pro- 
fession of  the  Law  —  Beginnings  of  his  Public  Life  —  Member  of  the 
Paris  Commission  —  President  of  the  Senate  —  His  Public  Service 
—  Love  of  Outdoor  Life  —  A  Fish  Story  —  Some  Characteristics. 
THE  GOSPEL  OF  HEALTH,       ........  59 

CHAPTER  III. 

WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN,  .......  67 

His  Definition  of  Success  —  Boyhood  —  School  Days  —  College 
Career  —  In  Prize  Contests  —  First  Political  Meeting  —  The  Young 
Lawyer  —  Nebraska  Politics  —  Elected  to  Congress  —  As  Editor 
-Nominated  for  President — -His  Defeat  —  Campaign  of  1900  — 
The  Man. 

HONESTY  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  SUCCESS,          .....  83 

CHAPTER  IV. 

JOHN  DAVIS  LONG,         .........  91 

On  the  Problem  of  Life  —  His  Ancestry  —  Life  in  Oxford  County, 
Maine  —  At  Hebron  Academy  —  College  Career  —  As  a  Law  Student 

-  The  Lawyer  —  Political  Beginnings  —  Governor  of  Massachusetts 

-  Secretary  of  the  Navy — Personal  Characteristics. 

CHOICE  OF  COMPANIONS,         ........         104 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER  V.  PAGE 

JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL,        ....         ....         Ill 

Places  Emphasis  on  Persevering  Effort  —  Entrance  into  Political 
Life — A  Virginia  Campaign  —  Elected  to  Congress  —  In  the 
United  States  Senate  —  As  an  Orator  —  Mental  Characteristics  — 
Tone  of  his  Public  Life  —  Relations  with  the  People  —  His  Ancestry 
—  Youth  and  Education  —  Military  Career  —  Begins  the  Study  of 
Law  —  The  Lawyer  —  Personality. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  PERSEVERANCE,    ...... 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA,  ....         132 

The  Key  to  his  Success  —  A  Typical  American  —  Parentage  —  Leaves 
College    and    Begins    Work  —  His   Early   Business    Enterprises  — 
Qualities  as  a  Manager  —  First  Meeting  with  William  McKinley 

—  Tha  Expansion   of    his    Business  Interests — Why  he    Entered 
Politics  —  Later    Political    Career --The    Campaign    of   1896  —  A 
Convention  Episode  —  Characteristics  —  Not  a  Boss  —  As  an  Orator 

—  More    Characteristics  —  Business     Methods  —  Attitude     toward 
Labor. 

INDUSTRY,       ...........         146 


CHAPTER  VTI. 

CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH,         ........         157 

How  Successes  are  Achieved  —  Incidents  of  his  Life  Compared  with 
those  of  the  Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin  —  Birthplace,  Parentage  and 
Education  —  Choice  of  Vocation  —  Early  Newspaper  Experience  — 
Career  at  Union  College  —  His  Part  in  the  Campaign  of  1860  — 
Becomes  Editor  of  the  Albany  Express  —  Meeting  with  Horace 
Greeley  —  Editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Press  —  Made  Minister  to 
Russia  —  Campaigns  with  McKinley  —  His  Appointment  as  Post- 
master-General—  Personal  Characteristics  —  A  Forceful  and 
Eloquent  Public  Speaker  —  -  To  what  he  Attributes  his  Success. 
CHOOSING  AN  OCCUPATION,  ........  168 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CHARLES  ARNETTE  TOWNE,   .          .          .          .         .         .          .         .         179 

On  the  Qualifications  that  Assist  Success  —  Some  Moral  and  Mental 
Traits  —  His  Early  Life  —  School  Days  —  College  Career  —  First 


10  CONTENTS. 


Efforts  in  Politics  —  Revolt  against  Machine  Methods  —  Election  to 
Congress  —  His  Eloquent  Plea  on  the  Money  Question  —  Leader  of 
the  Silver  Republicans  —  Nominated  for  Vice-President  by  the 
Populist  Convention  —  Appointment  to  the  United  States  Senate 

-  Retirement  from  Political  Life. 
OPPORTUNITY,         ..........        190 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WILLIAM  BOYD  ALLISON,       ........         200 

On  the  Elements  of  Success — His  Birth  and  Ancestry  —  Where 
Educated  —  Admitted  to  the  Bar  —  Removal  to  Iowa  —  Activity  in 
Local  Politics  —  Elected  to  Congress  —  First  Important  Service  — 
Becomes  an  Authority  on  Public  Finance  —  A  Temperate  Partisan 
in  Politics  —  Some  Characteristics. 
POWER  OF  CHARACTER, 215 


CHAPTER  X. 

GEORGE  DEWEY, .         .         .         222 

His  Detestation  of  Lying  —  Birthplace —  George  Dewey's  Boyhood 
-  First  Cruise  —  Schooling  —  At  the  Naval  Academy  —  In  the  Civil 
War  —  Afloat   and    Ashore  —  Characteristics  —  Manila  —  Personal 
Traits. 
COMMON  SENSE,      ..........        241 


CHAPTER  XT. 

ALBERT  JEREMIAH  BEVERIDGE,  .......    245 

On  what  Brings  Success  —  His  Early  Struggles  —  How  he  Completed 
his  College  Course — A  Hard  Worker  and  Brilliant  Speaker  in 
College  —  Prepares  for  the  Bar  —  His  Rapid  Rise  as  a  Lawyer  — 
Enters  Public  Life  —  Mental  Characteristics — Forensic  Power  — 
Career  in  Politics  —  Election  to  the  United  States  Senate  —  Philip- 
pine Speech. 

TACT,      ............         248 


CONTENTS.  11 


PART  TWO— LEADERS  IN  PROFESSIONAL  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  XIT.  PAGE 

HENRY  WATTERSON,       .  .  259 

On  the  Elements  of  Success  —  His  Personality  —  A  Man  of    Great 
Versatility  — Methods  of  Work  —  Birth  and  Early  Surroundings  — 
Education  —  "  The  New  Era  "    -Newspaper  Career  in  New  York 
— War  Correspondent  —  Becomes  Editor  of  the  Louisville  ' '  Courier- 
Journal  ' '  —  Some    Difficulties  Encountered  —  His    New  Policy  - 
What  Politics  Means  to  him  —  Member  of  Congress  —  Asa  Public 
Speaker  —  Home  Life  —  What  Leads  to  Success  in  Journalism. 

COURAGE  AND  SELF-CONFIDENCE,  ......         269 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN,   .........         279 

On  Purpose  —  Birthplace  and  Parentage  -  -  Youthful  Character- 
istics—  In  School  —  Love  of  Nature  —  At  College  — -  The  Teacher 
and  Investigator —  With  Agassiz  at  Penikese  —  President  of  Indiana 
University  —  Accepts  the  Presidency  of  Leland  Stanford  Junior 
University  —  In  Private  Life  —  In  the  Class  Room  —  An  Im- 
pressive Lecturer —  His  Literary  Work  —  Sense  of  Humor  —  As  a 
University  President  —  -  Views  on  Education  —  Personality  —  Scien- 
tific Work. 
SINGLENESS  OF  PURPOSE,  ........  288 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JAMES  CARDINAL  GIBBONS,  .          .          .          .         ...         .         295 

His  Conception  of  Success  — -The  Office  of  Cardinal-- His  Birth- 
place—  The       Cardinal's       Cathedral  —  Early      Training  —  First 
Priestly      Labors  —  Made      Bishop  —  Attends     the      (Ecumenical 
Council   of    1869 — At  Richmond  —  Archbishop  at  Forty-three  - 
Characteristics —  Habits  —  -  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  - 
The    Catholic    University — Created    Cardinal  —  A    Weil-Rounded 
Character  —  Home  Surroundings  —  In  Public  Life. 
DUTY, .307 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XV.  PAGB 

EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE,       ........         314 

On  "  What  Career  "  —  Part  in  the  Twentieth  Century  Celebration 
in  Boston  —  Divisions  of  his  Career  —  As  a  Journalist  —  As  a 
Christian  Minister  —  Social  Reformer  —  Publicist  and  Patriot  — 
Character  of  His  Writings  —  As  an  Educator  —  Antiquarian  —  His 
Views  as  to  the  Purposes  of  Life  —  His  Uplifting  Personality. 

NOT  ABOVE  ONE'S  BUSINESS,         .......         330 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

GENERAL  LEW  WALLACE,      ........         336 

A  Confession  —  His  Distinguished  Career — Ancestry  —  Incident 
in  Career  of  His  Father  —  Early  Pranks  —  Ambitions  —  Painting 
Under  Limitations  —  His  First  Literary  Work — Reads  Law --In 
the  Mexican  War  —  Lawyer  —  Military  Career  Renewed  —  Civil 
War  —  Literary  Career — Methods  of  Work. 

How  TO  USE  YOURSELF,        ........         348 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

RUSSELL  HERMAN  CONWELL, 354 

How    to    Succeed  —  His    Boyhood  —  Early   Oratorical    Efforts  — 
Struggles  for  an  Education --The  Call  to  Arms — Yale  College  - 
Journalistic    Experiences  —  Admitted    to   the    Bar  —  Enters    the 
Ministry  —  His     First    Church  —  Work    in     Philadelphia-- The 
Temple  College  —  Characteristics. 

MINDING  LITTLE  THINGS,      ........         365 


CHAPTER  XVIH. 

SILAS  WEIR  MITCHELL,          ........         369 

Observations  about  Successful  Careers  —  Birthplace  and  Education 
—  At  Home  -  -  The  Doctor  —  His  Study  —  As  a  Conversationalist  - 
Bric-a-Brac  —  The  Author  —  Fondness  for  his  Native  City  —  His 
Literary  Career — Literary  Methods. 
PERILS  OF  SUCCESS,        .........         381 


CONTENTS.  13 

CHAPTER  XIX.  PAGE 

CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT,       ....  ...         390 

On  Happiness  —  Two  Estimates  of  President  Eliot  —  His  Con- 
temporaries —  An  Early  Appreciation  of  his  Administrative 
Abilities  —  As  a  Teacher  in  Harvard  —  Chosen  President  of 
Harvard  —  A  Period  of  Reconstruction — -The  Elective  System  — 
Some  Facts  and  Figures  —  His  Educational  Philosophy  —  At 
Heart  a  Democrat  —  As  an  Essayist  —  His  Influence  with  Students 

—  A  Religious  Man  —  As  an  Administrator  —  Characteristics. 

THE  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE,    .......         409 

CHAPTER  XX. 

JOSEPH  JEFFERSON,         .........         414 

Success  as  Understood  by  Mr.  Jefferson  —  His  Rank  among  Actors 

—  Blending  of  the  Man  and  Actor  —  His   Theatrical  Lineage — - 
Maternal     Ancestry  —  Birthplace      and      Early     Surroundings  - 
Glimpses   of   Jefferson   in   the    Early  Days  —  The    Mexican    War 
Period  —  His    First    Permanent    Success  —  In    Australia  —  Visits 
South  America  —  His  Career  in  London —  Later  Career —  His  Per- 
formances of  Rip  Van  Winkle  —  His  Art. 

How  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT, 426 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

JOHN  HEYL  VINCENT,    .........         433 

On  Success  —  What  he  Represents  —  Birth  and  Early  Environment 
-  His  Ambitions  to  go  to  College  —  In  Pennsylvania  —  At  School 

—  As  a  Teacher  —  Enters  the  Ministry  —  Some  Early  Character- 
istics —  Career  in  the  West —  As  an  Editor  —  Secretary  of  the  Sun- 
day School  Union  —  Further  Education  —  First  Identification  with 
Chautauqua  —  Some    Chautauqua    Results  —  President    Garfield's 
Tribute  —  Literary  Work  —  Home  Life  —  Sermons  —  Loyalty. 

SELF-EDUCATION,  .........         447 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY,       ........         455 

A  Poetic  Interpretation  of  Success  —  Birthplace  and  Boyhood  — 
A    Picture    of   His    Childhood  —  Early    Theatrical   Leanings  —  A 
Practical  Joker  —  School  Days  —  The  "  Leonainie  "  Episode  —  Per- 
sonal Appearance  —  Preeminent  Qualities  of  his  Work  —  In  What 
His  Uniqueness  Lies  —  "  Poems  Here  at  Home  "    -  The  Two  Classes 
of  Mr.  Riley's  Poetry — Asa  Balladist  —  His  Lyrics --The  Poet 
of  the  People —  Characteristically  American. 
PERSONAL  PURITY  AND  NOBILITY,          ......         469 


14  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII.  PAGB 

THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED,      ........         476 

On  the  Right  Use  of  Wealth  —  A  Conversation  —  Glimpses  of  His 
Characteristics  —  Strength  of  his  Personal  Convictions — His  Home 
—  How  it  Bespeaks  the  Man  —  Favorite  Club  —  Early  Environment 
and  Ancestry — The  Schoolmaster  —  At  College  —  Habits  of  Read- 
ing—  Journeys  to  California  —  Admission  to  the  Bar  — His  Return 
East  —  Enters  Public  Life  —  Member  of  Congress  —  A  Memorable 
Speech  —  Speaker  —  Readiness  in  Debate — -Literary  Side  of  his 
Career —  His  Epigrams. 
"  MAKE,  SAVE,  GIVE  ALL  You  CAN," 493 


PART    THREE— LEADERS   IN  BUSINESS  AND 
INDUSTRIAL    LIFE. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ANDREW  CARNEGIE,        .........         507 

Mr.  Carnegie  on  Success  —  His  Early  Boyhood  in  the  United 
States — His  Birthplace  —  Ancestry — -Messenger  Boy  —  Death  of 
His  Father  —  Learns  Telegraphy  —  Becomes  on  Employee  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad — Secretary  to  Thomas  A.  Scott  —  A  First 
Investment  —  During  the  Civil  War  —  How  he  Became  Connected 
with  the  Iron  and  Steel  Industry — His  Organizing  Ability  —  A 
Magazine  Episode  —  His  Careful  Method  —  A  Great  Traveler  — 
His  Devotion  to  Golf  —  His  Benefactions  —  Characteristics  as  a 
Thinker,  Writer,  and  Speaker  —  His  Literary  Work  —  A  Few 
Extracts  —  His  Personality  —  Secret  of  his  Success. 
How  TO  START  IN  LIFE,  ........  524 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

MARSHALL  FIELD,  .........         533 

Mr.  Field  on  the  Elements  of  Success  and  Failure  —  His  Rank 
among  Merchants -- As  an  Individual -- His  Wholesale  and 
Retail  Business — General  Estimate  of  His  Wealth  —  His  Busi- 
ness Methods -- Foundation  Stone  of  His  Success --How  His 
Mercantile  Business  Grew  —  A  Man  of  Modest  and  Retiring  Dis- 
position —  His  Associations  Restricted  to  a  Few  —  Private  Bene- 
factions --  Religious  Life  --  Public  Benefactions  -  -  The  Field 
Columbian  Museum — Gifts  to  Chicago  University — Birthplace 
and  Boyhood  —  Private  Life. 
THE  YOUNG  MAN  IN  MERCANTILE  LIFE,  .....  545 


CONTENTS.  15 

CHAPTER  XXVI.  PAGE 

WILLIAM  ANDREWS  CLARK,   ........         551 

On  Paramont  Elements  of  Success  -  -  Type  of  the  Successful  West- 
ern Pioneer  —  Birthplace  —  Lineage  —  Early  Education  —  Removal 
to  the  West — A  Teacher  in  the  Common  Schools  —  Further  Edu- 
cation—  Studies  Law-- A  Change  of  Purpose — First  Mining 
Experiences  —  Becomes  a  Trader  and  Merchant  —  Organizes  a 
Banking  House — -  Successful  Mining  Projects  —  A  Hard  Worker  — 
An  Episode —  Efforts  in  Behalf  of  Montana  —  His  Political  Career 

—  A  Memorable    Contest — Elected   United  States    Senator — His 
Home    and  Home-Life  —  Man  of   Culture   and  Patron  of   Art  — 
Personal  Characteristics. 

METHOD,         ...........         562 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

JOHN  PIERPONT  MORGAN,        ........         569 

On  Aids  to  Success  —  Birthplace  —  Descended  from  an  Old  Amer- 
ican Family  —  How  Educated  —  Beginning  of  his  Career  as  a 
Banker —  Inherited  Advantage  —  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  —  What 
Mr.  Morgan  Does  —  Secret  of  His  Power  in  Financial  Circles  — 
An  Incessant  Worker — Personal  Appearance  —  Method  of  Trans- 
acting Business  —  His  Wonderful  Knowledge  of  Men  —  Reorgan- 
izer  and  Constructer  —  His  Noteworthy  Achievements  on  Behalf 
of  the  United  States  Government  —  Art  Collector  —  His  Fondness 
for  Yachting  —  Gifts  to  Public  Institutions  —  Characteristics. 

How  GREAT  THINGS  ARE  DONE,  ......         584 

CHAPTER  XXVIIL 

JOHN  WANAMAKER,        .........         593 

On  How  to  Succeed—  Date  and  Place  of  his  Birth  —  Parentage  — 
A  Country  Boy  —  At  School  —  Early  Industry — "Everybody's 
Journal''  -Secretary  of  Y.  M.  C.  A. — Begins  his  Mercantile 
Career  —  Steady  Expansion  of  his  Business  —  New  York  Store  — 
In  Politics  —  Postmaster  General  under  Harrison  —  As  a  Citizen  — 
His  Religious  Work  —  Other  Enterprises  —  Keynote  of  his  Success 

—  As  an  Exemplar. 

How  TO  FAIL, 601 

CHAPTER   XXIX. 

THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON,  ........         611 

What  Brings  Success  —  Boyhood  of  a  Genius  —  Newsboy,  Editor, 
and  Chemist  at  Fifteen  —  Heroic  Tuition  Fee  —  Not  a  Prig  — 
Among  Tramp  Telegraphers  —  In  Louisville  —  Astonishes  Eastern 


JO  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Operators  —  First  Patent  —  In  New  York  —  Capacity  for  Work  — 
Personal    Appearance  —  His   Estimate    of   the    Patent  Pirate  —  A 
Closer  View  of  Edison  —  Indifference  to    Plaudits  —  As  a  Business 
Man  —  A  Sensitive  Nature  —  Place  Among   Scientists  —  At  Work 
-  The    Phonograph  -  -  Economic    Features    of   his   Inventions  — 
Non-Electrical  Experiments  —  His  Principal  Inventions  —  Achieve- 
ments of  the  Twentieth  Century  —  Edison  the  Man. 
THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEA, 624 

CHAPTER   XXX. 

JOHN  DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER,         ...  ...         634 

On  the  Important  Elements  of  Success  —  His  Rank  Among  the 
Captains  of  Industry -- His  Great  Wealth  —  Place  of  his  Birth 
-Parental  Qualities  Inherited  —  His  Boyhood  Marked  by  Indus- 
try and  Economy  —  Removed  to  Cleveland  —  Interest  in  Church 
Work  —  Education -- Beginning  of  his  Industrial  Career  —  His 
Introduction  to  the  Oil  Industry  —  The  Standard  Oil  Company  — 
Other  Business  Enterprises  —  His  Personality  —  Homes  and  Home 
Life --To  What  his  Wonderful  Success  is  Due  —  Philanthropies. 

THE  LEDGER  OF  ECONOMY,    ........         645 

CHAPTER   XXXI. 
JAMES  JEROME  HILL,     .........         652 

Where  Opportunity  Lies  —  Born  in  Canada — Ancestral  Stock  — 
How  Educated  —  From  County  Clerk  to  Railroad  President- — Re- 
organization of  the  St.  Paul  and  Pacific  Railroad -- Transformation 
of  the  Northwest  —  Fortune  Fairly  Earned —  The  Great  Northern  of 
To-day  —  His  Methods  —  The  Training  of  Young  Men  —  Mr.  Hill 
a  Many-sided  Man  —  His  Home  at  St.  Paul  —  Interest  in  Agri- 
cultural Pursuits  —  Philanthropies  —  Something  of  his  Personal 
Achievements. 
THE  VICTORY  IN  DEFEAT, 664 

CHAPTER   XXXII. 

CHARLES  MICHAEL  SCHWAB,  .......         677 

On  the  Fundamental  Elements  of  Success  —  Highest  Salaried  Man 
in  the  World  —  In  the  Prime  of   Life  —  Birthplace  —  Boyhood  - 
How   Educated  —  Begins    Life  as  a   Clerk  in   a   Grocery  Store  - 
Stake-Driver -- Early  Promotions  —  Head   of   Steel   Works  —  An 
Illustrative  Anecdote  —  How  he  Works  —  Secret   of  his  Power  — 
Interested  in  Young  Men  —  How  he  Regards  Organized  Labor  — 
Not  a  Tyrant. 

MANNERS  AND  DRESS,    .........         688 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 
WILLIAM  McKiNLEY,      .......     Frontispiece. 

Photograph  by  Clinedinst. 
LINCOLN  AT  GETTYSBURG,      ......          Facing  p.     25 

PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT  IN  THE  CABINET  ROOM,    ....  43 

Photograph  by  Clinedinst. 
SENATOR  FRYE  AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  SENATE,    ....  58 

Photograph  by  Clinedinst. 
WILLIAM  J.  BRYAN  AT  HOME,        .......  82 

Photograph  by  Townsend. 
SECRETARY  LONG  IN  THE  NAVY  OFFICE,       .....          105 

Photograph  by  Clinedinst. 
PORTRAIT  OF  SENATOR  DANIEL,     .......         123 

Photograph  by  Parker. 
SENATOR  HANNA  AT  WORK,  .......         147 

Photograph  by  Clinedinst. 
CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH  AT  HIS  DESK,  .....         169 

Photograph  by  Clinedinst. 
PORTRAIT  OF  EX-SENATOR  TOWNE,        ......          191 

Photograph  by  Marceau. 
PORTRAIT  OF  SENATOR  ALLISON,  ......         214 

Photograph  by  Parker. 
ADMIRAL  DEWEY  AT  MANILA,        .......         240 

From  painting  by  H.  T.  See. 
PORTRAIT  OF  SENATOR  BEVERIDGE,        ......         249 

THE  DOCTOR,  ........  Facing  p.  259 

EDITORIAL  ROOM  OF  HENRY  WATTERSON,     .....         268 

Photograph  by  Klauber. 
PORTRAIT  OF  PRESIDENT  DAVID  STARR  JORDAN,  .          .         ,         289 

Photograph  by  Marceau. 
PORTRAIT  OF  CARDINAL  GIBBONS,          .....  306 

Photograph  by  Bachrach  &  Brother. 
EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE  IN  HIS  STUDY,        .....          331 

Photograph  by  Alden. 
-GEN.  LEW  WALLACE  AT  WORK  IN  HIS  LIBRARY,          .         .         .         349 

Photograph  by  Lacey  <t  Nicholson. 
COLONEL  CONWELL  IN  CAP  AND  GOWN,         .....         364 

Photograph  by  Gutekwnst. 


18  ILL  USTRA  TIONS. 

PAOB 

PORTRAIT  OF  DR.  S.  WEIR  MITCHELL, 380 

Photograph  by  Meynen. 
PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT,        .....         408 

Photograph  by  Notman. 
JOSEPH  JEFFERSON  AS  "  BOB  ACRES,"  .....         427 

Photograph  by  Sarony. 
PORTRAIT  OF   BISHOP  VINCENT, 446 

Photograph  by  Ginter  &  Cook. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY,         .....         468 

Photograph  by  Marceau. 
PORTRAIT  OF  THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED, 492 

Photograph  by  Dupont. 
THE  NEW  YORK  EXCHANGE, Facing  p.  507 

Photograph  by  Rockioood. 
PORTRAIT  OF  ANDREW  CARNEGIE,          ......         525 

Photograph  by  Eockwood. 
PORTRAIT  OF  MARSHALL  FIELD,    .......         544 

Photograph  by  Steffens. 
PORTRAIT  OF  WILLIAM  A.  CLARK,         ......         563 

Photograph  by  Marceau. 
PORTRAIT  OF  J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN,     ......         585 

Photograph  by  Mendelssohn,  London. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  WANAMAKER,  ......         600 

Photograph  by  Gutekunst. 
THOMAS  A.  EDISON  IN  HIS  LABORATORY, 625 

Photograph  by  Brady. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER,  .....         644 

Photograph  by  Dana. 
PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  J.  HILL,         .......         665 

Photograph  by  Pach. 
PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB, 689 

Photograph  by  Davis. 


INTRODUCTION. 

T  N  this  stirring   age  it  is    difficult  to  find  a   sincere   advo- 

•©• 

¥  cate  of  mediocrity.  The  vast  majority  desire  self-devel- 
opment and  self-advancement  along  the  lines  which 
their  ambitions  mark  out  for  them.  The  impulses  toward 
betterment  come  from  so  many  sources,  are  so  comprehen- 
sive and  so  widely  prevalent,  that  the  whole  modern  world 
is,  as  it  were,  infected  with  a  desire  for  improvement.  This 
desire  to  excel,  whether  in  a  professional  career,  in  business, 
in  statecraft,  in  artisanship,  or  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life, 
is  ennobling,  and  deserves  the  highest  stimulation,  for  out 
of  it  have  come  the  "shining  marks"  of  history  and  the 
most  worthy  examples  of  private  life. 

The  simple  possession  of  a  right  desire  is  not  sufficient 
in  itself  to  procure  all  that  such  a  desire  implies.  It  must 
be  accompanied  by  action,  and  often  by  the  most  heroic 
and  self-sacrificing  effort.  It  is  true  that  in  the  career  of 
every  man  there  are  some  incontrollable  elements,  but 
these  bear  only  a  slight  proportion,  either  in  number  or 
importance,  to  the  elements  which  he  can  control.  In 
other  words,  the  character,  the  career,  and  the  fortunes  of 
every  man  are  largely  in  his  own  keeping.  He  is  what 
he  makes  himself.  He  can  have  what  he  desires  if  he  will 
pay  the  price.  He  must  take  a  mental  inventory  of  him- 
self and  determine  whether  he  possesses  the  qualities, 
either  actual  or  potential,  that  fit  him  for  a  leader  or  a 
follower.  If  it  is  to  be  the  former,  he  will  need  all  the 
heroic  virtues — courage,  persistency,  application,  self-recog- 
nized honesty — that  may  come  to  him  as  a  natural  heritage 
or  through  acquirement. 

Shakespeare  says,    '•  Some    men    are    born    great,     some 
achieve  greatness,    and   some    have   greatness   thrust    upon 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

them."  If  this  were  paraphrased  by  the  substitution  of  the 
words  successful  and  success  for  the  words  great  and 
greatness,  it  might  form  a  fairly  exhaustive  scheme  of 
explanation  covering  the  various  causes  of  success.  The 
point  must  not  be  overlooked,  however,  that  success  is  by 
no  means  a  correct  synonym  for  greatness. 

By  far  the  greatest  number  of  successful  men  have 
become  such  through  their  own  achievements  ;  the  other 
two  classes  mentioned  in  our  paraphrase  seem  to  reach 
success  through  a  manifest  destiny.  What,  then,  are  some 
of  the  elements  that  enter  into  success  when  self-achieved  ? 

Obviously  the  first  essential  toward  success  is  a  domi- 
nating purpose — one  that  has  so  fastened  itself  upon  the 
ambitions  that  the  person  so  possessed  recognizes  no 
obstacle  too  great  to  be  overcome.  To  this  must  be  added 
the  executive  agencies  of  courage  and  industry.  John 
Kitto,  an  eminent  writer,  expresses  himself  in  these  words : 
"I  am  not  myself  a  believer  in  impossibilities.  I  think 
that  all  the  fine  stories  about  natural  ability,  and  so  on, 
are  mere  rigmarole,  and  that  every  man  may,  according  to 
his  opportunities  and  industry,  render  himself  almost  any- 
thing he  wishes  to  become."  This  view  may  possibly  be 
extreme,  if  taken  literally,  but  the  emphasis  put  upon 
industry  is  certainly  borne  out  in  many  concrete  examples. 
"  It  is  the  worker  who  dignifies  the  task,  and  not  the  task 
that  ennobles  the  worker." 

Mark  the  following  facts  from  the  biographies  of  the 
world's  celebrities  :— 

Thurlow  Weed  walked  two  miles  through  the  snow  with 
pieces  of  rag  carpet  about  his  feet  for  shoes,  that  he  might 
borrow  a  book. 

Samuel  Drew  went  on  with  his  studies  when  he  was  too 
poor  to  buy  bread,  and  when  he  could  appease  the  pangs 
of  hunger  only  by  tying  a  girdle  about  his  body. 

Lord  Eldon,  England's  greatest  Chief   Justice,  being   too 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

poor  to  buy  books  when  a  boy,  borrowed  and  copied  three 
folio  volumes  of  precedents,  and  the  whole  of  Coke  on 
Littleton. 

John  Scott,  after  working  hard  all  day,  studied  long 
into  the  night,  tying  a  wet  towel  around  his  head  to  keep 
awake. 

Hugh  Miller  hammered  an  education  from  a  stone 
quarry. 

Henry  Wilson  worked  on  a  farm  for  twelve  long  years 
for  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  six  sheep. 

The  immortal  Lincoln  walked  forty  miles  to  borrow  a 
book  which  he  could  not  afford  to  buy. 

Goethe  spent  his  entire  fortune  of  over  half  a  million 
dollars  on  his  education.  Let  the  reader  notice  the  differ- 
ence between  his  success  and  that  of  Jay  Gould. 

Milton  wrote  "Paradise  Lost"  in  a  world  he  could  not 
see,  and  then  sold  it  for  fifteen  pounds. 

John  Bunyaii  wrote  "Pilgrim's  Progress"  in  prison,  at 
the  behest  of  conscience  and  in  disregard  of  the  edict  of  his 
accusers. 

Euripides  spent  three  days  writing  five  lines,  and  those 
lines  have  lived  centuries  since  his  language  has  ceased  to 
be  spoken. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  spent  long  years  on  an  intricate  cal- 
culation, and  his  papers  having  been  destroyed  by  his  dog 
Diamond  he  cheerfully  began  to  replace  them. 

Carlyle,  after  lending  the  manuscript  of  the  "French 
Revolution"  to  a  friend,  whose  servant  carelessly  used  it  to 
kindle  a  fire,  calmly  went  to  work  and  rewrote  it. 

Napoleon  waited  for  an  appointment  seven  years  after 
he  had  thoroughly  prepared  himself. 

Blucher,  although  he  lost  nine  battles  out  of  every  ten, 
still  pressed  on  with  an  iron  determination  which  won  for 
him  the  title  of  "Marshal  Forward." 

Cyrus  W.  Field   risked  a   fortune   and    devoted   years   of 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

seemingly  hopeless  drudgery,  amid  the  scoffs  of  men,  to 
lay  the  Atlantic  cable. 

Handel  practiced  on  his  harpsichord  in  secret,  until 
every  key  was  hollowed  by  his  fingers  to  resemble  the 
bowl  of  a  spoon. 

George  Stephenson  worked  fifteen  long  years  for  his 
first  successful  locomotive. 

Richard  Arkwright,  founder  of  cotton  manufacture  in 
England,  began  life  by  shaving  people  in  a  cellar  at  a 
penny  a  shave. 

These  citations  might  be  prolonged  indefinitely,  but 
sufficient  have  been  produced  to  show  the  practical  power 
of  the  will  over  the  environing  circumstances  that  often- 
times apparently  block  the  way  of  ambitious  youth.  Dif- 
ficulties call  out  great  qualities  and  make  greatness  pos- 
sible. If  there  were  no  difficulties  there  would  be  no 
success.  The  spark  in  the  flint  would  sleep  forever  but 
for  friction ;  the  fire  in  man  would  never  blaze  out  but  for 
antagonism.  The  moment  man  is  relieved  of  opposition  or 
friction  and  the  track  of  his  life  is  oiled  with  inherited 
wealth  or  other  aids,  that  moment  he  often  ceases  to 
Druggie,  and,  therefore,  ceases  to  grow.  "The  real  differ- 
ence between  men  is  energy.  A  strong  will,  a  settled 
purpose,  an  invincible  determination,  can  accomplish  almost 
anything,  and  in  this  lies  the  distinction  between  great 
men  and  little  men." 

The  second  element  in  success,  though  closely  allied 
with  the  first,  is  courage.  Courage  may  take  on  many 
different  forms,  and  any  one  of  its  many  attributes  may 
be  emphasized  as  the  particular  element  of  success.  No 
more  forcible  illustration  of  this  is  needed  than  a  careful 
reference  to  the  utterances  of  the  sages  and  men  of  action 
of  all  ages.  "  The  education  of  the  will,"  says  Emerson, 
"  is  the  object  of  our  existence.  For  the  resolute  and  the 
determined  there  is  always  time  and  opportunity."  "To 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

think  a  thing  impossible."  says  another,  ''is  to  make  it  so. 
Courage  is  victory ;  timidity  is  defeat."  Napoleon  says, 
"  The  truest  wisdom  is  a  resolute  determination,"  and  to 
this  President  Porter  adds,  "Invincible  determination,  and 
a  right  nature,  are  the  levers  that  move  the  world."  "Lit- 
tle minds,"  interposes  Irving,  "are  tamed  and  subdued 
by  misfortunes,  but  great  minds  are  above  them,"  while 
the  dramatic  dictum  of  Bulwer  rings  out  in  clarion  tones, 
"  In  the  lexicon  of  youth,  which  fate  reserves  for  bright 
manhood,  there  is  no  such  word  as  fail."  Another  says, 
"Intense,  ceaseless  activity  is  the  law  of  life";  and  still 
another,  "It  is  defeat  that  turns  bone  to  flint:  it  is  defeat 
that  turns  gristle  to  muscle  ;  it  is  defeat  that  makes  men 
invincible."  So,  armed  with  this  quality  of  the  soul, - 
courage, —  we  need  never  fear  the  consequences  in  the 
presence  of  opposition ;  defeat  may  be  only  the  threshold 
of  victory. 

Life  is  the  arena  of  many  forms  of  courage  ;  as  many, 
in  fact,  as  there  are  lines  of  human  action.  There  is 
physical  courage,  which  dares  to  meet  and  overcome  phys- 
ical opposition.  This  form  of  courage  is  by  no  means  low  ; 
but  there  are  higher  forms  of  courage.  To  be  a  martyr, 
one  must  have  something  more  than  the  resignation  to 
meet  physical  torture  and  death.  He  must  have  the 
courage  to  think  the  unthought  and  speak  the  unspoken, 
and  not  only  to  think  and  speak  thus,  but  to  do  it  amid 
the  jeers  of  hatred  and  the  hisses  of  calumny.  But  for 
this  form  of  courage  no  triumphant  vessel  would  to-day 
move  upon  the  waters  :  no  engine  would  jar  the  earth  with 
its  iron  tread  ;  no  magic  wires  would  belt  the  globe.  His- 
tory would  be  unstained  with  blood,  it  is  true,  and  the 
simple  record  would  be  a  colorless  legend  of  submission  - 
a  world  of  rayless  midnight,  perhaps  without  stars. 

The    darkness    of  the    past   has   been   illumined   by  the 
fagot  fire  kindled  at  the  feet  of  courage.     No  grand  libra- 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

ries  would  adorn  our  cities,  no  inspiring  canvases  make 
living  the  walls  of  galleries  of  art,  had  not  moral  courage 
dared  to  depict  its  story.  The  steps  of  the  world's  progress 
have  been  over  the  red  altars  of  human  sacrifice. 

Physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  courage  have  been 
the  grand  leaders  in  the  ceaseless  conquest  of  thought. 
All  honor  to  the  martyrs  of  science  and  religion  and 
human  freedom !  "  Who  falls  for  the  love  of  God  shall 
rise  a  star." 

No  age  of  human  history  has  offered  such  a  grand 
reward  to  courage  in  its  highest  sense  as  the  present.  The 
supreme  need  of  human  society  to-day  is  a  bold  and  fear- 
less spirit  of  individuality.  In  both  politics  and  religion 
we  see  a  disgusting  cowardice  that  makes  men  slaves  to 
base  schemes  and  cunning  tyranny.  The  call  of  the  hour 
is  to  duty.  The  courageous  performance  of  duty  leads  to 
nobility  ;  and  this  quality  is  not  only  one  of  the  highest 
in  human  character  but  even  an  attribute  of  divinity 

itself. 

If  you  would,  therefore,  make  the  most  of  life,  ao  not 
seek  the  "  path  of  least  resistance "  ;  rather  welcome  the 
difficulties  in  your  way.  Do  not  be  frightened  by  them  or 
discouraged  because  of  them.  They  are  your  opportunities 
for  winning  success.  "  He  who  refuses  to  make  use  of, 
or  flings  away,  his  opportunities,  flings  away  his  man- 
hood." 


PART  ONE. 
LEADERS   IN   PUBLIC   LIFE. 


LINCOLN'S  ADDRESS  AT  GETTYSBURG. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THEODORE   ROOSEVELT. 

ON    SUCCESS SKETCH    OF    HIS    LIFE A    LEADER    FROM    YOUTH FROM 

WEAKLING   TO  ATHLETE ENTERS  PUBLIC    LIFE CAREER    IN    THE    ASSEMBLY 

— COMBINED    WRITING    WITH    HUNTING EFFORTS     TO     REFORM     GOTHAM  - 

IN  THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT LEADER  OF  ROUGH  RIDERS THE  FIRST  BATTLE 

HIS  TRIUMPH  AT  PHILADELPHIA — PRESIDENT.       DECISION    OF    CHARACTER. 


Success  must  always  include,  as  its  first  element,  earning 
a  competence  for  the  support  of  the  man  himself,  and  for  the 

bringing  up  of  those  dependent  upon  him. 
In  the  vast  majority  of  cases  it  ought  to 
include  financially  rather  more  than  this. 
But  the  acquisition  of  wealth  is  not  in  the 
least  the  only  test  of  success.  Successful 
statesmen,  soldiers,  sailors,  explorers,  histo- 
rians, poets,  and  scientific  men  are  very  much 
more  essential  than  any  mere  successful 
business  man  can  possibly  be. 

The  average  man  into  whom  the  average 
boy  develops,  is,  of  course,  not  going  to  be 
a  marvel  in  any  line,  but,  if  he  only  chooses  to  try,  he  can  be 
very  good  in  any  line,  and  the  chances  of  his  doing  good  work 
are  immensely  increased  if  he  has  trained  his  mind.  If,  of 
course,  he  gets  to  thinking  that  the  only  kind  of  learning  is 
that  to  be  found  in  books,  he  will  do  very  little  ;  but  if  he 
keeps  his  mental  balance, — that  is.  if  he  shows  character, — he 
will  understand  both  what  learning  can  do  and  what  it  can- 
not, and  he  will  be  all  the  better  the  more  he  can  get. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  more  important  component  of  character 
than  steadfast  resolution.  The  boy  who  is  going  to  make  a 
great  man,  or  is  going  to  count  in  any  way  in  after  life,  must 
make  up  his  mind  not  merely  to  overcome  a  thousand  ob- 
stacles, but  to  win  in  spite  of  a  thousand  repulses  or  defeats. 


26  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

'HEODORE  ROOSEVELT,  soldier,  legislator,  historian, 
ranchman,  civil  service  reformer,  politician,  police 
"commissioner,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Empire  State,  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  President  of  the  United  States,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  personalities  in  the  history  of  the  United  States 
of  the  last  quarter  century.  Scarcely  yet  of  middle  age,  he 
has  won  a  place  in  the  literary  world  as  well  as  in  that  of  poli- 
tics. He  has  been  a  prime  mover  in  noted  reforms,  has 
distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier  by  gallantry  and  general- 
ship, as  a  statesman  by  a  consistent  and  constant  battle  for 
purity  in  public  office,  and  as  an  executive  in  the  able  conduct 
of  the  Assistant  Secretaryship  of  the  Navy,  and  the  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

As  a  politician,  he  has  won  from  hostile  leaders  reluctant 
invitation  to  take  command  of  their  forces,  offering  by  the 
popularity  his  personal  record  has  gained,  an  assurance  of 
success  which  made  him  necessary  as  a  candidate  to  the  wel- 
fare of  his  party. 

Personally  the  President  is  most  charming.  No  one  denies 
the  attractiveness  of  his  frankness,  his  wealth  of  human 
interest  and  sympathy.  His  friends,  who  are  legion,  are 
sturdy  and  steadfast. 

Though  a  weakling  as  a  child,  he  has  developed  himself 
into  a  strong  and  active  man,  and  his  passion  for  hunting  big 
game  and  his  love  for  adventure  have  added  not  the  least 
picturesque  part  to  his  history.  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  stockily 
built,  and  some  three  inches  short  of  six  feet  in  height.  He  is 
very  near-sighted,  and  always  wears  thick  eyeglasses.  His 
expression  is  genial,  and  he  smiles  frequently,  showing  his 
teeth,  which  feature  has  been  accented  and  lampooned  in  the 
thousands  of  caricatures  published  to  ridicule  him  and  the 
political  party  which  has  sent  him  to  the  Presidency. 

From  his  college  days  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  been  a  leader. 
His  methods  have  always  won  the  respect  and  support  of  those 
with  whom  he  has  been  associated,  though  they  have  also 
brought  upon  him  virulent  attacks  in  almost  every  position 
he  ever  held.  As  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  New  York 
he  did  much  to  purify  office  holding ;  as  an  historian,  he 
showed  himself  a  deep  student ;  as  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Civil  Service  Commission  and  later"  a  commissioner  of 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  27 

police  in  New  York  city,  he  displayed  ability  to  enforce  just, 
though  unpopular,  laws,  and  create  a  sentiment  in  favor  of 
such  enforcement.  His  most  notable  work,  perhaps,  was  in 
the  Navy  Department,  where  he  was  admittedly  responsible 
in  large  degree  for  the  preparedness  of  ships  and  supplies  which 
made  the  naval  victories  of  Manila  Bay  and  Santiago  possible 
to  the  American  fleets. 

As  a  writer,  the  President  has  been  a  contributor  to  maga- 
zines of  innumerable  articles  on  historical,  political,  and  scien- 
tific subjects.  A  list  of  his  more  extended  and  important  works 
includes,  "The  Winning  of  the  West,"  "Life  of  Governor 
Morris,"  "Life  of  Thomas  Hart Benton,"  " Naval  War  of  1812," 
"  History  of  New  York,"  "  American  Ideals  and  other  Essays," 
"The  Wilderness  Hunter,"  "Hunting  Trips  of  a  Ranchman," 
"Ranch  Life  and  the  Hunting  Trail,"  "The  Strenuous  Life," 
and  "  The  Rough  Riders." 

Mr.  Roosevelt  has  been  married  twice.  His  home  is  at  Sag- 
amore Hill,  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island.  He  is  a  man  of  domestic 
tastes,  and  is  devoted  to  his  family.  He  has  six  children,  the 
oldest,  Alice,  the  offspring  of  his  first  marriage. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  was  born  October  20,  1858,  at  28  East 
Twentieth  street,  New  York  city.  His  father,  also  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  was  a  member  of  an  old  New  York  Dutch  family, 
and  the  President  is  of  the  eighth  generation  of  the  stock  in  the 
United  States.  Mingled  with  the  Dutch  in  Theodore  Roose- 
velt's veins  are  strains  of  English,  Celtic,  and  French.  His 
mother  was  Miss  Martha  Bulloch,  who  came  of  a  distinguished 
Georgia  family,  which  had  given  to  that  state  a  governor, 
Archibald  Bulloch,  in  Revolutionary  times.  In  a  later  gen- 
eration a  member  of  the  family  built  the  Confederate  priva- 
teer "Alabama." 

The  father  of  the  President  was  a  merchant  and  importer 
of  glassware.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  a  noted  figure  in 
New  York.  He  had  great  strength  of  character  and  a  liking 
for  practical  benevolence,  which  made  him  foremost  in  many 
such  charities.  Newsboys'  lodging  houses,  the  allotment  sys- 
tem, which  permitted  soldiers  during  the  war  to  have  portions 
of  their  pay  sent  to  their  families,  and  other  forms  of  direct 
help  to  the  poorer  classes  found  in  him  a  champion.  His 
ancestors  had  been  aldermen,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  city,  and  representatives  in  the  National  Congress.  In 


28  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Revolutionary  times,  New  York  chose  a  Roosevelt  to  act  with 
Alexander  Hamilton  in  the  United  States  Constitutional  Con- 
vention. Roosevelt  street  was  once  a  cowpath  on  the  Roose- 
velt farm,  and  the  Roosevelt  Hospital  is  the  gift  of  a  wealthy 
member  of  a  recent  generation  of  the  family. 

As  a  child,  the  Roosevelt  who  was  to  rise  to  such  high 
place  in  the  nation  was  puny  and  backward.  He  could  not 
keep  up  with  his  fellows  either  in  study  or  play,  and  on  this 
account  was  taught  by  a  private  tutor  at  home.  The  country 
residence  of  the  Roosevelts  was  at  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island, 
and  here  the  children  were  brought  up.  They  were  compelled 
by  their  father  to  take  plenty  of  outdoor  exercise,  and  young 
Theodore,  soon  realizing  that  he  must  have  strength  of  body  if 
he  was  to  do  anything  in  life,  entered  into  the  scheme  for  the 
improvement  of  his  physical  condition  with  the  same  enthusi- 
asm and  determination  which  has  characterized  every  act  of 
his  life.  He  grew  up  an  athlete,  strong  and  active,  and  when 
he  entered  Harvard  in  1875  he  soon  became  prominent  in  field 
sports.  He  became  noted  as  a  boxer  and  wrestler,  and  was  for 
a  time  captain  of  the  college  polo  team.  He  did  not  neglect 
his  studies  and,  when  he  was  graduated  in  1880,  he  took  high 
honors.  During  his  stay  in  the  university  he  had  been  editor 
of  the  Advocate,  a  college  paper,  and  gave  particular  attention 
to  the  study  of  history  and  natural  history.  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Greek  letter  fraternity. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  college  course  he  went  abroad  for 
a  year,  spending  part  of  the  time  in  study  in  Dresden.  His 
love  for  athletics  led  him  to  successfully  attempt  the  ascent  of 
the  Jung-Frau  and  the  Matterhorn,  and  won  for  him  a  mem- 
bership in  the  Alpine  Club  of  London.  He  returned  to  New 
York  in  1881,  and  in  the  same  year  married  Miss  Alice  Lee  of 
Boston.  Two  years  later  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his 
wife  and  mother  within  a  week. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  has  been  an  ardent  student  of  history 
from  his  college  days,  and  before  he  was  twenty-three  years 
old  had  entered  the  field  himself  as  a  writer.  He  is  an  enthu- 
siastic admirer  of  Washington,  Lincoln,  and  Grant.  On  his 
return  from  Europe,  and  while  engaged  on  his  historical  work, 
he  entered  the  law  office  of  his  uncle,  Robert  B.  Roosevelt, 
with  the  design  of  fitting  himself  for  the  bar.  He  was  of  too 
restless  a  disposition  to  find  content  in  such  a  sober  calling, 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  29 

and  the  whole  bent  of  his  mind,  as  shown  by  his  reading, 
his  writing,  and  the  effort  to  do  something  extraordinary, 
something  that  would  mark  him  above  his  fellows,  which  had 
made  him  a  bidder  for  college  championships  and  prompted 
him  to  tempt  the  dangers  of  the  Swiss  mountain  peaks,  sent 
him  hurrying  into  politics  before  he  had  settled  down  to  any- 
thing like  deep  study  of  the  law. 

He  attended  his  first  primary  in  1881,  in  the  Twenty-first 
assembly  district  of  New  York.  It  was  a  gathering  of  the 
class  attendant  on  such  occasions,  with  little  to  charm  the 
ordinary  young  man  of  aristocratic  lineage  and  wealth,  but 
Theodore  Roosevelt  had  studied  history  with  a  purpose.  He 
knew  that  through  the  primary  led  the  way  to  political  prefer- 
ment, and  he  at  once  entered  into  the  battle  of  politics  in 
which  he  was  to  prove  a  gladiator  of  astonishing  prowess, 
routing  and  terrifying  his  enemies,  but  often  startling  his 
allies  by  the  originality  and  recklessness  of  his  methods. 

The  natural  enthusiasm  of  young  Roosevelt,  his  undeniable 
personal  charm,  and  the  swirl  of  interest  with  which  he 
descended  into  the  arena  of  local  politics  made  him  friends  on 
every  side  in  a  community  where  leaders  are  at  a  high  pre- 
mium, and  within  a  few  months  the  young  college  man 
was  elected  to  the  assembly  of  the  state  from  his  home 
district. 

His  ability  and  his  methods  were  in  strong  evidence  at  the 
following  session  of  the  legislature.  He  proved  a  rallying 
power  for  the  Republican  minority,  and  actually  succeeded  in 
passing  legislation  which  the  majority  submitted  to  only 
through  fear  and  which  his  own  party  in  the  state  would  never 
have  fathered  had  it  been  in  power.  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  the 
undisputed  leader  of  the  Republicans  in  the  assembly  within 
two  months  after  his  election,  and  he  immediately  turned  his 
attention  to  the  purification  of  New  York  city.  This  would 
have  appalled  a  man  less  determined  or  more  experienced. 
But  the  young  aspirant  for  a  place  in  history  reckoned  neither 
with  conditions  nor  precedents.  His  success,  considering  the 
strength  of  the  combination  against  which  he  was  arrayed, 
was  extraordinary.  He  succeeded  in  securing  the  passage  of 
the  bill  which  deprived  the  city  council  of  New  York  of  the 
power  to  veto  the  appointments  of  the  mayor,  a  prerogative 
which  had  nullified  every  previous  attempt  at  reform  and  had 


30  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

made  the  spoliation  of  the  city's  coffers  an  easy  matter  in  the 
time  of  Tweed  and  other  bosses. 

Mr.  Roosevelt's  methods,  it  was  cheerfully  predicted  by  his 
political  opponents,  would  certainly  result  in  his  retirement 
from  participation  in  the  state  councils  of  New  York,  but  this 
proved  far  from  the  case.  As  has  happened  in  every  case 
since,  wherever  Theodore  Roosevelt  has  been  thrown  with  any 
class  of  people,  wherever  they  have  come  to  know  him  person- 
ally, he  has  attracted  to  himself  enthusiastic  friendship  and 
confidence.  Theatrical  though  many  of  his  acts  have  appeared, 
his  honesty,  his  personal  fearlessness,  and  the  purity  of  his 
motives  have  not  been  questioned. 

He  became  so  popular  that  not  only  was  he  returned  to 
three  sessions  of  the  assembly,  but  his  party  in  the  state  soon 
realized  that  he  was  one  of  its  strongest  men,  and  he  was  sent 
to  the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1884  as  chairman  of 
the  New  York  delegation. 

Meanwhile  he  had  been  hammering  away  at  corruption  in 
New  York,  and  had  secured  the  passage  of  the  act  making  the 
offices  of  the  county  clerk,  sheriff,  and  register  salaried  ones. 
He  had  been  chairman  of  the  committee  to  investigate  the 
work  of  county  officials,  and,  as  a  result  of  that  investigation, 
offered  the  bill  which  cut  from  the  clerk  of  the  county  of  New 
York  an  income  in  fees  which  approximated  $82,000  per  annum  • 
from  the  sheriff  $100,000,  and  from  the  register  also  a  very 
high  return  in  fees.  From  the  county  offices  to  the  police  was 
not  far,  and  Roosevelt  was  agitating  an  investigation  and  re- 
form in  the  guardianship  of  the  city  when  he  left  the  legislature. 
After  the  convention,  to  which  he  went  unmstructed,  but  in 
favor  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Edmunds  against  James  G. 
Elaine,  his  health  failed.  The  deaths  of  his  wife  and  mother 
had  been  a  severe  shock,  for  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  a  man  of  the 
strongest  personal  attachments.  He  turned  aside  from  public 
life  for  a  time  and  went  west. 

He  had  been  a  lover  of  hunting  from  boyhood,  and  when 
he  decided  to  spend  some  time  in  the  wilds  of  Montana  he 
took  up  the  life  as  he  found  it  there.  On  the  banks  of  the 
Little  Missouri  he  built  a  log  house,  working  on  it  himself,  and 
there  turned  ranchman,  cowboy,  and  hunter.  He  engaged 
in  one  of  the  last  of  the  big  buffalo  hunts,  and  saturated 
himself  with  the  life  of  the  West.  His  trips  were  not 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  31 

alone  confined  to  this  section  of  the  West,  and  his  courage, 
intelligence,  and  companionable  nature  made  him  a  name 
which  in  later  years  drew  to  his  standard  thousands  of 
cowboys,  among  whom  his  name  had  come  to  mean  all  that 
they  admire  and  all  that  appeals  to  their  natures.  The  love 
and  admiration  were  not  one-sided,  for  Mr.  Roosevelt  came  to 
regard  these  hardy,  open-hearted,  plain-spoken  guardians  of 
the  wilderness  as  the  finest  types  of  manhood,  and  his  over- 
weening admiration  of  them  as  a  class  led  him  into  compari- 
sons which  chilled  the  managers  of  his  party  to  the  very  mar- 
row during  the  presidential  campaign. 

Here  among  the  Buttes  and  Bad  Lands  Mr.  Roosevelt  spent 
a  year  or  more,  hunting,  trapping,  and  caring  for  his  herds. 
It  is  told  of  him  that  he  pursued  for  two  weeks  and  finally 
captured  some  cattle  thieves  who  had  raided  his  ranch.  In 
this  time  he  made  many  hunting  trips,  often  alone,  and  killed 
a  great  deal  of  big  game. 

In  these  years  and  between  188G  and  1889  Mr.  Roosevelt 
was  also  busy  on  much  of  his  literary  work.  The  most  impor- 
tant of  his  works — "The  Winning  of  the  West,"  a  history  in 
four  volumes  of  the  acquisition  of  the  territory  west  of  the 
Alleghanies — required  an  enormous  amount  of  research.  On 
its  publication  it  leaped  at  once  into  popularity  and  soon 
acquired  a  reputation  as  a  most  reliable  text-book. 

His  hunting  trips  and  his  months  of  life  among  the  men 
and  the  game  of  the  West  have  supplied  the  material  for  a 
number  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  books,  among  them  "The  Wilder- 
ness Hunter,"  "Hunting  Trips  of  a  Ranchman,"  and  "Ranch 
Life  and  the  Hunting  Trail."  His  most  noted  work  of  recent 
years  is  "  The  Rough  Riders,"  being  a  history  of  the  formation, 
the  battles,  career,  and  disbandment  of  the  remarkable  body 
of  soldiers  comprising  the  regiment  which  Mr.  Roosevelt 
recruited  largely  himself,  and  of  which  he  was  lieutenant-col- 
onel and  colonel  in  the  brief  campaign  in  Cuba.  His  style  is 
interesting  and  clear,  and,  while  the  story  is  told  in  the  first 
person,  there  is  a  simplicity  of  narrative  and  a  cordiality  of 
praise  to  all  who  seemed  to  deserve  it  that  robs  this  book  of 
much  of  the  self-glorification  of  which  its  author  has  been 
freely  accused. 

Mr.  Roosevelt's  more  important  works  have  been  historical, 
but  his  writings  have  not  been  confined  to  this  subject.  He 


32  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

has  contributed  many  articles  to  scientific  magazines,  partic- 
ularly on  discrimination  of  species  and  sub-species  of  the  larger 
animals  of  the  "West.  A  species  of  elk  is  named  after  him, 
and  he  made  known  the  enlarged  western  species  of  a  little 
insectivore  called  the  shrew. 

This  period  of  writing  and  hunting  was  broken  by  two 
important  events.  He  was  defeated  as  candidate  for  mayor 
of  New  York  and  he  married  again.  The  second  wife  of  the 
President  was  Miss  Edith  Kermit  Carow,  daughter  of  an  old 
New  York  family.  They  have  fivo  children — three  sons  and 
two  daughters.  The  marriage  took  place  in  1886,  and  in  the 
same  year  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  Republican  nominee 
for  mayor  of  his  native  city.  Opposed  to  him  were  Abram 
S.  Hewitt,  the  Democratic  candidate,  and  Henry  George,  the 
apostle  of  single  tax.  So  great  an  enthusiasm  had  been  cre- 
ated by  Mr.  George's  book  ''Progress  and  Poverty,"  and  so 
quickly  did  he  attach  to  himself  all  the  floating  elements  dis- 
satisfied with  the  regime  of  both  the  old  parties  and  without 
the  vested  wealth  threatened  by  the  theories  of  their  leader, 
that  both  of  the  old  parties  were  alarmed.  It  was  said  that 
fear  that  George  wrould  be  elected  sent  thousands  of  Repub- 
lican votes  to  Hewitt,  whose  chances  of  success  seemed  greatly 
better  than  those  of  his  young  Republican  opponent.  Hewitt 
was  elected,  but  Mr.  Roosevelt  received  a  larger  proportion  of 
the  votes  cast  than  had  any  other  Republican  candidate  for 
mayor  up  to  that  time. 

For  years  after  this  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  not  prominent  in 
politics.  He  spent  his  time  in  writing  and  in  hunting  trips  to 
the  West.  Never  an  idle  man,  he  accomplished  an  immense 
amount  of  research  in  the  preparation  of  his  historical  works. 

President  Harrison  appointed  Theodore  Roosevelt  a  mem- 
ber of  the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission  May  13, 
1889.  "While  in  the  New  York  legislature  much  of  his  efforts 
had  been  directed  to  the  improvement  of  the  public  service. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  noted  advocates  in  the  country  of  the 
merit  system,  and  his  enmity  to  the  spoilsman  had  won  him 
objurgations  of  press  and  party  on  numberless  occasions.  To 
his  new  duties  he  brought  enthusiastic  faith  in  the  righteous- 
ness and  the  expediency  of  a  civil  service  system,  and  he  at 
once  embarked  on  a  campaign  for  establishing  its  permanency 
and  for  its  extension,  which  again  made  him  the  butt  of  almost 


'THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  33 

daily  attacks.  In  Congress  and  in  the  ranks  of  the  leaders  of 
his  party  hundreds  of  opponents  sprang  up  to  attack  him,  but 
he  held  to  his  course  and  eventually  won  to  his  own  way  of 
thinking  many  public  men.  Though  always  determined  and 
aggressive,  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  a  man  of  great  tact,  and  to  this 
no  less  than  to  the  resolute  assurance  of  his  methods  was  due 
the  success  of  his  efforts  for  the  extension  of  the  civil  service 
in  the  national  service. 

In  the  wave  of  reform  which  swept  over  New  York  in  1894- 
'95  the  men,  including  Mayor  Strong,  who  were  borne  into 
power  were  something  of  the  same  stamp  as  the  civil  service 
commissioner.  They  were  of  the  class  which  fought  political 
rings,  and  they  turned  to  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  take  a  hand  in  pu- 
rifying the  police  force  of  New  York  city,  which  was  alleged  to 
be  a  sink  of  political  rottenness  and  studied  inefficiency.  Mr. 
Roosevelt  resigned  as  civil  service  commissioner  May  5,  1895, 
and  was  appointed  a  police  commissioner  of  New  York  city 
May  24  following. 

The  uproar  that  followed  the  introduction  of  Roosevelt 
methods  in  the  conduct  of  the  New  York  police  force  has 
never  been  equaled  as  a  police  sensation  in  that  city.  Within 
a  month  after  his  appointment  the  whole  force  was  in  a  state 
of  fright.  The  new  commissioner  made  night  rounds  himself, 
and  being  unknown  to  the  men  he  caught  scores  of  them  in 
dereliction  of  duty.  He  dismissed  and  promoted  and  punished 
entirely  on  a  plan  of  his  own.  Politics  ceased  to  save  or  help 
the  men,  and  the  bosses  were  up  in  arms.  In  this  emergency 
an  attempt  was  made  to  have  Roosevelt's  appointment  by 
Mayor  Strong  vetoed  by  the  city  council  and  it  was  discovered 
that  an  act  of  the  legislature,  passed  some  twelve  years 
prior,  had  taken  the  power  of  veto  from  the  city  council. 
Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  author  of  this  act,  and  its  passage 
had  been  secured  after  one  of  the  strongest  fights  he  had  made 
when  a  member  of  the  state  legislature. 

Commissioner  Roosevelt  announced  that  he  would  enforce 
the  laws  as  he  found  them.  He  gave  special  attention  to  the 
operation  of  the  excise  law  on  Sunday,  and,  after  severe  meas- 
ures had  been  used  on  some  of  the  more  hardy  saloon  keepers, 
New  York  at  last  had,  in  June,  1895,  for  the  first  time  within 
the  memory  of  living  man,  a  "dry"  Sunday.  Though  un- 
doubtedly a  great  deal  of  good  was  done  by  Commissioner 


34  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Roosevelt  in  breaking  up  much  of  the  blackmail  which  had 
been  levied  by  policemen,  in  transferring  and  degrading 
officers  who  were  notoriously  responsible  for  the  bad  name 
the  force  had,  and  in  making  promotions  for  merit,  fidelity 
and  courage,  Mr.  Roosevelt's  career  as  a  police  commissioner 
made  him  extremely  unpopular  not  only  with  the  class  at 
which  his  crusade  was  aimed,  but  with  the  business  men  and 
the  more  conservative  of  the  citizens. 

His  methods  attracted  to  his  support  a  great  swarm  of 
spies,  the  agents  of  various  kinds  of  so-called  reform  organ- 
izations, and  against  these  men  the  police  were  powerless. 
Some  of  them  were  convicted  themselves  of  blackmail,  but 
this  was  after  the  first  flush  of  the  Roosevelt  campaign.  An 
air  of  espionage  was  attached  to  all  police  methods  and  the 
affiliation  of  the  new  police  commissioner  with  the  notoriety- 
seeking  municipal  reformers  lost  him  many  adherents,  who 
would  have  applauded  his  work  had  the  means  been  more  to 
manly  taste. 

The  fierce  crusade  against  the  saloon  keepers  was  brief, 
and  its  effects  lasted  but  a  few  weeks.  The  new  commis- 
sioner gave  his  attention  to  more  important  matters,  and  really 
made  the  force  cleaner  than  it  had  been  before.  He  undoubt- 
edly gained  the  hearty  devotion  of  the  better  class  of  the 
policemen.  He  was  most  careful  of  their  comfort  and  quick  to 
see  and  reward  merit.  He  was  also  quick  to  punish,  and  this 
kept  the  worse  half  of  the  men  on  their  good  behavior. 

The  attacks  of  the  enemies  which  Mr.  Roosevelt's  methods 
raised  up  against  him  were  not  confined  to  verbal  denuncia- 
tions nor  expressions  through  the  press.  Dynamite  bombs 
were  left  in  his  office,  a  part  of  his  associates  on  the  police 
board  fought  his  every  move,  and  all  the  skill  of  New  York 
politicians  with  whom  he  interfered  was  exercised  to  trap  him 
into  a  situation  where  he  would  become  discredited  in  his 
work.  In  this  they  were  unsuccessful  and  the  stormy  career 
of  the  police  force  continued.  In  the  end  the  new  commis- 
sioner conquered.  He  had  the  necessary  power  and  the  per- 
sonal courage  and  tenacity  of  purpose  to  carry  out  his  plans. 
He  fought  blackmail  until  he  had  practically  stopped  it  and  he 
promoted  and  removed  men  without  regard  to  color,  creed,  or 
politics.  He  resigned  in  April,  1897,  to  become  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy. 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT:  35 

Theodore  Roosevelt  was  appointed  Assistant  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  April  19,  1897.  The  troubles  of  the  Cubans  with 
Spain,  the  long  history  of  oppression  and  outrage  to  which 
they  had  been  subjected,  and  the  years  of  warfare  they  had 
known  with  the  armies  of  Weyler  and  Campos,  had  excited 
American  sympathy,  and  many  public  men  realized  that  in- 
terference by  the  United  States  was  almost  assured.  In  this 
connection  it  was  realized  by  President  McKinley  and  his 
advisers  that  the  navy  was  not  in  condition  to  make  it  an 
effective  war  instrument  in  the  impending  conflict.  In  cast- 
ing about  for  a  man  to  fill  the  position  of  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  which  place  carried  with  it  much  of  the  execu- 
tive work  which  would  be  required  in  putting  fighting  ships 
into  shape,  the  President  and  Secretary  Long  were  favorably 
disposed  toward  Mr.  Roosevelt,  who  was  one  of  the  many 
candidates  for  the  place.  His  work  on  the  naval  war  of  1812 
had  acquired  fame  for  its  accuracy  and  its  exhibition  of  wide 
knowledge  of  naval  matters  on  the  part  of  the  author,  and 
Mr.  Roosevelt  was  asked  to  accept  the  appointment. 

He  brought  to  the  duties  of  the  office  a  great  interest  in 
the  work,  as  well  as  the  tremendous  energy  and  talent  for 
closely  studying  and  mastering  his  work  which  had  character- 
ized him  in  other  fields.  He  also  brought  to  the  position  some 
of  his  startling  methods,  and  again  proved  himself  a  "storm 
center,"  a  name  he  had  already  been  given,  and  to  which  he 
has  earned  better  title  in  each  succeeding  year.  In  the  fall  of 
1897  he  was  detailed  to  inspect  the  fleet  gathered  at  Hampton 
Roads,  and  he  kept  the  commanders  and  their  jackies  in  a 
ferment  for  a  week.  Whenever  he  thought  of  a  drill  he  would 
like  to  see,  he  ordered  it.  The  crews  were  called  to  night 
quarters  and  all  sorts  of  emergency  orders  were  given  at  all 
sorts  of  hours.  When  the  Assistant  Secretary  came  back  to 
Washington  to  report,  he  had  mastered  some  of  the  important 
details  of  the  situation,  at  least. 

During  his  rather  brief  connection  with  the  department, 
Mr.  Roosevelt  was  a  strong  advocate  of  the  naval  personnel 
bill.  He  was  also  in  charge  of  the  purchase  of  auxiliary 
vessels  after  war  was  actually  declared.  When  guns  had 
been  fired  in  actual  warfare  and  the  invasion  of  Cuba  had 
been  determined  upon  Mr.  Roosevelt  resigned  to  take  part 
with  the  land  forces  in  that  campaign. 


36  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

His  resignation  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  bears 
date  of  May  6,  1898.  His  appointment  as  lieutenant-colonel, 
First  Regiment  United  States  Volunteer  Cavalry,  is  dated 
May  5,  1898. 

The  body  of  men  of  which  Col.  Roosevelt  took  command 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ever  enlisted  in  any  country. 
It  was  chosen  from  some  3,500  applicants  and  numbered  about 
900.  The  plains  gave  it  its  largest  membership,  and  the  name 
under  which  it  soon  came  to  be  known  was  the  "  Rough 
Riders."  Dr.  Leonard  Wood,  U.  S.  A.,  a  close  personal  friend 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  his  companion  on  many  hunting  trips, 
was,  like  himself,  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  fearless  and  ster- 
ling characters  so  often  found  among  the  cowboys  of  the 
American  cattle  ranges.  When  war  was  an  assured  fact, 
these  two  men  conceived  the  idea  of  recruiting  a  regiment 
from  among  the  ranks  of  these  plainsmen.  Both  were  known 
throughout  many  Western  states  to  the  most  famous  of  the 
frontiersmen,  and  the  project  met  with  instant  and  enthusi- 
astic favor  in  a  thousand  ranches.  Cowboys,  dead  shots, 
perfect  horsemen,  who  did  not  know  what  fear  or  fatigue 
meant,  flocked  to  the  standard  raised  by  Wood  and  Roosevelt, 
and  there  eventually  gathered  at  Tampa  a  body  of  men  than 
whom  it  would  be  hard  to  find  any  more  perfectly  fitted  for 
such  war  as  the  conflict  with  Spain  in  the  jungles  of  Cuba 
assured.  Old  Indian  fighters  were  there  by  the  score,  and 
there  were  even  six  fullrblooded  Indians  among  the  enlisted 
men. 

Such  an  outburst  of  popular  interest  attended  the  recruit- 
ing of  this  regiment  that  Col.  Wood  and  Lieut. -Col.  Roosevelt 
were  soon  overwhelmed  with  applications  for  enlistment  from 
the  college  men,  athletes,  clubmen,  sons  of  millionaire  parents, 
who  loved  the  idea  of  adventure  and  battle  in  such  company. 
As  a  result  several  companies  were  recruited  from  the  pick  of 
the  young  men  of  the  country.  Nearly  every  noted  club  of 
the  country  had  its  quota,  and  scores  of  Wall  street  stock- 
brokers wore  khaki  in  the  ranks. 

The  Rough  Riders,  it  was  originally  intended,  should  be 
mounted,  and  as  cavalry  they  went  to  the  rendezvous  at 
Tampa.  But  when  the  time  came  to  go  to  Cuba  there  was  no 
room  on  the  transports  for  horses,  and  these  cavalrymen,  like 
the  rest  of  the  men  Avho  had  enlisted  in  all  the  regiments 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  37 

assembled  at  the  Florida  port,  were  mad  to  get  to  the  front. 
Rather  than  not  see  some  of  the  fighting,  the  commander  of 
the  Rough  Riders  secured  a  place  for  his  men  among  the 
troops  sent  to  participate  in  the  siege  of  Santiago,  and  they 
went  as  dismounted  cavalry.  As  such  they  went  to  Cuba 
and  fought  through  the  brief  but  bloody  campaign  before  the 
besieged  city.  They  never  had  an  opportunity  to  display 
their  skill  as  horsemen  after  they  left  the  training  camps  at 
San  Antonio  and  Tampa,  but  they  won  a  reputation  for 
courage  and  cheerful  patience  under  hardship,  battle,  and 
disease  which  is  not  surpassed  in  history. 

This  was  not  the  first  military  service  of  Roosevelt.  Soon 
after  his  graduation  from  Harvard  he  had  joined  the  Eighth 
Regiment,  New  York  National  Guard,  and  had  been  in  time 
promoted  to  the  captaincy  of  a  company.  He  remained  a 
militiaman  for  four  years,  leaving  his  command  only  when 
he  took  up  his  permanent  residence  in  AVashington  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

The  recruiting  of  the  Rough  Riders  had  been  begun  and 
had  progressed  rapidly  even  before  Roosevelt  left  his  post  in 
the  Navy  Department,  and  in  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  in 
San  Antonio,  the  Rough  Riders,  then  about  900  strong,  were 
removed  to  Tampa.  When  the  selection  of  the  troops  to  go 
to  Cuba  was  made,  but  eight  companies  of  seventy  men  each 
were  taken.  Those  who  were  left  behind  were  most  disconso- 
late. The  transports  carrying  the  army  of  invasion  to  Cuba 
sailed  from  Port  Tampa  June  13,  1898.  Thirty  large  vessels 
carried  the  troops  and  took  six  days  to  reach  Daiquiri,  the 
little  port  to  the  east  of  the  harbor  of  Santiago  where 
the  army  was  disembarked.  The  Rough  Riders  were  in  the 
brigade  commanded  by  Gen.  S.  M.  B.  Young,  together  with 
the  First  (white)  and  Tenth  (colored)  regular  cavalry  regi- 
ments, and  Avas  a  part  of  the  division  commanded  by  Gen. 
Joseph  Wheeler. 

The  first  fight  of  the  Rough  Riders  took  place  in  the  ad- 
vance from  Daiquiri  toward  Santiago.  They  were  sent  out  on 
a  hill  trail  to  attack  the  position  of  the  Spaniards  who  blocked 
the  road  to  the  town.  The  Spanish  occupied  ridges  opposite 
to  those  along  which  the  trail  used  by  the  Rough  Riders  led, 
and  a  fierce  fight  took  place  in  the  jungle.  The  Spanish  had 
smokeless  powder,  and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  locate 


38  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

them  in  the  underbrush.  The  Rough  Riders  behaved  with 
great  gallantry,  and  took  the  position  occupied  by  the  enemy, 
but  not  without  considerable  loss.  For  distinguished  gal- 
lantry in  this  action  Lieut. -Col.  Roosevelt  was  promoted  to  be 
colonel  July  11,  1898.  The  place  of  this  engagement  is  called 
Las  Guasimas,  "the  thorns,"  from  the  large  number  of  trees 
of  that  species  found  there.  The  Rough  Riders  in  this  action 
acted  in  concert  with  other  attacking  forces  composing  the 
vanguard  of  the  army.  Several  days  after  this  Gen.  Young 
was  taken  with  fever,  and,  Col.  Wood  taking  command  of  the 
brigade,  Col.  Roosevelt  became  commanding  officer  of  the 
regiment. 

In  this  capacity  he  commanded  the  Rough  Riders  in  the 
battle  of  San  Juan,  where  they  withstood  a  heavy  fire  for  a 
long  time,  and  finally,  when  ordered  to  advance,  made  a  gal- 
lant charge,  capturing  two  of  the  hills  occupied  by  the  enemy. 
The  fall  of  Santiago  followed  the  American  success,  and  a 
period  of  inactivity  began  for  the  American  troops.  Insuf- 
ficient transportation  had  entailed  improper  and  insufficient 
food,  and,  together  with  the  effects  of  the  climate,  began  to 
have  serious  effects  on  the  troops.  Fever  decimated  their 
ranks,  and  those  who  were  still  able  to  attend  to  their  duties 
were  weakened  by  disease. 

It  soon  became  apparent  to  the  officers  in  command  of  the 
Americans  that  the  only  salvation  for  their  men  was  removal 
to  the  North.  It  had  been  reported  that  yellow  fever  was 
epidemic  among  the  soldiers  in  camp  about  Santiago,  and, 
while  this  was  not  at  all  true,  most  of  the  men  were  suffering 
from  malarial  fever,  and  there  was  some  fear  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  tropic  scourge  into  the  United  States  if  the  troops 
were  brought  home  suffering  from  it. 

Col.  Roosevelt  was  in  command  of  the  brigade  at  this  time, 
owing  to  Gen.  Wood  having  been  made  governor-general  of 
Santiago,  and  as  such  the  commander  of  the  Rough  Riders 
discussed  with  the  other  generals  an  appeal  to  the  authorities 
to  remove  the  troops  back  to  the  United  States.  There  was 
disinclination  on  the  part  of  the  regular  officers  to  take  the 
initiative,  as  much  correspondence  had  taken  place  between 
Gen.  Shafter  and  the  War  Department,  the  latter  stating  the 
reasons  why  it  seemed  inexpedient  to  cause  the  removal  at 
that  time.  In  this  emergency  Col.  Roosevelt  prepared  a  pres- 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  39 

entation  of  the  situation  and,  after  reading  over  the  rough 
draft  to  the  other  commanders,  submitted  it  to  Gen.  Shafter. 
Directly  afterward  a  circular  letter  was  prepared  and  signed 
by  all  the  generals  and  commanding  officers  and  presented  to 
Gen.  Shafter.  This  came  to  be  known  as  "  the  round  robin," 
and  its  result  was  instantaneous.  Both  letters,  Col.  Roose- 
velt's and  the  round  robin,  were  published  throughout  the 
United  States  and  created  a  profound  sensation.  Within 
three  days  after  they  had  been  delivered  to  Gen.  Shafter  the 
order  for  the  return  of  the  army  was  issued. 

The  Rough  Riders  with  their  colonel  returned  to  Camp 
Wikoff,  at  the  northern  extremity  of  Long  Island,  in  late 
August,  and  on  September  15,  1898,  were  mustered  out  of  the 
service  with  Col.  Roosevelt. 

The  campaign  for  the  control  of  New  York  state  in  the 
approaching  election  of  a  governor  had  already  begun  when 
the  Rough  Riders  returned  from  Cuba.  Col.  Roosevelt's  name 
had  often  been  mentioned  for  the  Republican  nomination  and 
the  popular  enthusiasm  for  this  selection  was  supported  by 
the  leaders  of  the  party  in  the  state.  Gov.  Frank  S.  Black 
had  been  elected  by  an  enormous  plurality  two  years  pre- 
viously, and  according  to  all  traditions  should  have  been  re- 
nominated.  He  was  set  aside,  however,  for  the  new  hero,  and 
the  convention  at  Saratoga  nominated  Col,  Roosevelt  with  a 
hurrah.  The  friends  of  Gov.  Black  had  fought  bitterly  so  long 
as  there  seemed  a  chance  for  success,  and  they  started  the 
rumor  that  Col.  Roosevelt  was  ineligible  for  the  nomination, 
as  he  had  relinquished  his  residence  in  New  York  when  he 
went  to  Washington  to  enter  the  Navy  Department. 

The  actual  campaign  was  a  most  picturesque  one.  B.  B. 
Odell,  chairman  of  the  state  committee  and  now  governor, 
was  opposed  to  Col.  Roosevelt  stumping  the  state  in  his  own 
canvass,  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that  general  apathy  ex- 
isted, and  consent  was  reluctantly  given  to  the  candidate  to 
do  so.  There  followed  a  series  of  speeches  that  woke  up  the 
voters.  Col.  Roosevelt,  by  nature  forceful,  direct  and  theat- 
rical in  his  manner  and  method,  went  back  and  forward,  up 
and  down  New  York,  accompanied  by  a  few  of  his  Rough 
Riders  in  their  uniforms.  These  cowboys  made  speeches,  tell- 
ing, usually,  how  much  they  thought  of  their  colonel,  and  the 
tour  met  with  success.  Col.  Roosevelt  was  elected  governor 


40  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

over  Augustus  Van  Wyck,  the  Democratic  candidate,  by  a 
plurality  of  about  17,000. 

Among  the  achievements  of  Governor  Roosevelt  as  chief 
executive  of  the  Empire  State  were  the  enforcement  of  the  law 
to  tax  corporations,  which  had  been  passed  at  a  special  session 
of  the  legislature  called  by  the  governor  for  that  purpose  ; 
making  the  Erie  Canal  Commission  non-partisan  ;  his  aid  to 
the  tenement  commission  in  their  work  for  the  betterment  of 
the  poor  in  New  York,  and  in  breaking  up  the  sweat  shops 
through  rigid  enforcement  of  the  factory  law. 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  as  governor  of  New  York,  continued  to 
keep  in  the  public  eye,  as  he  had  always  done  in  every  other 
position  he  had  held  from  the  day  of  his  election  to  the  legis- 
lature of  his  native  state.  In  the  spring  of  1!»00,  on  the  ap- 
proach of  the  Republican  National  Convention,  his  name  was 
the  most  often  spoken  of  in  connection  with  the  second  place 
on  the  national  ticket.  The  convention  met  June  19  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  it  was  soon  made  known  that  Colonel  Roosevelt 
was  the  choice  of  the  convention. 

In  the  campaign  that  followed  with  its  issues  and  its  per- 
sonalities the  figure  of  Roosevelt  looms  prominently  into  the 
picture  which  memory  paints.  He  gave  to  the  otherwise  dull 
and  spiritless  contest  the  little  exhilaration  which  it  possessed. 
He  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  McKinley  in  the  public 
eye.  He  leaped  into  the  glad  embrace  of  cow-punchers  in 
Montana,  he  wrestled  with  rowdies  in  Colorado,  he  swept 
through  the  Middle  West  theatrically  attended  by  processions 
of  amateur  rough  riders.  He  was  the  picturesque  feature  of 
the  campaign.  His  slouch  hat,  his  eyeglasses,  his  prominent 
front  teeth,  were  in  universal  evidence,  either  in  friendly  por- 
trait or  hostile  cartoon.  He  made  numerous  speeches  in  his 
impulsive  way,  always  plunging  ahead  and  fearing  neither 
the  world,  the  flesh,  nor  the  devil.  What  he  said  does  not  so 
much  matter  now.  It  was  the  way  in  which  he  said  it  that 
.fastened  his  picture  indelibly  upon  the  minds  of  those  who 
basked  beneath  his  expansive  smile. 

Out  of  the  clouds  of  misconception  and  the  false  impres- 
sions thrown  about  this  picturesque  figure  by  the  cartoonists 
and  the  paragraphers,  more  interested  in  sensationalism  than 
in  reality,  there  suddenly  emerges  this  intensely  earnest, 
patriotic,  humanity-loving,  non-sectional  American,  this  prac- 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.  41 

tical  idealist,  to  become  ruler  of  the  greatest  country  in  the 
world. 

By  the  tragic  death  of  William  McKinley  on  Saturday 
morning,  September  14, 1901,  Theodore  Roosevelt  succeeded  to 
the  high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  is  the 
youngest  man  ever  inducted  into  that  office.  No  one  doubted 
either  his  fitness  or  his  willingness  to  accept  the  responsibili- 
ties of  policy  and  administration  which  his  oath  of  office  im- 
posed upon  him.  His  declaration  of  policy  was  simple  and 
direct  :  "I  shall  continue  absolutely  unbroken  the  policy  of 
President  McKinley  for  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  honor  of 
our  beloved  country."  How  well  and  with  what  fidelity  this 
declaration  has  been  followed  is  so  obvious  that  it  needs  no 
exposition. 

The  lamented  President  McKinley,  so  foully  murdered  and 
so  universally  mourned,  was  probably  the  last  of  our  presi- 
dents who  had  participated  in  the  Civil  War.  Standing  at 
the  threshold  of  a  new  century,  President  Roosevelt  seems  to 
mark  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  our  public  life.  His  military 
record  belongs  to  the  whole  country,  even  more  so  than  the 
military  records  of  our  presidents  who  had  served  in  the  War 
of  1812  and  the  Mexican  War;  for  those  wars  had  both  sec- 
tional and  political  opposition.  The  country  during  the 
Spanish  War  was  united  as  never  before  in  its  history,  and  it 
is  among  the  greatest  of  President  McKinley's  achievements 
that  during  that  war  he  contributed  so  materially  to  the  oblit- 
eration of  sectional  and  political  differences. 

Most  of  our  presidents  have  been  well  fitted  for  the  work 
they  had  to  do,  but  no  president  has  had  the  forcef ulness  and 
ability,  combined  with  education  and  varied  training  and  ex- 
perience, of  the  present  chief  executive. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  is  one  of  the  interesting  personalities 
of  our  day  and  generation.  He  is  a  picturesque  figure,  and 
was  so  before  the  Rough  Rider  uniform  and  hat  existed,  and 
would  be  even  if  he  had  never  worn  them.  Within  him  was 
a  vital  spark  that  has  flamed  into  perfect  physical  vigor.  His 
characteristic  is  force.  This  is  the  central  quality.  But  with 
this  are  an  honest  mind,  right  motives,  readiness  and  direct- 
ness in  speech,  frankness  and  courage,  and  high  ideals  of  pub- 
lic and  private  duty  and  service.  It  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  that  such  a  man  should  not  only  fill  the  popular  eye,  but 


42  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

command  the  popular  favor.  The  people  like  a  bold  man,  a 
square  man,  a  strong  man,  and  they  know  instinctively  that 
he  is  all  these. 

DECISION    AND    ENERGY    OF    CHARACTER. 

'HE  elements  of  success  lock  and  interlock  ;  it  is  difficult 
to  separate  them — to  tell  where  one  ends  and  another 
begins :  so  it  is  with  decision  ;  it  is  involved  in  the 
operation  of  other  qualities.  Yet  it  has  a  character  of 
its  own.  It  was  the  spirit  of  our  fathers  when  they  arose  to 
cast  off  the  British  yoke,  and  adopted  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

Patrick  Henry  voiced  it  in  the  convention  of  Virginia  in 
that  impassioned  speech  in  which  he  said  :— 

"  If  we  mean  not  basely  to  abandon  the  noble  struggle  in 
which  we  have  been  so  long  engaged,  and  which  we  have 
pledged  ourselves  never  to  abandon  until  the  glorious  object 
of  our  contest  shall  be  obtained,  we  must  fight.  I  repeat  it, 
sir,  we  must  fight  !  An  appeal  to  arms  and  to  the  God  of 
hosts  is  all  that  is  left  us.  It  is  vain,  sir,  to  extenuate  the 
matter.  Gentlemen  may  cry  '  Peace,  peace  ! '  but  there  is 
no  peace.  The  war  is  actually  begun  !  The  next  gale  that 
sweeps  from  the  North  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash  of 
resounding  arms.  Our  brethren  are  already  in  the  field.  Why 
stand  we  here  idle  ?  What  is  it  that  gentlemen  woukHiave  ? 
Is  life  so  dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the 
price  of  chains  and  slavery  ?  Forbid  it,  Almighty  God  !  I 
know  not  what  course  others  may  take ;  but  as  for  me,  give 
me  liberty,  or  give  me  death." 

John  Foster  cites  an  example  of  decision  of  character 
worthy  of  our  study  :— 

A  young  Englishman  inherited  a  vast  estate  just  when  his 
wild  nature  was  yielding  to  dissipation.  The  great  legacy 
served  only  to  hasten  his  progress  to  ruin.  Within  a  few 
years  the  last  dollar  of  his  patrimony  was  spent,  and  poverty 
and  degradation  stared  him  in  the  face. 

One  day,  in  his  deep  despair,  he  rushed  out  of  the  house 
resolved  to  take  his  own  life  in  the  field  yonder.  Reaching  an 
eminence  that  overlooked  the  estates  which  had  passed  out  of 
his  hands,  he  stopped,  entranced  by  the  splendid  panorama 
that  spread  out  before  him,  and  finally  sat  down  to  reflect. 


PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT  IN  THE  CABINET  ROOM. 


DECISION  OF  CHARACTER.  45 

Then  and  there,  with  mighty  difficulties  and  apparent  im- 
possibilities before  him,  he  resolved  to  regain  the  estates  which 
his  immorality  had  wasted.  At  once  he  decided  to  carry  out 
his  decision  by  performing  the  first  work  that  offered.  A  load 
of  coal  was  dumped  at  a  fine  residence ;  he  sought,  and 
obtained,  the  job  of  carrying  it  into  the  cellar.  Other  menial 
work  was  offered,  and  he  did  it.  Step  by  step,  onward  and 
upward,  he  advanced,  until  he  became  a  prosperous  and 
wealthy  merchant,  and  purchased  the  estates  which  his  folly 
once  squandered. 

These  facts  are  a  signal  illustration  of  the  maxim,  "  Where 
there  's  a  will,  there  's  a  way." 

Perhaps  the  soul  asserts  itself  through  this  quality  as  forci- 
bly as  it  does  through  any  other  ;  and  this  is  what  is  needed 
to  assure  success.  While  the  soul  is  not  an  organ,  it  controls 
and  animates  all  the  organs.  It  is  greater  than  the  intellect 
or  will,  because  it  is  the  master  of  both.  Without  its  inspira- 
tion, the  physical  and  mental  powers  languish.  Hence,  any 
attribute  through  which  the  soul  will  specially  flash  and  influ- 
ence, becomes  of  first  importance. 

Pompey  was  entreated  by  his  friends  not  to  risk  his  life  on 
a  tempestuous  sea  that  he  might  be  in  Rome  at  a  certain 
time,  when  his  soul  bounded  to  the  climax  of  dignity,  invest- 
ing all  his  powers  with  greatness,  and  he  replied,  "It  is  neces- 
sary for  me  to  go,  but  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  live." 

The  great  English  orator,  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  made 
a  ridiculous  failure  of  his  first  attempt  to  speak  in  Parliament. 
The  sneering  laugh  of  the  members  mortified  him  exceedingly, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  aroused  the  noblest  elements  of 
humanity  within  him,  so  that  he  exclaimed,  as  he  sat  down  in 
humiliating  confusion,  "It  is  in  me  and  it  shall  come  out." 

And  it  did  come  out.  His  soul  took  possession  of  his  brain, 
and  whipped  every  faculty  to  the  front,  forcing  a  brilliant 
career,  almost  without  a  parallel  in  history. 

Under  the  power  of  heroic  decision,  he,  of  whom  the  school- 
master said  when  he  was  a  boy,  "  He  is  a  dunce,"  became  the 
eloquent  statesman  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  Had  his  character 
been  reliable,  he  might  have  ruled  the  world." 

In  like  manner,  our  American  Sheridan,  the  great  general, 
turned  defeat  into  victory  by  his  remarkable  decision.  He 
was  miles  away  from  his  army  when  the  booming  of  cannon 


46  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

assured  him  that  his  men  were  engaged  in  a  hot  battle.  Put- 
ting spurs  to  his  horse,  he  struck  into  his  famous  ride  down 
the  "Winchester  Road  "  toward  the  seat  of  conflict.  Within 
a  few  miles  he  met  his  beaten  and  retreating  forces  inglori- 
ously  running  from  the  foe  ;  whereupon,  rising  to  his  full 
height  in  his  saddle,  he  cried,  "Halt  !  Halt !"  and  commanded 
them  to  "right  about  face"  and  follow  him.  On,  on,  he 
dashed,  his  valiant  men  rallying  at  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and 
inspired  with  fresh  hope  of  triumph  by  his  decisive  act ;  nearer 
and  nearer  to  the  foe  they  came,  more  and  more  invincible 
under  their  leader's  contagious  heroism,  until  commander  and 
men  fell  upon  the  foe  like  an  avalanche,  surprising  them  when 
flushed  with  victory,  and  completely  routing  them,  horse, 
foot,  and  dragoon. 

It  was  when  General  Grant  was  fighting  the  bloody  battles 
of  the  Wilderness,  and  the  whole  loyal  North  was  watching 
every  movement  of  his  army  to  learn  what  hope  there  was  of 
his  ever  capturing  Richmond,  that  he  rose  to  the  sublime 
decision  wrhich  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  through  the  country.  "  I 
shall  fight  it  out  on  this  line,  if  it  takes  all  summer."  That 
settled  the  fate  of  the  Rebellion  ;  the  people  accepted  it  as  the 
harbinger  of  victory  and  the  return  of  peace. 

Decision  answers  the  questions  :  Can  you  do  it  ?  Will  you 
do  it  ?  and  answers  them  in  the  affirmative.  We  know  better 
than  we  do  ;  decision  helps  us  to  do  even  better  than  we  know. 

Grant  thought,  at  the  beginning  of  the  late  war,  that  he 
could  not  command  a  regiment ;  but  his  decision  fitted  him  in 
two  years  to  lead  a  thousand  regiments.  He  did  better  than 
he  knew. 

Persons  who  are  weakened  by  indecision  are  always  sub- 
servient to  circumstances ;  while  circumstances  are  subservi- 
ent to  manly  decision. 

It  is  decision  of  character  which  makes  a  youth  proof 
against  the  lures  to  excessive  play  and  pleasure,  to  gaming 
and  drink,  and  to  all  other  forms  of  temptation  that  are  inim- 
ical to  study,  uprightness,  and  virtue.  Decision  thunders 
"  No  ! "  and  the  devil  of  temptation  flees.  It  is  indecision 
that  hesitates,  delays,  fears,  and  finally  says  "  Yes,"  and  be- 
comes the  slave  of  immorality  or  vice. 

Many  people,  young  and  old,  know  what  duty  is,  but  fail 
to  do  it  for  the  want  of  decision.  They  know  very  well  what 


DECISION  OF  CHARACTER.  4? 

labors  and  self-denials  are  necessary  to  obtain  an  education, 
master  a  trade,  or  attain  to  excellence  in  any  pursuit ;  but 
their  ignoble  indecision,  which  is  a  sort  of  mental  and  moral 
debility,  disqualifies  them  for  the  undertaking. 

"  The  will,  which  is  the  central  force  of  character,  must  be 
trained  to  habits  of  decision ;  otherwise,  it  will  neither  be  able 
to  resist  evil,  nor  to  follow  good." 

It  is  not  an  exhibition  of  manly  or  womanly  character  for 
youth  to  waste  their  breath  in  laments  over  their  present  situ- 
ation ;  to  think  if  their  circumstances,  or  friends,  or  talents 
were  different,  they  might  achieve  something  worth  record- 
ing. This  is  indecision,  which  often  leads  a  person  to  think 
that  embarrassments  are  especially  numerous  in  his  own  ex- 
perience, and  that  he  does  not  have  his  full  share  of  advan- 
tages falling  to  the  common  lot  of  humanity.  Nothing  can  be 
more  unmanly  and  belittling.  Rise  above  the  unmanly  view 
of  life  !  Decide  for  the  best  in  everything — and  then  win.  it. 

Said  Calhoun  to  his  roommate  at  Yale  College:— 

"I  am  fitting  myself  for  Congress." 

His  roommate  laughed. 

"Do  you  doubt  it?"  exclaimed  Calhoun.  "If  I  were  not 
convinced  that  I  should  be  in  Congress  in  six  years,  I  would 
leave  college  to-day." 

John  C.  Calhoun  was  not  visionary.  With  the  eye  of  faith 
he  beheld  the  dome  of  the  capitol  in  which  were  spent  the 
proudest  and  best  days  of  his  life.  He  was  there  within  six 
years  after  he  was  graduated  ;  and  there  he  died  in  the  service 
of  his  country,  after  forty  years  of  congressional  labor.  Abil- 
ity, perseverance,  decision,  and  force  of  character  did  it. 

Decision  is  more  of  the  head  ;  energy  more  of  the  heart. 
The  latter  is  "the  power  to  produce  positive  effects."  It  is  re- 
corded of  Hezekiah  :  "And  in  every  work  that  he  did  in  the 
service  of  the  house  of  God  and  in  the  law,  and  in  the  com- 
mandments to  seek  his  God,  he  did  it  with  all  his  heart,  and 
prospered." 

Doing  "with  all  the  heart"  is  energy.  Without  it,  no  one 
prospers  in  anything. 

It  is  necessary  to  maintain  decision  ;  it  is  the  force  that 
reduces  decision  to  practice,  or  supplements  it. 

Success  comes  to  the  class  who  pursue  their  life  work 
"with  all  the  heart." 


48  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 


The  motto  on  the  pickaxe  well  expressed  it :  "I  will  find  a 
way,  or  make  it." 

The  Spartan  father  understood  it  when  he  said  to  his  son, 
who  complained  that  his  sword  was  too  short,  "Then  add  a 
step  to  it." 

Another  says  :  "  Hence  it  is  that,  inspired  hy  energy  of  pur- 
pose, men  of  comparatively  mediocre  powers  have  often  been 
enabled  to  accomplish  such  extraordinary  results.  For  the 
men  who  have  most  powerfully  influenced  the  world  have  not 
been  so  much  men  of  genius  as  men  of  strong  convictions  and 
enduring  capacity  for  work,  impelled  by  irresistible  energy 
and  invincible  determination ;  such  men,  for  example,  as  were 
Mohammed,  Luther,  Knox,  Calvin,  Loyola,  and  Wesley.'' 

The  hearts  of  all  these  reformers  were  in  their  work ;  and 
"he  who  has  heart  has  everything."  Hence,  in  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  concerns,  this  sort  of  energy  is  required. 
"Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might." 
God  does  not  accept  half-hearted  work.  His  servants  must 
throw  their  whole  souls  into  service  they  render  him,  if  they 
would  count.  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might."  It 
would  be  difficult  to  state  the  case  more  strongly. 

God  knows  exactly  the  measure  of  human  power  that  we 
can  put  into  any  work  and  he  demands  the  full  measure. 

The  noted  Nathaniel  Bowditch  once  said  to  a  young  man, 
"Never  undertake  anything  but  with  the  feeling  that  you 
can  and  will  do  it."  He  put  the  case  very  much  as  the  Bible 
does. 

About  seventy  years  ago,  perhaps  longer,  a  youth  of  eight- 
een years,  residing  on  Cape  Cod,  resolved  to  seek  his  fortune 
in  Boston.  He  was  bright,  enterprising,  and  honest ;  and  he 
knew  too  much  about  a  seafaring  life  to  cast  his  lot  there. 
He  saw  a  better  opportunity  in  the  capital  of  his  native  state, 
and  resolved  to  try  there,  though  he  had  not  a  friend  to  assist 
him.  He  had  in  mind  no  particular  calling,  but  was  ready  to 
accept  any  honorable  position  that  might  offer. 

So  he  started  for  Boston,  with  only  four  dollars  in  his 
pocket, —  all  the  money  he  could  raise.  On  reaching  the  city 
he  set  himself  to  work  at  once  to  find  a  situation  ;  and  he 
traveled  and  traveled,  applying  in  vain  here  and  there  for  a 
place,  but  finding  none. 


DECISION  OF  CHARACTER.  49 

A  single  day  satisfied  him  that  there  was  no  opening  for 
him,  and  he  was  strongly  tempted  to  return  home,  but  his 
stout  heart  rose  in  rebellion  against  the  thought.  He  would 
not  return  to  his  native  town  discomfited.  He  had  too  much 
force  of  character  for  that.  He  was  a  live  boy,  and  his  en- 
ergy said,  "If  I  can't  find  a  situation,  I  will  make  one." 

And  he  did.  He  found  a  board  about  the  right  size,  which 
he  converted  into  an  oyster  stand  on  the  corner  of  a  street. 
He  borrowed  a  wheelbarrow  and  went  three  miles  to  an  oys- 
ter smack,  where  he  purchased  three  bushels  of  the  bivalves, 
and  wheeled  them  to  his  place  of  business. 

He  was  a  Boston  merchant  now.  He  had  made  a  situation 
that  he  could  not  find. 

He  sold  all  his  oysters  on  the  first  day,  and  was  well  satis- 
fied with  his  profits. 

He  continued  this  method  of  doing  business  until  he  had 
laid  by  one  hundred  and  thirty  dollars,  with  which  he  pur- 
chased a  horse  and  cart.  He  removed  his  place  of  business, 
also,  from  out  of  doors,  into  a  convenient  room. 

On  the  first  day  in  his  new  place  of  traffic,  he  made  seven- 
teen dollars;  and  from  that  time  he  continued  to  enlarge  his 
business  rapidly,  taking  on  other  departments,  adding  daily 
to  his  property,  until  he  became  a  Boston  millionaire,  blessing 
others  with  his  money,  and  leaving  hundreds  of  thousands  at 
his  death  to  found  the  Boston  University,  where  young  men 
and  women  are  educated  for  usefulness. 

Such  was  the  career  of  the  late  Isaac  Rich,  an  example  of 
energy  and  perseverance  worthy  of  the  highest  praise. 

When  Sir  Rowell  Buxton  was  a  boy,  neighbors  thought 
that  his  great  energy,  in  connection  with  much  waywardness, 
would  be  his  ruin.  But  his  good  mother  said,  "  Never  mind  ; 
he  is  self-willed  now,  but  you  will  see  that  it  will  turn  out 
well  in  the  end." 

Subsequently  he  became  very  intimate  with  the  Gurney 
family,  who  were  highly  respected  for  their  social  qualities, 
mental  culture,  and  philanthropy.  He  married  one  of  the 
daughters,  and  entered  upon  his  business  career  with  a  will. 
His  mother's  prophecy,  that  his  will  power  and  mighty  energy 
would  be  a  blessing  in  the  end,  proved  true.  Some  said  that 
he  would  do  more  work  in  a  given  time  than  any  two  men  in 
England.  He  became  wealthy,  was  a  member  of  Parliament 


50  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

at  thirty-two,  and  a  leading  spirit  of  Great  Britain  there- 
after. 

One  of  the  Gurney  family,  Priscilla  Gurney,  entreated  him 
on  her  deathbed,  in  1821,  "to  make  the  cause  of  the  slave  the 
great  object  of  his  life."  He  was  already  engaged  in  the 
cause  of  British  emancipation,  but  her  dying  words  fired  his 
heart  anew,  and  he  resolved  to  give  himself  no  rest  until  the 
shackles  were  broken  from  the  last  slave  in  the  British  realm. 
With  unsurpassed  energy  he  gave  himself  to  the  work  year 
after  year,  and,  on  the  day  of  his  daughter's  marriage,  August 
1,  1834,  he  wrote  to  a  friend  :  "  The  bride  is  just  gone ;  every- 
thing has  passed  off  to  admiration  :  and  there  is  not  a  slave 
in  the  British  colonies." 

Such  men  "never  strike  sails  to  a  fear"  ;  they  "come  into 
port  grandly,  or  sail  with  God  the  seas "  ;  they  never  join 
"communities,"  so-called,  where  everything  is  held  in  com- 
mon. Their  self-reliance,  independence,  and  force  of  char- 
acter lifts  them  high  above  such  dependent  relations. 

"  We  love  our  upright,  energetic  men.  Pull  them  this  way 
and  that  way  and  the  other,  and  they  only  bend,  but  never 
break.  Trip  them  down,  and  in  a  trice  they  are  on  their  feet." 

Ferdinand  DeLesseps,  who  is  called  the  Napoleon  of  engi- 
neering, inherited  his  tireless  energy  and  indomitable  per- 
severance from  his  father,  Count  Mathieu  DeLesseps,  who  was 
the  architect  of  the  Edinburgh  cathedral.  That  the  son 
should  possess  the  talent  for  undertaking  great  enterprises, 
and  the  force  of  character  to  push  them  forward  in  spite  of 
difficulties,  was  as  natural  as  it  was  to  be  like  his  father.  He 
built  the  Suez  canal,  valued  at  fifty  million  dollars  ;  and  to  his 
honor  a  statue  was  erected  at  Port  Sa'id. 


CHAPTER  II. 

WILLIAM   PIERCE   FRYB. 

ON     SUCCESS HIS     LIFE     AND     CAREER A'T     COLLEGE ENTERS     THE 

PROFESSION     OF     THE     LAW BEGINNINGS     OF    HIS    PUBLIC    LIFE MEMBER 

OF     THE     PARIS     COMMISSION PRESIDENT    OF     THE     SENATE HIS     PUBLIC 

SERVICE LOVE    OF    OUTDOOR    LIFE A    FISH  .STORY SOME     CHARACTER- 
ISTICS.      THE    GOSPEL    OF    HEALTH. 


E.  P.  Whipple,  the  famous  essayist,  asks  and  answers  this 
question:  "What  common  quality  distinguishes  men  of 

genius  from  other  men,  in  practical  life,  in 
science,  in  letters,  in  every  department  of 
human  thought  and  action  ?  This  common 
quality  is  vital  energy  of  mind,  inherent, 
original  force  of  thought,  and  vitality  of 
conception.  Men  in  whom  this  energy  glows 
seem  to  spurn  the  limitations  of  matter,  to 
leap  the  gulf  which  separates  positive  knowl- 
edge from  discovery,  the  actual  from  the 
possible.  They  give  palpable  evidence  of  in- 
finite capacity,  of  indefinite  power  of  growth. 
This  life,  this  energy,  this  uprising,  aspiring  flame  of  thought, 
has  been  variously  called  power  of  combination,  invention, 
creation,  insight ;  but  in  the  last  analysis  it  is  resolved  into 
vital  energy  of  soul  to  think  and  to  do." 

If  I  were  to  amend  this  and  state  it  in  fewer  words,  I 
should  say  that  the  essentials  of  success  are  integrity  of  pur- 
pose and  persistence  in  endeavor. 


'ILLIAM  PIERCE  FRYE  was  born  at  Lewiston,  Maine, 
September  2,  1831.  His  father,  Col.  John  M.  Frye, 
was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  that  town,  largely 
interested  in  developing  its  manufacturing  industries,  and 
one  of  its  most  respected  citizens.  The  grandfather  of  the 


52  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

Senator,  Gen.  Joseph  Frye,  was  a  colonel  in  the  English 
army  and  a  general  in  the  American,  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  receiving  in  recognition  of  his  military  service  a  grant 
of  the  town  of  Fryeburg,  Maine. 

"William  P.  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  1850.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  he  was  not  a  model  student.  He  was  too 
full  of  animal  life  and  vigor  to  be  content  to  live  laborious 
days  and  burn  the  midnight  oil  over  musty  books.  Not  that  he 
was  entirely  negligent  in  this  respect  ;  but  his  ability  to  grasp 
the  salient  points  of  a  page  at  a  single  reading  allowed  him 
to  retain  a  fair  standing  in  his  class  and  yet  to  participate 
largely  in  the  sport  and  frolic  of  college  life,  which  were,  at 
that  early  period,  more  to  his  taste.  Traditions  of  his  infrac- 
tions of  college  discipline,  of  his  valiant  leadership  of  the 
college  forces  in  battle  royal  against  the  untutored  hordes  of 
the  town,  and  of  personal  encounters  in  which  he  distin- 
guished himself,  still  linger  about  the  halls  of  that  venerable 
institution,  and  are  quoted  to  his  discomfiture  by  his  numerous 
grandsons,  who,  in  succession,  have  been  there  in  recent  years, 
devoting  as  much  attention  to  athletic  as  to  intellectual  de- 
velopment. 

After  his  graduation  Mr.  Frye  took  up  his  life  work  in 
earnest,  finding  the  study  of  the  law  congenial  and  absorbing. 
He  was  fortunate  in  passing  this  period  of  his  development 
in  the  office  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  a  master  mind,  who 
stimulated  the  young  man's  interest  and  aroused  his  ambition. 

He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  1853.  His  fine  physique, 
magnificent  voice,  logical  mind,  and  acuteness  of  perception 
peculiarly  fitted  him  for  the  duties  of  an  advocate,  and  his 
services  in  this  capacity  were  soon  much  in  demand. 

The  capacious  supreme  court  room  in  Androscoggin  county 
was  the  arena  of  many  a  famous  legal  battle,  and,  as  is  usual 
in  New  England  shire  towns,  these  often  called  out  great 
numbers  of  eager  listeners.  This  was  especially  true  when 
Mr.  Frye  was  of  counsel.  He  was  noted,  not  only  for  his 
eloquence,  but  for  the  rapidity  witli  which  he  was  able  to 
absorb  the  facts  of  a  case,  and  the  promptness  with  which  he 
met  any  new  phase  of  its  development.  In  the  cross-exam- 
ination of  witness  he  particularly  excelled,  by  virtue  of  that 
intuition  which  alone  guides  the  practitioner  safely  through 
these  troubled  waters. 


WILLIAM  PIERCE  FRYE.  53 

He  continued  in  active  practice  until  1871,  when  he  was 
elected  to  a  seat  in  the  national  House  of  Representatives. 
During  this  period  he  enjoyed  a  constantly  growing  business, 
involving  affairs  of  considerable  importance,  especially  in 
connection  with  the  cotton  manufacturing  corporations,  which 
formed  the  principal  industry  of  the  city  in  which  he  has 
always  resided.  In  1867  he  was  elected  attorney-general  of 
his  state  and  served  in  that  capacity  for  three  years. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  in  1861,  1862, 
and  1867.  In  the  latter  year  he  held  the  three  offices  of  rep- 
resentative, mayor,  and  attorney-general. 

Mr.  Frye  was  elected  a  member  of  the  National  Repub- 
lican Executive  Committee  in  1872  ;  was  re-elected  in  1876, 
and  again  in  1880  ;  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Republican 
Conventions  in  1872,  1876,  and  1880.  In  1881  he  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Committee,  succeeding 
Hon.  James  G.  Elaine. 

He  was  elected  a  trustee  of  Bowdoin  College  in  1880,  and 
received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  that  -institution  in  1889, 
having  previously  received  the  same  honor  from  Bates  Col- 
lege. 

He  was  elected  a  representative  in  the  Forty-second  Con- 
gress, which  assembled  in  December,  1871.  He  continued  to 
occupy  a  seat  in  that  body  until  his  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resigna- 
tion of  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine,  who  had  been  appointed  Sec- 
retary of  State.  Mr.  Frye's  committee  service  in  the  House 
was  such  as  to  necessitate  a  familiarity  with,  and  a  participa- 
tion in,  many  important  subjects  of  legislation.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  Library  Committee  ;  served  for  several  years 
on  the  Judiciary,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means.  During  two  or  three  congresses  he  was 
chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  debates,  especially  on  political  questions,  having  a 
keen  relish  for  those  exciting  impromptu  discussions  which 
frequently  occurred  in  that  body  during  those  days  of  more 
intense  party  feeling.  It  was  generally  conceded  that  he 
would  have  been  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  in  the  Forty- 
seventh  Congress,  without  opposition  on  the  Republican  side, 
had  he  not  resigned  before  its  meeting  on  account  of  his  elec- 
tion to  the  Senate. 


54  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

He  took  his  seat  in  that  body  March  18,  1881  ;  was  re- 
elected  in  1883,  in  1888,  and  in  1895,  receiving,  with  a  single 
exception,  every  vote  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature  in 
the  latter  election.  In  January,  1901,  he  was  elected  for  the 
fifth  time  to  the  Senate.  His  term  will  expire  March  3,  1907. 

Senator  Frye  was  appointed  by  President  McKinley  a 
member  of  the  commission  which  met  in  Paris  in  September, 
1898,  and  adjusted  terms  of  peace  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain. 

He  was  elected  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1896,  and  has  been  since  continued  in  that  office.  It 
was  by  virtue  of  this  incumbency  that,  upon  the  death  of 
Vice-President  Hobart,  the  functions  of  his  office  devolved 
upon  Senator  Frye,  who  has  therefore  presided  over  the  delib- 
erations of  the  Senate  during  the  entire  Fifty-sixth  Congress. 
His  service  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Rules  of  the 
Senate  during  three  congresses,  and  his  work  in  the  codifica- 
tion and  revision  of  the  rules  of  that  body  in  the  Forty- 
eighth  Congress,  had  especially  equipped  him  for  presiding 
over  the  Senate,  and  his  administration  of  the  office  has  been 
entirely  acceptable  to  that  body. 

In  assuming  the  chair  he  lost  none  of  the  privileges  and 
escaped  none  of  the  burdens  of  the  senatorial  office.  Indeed, 
his  responsibilities  in  that  respect  were  augmented  by  the 
untimely  death  of  Senator  Davis,  which  entailed  upon  Sen- 
tor  Frye  the  duties  of  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations.  This  important  chairmanship  had  been  placed  at 
his  command  in  March,  1897,  by  the  resignation  of  Senator 
Sherman  to  enter  the  Cabinet,  but  was  declined  by  Senator 
Frye,  who  preferred  to  continue  at  the  head  of  the  Committee 
on  Commerce,  the  largest  and  one  of  the  most  important  in 
the  Senate. 

To  this  position,  which  he  has  held  for  many  years,  he  has 
given,  perhaps,  the  best  work  of  his  life,  and  in  it  he  has  been 
enabled  to  accomplish  much  of  benefit  to  the  commercial  and 
navigation  interests  of  the  country.  He  has  given  especial 
attention  to  matters  relating  to  shipping  during  his  entire 
congressional  life,  and  is  the  acknowledged  leader  in  such 
affairs.  Indeed,  scarcely  a  law  relating  to  shipping  has  been 
enacted  during  the  past  twenty  years  which  does  not  bear  the 
marks  of  his  handiwork. 


WILLIAM  PIERCE  FRYE.  55 

But  he  has  not  confined  his  attention  to  these  interests. 
Looking-  over  the  debates  of  Congress  for  the  last  thirty 
years,  one  cannot  fail  to  note  that  Senator  Frye  has  done  his 
part  in  molding  general  legislation.  His  persistent  effort 
through  five  congresses  in  respect  to  the  Geneva  awards, 
securing  at  last  the  rights  of  the  actual  losers,  is  one  of  his 
important  achievements.  His  efforts  toward  securing  the 
abrogation  of  the  fishery  articles  in  the  treaty  with  Great 
Britain  ;  his  successful  work  in  respect  to  Samoan  affairs, 
securing  an  honorable  settlement  of  threatening  complica- 
tions ;  his  bill  providing  for  a  Congress  of  American  Nations, 
and  another  for  a  Maritime  Congress  ;  his  Postal  Subsidy  bill ; 
his  Tonnage  bill ;  his  important  amendments  to  the  Dingley 
Shipping  bill ;  his  championship  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  bill  ; 
his  speeches  in  defense  of  the  protective  tariff  measures,  indi- 
cate something  of  the  scope  of  his  efforts. 

As  a  speaker  he  commands  attention  and  carries  convic- 
tion through  his  earnestness  and  evident  sincerity.  Another 
has  said  of  him:  "Senator  Frye's  style  is  generally  collo- 
quial, not  grandiloquent,  but  yet  it  has  that  all-potent  ele- 
ment, that  mysterious  and  intangible  something  or  other, 
which  is  not  a  physical  gift,  nor  the  result  of  intellectual 
culture,  but  which  charms  the  ears  of  his  auditors  and  takes 
the  public  mind  by  storm.  His  arguments  are  substantial, 
his  reasons  cogent,  his  theories  plausible,  his  illustrations  apt, 
his  resources  not  those  of  the  dramatist,  or  the  formal  rheto- 
rician, but  drawn  from  deep  wells  of  actual  personal  expe- 
rience and  practical  observation  in  the  everyday  affairs  of 
real  life,  as  well  as  from  the  exhaustless  reservoirs  of  classic 
and  general  reading.  When  he  rises  to  speak  he  may  not 
know  in  just  what  exact  form  of  language  he  is  about  to 
express  himself,  but  he  is  sure  of  certain  ideas,  great  under- 
lying principles  of  government,  of  political  economy,  of  Re- 
publicanism,—  fundamental  truths  thoroughly  thought  out, 
safe  springs  of  action  on  which  he  may  depend  for  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  moment." 

Outside  the  halls  of  .Congress  his  voice  is  often  heard.  At 
many  notable  public  meetings  and  banquets  he  has  delivered 
speeches  on  national  topics,  which  have  been  widely  circu- 
lated by  the  press.  His  memorial  address  on  Blaine  in  Boston 
Music  Hall  was  one  of  the  most  elaborate  of  these.  Among 


56  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

his  more  recent  orations  perhaps,  that  at  the  banquet  given  in 
his  honor  by  the  commercial  and  mercantile  bodies  of  New 
York  city  in  April,  1899,  was  the  most  notable,  dealing  with 
questions  of  commercial  and  national  expansion. 

As  a  campaign  orator  he  is  considered  one  of  the  most 
effective,  and  his  services  are  much  in  demand.  During  the 
past  forty  years  he  has  participated  in  every  political  cam- 
paign and  spoken  in  nearly  every  Northern  state. 

His  fondness  for  sport  and  correct  habits  of  life  account 
in  large  measure  for  his  robust  health.  He  rarely  fails  to 
spend  at  least  two  months  of  each  year  at  his  camp  by  the 
Rangeley  Lakes,  where  he  takes  the  keenest  delight  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  rod  and  gun  and  the  beauties  of  nature  in 
that  unspoiled  region.  If  there  is  one  achievement  of  his  life 
of  which  he  is  inclined  to  boast,  it  is  of  having  caught  the 
largest  square-tailed  trout  ever  taken  with  a  fly.  And  thereby 
hangs  a  tale. 

Some  years  ago,  at  a  dinner,  the  conversation  drifted  to 
fish  stories,  and  Senator  Frye  naturally  embraced  the  oppor- 
tunity to  inform  the  company  of  his  good  fortune  in  landing 
a  seven  pound  trout.  Prof.  Agassiz,  who  "was  present,  asserted 
that  the  Senator  must  be  in  error,  that  the  fish  could  not  have 
been  a  true  trout.  Senator  Frye  insisted  that  he  knew  a  trout 
when  he  saw  it.  The  Professor  explained  that  he  referred  to 
the  Salmo  fontinalis.  The  Senator  replied  that  that  was  the 
identical  fish  to  which  he  referred.  Agassiz  closed  the  con- 
versation by  asserting  that  it  was  a  scientific  fact  that  the 
Salmo  fontinalis  never  attained  the  size  mentioned.  The 
following  season  the  Senator  was  fortunate  enough  to  catch 
an  eight-pound  Salmo  fontinalis,  which  he  packed  in  ice  and 
sent  by  express  to  Prof.  Agassiz,  who  acknowledged  his 
defeat  in  the  following  laconic  expression  :  "  The  theory  of  a 
lifetime  kicked  to  death  by  a  fact." 

Senator  Frye's  long  continuance  and  many  advancements 
in  office  have  not  been  due  to  any  of  the  arts  popularly  attrib- 
uted to  politicians,  in  which,  indeed,  he  is  singularly  deficient. 
He  has  been  content  to  give  his  best  efforts  to  the  fulfillment 
of  the  duties  of  the  various  offices  he  has  held,  neglecting  no 
opportunity  to  further  the  interests  of  individual  constit- 
uents, or  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  state  and  nation,  trust- 
ing to  the  appreciation  of  those  efforts  for  future  honors ;  and 


SENATOR  FRYE  AS  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  SENATE. 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  HEALTH.  59 

he  has  been  fortunate  in  a  constituency  which  has  never  been 
lacking  in  such  appreciation. 

His  influence  in  Congress  has  been  largely  augmented  by 
the  fact  that  he  has  devoted  a  large  share  of  his  attention  to 
a  single  line  of  legislation,  one  in  which  his  own  state  is 
especially  interested,  that  relating  to  shipping.  He  has  made 
it  his  business  to  master  details  relating  to  the  necessities  of 
this  great  industry  and  to  promote  all  legislation  in  its  in- 
terest. In  these  matters  the  Senate  has  learned  to  follow  his 
lead  with  confidence,  and  that  confidence  has  never  been 
violated. 

THE   GOSPEL   OF   HEALTH. 

BODY  for  a  soul  is  not  more  indispensable  than  a  sound 
body  for  a  sound  mind.  To  develop  the  latter  at  the 
expense  of  the  former  is  unfavorable  to  success. 
Mind  and  matter  are  so  dependent  upon  each  other  that  dis- 
ease of  one  interrupts  the  functions  of  the  other.  Not  that  a 
strong  mind  is  never  found  in  a  frail  body  ;  but  this  is  the 
exception. 

Johnson  was  in  feeble  health  most  of  his  life  ;  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  never  knew  the  happy  experience  of  having  a  sound 
body  for  his  great  mind  ;  Csesar  was  subject  to  epileptic  fits, 
and  usually  celebrated  the  planning  of  a  battle  by  going  into 
one  ;  Amos  Lawrence,  the  great  merchant  of  Boston,  was  a 
confirmed  dyspeptic  many  years,  and  only  lived  by  carefully 
weighing  his  food;  Pascal  was  always  " sickly,"  and  Pope 
was  an  invalid  when  he  did  his  best  work. 

After  citing  all  the  exceptional  examples  possible,  it  is  still 
true  that  brain  power  has  a  strong  ally  in  muscular  vigor. 
The  Broughams,  Peels,  Palmerstons,  Gladstones,  Washing- 
tons,  Franklins,  Websters,  Lincolns,  Garfields,  and  Grants 
were  as  renowned  for  muscle  as  brain.  Physical  power  was 
an  important  factor  in  their  successful  careers. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  large  amount  of  ignorance,  even 
among  educated  people,  concerning  the  laws  of  health  ;  and 
there  is  more  disobedience  than  there  is  ignorance.  Here 
most  men  and  women,  including  youth  of  both  sexes,  know 
better  than  they  do.  They  violate  physical  laws  knowingly 
and  deliberately  ;  they  indulge  in  excesses,  against  which 
they  know  that  Nature  remonstrates  ;  they  neglect  their 


60  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

bodies,  and  overwork  their  brains,  with  Nature's  signals  of 
distress  flying  before  their  eyes.  Every  day  they  disregard 
known  laws  of  health,  all  the  while  knowing  just  what  they 
do,  and  having  an  inkling,  at  least,  that  sure  penalties  will 
follow. 

The  late  Dr.  Edward  Jarvis  of  Boston  wrote  :  - 

"We  see  men  managing  their  farms  and  carrying  on  their 
mechanical  operations  in  wisdom,  while  they  manage  their 
own  bodies  in  folly  ;  they  make  such  mistakes  in  the  conduct 
and  use  of  their  bodies  as  they  would  be  ashamed  to  show  in 
regard  to  their  wagons,  water  wheels,  or  spinning  jenny.  If 
a  weaver,  when  he  has  woven  his  web,  should  put  into  his 
loom  a  parcel  of  sticks  and  wire,  and  then  set  the  loom  in 
motion,  just  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing  it  move  ;  or,  perhaps, 
in  the  hope  that  the  loom  would,  out  of  these  hard  materials, 
make  cloth  as  well  as  out  of  cotton  and  wool,  he  would  do  a 
very  foolish  act ;  but  not  more  foolish  than  when  he  has 
eaten  enough  for  nutrition  to  eat  indigestible  and  innutritions 
matters  just  for  the  pleasure  of  eating.  ISIo  engineer  would 
pour  upon  the  gudgeons  and  pistons  of  his  engine  acids  in- 
stead of  oil,  just  for  a  change,  because  this  would  be  in 
opposition  to  his  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  mechanics,  and 
spoil  his  machine.  Yet  he  will  pour  wine  and  brandy  and 
tobacco  juice  into  his  stomach,  and  tobacco  smoke  into  his 
lungs,  which  are  infinitely  more  delicate  organs  than  any- 
thing of  wood  or  iron." 

Both  ignorance  and  defiance  of  physical  laws  create  this 
state  of  things,  especially  among  the  young.  The  latter  class 
are  too  apt  to  undervalue  health,  and  even  to  treat  it  with  in- 
difference, as  if  it  had  little  or  no  claim  upon  their  intelli- 
gence. 

There  can  be  few  graver  errors  than  this.  What  though 
they  can  repeat  the  names  and  number  of  bones  of  the  hand 
or  foot,  and  not  know  how  to  use  or  take  care  of  them  ;  what 
though  they  can  enumerate  the  functions  of  the  stomach,  and 
not  know  or  care  what  they  put  into  it  ;  what  though  they 
can  repeat  all  the  text-books  say  about  the  lobes  of  the  lungs, 
and  still  persist  in  denying  them  fresh  air  and  full  play  ; 
what  though  they  can  rehearse  all  physiological  rules  in  re- 
spect to  exercise  and  sleep,  and  then  pursue  their  studies  so  as 
to  wholly  neglect  the  first  and  scrimp  the  last ;  —  their  knowl- 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  HEALTH.  61 

edge  is  of  no  practical  value  whatever.  Just  where  they 
ought  to  be  benefited  by  it,  they  receive  no  benefit  at  all. 
Time  and  breath,  spent  in  learning  and  reciting,  are  well- 
nigh  wasted. 

What  is  still  more  unaccountable  is  the  fact  that  young 
persons  of  both  sexes  —  and  the  same  is  largely  true  of  older 
persons  —  appear  to  think  that  there  is  no  moral  obligation 
resting  upon  them  to  be  healthy,  when  they  are  as  really 
bound  to  observe  physical  as  moral  laws.  We  are  in  duty 
bound  to  do  all  we  can  for  health,  as  we  are  to  do  all  we  can 
for  honesty.  There  is  no  more  excuse  for  neglecting  the  body 
than  the  soul.  Spiritual  laws  have  no  better  claim  upon  our 
regard  than  physical  laws. 

Mrs.  Edna  D.  Cheney,  writing  of  schoolgirls,  says  :  "  Health 
is  the  holiness  of  the  body,  and  every  girl  should  have  a  high 
standard  of  perfect  health  set  before  her,  and  be  made  to  feel 
that  she  has  no  more  right  to  trifle  with  and  disobey  hygienic 
laws  than  those  of  morality,  or  civil  society.  She  should  be  as 
much  ashamed  of  illness  brought  on  by  her  own  folly  as  of 
being  whipped  at  school  for  disobedience  to  her  teacher." 

Mrs.  Cheney's  rebuke  applies  to  all  classes,  no  less  than 
girls. 

We  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  acts  that  lure  to  disease,  as 
we  are  of  those  that  lure  to  vice.  If  the  cultivation  of  health 
were  regarded  as  a  religious  duty,  we  should  be  as  ashamed  of, 
and  as  sorry  for,  self-imposed  diseases,  as  we  are  of  falsehood 
and  overreaching  ;  and  that  would  show  we  understood  and 
appreciated  the  subject. 

Many  a  person  has  tossed  with  fever  of  which  he  ought  to 
be  heartily  ashamed,  because  it  was  induced  by  inexcusable 
exposure  and  defiance  of  the  laws  of  his  being.  He  has 
trampled  unblushingly  upon  a  divine  law,  as  really  as  the 
man  who  patronizes  a  saloon  or  a  house  of  ill-fame.  It  is  a 
matter  in  which  conscience  ought  to  remonstrate,  and  it  would 
but  for  the  fact  that  it  is  seared,  as  with  a  hot  iron,  on  the 
subject. 

Nothing  can  be  more  clearly  demonstrated  than  that  a 
sound  mind  must  dwell  in  a  sound  body  in  order  to  do  its 
best. 

Matthews  says  :  "  We  are  discovering  that  though  the 
pale,  sickly  student  may  win  the  most  prizes  in  college,  it  is 


62  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  tough,  sinewy  one  who  will  win  the  most  prizes  in  life  ; 
and  that  in  every  calling,  other  things  being  equal,  the  most 
successful  man  will  be  the  one  who  has  slept  the  soundest  and 
digested  the  most  dinners  with  the  least  difficulty." 

Horace  Mann  declared  that  '"the  spendthrift  of  health  was 
the  guiltiest  of  spendthrifts  '' ;  and  he  went  on  to  say  :  "  I  am 
certain  that  I  could  have  performed  twice  the  labor,  both 
better  and  with  greater  ease  to  myself,  had  I  known  as  much 
of  the  laws  of  health  and  life  at  twenty-one  as  I  do  now.  In 
college  I  was  taught  all  about  the  motions  of  the  planets  as 
carefully  as  though  they  would  have  been  in  danger  of  get- 
ting off  the  track  if  I  had  not  known  how  to  trace  their  orbits  ; 
but  about  my  own  organization,  and  the  conditions  indispen- 
sable to  the  healthful  functions  of  my  own  body,  I  was  left 
in  profound  ignorance.  Nothing  could  be  more  preposterous  ; 
I  ought  to  have  begun  at  home,  and  taken  the  stars  when  it 
should  become  their  turn. 

"The  laws  of  physical  health  are  fixed  and  uniform  ;  just 
as  inexorable  as  any  laws  by  which  planets  move,  or  plants 
grow. 

"  If -we  wish  to  be  useful,  happy,  and  capable  of  mental 
progress,  we  need  a  physical  system  well  cared  for,  working 
without  friction  or  disturbance." 

Lord  Palmerston,  for  fifty-seven  years  England's  popular 
premier,  may  well  be  cited  as  an  illustration  of  a  sound  mind 
in  a  sound  body. 

He  entered  Parliament  at  twenty-one  years  of  age,  with  a 
vow  in  his  heart  to  serve  his  country  well.  For  sixty  years 
he  was  identified  with  the  nation's  welfare,  and  performed  an 
amount  of  work  that  would  have  utterly  exhausted  ordinary 
men.  He  was  Secretary  of  War  when  Napoleon  was  over- 
thrown at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  and  assisted  in  the  vast 
operations  of  that  conflict.  When  he  died  he  was  the  most 
popular  man  in  the  British  realm. 

It  was  always  a  subject  of  inquiry  how  Lord  Palmerston 
maintained  a  sound  body  under  the  burden  of  such  enormous 
labors.  The  only  explanation  is  that  he  took  excellent  care 
of  his  body.  Exercise,  with  him,  was  a  religious  duty.  He 
rode  horseback,  walked,  hunted,  fished,  and  studied  in  every 
way  to  preserve  his  health.  It  was  a  common  thing  for  him 
to  ride  off  thirty  miles  on  the  back  of  a  fleet  horse.  In  a 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  HEALTH.  63 

word,  he  adopted  such  a  course  of  living  as  he  thought  would 
maintain  a  sound  body,  and  rejected  all  others. 

It  is  more  important  to  know  how  to  have  and  keep  a  sound 
boJy  than  how  to  get  riches  and  keep  them.  A  writer  says  : 
"  There  is  this  difference  between  the  two  temporal  blessings 
—  health  and  money  :  money  is  the  most  envied  but  the  least 
enjoyed  ;  health  is  the  most  enjoyed  but  the  least  envied  ;  and 
this  superiority  of  the  latter  is  still  more  obvious,  when  we 
reflect  that  the  poorest  man  would  not  part  with  health  for 
money,  but  that  the  richest  would  gladly  part  with  all  his 
money  for  health." 

A  nutritious  diet  is  indispensable  to  a  sound  body.  This  is 
substantially  correct,  whether  a  person  lives  indoors  or  out- 
doors. Scholars  need  it  no  less  than  mechanics,  because  it  is 
the  only  way  to  make  muscle.  Both  sexes  need  it,  because 
food  makes  feminine  as  it  does  masculine  muscle.  There  is 
a  singular  impression  abroad  that  girls  require  less  substan- 
tial food  than  boys  ;  many  parents  think  so.  So  we  have  the 
spectacle  of  boys  consuming  beef  and  bread,  baked  beans 
and  a  boiled  dish,  while  many  girls  nibble  bread  daintily,  and 
eat  "  goodies  "  as  if  heaven  had  prescribed  a  different  diet  for 
them.  A  grave  error  this.  Girls  require  as  nourishing  food 
as  boys.  Let  boys  eat  as  girls  do,  and  they  would  be  no  more 
robust.  Array  a  boy  in  girls'  apparel,  hang  six  or  seven 
pounds  of  skirts  upon  his  hips,  rig  his  head  with  folderols,  tell 
him  to  avoid  romping,  play  the  lady  in  school  and  out,  and 
adopt  a  diet  of  bread  and  cake,  and  six  months  will  be  long 
enough  to  convert  him  into  a  flabby,  puny,  pitiable  specimen 
of  humanity. 

On  the  other  hand,  put  coat  and  trousers  upon  a  girl,  with 
thick-soled  shoes,  and  a  real  boy's  hat ;  tell  her  to  run  and 
play,  and  work  in  the  field,  garden,  or  woods,  and  to  eat  gen- 
erously of  beef  and  bread,  fresh  fruit  and  vegetables,  and 
drink  milk  -by  the  pint  instead  of  tea  and  coffee,  and  in  six 
months  the  rose  will  blush  upon  her  fat  cheeks,  her  eye  will 
sparkle  with  fun  and  life,  her  muscles  wax  firm  and  strong, 
and  her  physical  power  will  be  sufficient  to  shame  the  strength- 
less  fellow,  who  has  been  waddling  about  in  girls'  clothes,  try- 
ing to  live  on  girls'  fare. 

A  few  years  since,  Miss  Nutting,  a  teacher  in  Mount  Hoi- 
yoke  College,  wrote  :  — 


64  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

•'  Our  physician  attributes  a  great  part  of  the  ill-health 
from  which  the  young  ladies  suffer,  to  errors  in  dress  —  tight 
lacing,  long  and  heavy  skirts  dragging  from  the  hips,  and  the 
great  weight  of  clothing  upon  the  lower  portion  of  the  back, 
and  insufficient  covering  for  the  lower  extremities." 

Another  fruitful  source  of  evil,  for  which  parents  are 
largely  responsible,  is  the  supplying  of  schoolgirls  with 
quantities  of  rich  pastry,  cakes,  and  sweetmeats,  which  are 
eaten  between  meals  and  often  just  before  going  to  bed.  In 
one  instance,  a  young  lady,  previously  in  perfect  health,  in 
the  course  of  two  years  made  herself  a  confirmed  dyspep- 
tic, simply  by  indulging,  night  after  night,  in  the  indiges- 
tible dainties  with  which  she  was  constantly  supplied  from 
home." 

Facts  prove  that  girls  must  have  as  sensible,  nutritious 
diet  as  boys. 

A  generous  amount  of  sleep  also  assists  in  making  a  sound 
body.  Nature  will  not  be  cheated  out  of  sleep  without  pro- 
test any  more  than  she  will  out  of  food.  Scrimp  the  hours  of 
sleep  and  the  consequences  may  be  even  worse  than  those 
that  follow  a  meager  diet,  since  insanity  is  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  starvation. 

The  celebrated  Dr.  Richardson,  of  London,  maintains  that 
adults  in  middle  life  require  an  average  of  eight  hours'  sleep 
daily,  summer  and  winter,  and  that  young  people  require 
more, —  nine  and  even  ten  hours.  Sleep  is  "  nerve  food,"- 
" Nature's  sweet  restorer,"-  -and  without  it  there  cannot  be  a 
sound  body  any  more  than  a  sound  mind.  Turning  night  to 
day  in  frolic,  study,  or  work,  therefore,  is  abusing  Nature, 
for  she  demands  sleep  from  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  to  six 
in  the  morning,  regularly  and  unalterably,  as  sure  as  the 
clock  can  mark  the  time,  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  a  sound 
body.  "Early  to  bed,"  in  the  old  saw,  is  well  enough  ;  but 
"early  to  rise,"  if  it  means  getting  up  a  long  time  before 
breakfast  for  study  or  work,  is  poor  counsel.  It  will  not  make 
a  man  "  healthy,  wealthy  and  wise." 

Air  and  exercise  are  indispensable.  We  can  live  longer 
without  food  and  sleep  than  we  can  without  air.  Indeed,  food 
and  sleep  fulfill  their  mission  well  only  by  the  aid  of  pure, 
fresh  air.  People,  old  and  young,  deny  themselves  pure  air 
and  exercise,  sleep  and  rest,  and  then  ache  and  battle  with 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  HEALTH.  65 

* 

disease  the  remainder  of  their  days  and  charge  the  result  to 
brain  work. 

It  is  of  no  consequence  what  the  pursuit  of  man  or  woman 
may  be,  health  and  strength  cannot  be  preserved  without 
constant  watch  and  care. 

We  often  wonder  that  such  men  as  Jay  Gould,  bearing  the 
burden  of  millions  in-  business,  are  not  crushed  under  its 
weight  before  they  have  lived  half  their  days  ;  but  one  reason 
is  found  in  the  good  care  they  take  of  themselves. 

A  friend  of  Mr.  Gould  says  :  — 

"  During  office  hours  he  is  one  of  the  hardest  working  men 
in  the  world  ;  outside  his  office  he  never  talks  and  probably 
seldom  thinks  of  business.  He  gives  himself  up  to  his  books, 
his  pictures,  his  flowers,  his  yacht,  and,  above  all,  to  the  com- 
panionship of  his  family.  He  is  of  abstemious  habits,  a  total 
abstainer  from  intoxicating  liquors  and  tobacco.  His  food  is 
always  plain.  He  usually  rises  before  six  in  the  morning,  and 
is  generally  asleep  soon  after  ten  at  night.  His  family  rela- 
tions have  always  been  a  model  of  purity  and  kindly  affec- 
tion." 

At  the  present  day  there  is  much  talk  about  overworked 
pupils  in  our  schools.  It  is  claimed  that  too  close  and  pro- 
tracted study  breaks  down  scholars — that  our  system  of  edu- 
cation is  hard  upon  the  nerves  and  health  of  students  of  both 
sexes.  We  very  much  question  the  ground  of  this  complaint. 
The  average  student,  male  or  female,  is  not  overworked. 
Other  things  are  the  cause  of  poor  health  among  this  class, 
such  as  improper  dress  and  diet,  late  hours,  bad  habits,  and 
general  neglect  of  the  laws  of  health.  In  other  words,  the 
real  cause  of  the  poor  health  of  most  students  is  found  at 
home,  and  not  in  the  schoolroom. 

Miss  Adelia  A.  F.  Johnson,  a  professor  in  Oberlin  College, 
wrote  as  follows  of  female  students:— 

"When  mothers  are  able  to  send  us  strong,  healthy  girls, with 
simple  habits  and  unperverted  tastes,  we  will  return  to  them 
and  the  world,  strong  healthy  women,  fitted  physically  and 
mentally  for  woman's  work.  We  believe  that  more  girls  are 
benefited  than  are  injured  by  the  regimen  of  a  well-regulated 
school,  and  our  belief  is  founded  upon  years  of  observation. 
The  number  is  not  small  of  girls  who  have  come  to  us,  pale, 
nervous,  and  laboring  under  many  of  the  ills  of  life,  to  whom 


66  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  regularity  that  must  be  observed  in  a  large  school,  but, 
most  of  all,  the  stimulus  of  systematic  brain  work  upon  the 
body,  has  proved  most  salutary." 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Beedy,  who  has  enjoyed  superior  opportuni- 
ties to  learn  of  English  customs  and  schools,  writes: — 

"  The  importance  of  health  is  a  dominant  idea  in  the  wnole 
nation.  Children  are  trained  into  habits  of  out-of-door  exer- 
cise till  they  get  an  appetite  for  it,  as  they  have  for  their  food; 
and  it  is  not  unusual  to  hear  an  Englishwoman  say,  '  I  would 
as  soon  go  without  my  lunch  as  without  a  walk  of  an  hour 
and  a  half  in  the  day.'  And  the  habits  of  the  upper  class  per- 
colate down  through  all  ranks  of  life.  The  schools  that  expect 
to  get  the  daughters  of  the  best  families  must  show  the  best 
results  in  health.  My  own  experience  would  lead  me  most 
unhesitatingly  to  say  that  regular  mental  occupation,  well 
arranged,  conduces  wholly  to  the  health  of  a  girl,  and  boy, 
too,  in  every  way,  and  that  girls  who  have  well-regulated 
mental  work  are  far  less  liable  to  fall  into  hysterical  fancies 
than  those  who  have  not  such  occupation.'' 

The  attempt  to  make  study  responsible  for  ill-health,  which 
is  the  legitimate  product  of  ignorance  or  defiance  of  physical 
laws,  can  be  readily  controverted  by  recurring  to  facts. 

We  have  spoken  of  Jay  Gould  as  a  conspicuous  figure  on 
Wall  Street  who  has  observed  the  laws  of  health.  That  a 
poor  boy  reared  on  a  farm,  with  no  schooling  except  the  prim- 
itive district  school,  and  a  few  months'  study  of  civil  engineer- 
ing should  become  the  "  Money  King  of  Wall  Street,"  and  the 
"Napoleon  of  American  Finance,"  before  he  was  forty-five 
years  old,  is  a  fact  that  challenges  examination.  How  was 
such  an  experience  made  possible?  No  one  helped  him  to  this 
position.  Certain  elements  of  character,  as  business  tact, 
observation,  industry,  sagacity,  temperance,  and  self-denial 
on  the  lines  of  ease,  appetite,  and  ambition,  explain  his  un- 
usual career.  What  a  university  has  been  to  the  education  of 
some  men,  that  has  Wall  Street  been  to  the  education  of 
Gould.  Business  has  been  his  college. 


CHAPTER  III. 

WILLIAM   JENNINGS   BRYAN. 

HIS    DEFINITION    OF    SUCCESS BOYHOOD SCHOOL    BAYS  COLLEGE 

CAREER  IN  PRIZE  CONTESTS  FIRST  POLITICAL  MEETING THE  YOUNG 

LAWYER  NEBRASKA  POLITICS ELECTED    TO  CONGRESS  AS  EDITOR  - 

NOMINATED    FOR    PRESIDENT -- HIS    DEFEAT -- CAMPAIGN    OF    1900  —  THE 
MAN.     HONESTY  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  SUCCESS. 

There  are  three  necessary  elements  in  any  honorable  suc- 
cess :  first,  honesty:   second,  industry;   and  third,  ability.     I 

might  say  that  the  honesty  and  industry  be- 
ing granted,  the  success  will  ordinarily  be 
measured  by  the  ability,  but  no  amount  of 
ability  can  make  up  for  the  lack  of  either 
honesty  or  industry. 

Second,  large  successes  are  attainable  by 
great  ability  or  by  special  opportunity.  I  do 
not  speak  of  those  successes  which  are  at- 
tained by  favors  secured  from  the  govern- 
ment, or  by  the  use  of  illegal  or  immoral 
means.  Sometimes  great  financial  successes 
are  secured  by  an  accidental  discovery  of  the  precious  metals, 
by  a  fortunate  investment  in  a  growing  locality,  or  by  an 
invention  or  the  purchase  of  a  patent, — but  the  element  of 
chance  enters  into  these  so  largely  that  no  rule  could  be  made 
for  such  instances. 


JENNINGS  BRYAN  was  born  in  Salem,  Illi- 
nois,  March  19,  1860.  He  was  sturdy,  round-limbed, 
and  fond  of  play.  There  is  a  tradition  that  his  appe- 
tite, which  has  since  been  a  constant  companion,  developed 
very  early.  The  pockets  of  his  first  trousers  were  always  filled 
with  bread,  which  he  kept  for  an  emergency.  One  of  the 


68  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

memories  belonging  to  this  period  was  his  ambition  to  be  a 
minister,  but  this  soon  gave  place  to  determination  to  become  a 
lawyer  "like  father."  This  purpose  was  a  lasting  one,  and 
his  education  was  directed  toward  that  end. 

His  father  purchased  a  farm  of  five  hundred  acres,  one 
mile  from  the  village,  and  when  William  was  six  years  old  the 
family  removed  to  their  new  home.  Here  he  studied,  worked 
and  played,  until  ten  years  of  age,  his  mother  being  his 
teacher.  He  learned  to  read  quite  early  ;  after  committing  his 
lessons  to  memory,  he  stood  upon  a  little  table  and  spoke  them 
to  his  mother.  This  was  his  first  recorded  effort  at  speech- 
making.  His  work  was  feeding  the  deer,  which  his  father 
kept  in  a  small  park,  helping  care  for  the  pigs  and  chickens, 
in  short,  the  variety  of  work  known  as  "  doing  chores."  His 
favorite  sport  was  rabbit  hunting  with  dogs.  It  is  not  certain 
that  these  expeditions  were  harmful  to  the  game,  but  they  have 
furnished  his  only  fund  of  adventure. 

At  the  age  of  ten  William  entered  the  public  school  at 
Salem,  and,  during  his  five  years'  attendance,  was  not  an  es- 
pecially brilliant  pupil,  though  he  never  failed  in  an  examina- 
tion. In  connection  with  his  school,  he  developed  an  interest 
in  the  work  of  literary  and  debating  societies. 

His  father's  Congressional  campaign  in  1872  was  his  first 
political  awakening,  and  from  that  time  on  he  always  cher- 
ished the  thought  of  entering  public  life.  His  idea  was  to  first 
win  a  reputation  and  secure  a  competency  at  the  bar,  but  he 
seized  the  unexpected  opportunity  which  came  to  him  in  1890. 

At  fourteen  he  become  a  member  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church.  Later,  he  joined  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and,  upon  his  removal  to 
Nebraska,  brought  his  letter  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Lincoln,  to  which  he  still  belongs. 

At  fifteen  he  entered  Whipple  Academy,  the  preparatory  de- 
partment of  Illinois  College,  at  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  and  with 
this  step  a  changed  life  began.  Vacations  found  him  at  home, 
but  for  eight  years  he  led  the  life  of  a  student,  and  then  took  up 
the  work  of  his  profession.  Six  years  of  his  school  life  were 
spent  in  Jacksonville,  in  the  home  of  Dr.  Hiram  K.  Jones,  a 
telative.  The  atmosphere  of  this  home  had  its  influence  upon 
the  growing  lad.  Dr.  Jones  is  a  man  of  strong  character,  of 
scholarly  tastes,  and  of  high  ideals,  and  during  the  existence 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN.  69 

of  the  Concord  school  was  a  lecturer  upon  Platonic  Philoso"1 
phy.  His  wife,  too,  was  a  woman  of  rare  attainments,  and, 
having  no  children,  they  gave  the  youth  a  home  in  the  fullest 
sense  of  the  word. 

His  parents  wished  him  to  take  a  classical  course  and,  while 
sometimes  grumbling  over  his  Latin  and  Greek,  he  has  since 
recognized  the  wisdom  of  their  choice.  Of  these  two  lan- 
guages, Latin  was  his  favorite.  He  had  a  strong  preference 
for  mathematics,  and  especially  for  geometry,  and  has  be- 
lieved that  the  mental  discipline  acquired  in  this  study  has 
since  been  useful  in  argument.  He  was,  too,  an  earnest  stu- 
dent in  political  economy.  This  entrance  to  college  life  brings 
to  mind  an  incident  which  shows  both  the  young  man's  rapid 
growth  and  his  father's  practical  views.  During  the  first  year 
of  his  absence,  he  discovered,  as  holidays  drew  near,  that  his 
trousers  were  becoming  too  short,  and  wrote  home  for  money 
to  buy  a  new  pair.  His  father  responded  that  as  it  was  so 
near  vacation  he  need  not  make  any  purchase  until  he  reached 
home,  and  added:  "  My  son,  you  may  as  well  learn  now,  that 
people  will  measure  you  by  the  length  of  your  head,  rather 
than  by  the  length  of  your  breeches." 

As  to  college  athletics,  he  played  very  little  at  baseball  or 
at  football,  but  was  fond  of  foot-racing  and  of  jumping.  Three 
years  after  graduation,  on  Osage  Orange  Day,  he  won  a  medal 
for  the  broad  or  standing  jump,  in  a  contest  open  to  students 
and  to  alumni.  The  medal  records  twelve  feet  and  four  inches 
as  the  distance  covered. 

A  prize  contest  always  fired  William's  ambition.  It  may 
interest  the  boys  who  read  these  pages  to  know  of  his  record 
on  this  point,  and  to  note  his  gradual  rise.  During  his  first 
year  at  the  academy  he  declaimed  Patrick  Henry's  master- 
piece and  not  only  failed  to  win  a  prize,  but  ranked  well  down 
in  the  list.  Nothing  daunted,  the  second  year  found  him 
again  entered  with  "The  Palmetto  and  the  Pine"  as  his  sub- 
ject. This  time  he  ranked  third.  The  next  year,  when  a 
freshman,  he  tried  for  a  prize  in  Latin  prose,  and  won  half 
of  the  second  prize.  Later  in  the  year  he  declaimed  "  Ber- 
nardo del  Carpio,"  and  gained  the  second  prize.  In  his  sopho- 
more year  he  entered  another  contest,  with  an  essay  on  the 
not  altogether  novel  subject,  "  Labor."  This  time  the  first  prize 
rewarded  his  work.  An  oration  upon  "Individual  Powers" 


70  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

gave  him  the  first  prize  in  the  junior  year.  A  part  of  this 
prize  was  a  volume  of  Bryant's  poems,  containing  his  favorite 
poem,  an  ode  to  a  waterfowl,  which  concludes  : — 

"  He  who,  from  zone  to  zone, 

Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone, 
Will  lead  my  steps  aright." 

The  winning  of  the  Junior  prize  entitled  him  to  represent 
Illinois  College  in  the  intercollegiate  oratorical  contest  which 
was  held  at  Galesburg,  Illinois,  in  the  fall  of  1880.  His  oration 
was  upon  "Justice,"  and  was  awarded  the  second  prize  of  fifty 
dollars.  Gen.  John  C.  Black,  of  Illinois,  was  one  of  the  judges 
in  this  contest  and  marked  Mr.  Bryan  one  hundred  on  delivery. 
Upon  invitation  of  Mr.  Black,  the  young  man  called  at  the 
hotel  and  received  many  valuable  suggestions  upon  the  art  of 
speaking.  At  the  time  of  graduation  he  was  elected  class 
orator  by  his  class,  and,  having  the  highest  rank  in  scholar- 
ship during  the  four  years'  course,  delivered  the  valedictory. 
Upon  entering  the  academy,  he  joined  the  Sigma  Pi  society, 
and  was  an  active  member  for  six  years,  profiting  much  by 
the  training  in  essay,  declamation  and  debate. 

During  the  summer  of  1880,  Mr.  Bryan  attended  his  first 
political  meeting.  The  details  of  this  gathering  are  here  re- 
corded for  the  encouragement  of  young  speakers.  He  was  to 
make  a  democratic  speech  at  a  farmers'  picnic  near  Salem, 
and  the  bills  announced  two  other  speakers,  Mr.  Bryan  stand- 
ing third  upon  the  list.  Upon  reaching  the  grove,  he  found 
the  two  speakers  and  an  audience  of  four,  namely,  the  owner 
of  the  grove,  one  man  in  control  of  a  wheel  of  fortune,  and 
two  men  in  charge  of  a  lemonade  stand.  After  waiting  an 
hour  for  an  audience  which  failed  to  come,  the  meeting  ad- 
journed sine  die,  and  Mr.  Bryan  went  home.  Later  in  the 
fall,  however,  he  made  four  speeches  for  Hancock  and  English, 
the  first  being  delivered  in  the  court  house  at  Salem. 

When  fall  came,  he  entered  the  Union  College  of  Law  at 
Chicago.  Out  of  school  hours  his  time  was  spent  in  the  office 
of  ex-Senator  Lyman  Trumbull,  who  had  been  a  political  friend 
of  Mr.  Bryan's  father.  This  acquaintance,  together  with  the 
fact  that  a  warm  friendship  existed  between  Mr.  Bryan  and 
his  law  school  classmate,  Henry  Trumbull,  the  judge's  son,  led 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN.  71 

to  the  establishment  of  a  second  foster  home — a  home  in  which 
he  and  his  family  have  ever  found  a  cordial  welcome.  In  this 
home,  but  lately  bereft  of  its  head,  he  spent  his  first  Sabbath 
after  the  Democratic  National  Convention. 

Mr.  Bryan  stood  well  in  law  school,  taking  an  especial  in- 
terest in  constitutional  law.  Here  again,  he  was  connected 
with  the  debating  society  of  the  college,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  its  meetings.  At  graduation,  his  thesis  was  a  defense 
of  the  jury  system.  His  first  fee  was  earned  in  the  County 
Court  at  Salem. 

To  these  years  of  study  belong  many  things  which  are  of 
domestic  interest,  but  which  are  too  trivial  for  the  public  eye. 
One  may  be  ventured  upon  however.  Many  people  have  re- 
marked upon  the  fondness  which  Mr.  Bryan  shows  for  quoting 
Scripture.  This  habit  is  one  of  long  standing,  as  the  following 
circumstance  shows.  The  time  came  when  it  seemed  proper 
to  have  a  little  conversation  with  Mr.  Baird,  his  wife's 
father,  and  this  was  something  of  an  ordeal.  In  his  di- 
lemma, William  sought  refuge  in  the  Scriptures,  and  began : 
"  Mr.  Baird,  I  have  been  reading  proverbs  a  good  deal  lately, 
and  find  that  Solomon  says:  'Whoso  findeth  a  wife,  findeth  a 
good  thing,  and  obtaineth  favor  of  the  Lord!' '  Mr.  Baird  being 
something  of  a  Bible  scholar  himself,  replied,  "  Yes,  I  believe 
Solomon  did  say  that,  but  Paul  suggests  that,  while  he  that 
marrieth  doeth  well,  he  that  marrieth  not  doeth  better."  This 
was  disheartening,  but  the  young  man  saw  his  way  through. 
"  Solomon  would  be  the  best  authority  upon  the  point,''  he 
rejoined,  ''because  Paul  was  never  married,  while  Solomon 
had  a  number  of  wives."  After  this  friendly  tilt  the  matter 
was  satisfactorily  arranged. 

On  July  4,  1883,  Mr.  Bryan  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Jacksonville,  Illinois.  Desk  room  was  obtained  in 
the  office  of  Brown  &  Kirby,  one  of  the  leading  firms  in  the 
city,  and  the  struggle  encountered  by  all  young  professional 
men  began.  The  first  six  months  were  rather  trying  to  his 
patience,  and  he  was  compelled  to  supplement  his  earnings  by 
a  small  draft  upon  his  father's  estate.  Toward  the  close  of 
the  year,  he  entered  into  correspondence  with  his  former  law 
school  classmate,  Henry  Trumbull,  then  located  at  Albuquer- 
que, New  Mexico,  and  discussed  with  him  the  advisability  of 
removing  to  that  territory.  After  the  1st  of  January,  how- 


72  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ever,  clients  became  more  numerous,  and  he  felt  encouraged 
to  make  Jacksonville  his  permanent  home.  The  following 
spring  he  took  charge  of  the  collection  department  of  Brown 
&  Kirby's  office,  and  in  a  little  more  than  a  year  his  income 
seemed  large  enough  to  support  two.  During  the  summer  of 
1884  a  modest  home  was  planned  and  built,  and  on  October  1, 
1884,  he  married. 

Three  years  after  graduation,  Mr.  Bryan  attended  the  com- 
mencement at  Illinois  College,  delivered  the  Master's  oration, 
and  received  the  degree.  His  subject  on  that  occasion  was 
"  American  Citizenship." 

In  the  summer  of  1887,  legal  business  called  him  to  Kansas 
and  Iowa,  and  a  Sabbath  was  spent  in  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  with 
a  law  school  classmate,  Mr.  A.  R.  Talbot.  Mr.  Bryan  was 
greatly  impressed  with  the  beauty  and  business  enterprise  of 
Lincoln,  and  with  the  advantages  which  a  growing  capital 
furnishes  for  a  young  lawyer.  He  returned  to  Illinois  full  of 
enthusiasm  for  the  West,  and  perfected  plans  for  his  removal 
thither.  No  political  ambitions  entered  into  this  change  of 
residence,  as  the  city,  county  and  state  were  strongly  Repub- 
lican. He  arrived  in  Lincoln,  October  1,  1887,  and  a  partner- 
ship was  formed  with  Mr.  Talbot.  As  Mr.  Bryan  did  not  share 
in  the  salary  which  Mr.  Talbot  received  as  a  railway  attorney, 
he  had  to  begin  again  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder.  At  the 
time  of  his  election  to  Congress  his  practice  was  in  a  thriv- 
ing condition,  and  fully  equal  to  that  of  any  man  of  his  age 
in  the  city. 

During  the  spring  following  a  second  house  was  built, 
and  the  family  reunited  in  their  western  home.  The  Bryan 
home  is  a  comfortable  dwelling,  but  not  in  any  way  a  pre- 
tentious one.  The  large  library  in  which  Mr.  Bryan  spends 
most  of  his  time  has,  as  its  most  notable  feature,  three  large 
portraits  of  Washington,  Jefferson  and  Lincoln — Jefferson, 
significantly  enough,  occupying  the  central  place.  The  books 
that  fill  the  shelves  are,  in  the  main,  devoted  to  political  econ- 
omy and  American  history,  though  some  of  the  standard  nov- 
elists are  also  represented.  It  is,  however,  the  library  of  a 
serious  man,  with  whom  the  political  life  of  his  own  country 
is  the  absorbing  passion. 

Mr.  Bryan  became  actively  connected  with  the  Democratic 
organization  in  Nebraska  immediately  after  coming  to  the 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN.  73 

state,  his  first  political  speech  being  made  at  Seward  in 
the  spring  of  1888.  Soon  afterward  he  went  as  a  delegate  to 
the  state  convention  ;  this  gave  him  an  acquaintance  with  the 
leading  Democrats  of  the  state  and  resulted  in  a  series  of 
speeches.  He  made  a  canvass  of  the  First  Congressional  dis- 
trict that  fall  in  behalf  of  Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton,  and  also 
visited  some  thirty  counties  throughout  the  state.  Mr.  Mor- 
ton was  defeated  by  thirty-four  hundred,  the  district  being 
normally  Republican. 

When  the  campaign  of  1890  opened,  there  seemed  small 
hope  of  carrying  the  district  and  there  was  but  little  rivalry 
for  the  nomination.  Mr.  Bryan  was  selected. without  opposi- 
tion, and  at  once  began  a  vigorous  campaign.  An  invitation 
to  joint  debate  was  issued  by  his  committee  and  accepted  by 
his  opponent,  Hon.  W.  J.  Council,  of  Omaha,  who  then  repre- 
sented the  district.  These  debates  excited  attention  through- 
out the  state.  The  first  debate  of  this  series  is  regarded  as 
marking  an  important  epoch  in  Mr.  Bryan's  life.  The  meet- 
ing took  place  in  Lincoln,  and  he  had  the  opening  and  the 
closing  speeches.  The  hall  was  packed  with  friends  of  both 
candidates  and  applause  was  quite  evenly  divided  until  the 
closing  speech.  The  people  had  not  expected  such  a  summing 
up  of  the  discussion  ;  each  sentence  contained  an  argument ; 
the  audience  was  surprised,  pleased,  and  enthusiastic.  The 
occasion  was  a  Chicago  convention  in  miniature,  and  was  sat- 
isfactory to  those  most  concerned.  In  addition  to  these  eleven 
joint  contests,  Mr.  Bryan  made  a  thorough  canvass,  speaking 
about  eighty  times  and  visiting  every  city  and  village  in  the 
district.  Though  these  debates  were  crisp  and  sharp  in  argu- 
ment, they  were  marked  by  the  utmost  friendliness  between 
the  opponents. 

When  the  returns  were  all  in.  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Brvan 

•/ 

was  elected  by  a  plurality  of  6,713.  Desiring  to  give  his  entire 
time  to  his  Congressional  work,  he,  soon  after  election,  so 
arranged  his  affairs  as  to  retire  from  practice,  although  re- 
taining a  nominal  connection  with  the  firm. 

In  the  speakership  caucus  with  which  Congress  opened, 
Mr.  Bryan  supported  Mr.  Springer,  in  whose  district  he  had 
lived  when  at  Jacksonville  ;  in  the  House,  he  voted  for  Mr. 
Crisp,  the  caucus  nominee.  Mr.  Springer  was  made  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  and  it  was  lar 


74  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

through  his  influence  that  Mr.  Bryan  was  given  a  place  upon 
that  committee.  His  first  speech  of  consequence  was  the  tariff 
speech  of  March  10,  1892.  This  was  the  second  important 
event  in  his  career  as  a  public  speaker.  The  place  which  he 
held  upon  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  is  rarely  given  to  a 
new  member,  and  he  wished  the  speech  to  justify  the  appoint- 
ment. 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  comment  at  length  upon 
the  reception  accorded  this  speech,  as  the  press  at  the  time 
gave  such  reports  that  the  occasion  will  probably  be  remem- 
bered by  those  who  read  this  sketch.  This  speech  increased 
his  acquaintance  with  public  men,  and  added  to  his  strength 
at  home.  More  than  one  hundred  thousand  copies  were  cir- 
culated by  members  of  Congress.  Upon  his  return  to  Ne- 
braska, he  was  able  to  secure  re-election  in  a  new  district  (the 
state  having  been  reapportioned  in  1891),  which  that  year  gave 
the  Republican  state  ticket  a  plurality  of  0,5CO.  His  opponent 
this  time  was  Judge  A.  W.  Field  of  Lincoln.  The  Demo- 
cratic committee  invited  the  Republicans  to  join  in  arranging 
series  of  debates,  and  this  invitation  was  accepted.  This  was 
even  a  more  bitter  contest  than  the  campaign  of  1890,  Mr. 
McKinley,  Mr.  Foraker  and  others  being  called  to  Nebraska 
to  aid  the  Republican  candidate.  Besides  the  eleven  debates, 
which  aroused  much  enthusiasm,  Mr.  Bryan  again  made  a 
thorough  canvass  of  the  district.  The  victory  was  claimed 
by  both  sides  until  the  Friday  following  the  election,  when  the 
result  was  determined  by  official  count,  Mr.  Bryan  receiving 
a  plurality  of  140. 

In  the  Fifty-Third  Congress,  Mr.  Bryan  was  reappointed 
upon  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  and  assisted  in  the 
preparation  of  the  Wilson  bill.  He  was  a  member  of  the  sub- 
committee which  drafted  the  income  tax  portion  of  the  bill, 
In  the  spring  of  1893,  through  the  courtesy  of  the  State  De- 
partment, Mr.  Bryan  obtained  a  report  from  the  several  Eu- 
ropean nations  which  collect  an  income  tax,  and  the  results  of 
this  research  were  embodied  in  the  Congressional  Records 
during  the  debate.  He  succeeded  in  having  incorporated  in 
the  bill  a  provision  borrowed  from  the  Prussian  law  whereby 
the  citizens  who  have  taxable  incomes  make  their  own  returns 
and  those  whose  incomes  are  within  the  exemption  are  re- 
from  annoyance.  On  behalf  of  the  committee,  Mr. 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BEY  AN.  75 

Bryan  closed  the  debate  upon  the  income  tax,  replying  to  Mr. 
Cockran. 

During  the  discussion  of  the  Wilson  bill,  Mr.  Bryan  spoke 
in  its  defense.  His  principal  work  of  the  term,  however,  was 
in  connection  with  monetary  legislation.  His  speech  of  Au- 
gust 16,  1893,  in  opposition  to  the  unconditional  repeal  of  the 
Sherman  law,  brought  out  even  more  hearty  commendation 
than  his  first  tariff  speech.  Of  this  effort,  it  may  be  said  that 
it  contained  the  results  of  three  years  of  careful  study  upon 
the  money  question. 

While  in  Congress  he  made  a  fruitless  effort  to  secure  the 
passage  of  the  following  bill  :— 

"  Be  it  enacted,  etc. :  That  section  800  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
of  the  United  States,  of  1878,  be  amended  by  adding  thereto  the 
words,  "  In  civil  cases  the  verdict  of  three-fourths  of  the  jurors 
constituting  the  jury  shall  stand  as  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  and 
such  a  verdict  shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect  as  a  unan- 
imous verdict." 

The  desire  to  have  the  law  changed  so  as  to  permit  less  than 
a  unanimous  verdict  in  civil  cases  was  one  which  he  had  long 
entertained.  In  February,  1890,  in  response  to  a  toast  at  a  bar 
association  banquet  in  Lincoln,  he  spoke  upon  the  jury  sys- 
tem, advocating  the  same  reform. 

Besides  the  work  mentioned,  Mr.  Bryan  spoke  briefly  upon 
several  other  questions,  namely,  in  favor  of  the  election  of 
United  States  Senators  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people,  and  in 
favor  of  the  anti-option  bill;  in  opposition  to  the  railroad  pool- 
ing bill  and  against  the  extension  of  the  Pacific  liens. 

In  the  spring  of  1894,  Mr.  Bryan  announced  that  he  would 
not  be  a  candidate  for  re-election  to  Congress,  and  later 
decided  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate. 
He  was  nominated  for  that  office  by  the  unanimous  vote 
of  the  Democratic  state  convention.  While  the  Republi- 
cans made  no  nomination,  it  seemed  certain  that  Mr.  Thurs- 
ton  would  be  their  candidate  and  the  Democratic  committee 
accordingly  issued  a  challenge  to  him  for  a  series  of  debates. 
The  Republicans  were  also  invited  to  arrange  a  debate  be- 
tween Mr.  McKinley  and  Mr.  Bryan,  Mr.  McKinley  having  at 
that  time  an  appointment  to  speak  in  Nebraska.  The  latter 
invitation  was  declined,  but  two  meetings  were  arranged  with 
Mr.  Thurston.  These  were  the  largest  political  gatherings 


76  LEADEES  OF  MEN. 

ever  held  in  the  state  and  were  as  gratifying  to  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Bryan  as  his  previous  debates.  During  the  campaign, 
Mr.  Bryan  made  a  canvass  of  the  state,  speaking  four  or  five 
hours  each  day,  and  sometimes  riding  thirty  miles  over  rough 
roads  between  speeches.  At  the  election,  Nebraska  shared  in 
the  general  landslides;  the  Republicans  had  a  large  majority 
in  the  Legislature  and  elected  Mr.  Thurston. 

This  defeat  was  a  disappointment,  but  it  did  not  discourage 
Mr.  Bryan:  he  received  the  votes  of  all  the  Democrats  and  of 
nearly  half  of  the  Populist  members.  It  might  be  suggested 
here  that  while  Mr.  Bryan  had  never  received  a  nomination 
from  the  Populist  party,  he  had  been,  since  1892,  materially 
aided  by  individual  members  of  that  organization.  In  Ne- 
braska, the  Democratic  party  has  been  in  the  minority,  and  as 
there  are  several  points  of  agreement  between  it  and  the 
Populist  party,  Mr.  Bryan  advocated  co-operation  between  the 
two.  In  the  spring  of  1893,  he  received  the  support  of  a 
majority  of  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature,  but, 
when  it  became  evident  that  no  Democrat  could  be  elected,  he 
assisted  in  the  election  of  Senator  Allen,  a  Populist.  Again, 
in  1894,  in  the  Democratic  state  convention,  he  aided  in 
securing  the  nomination  of  a  portion  of  the  Populist  ticket, 
including  Mr.  Holcomb,  Populist  candidate  for  Governor.  The 
cordial  relations  which  existed  between  the  Democrats  and 
Populists  in  Nebraska  were  a  potent  influence  in  securing  his 
nomination  at  Chicago. 

On  September  1,  1894,  Mr.  Bryan  became  chief  of  the  edi- 
torial staff  of  the  Omaha  World-Herald,  and  from  that  date 
until  the  national  convention  of  1900  gave  a  portion  of  his 
time  to  this  work.  This  position  enabled  him  daily  to  reach 
a  large  number  of  people  in  the  discussion  of  public  questions 
and  also  added  considerably  to  his  income.  While  the  con- 
tract fixed  a  certain  amount  of  editorial  matter  as  a  minimum, 
his  interest  in  the  work  was  such  that  he  generally  exceeded 
rather  than  fell  below  the  required  space. 

After  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  Mr.  Bryan,  on  his  way 
home,  lectured  at  Cincinnati,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Little  Rock, 
Ark.,  and  at  several  points  in  Missouri,  arriving  in  Lincoln, 
March  19,  his  thirty-fifth  birthday.  The  Jefferson  Club 
tendered  him  a  reception  and  an  opera  house  packed  with  an 
appreciative  audience  rendered  this  a  very  gratifying  occasion 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN.  77 

to  Mr.  Bryan.  As  he  was  no  longer  in  public  life,  and  could 
show  no  favors  in  return,  the  disinterested  friendship  shown 
will  always  be  remembered  with  pleasure.  He  chose  as  his 
theme,  "  Thomas  Jefferson  still  lives,"  and,  after  reviewing 
the  work  of  the  Fifty-Third  Congress,  discussed  at  length  the 
principles  of  his  patron  saint: 

Mr.  Bryan  intended  to  resume  the  practice  of  law  and  re- 
open his  office.  At  this  time,  however,  the  contest  for 
supremacy  in  the  Democratic  party  had  begun  in  earnest  and 
calls  for  speeches  were  so  numerous  and  so  urgent  that  it 
seemed  best  to  devote  his  time  to  lecturing  and  to  the  public 
discussion  of  the  money  question.  Many  of  the  free  speeches 
were  made  en  route  to  lecture  engagements,  and  never  at  any 
time  was  he  under  the  direction  of,  or  in  the  pay  of,  any  silver 
league  or  association  of  persons  pecuniarily  interested  in 
silver.  During  the  interim  between  the  adjournment  of  Con- 
gress and  the  Chicago  convention  he  spoke  in  all  the  states  of 
the  West  and  South,  and  became  acquainted  with  those  most 
prominently  connected  with  the  silver  cause. 

When  the  Democratic  National  convention  met  in  Chicago 
on  July  7, 1896,  it  was  well  known  that  a  factional  fight  would 
be  precipitated  between  the  "free-silver  coinage  "  and  "sound 
money  'wings  of  the  party.  The  East  was  for  "sound 
money,"  the  West  and  South  for  "free-silver  coinage."  The 
ablest  leaders  of  all  sections  were  in  the  front  as  advocates  of 
their  respective  doctrines.  They  came  into  the  convention 
determined  to  fight  to  the  last  for  what  they  believed  to  be 
cardinal  principles  of  the  party. 

It  was  on  the  third  day's  session  of  the  convention  that  the 
crucial  moment  was  reached,  and  Mr.  Bryan  made  the  great 
forensic  effort  which  carried  the  convention  by  storm  and 
made  him  its  nominee  for  President.  Even  the  attention 
given  to  Tillman  and  Hill,  and  the  storm  of  demonstration 
that  greeted  Russell's  peroration,  was  quickly  submerged  by 
that  which  welcomed  the  appearance  of  William  J.  Bryan. 
The  thousands  who  peered  forward  to  catch  the  first  sentence 
of  this  man  were  not  disappointed.  Nearly  every  sentence 
was  received  with  ringing  applause  and  at  times  the  approval 
was  so  boisterous  and  continuous  as  to  interrupt  his  torrent  of 
eloquence  for  several  minutes. 

The  story  of  what  followed  and  of  the  famous  campaign 


78  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

of  1896  is  now  a  part  of  the  history  of  American  politics.  Mr. 
Bryan  began  his  bold  and  unique  campaign  almost  imme- 
diately by  an  invasion  of  "  the  enemy's  country,"  while  his 
return  journey  consisted  of  station  receptions  and  platform 
speeches,  with  longer  and  more  deliberate  addresses  at  prin- 
cipal cities.  But  with  all  his  popularity  and  magnetism  he 
could  not  allay  that  opposition  to  his  principles  and  platform 
claimed  to  be  of  a  socialistic  and  revolutionary  nature,  and 
so  victory  escaped  him. 

The  defeat  of  1896  had  not  in  the  least  affected  Mr.  Bryan's 
belief  in  the  future  triumphs  of  his  doctrines,  but,  if  any- 
thing, only  the  more  fully  imbued  him  with  faith  in  his  cause. 
Though  relegated  to  private  life,  he  could  find  pleasure  only 
in  industrious  activity.  He  indulged  in  authorship,  prepared 
instructive  lectures,  delivered  a  series  of  political  addresses 
in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and  was  in  daily  prepara- 
tion for  a  renewal  of  his  battle  in  1900. 

When  the  Democratic  National  convention  met  at  Kansas 
City,  July  4,  1900,  the  situation  as  to  presidential  nominee 
was  without  question  or  doubt.  No  other  name  than  Bryan's 
was  broached.  The  convention  was  organized  in  his  interest, 
and,  when  the  roll  of  states  was  made,  he  received  the  full 
vote  of  every  delegation. 

In  the  campaign  that  followed  Mr.  Bryan  was  defeated, 
but,  under  all  the  circumstances,  he  made  a  very  brilliant  and 
remarkable  contest.  His  defeat,  nevertheless,  was  complete 
and  decisive.  He  was  embarrassed  by  the  multiplicity  of  his 
issues.  The  load  was  too  heavy  for  any  candidate  that  ever 
lived.  The  only  wonder  is  that  Mr.  Bryan  carried  it  so  well. 
He  made  perhaps  more  out  of  the  situation  than  anyone  else 
could  have  done.  This  accomplished,  he  accepted  the  situa- 
tion like  a  man  of  splendid  poise,  and  took  up  the  duties  of  a 
vocation  that  affords  ample  opportunity  to  the  man  of  civic 
virtues  for  the  continued  exercise  of  political  power. 

No  one  can  understand  the  character  of  William  Jen- 
nings Bryan,  who  does  not  recognize  his  reckless  sincerity. 
Right  or  wrong,  he  is  honest  ;  he  is  of  such  a  nature  that  he 
cannot  be  otherwise ;  and  all  things,  for  good  or  for  evil,  for 
success  or  for  defeat,  must  subordinate  themselves  to  his  per- 
sonal conception  of  duty.  There  is  law  within  him. 

Mr.  Bryan  is  a  mid-continental  personality.     He  is  conserv- 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BEY  AN.  79 

ative  and  slow,  rather  than  impulsive.  He  has  all  the  angu- 
larity of  the  untraveled  American.  He  fears  innovations 
upon  the  old  order  of  things.  To  his  mind  the  Republican 
party  represents  a  revolutionary  idea  ;  its  policy  of  industrial 
concentration,  a  war  upon  the  competitive  system  ;  its  colonial 
policy,  a  polyglot  empire  ;  its  gold  standard  and  its  national 
bank  currency,  a  conspiracy  of  dealers  in  money  against  the 
actual  producers  of  wealth.  To  Mr.  Bryan's  mind  these  poli- 
cies are  all  symptoms  of  the  swift  approach  of  monarchy. 
They  are  political,  industrial,  and  financial  experiments  con- 
demned by  the  past.  In  this  sense  Mr.  Bryan  stands  for  the 
United  States  of  the  past  ;  is  essentially  an  old-fashioned 
statesman,  full  of  American  prejudice  and  American  con- 
fidence. 

Trace  his  career  from  country  school  to  supreme  political 
leadership,  and  it  will  reveal  at  every  point  the  patient  plan- 
ning of  a  wholesome  ambition  for  public  life.  There  never 
was  a  political  career  less  accidental.  There  never  was  a 
politician  less  temperamental.  The  study  and  practice  of  elo- 
cution, the  study  of  law,  the  study  of  public  questions — all 
these  were  carefully  considered  preparations  for  political 
leadership.  Impulse  had  little  to  do  with  them.  The  boy 
planned  what  the  man  should  be.  Mr.  Bryan's  favorite  quota- 
tion reveals  his  theory  of  life  :— 

"  We  build  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise 
From  the  lowly  earth  to  the  vaulted  skies, 
And  mount  to  the  summit  round  by  round." 

Then  Mr.  Bryan  went  to  live  in  Lincoln,  Nebraska.  Again 
he  struggled  for  an  honest  law  practice,  and  again  he  became 
self-supporting,  although  at  first  he  had  to  live  on  two  meals  a 
day  and  sleep  in  his  office.  He  was  little  more  than  a  boy  in 
years  and  the  birth  of  three  children  made  his  task  harder. 
But  no  man  ever  heard  him  whimper  or  complain.  He  was 
following  out  his  life's  plan  with  sturdy  cheerfulness. 

There  was  a  corrupt  political  gang  in  Mr.  Bryan's  ward. 
He  decided  to  fight  it.  On  election  day  he  remained  at  the 
polling  place.  Night  came  and  he  was  still  at  his  post.  It 
was  not  until  daybreak  that  he  returned  to  his  wife  and  told  her 
that  the  corrupt  ward  leader  had  been  beaten  by  a  few  votes. 
Nothing  could  drive  him  away,  rot  even  hunger,  until  the  last 


80  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ballot  had  been  honestly  counted  and  declared.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  his  career  in  practical  politics. 

The  multiplication  is  as  correct  in  the  nighttime  as  it  is  in 
the  daytime.  It  works  as  well  in  China  as  in  America.  So 
it  is  with  all  sound  principles— they  are  universal.  Mr.  Bryan 
has  based  his  life  on  principles  and  he  relies  on  time  and  the 
intelligence  of  the  plain  people  as  his  sure  allies.  He  scorns 
neutrality,  that  stagnant  home  of  those  who  are  neither  great 
enough  for  love  nor  strong  enough  for  hate. 

A  pen  picture  of  Mr.  Bryan  at  home,  among  his  children 
or  with  his  neighbors,  or  on  his  well-kept  farm,  would  reveal 
a  kindly,  upright,  debt-paying,  unassuming  citizen,  full  of  a 
gentle,  rollicking  humor— a  man  without  an  impure  thought 
or  an  impure  act.  It  would  portray  a  profoundly  religious 
Presbyterian,  without  cant  or  presumptuous  piety ;  a  man 
who  neither  drinks  alcohol  nor  smokes  tobacco,  and  yet  does 
not  deny  other  men  the  right  to  do  so — frequently  offering 
cigars  to  his  friends  ; — a  graceful  horseman,  an  expert  hunter, 
a  generous  host.  His  books  and  lectures  have  given  him  a 
large  income,  but  he  has  spent  more  than  half  of  it  in  estab- 
lishing college  and  school  prizes  and  in  contributions  to  polit- 
ical organizations.  Although  he  has  been  lawyer,  editor, 
member  of  Congress  and  a  successful  author  and  lecturer,  his 
entire  wealth  to-day  is  exceedingly  moderate. 

But  these  are  not  the  things  that  show  Bryan  the  man,  as 
the  public  should  know  him.  They  relate  rather  to  his  pri- 
vate life  ;  and  a  man  may  have  two  natures,  one  private  and 
the  other  public.  Private  virtue  and  public  virtue  are  not  in- 
separable. A  man  may  be  true  to  his  wife  and  children  and 
neighbors  and  yet  be  quite  capable  of  wronging  a  stranger. 

Mr.  Bryan's  three  great  attributes  are  deliberation,  de- 
cency, and  honesty.  He  is  intensely  American  in  all  that 
distinguishes  an  American  from  a  European.  He  has  the  same 
square-jawed  courage,  broad  humanity,  and  quaint  dignity 
that  made  Abraham  Lincoln  the  typical  American  of  his  day. 
He  has  Lincoln's  deep  religious  feeling  and  Lincoln's  unwaver- 
ing faith  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  as  a  sure  political 
guide.  He  is  North  America  personified,  with  all  its  con- 
tinental prejudices  and  confidence.  Living  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  continent,  surrounded  by  a  rich  country  as  yet  un- 
developed, he  cannot  see  why  the  American  Governm  'nt 


w 
S 
o 

w 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN.  83 

should  seek  to  establish  colonies  in  Asia  by  bloodshed  when 
American  soil  calls  for  industrious  inhabitants.  He  sees  the 
trust  system  rapidly  narrowing  the  opportunities  of  young 
men  at  home  while  the  Government  is  pretending-  to  offer 
them  opportunities  abroad.  He  believes  in  his  own  country, 
in  its  material  strength  and  its  moral  leadership  among  the 
nations  of  the  world.  He  has  the  hope  of  youth,  of  good 
health,  of  sound  morals.  He  loathes  unnecessary  war,  and, 
being  by  nature  a  civilian,  he  refuses  to  use  the  soldier's  coat 
he  wore  during  the  Spanish-American  war  as  a  political 
advertisement.  The  black  charger  he  rode  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment  now  carries  him  to  and  from  his  waving  fields  of 
corn  and  oats. 

There  is  not  a  saner  or  more  wholesome  personality  in  the 
world  than  Mr.  Bryan.  He  is  evenly  developed  and  evenly 
balanced.  He  loves  books  better  than  theaters,  the  fields 
better  than  cities,  and  he  loves  men  better  than  all.  He  is 
equally  opposed  to  imperialism  on  the- one  hand  and  socialism 
on  the  other  hand,  believing  that  the  path  of  national  safety 
lies  midway  between  the  two,  along  the  old  American  com- 
petitive system,  with  its  equal  opportunities  for  all. 

Mr.  Bryan's  financial  theories  may  prevent  him  from  ever 
being  president  of  the  United  States  -  -  for  there  are  many 
who  will  stickle  at  the  minor  issue  of  free  silver  and  swallow 
imperialism  —  but  he  will  always  be  a  great  leader  while  he 
lives.  He  is  the  greatest  commoner  America  has  yet  seen,  a 
figure  of  romantic  sincerity  in  an  age  of  commercialism.  It 
has  been  said  of  him  by  his  critics  that  he  is  merely  a  trained 
voice.  Rather  is  he  a  will,  disciplined  and  hindered  by  con- 
science. 

HONESTY. 

HERE  is  a  distinction  in  the  use  of  the  four  words, 
honesty,  uprightness,  integrity,  and  probity  ;  and  yet, 
in  their  popular  use,  they  embrace  the  same  correct- 
ness of  principle  and  conduct.  "We  look  for  honesty 
and  uprightness  in  citizens  ;  it  sets  every  question  at  rest  be- 
tween man  and  man  :  we  look  for  integrity  and  probity  in 
statesmen,  or  such  as  have  to  adjust  the  rights  of  many." 
Yet  all  of  these  persons  are  alike  in  moral  soundness  and 
virtuous  living.  So  we  select  honesty  from  the  four  words  as 


84  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  more   common,  though   homely,  using  it  in  the  highest 
sense  as  the  poet  has  it :  - 

"  An  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of  God." 

When  Lamartine  introduced  the  honored  De  1'Eure  to  the 
tumultuous  populace  of  Paris  in  1848,  he  said,  "  Listen, 
citizens  !  It  is  sixty  years  of  a  pure  life  that  is  to  address 
you."  Whatever  more  and  higher  De  TEure  might  have  been, 
he  was  honest.  Such  ought  to  be  every  son  and  daughter  of 
Adam.  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard  once  said,  "  No  man  is  bound 
to  be  rich  or  great  —  no,  nor  to  be  wise  ;  but  every  man  is  bound 
to  be  honest."  Therefore,  honesty  is  more  important  than 
money,  greatness,  or  wisdom.  A  valuable  possession,  surely  ! 

A  merchant  engaged  in  an  extensive  wholesale  business 
pointed  a  customer  to  a  young  man  in  his  store. 

"  That  young  man,"  said  he,  "  is  my  banker." 

Perceiving  that  his  friend  did  not  comprehend  the  drift  of 
his  remark,  he  added,  "  He  has  the  entire  control  of  my  finan- 
cial matters.  I  have  too  much  on  my  mind  to  be  perplexed 
with  them." 

"  Do  you  not  fear  to  commit  such  a  trust  to  a  youth  ? " 
responded  the  customer.  "  No  business  man  ought  to  run 
such  a  risk  in  these  days  of  embezzlement  and  defalcation." 

The  merchant  replied  :  "  I  have  no  fears  ;  James  came 
into  my  store  when  he  was  not  more  than  twelve  years  of 
age,  and  he  has  proved  to  me  that  he  is  strictly  honest.  I 
would  trust  him  as  quick  as  I  would  my  minister..  He  could 
defraud  me  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  if  he  were  disposed,  and 
make  his  escape  before  I  could  help  myself.  But  I  have  r?r 
fears." 

That  young  man  was  rich  without  having  money.  Such  a 
character  was  worth  more  to  him  "than  gold,  yea,  than  much 
fine  gold."  It  was  something  to  get  wealth  with.  Even  Mira- 
beau  said,  "  If  there  were  no  honesty,  it  would  be  invented  as 
a  means  of  getting  wealth."  We  know  that  some  business 
men  deny  this,  and  say  that  success  cannot  be  achieved  by 
strict  honesty.  We  heard  a  Boston  merchant  make  a  labored 
argument  *;o  prove  this,  but  his  argument  was  an  insult  to 
God,  who  would  not  require  undoubted  honesty  in  business 
life  if  it  were  impossible,  as  it  was  an  exposure  of  his  own 
lack  of  principle.  Just  such  men  as  he  have  brought  disgrace 


HONESTY.  85 

upon  mercantile  life,  and  made  possible  a  state  of  things 
which  Henry  Ward  Beecher  truthfully  described  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"If  every  brick  in  every  wall  that  was  laid  in  transgres- 
sion, and  every  nail  driven  in  sin,  and  every  bale  and  box 
brought  forth  with  iniquity,  were  to  groan  and  sigh,  how 
many  articles  around  us  would  remain  silent  ?  How  many 
would  shriek  and  cry,  '  Art  thou  come  to  torment  us  before 
the  time  ? '  If  every  article  of  trade  in  any  store  that  is  there 
through  wrong  were  to  fly  through  the  air  to  the  rightful 
ownership,  what  a  flight  of  bales,  and  boxes,  and  sugar  casks 
should  we  see  ! '' 

No  !  Such  a  reign  of  immorality  is  not  necessary.  The 
solid  and  useful  virtue  of  honesty  is  highly  practicable. 
"Nothing  is  profitable  that  is  dishonest,"  is  a  truthful  maxim. 
"Virtue  alone  is  invincible/'  "I  would  give  ten  thousand 
dollars  for  your  reputation  for  uprightness,"  said  a  sharper  to 
an  upright  tradesman,  "  for  I  could  make  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  with  it."  Honesty  succeeds  ;  dishonesty  fails.  The 
biographer  of  Amos  Lawrence  says,  "His  integrity  stands 
absolutely  unimpeached,  without  spot  or  blemish.  He  seemed 
ever  to  have  a  reverence  for  right,  unalloyed,  unfaltering, 
supreme  ;  a  moral  perception  and  moral  sensibility,  which 
kept  him  from  deviating  a  hair's  breadth  from  what  he  saw 
and  felt  to  be  his  duty.  It  was  this  that  constituted  the 
strength  of  his  character,  and  was  one  of  the  great  secrets  of 
his  success" 

Dr.  Peabody  said  of  Samuel  Appleton,  another  affluent 
merchant  of  Boston  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century, 
"  He  was  an  honest  man.  Without  subterfuge  or  disguise, 
incapable  of  anything  indirect  or  underhanded,  he  had  no 
concealment  of  his  own,  and  anything  in  the  form  of  a  secret 
was  to  him  a  trouble  and  a  burden.  He  knew  of  but  one  way 
of  speaking,  and  that  was  to  say  straight  on  the  truth." 

The  biographer  of  Samuel  Budgett  speaks  of  his  transpar- 
ent truthfulness  throughout  his  business  career,  and,  among 
many  incidents,  he  relates  the  following  :  "  In  Mr.  Budgett's 
early  days,  pepper  was  under  a  heavy  tax  ;  and  in  the  trade, 
universal  tradition  said  that  out  of  the  trade  everybody  ex- 
pected pepper  to  be  mixed.  In  the  shop  stood  a  cask  labeled 
'P.  D.,'  containing  something  very  like  pepper  dust,  where- 


86  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

with  it  was  used  to  mix  the  pepper  before  sending  it  forth  to 
serve  the  public.  The  trade  tradition  had  obtained  for  the 
hypocritical  P.  D.  a  place  among  the  standard  articles  of  the 
shop,  and  on  the  strength  of  that  tradition  it  was  vended  for 
pepper  by  men  who  thought  they  were  honest.  But  as  Samuel 
went  forward  in  life,  his  ideas  on  trade  morality  grew  clearer. 
This  P.  D.  began  to  give  him  much  discomfort.  He  thought 
upon  it  until  he  was  satisfied  that,  when  all  that  could  be  said 
was  weighed,  the  thing  was  wrong.  Arrived  at  this  con- 
clusion, he  felt  that  no  blessing  could  be  upon  the  place  while 
it  was  there.  He  instantly  decreed  that  P.  D.  should  perish. 
It  was  night ;  but  back  he  went  to  the  shop,  took  his  hypocrit- 
ical cask,  carried  it  forth  to  the  quarry,  then  staved  it,  and 
scattered  P.  D.  among  the  clods,  slags,  and  stones.  He  re- 
turned with  a  light  heart." 

Such  examples,  which  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied, 
disprove  the  unfounded  plea  that  strict  honesty  cannot 
achieve  success  in  this  wicked  age  of  the  world.  They  illus- 
trate, also,  the  declarations  of  Holy  Writ  :— 

"The  integrity  of  the  upright  shall  guide  them  ;  but  the 
perverseness  of  the  transgressors  shall  destroy  them." 

"  He  that  walketh  uprightly,  walketh  surely  ;  but  he  that 
perverteth  his  ways  shall  be  known." 

A  few  years  ago  a  lady  entered  a  store  in  Boston,  looked 
at  some  goods,  and  walked  out  without  making  a  purchase. 

"Why  did  not  that  lady  purchase  those  goods  ?"  inquired 
the  proprietor  of  his  clerk. 

"Because,  sir,  she  wanted  Middlesex  cloths,''  the  clerk 
answered. 

"  And  why  did  you  not  show  her  the  next  pile,  and  call 
them  Middlesex?"  continued  the  unprincipled  trader. 

"  Because,  sir,  I  knew  they  were  not  Middlesex,"  was  the 
emphatic  answer  of  the  honest  young  man. 

"  Young  man,"  said  the  merchant,  "  if  you  are  so  particu- 
lar, and  can't  bend  a  little  to  circumstances,  you  will  never 
do  for  me." 

The  clerk's  response  is  worthy  of  a  high  place  in  history:— 

"  Very  well,  sir  ;  if  I  must  tell  falsehoods  in  order  to  keep 
my  place,  I  must  lose  it ;  that  is  all." 

He  left  the  store,  and  that  God  who  requires  as  strict  hon- 
esty in  the  warehouse  as  in  the  church,  led  him  forth  to 


HONESTY.  87 

prosperity.  He  became  a  leading  merchant  in  a  western  city, 
while  his  dishonest  employer  became  a  bankrupt,  and  died 
in  poverty. 

Society  never  needed  uncompromising  honesty  more  than 
it  does  to-day.  Young  people  never  needed  it  more  in  going  out 
into  the  great  world  than  the  young  people  of  our  day,  for  they 
will  meet  temptations  to  dishonesty  everywhere.  Designing 
and  intriguing  men  who  "have  an  eye  to  the  main  chance," 
and  who  claim  that  "every  man  is  for  himself/'  will  press 
their  way  clear  to  the  front.  Mean,  brazen,  unscrupulous, 
licentious,  desperate,  despicable  men  and  women  will  be  met 
on  life's  great  thoroughfares,  but  if  thoroughly  mailed  with 
unyielding  honesty,  having  a  conscience  void  of  offense,  these 
tempters  will  be  powerless,  for  the  highest  authority  declares, 
"  Every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own 
lust,  and  enticed."  If  they  are  right  inside,  the  temptations 
outside  will  be  as  though  they  were  not. 

The  honest  man  may  be  unfortunate.  In  the  ups  and 
downs  of  business  he  may  become  embarrassed,  and  even 
ruined  financially,  but  he  cannot  be  ruined  morally.  His 
unbending  integrity  is  a  guarantee  against  that ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  it  gathers  a  host  of  sympathizing  friends  around 
him  in  the  hour  of  his  adversity.  A  conflagration  may  sweep 
away  his  last  dollar,  or  a  sudden  financial  crash  may  leave 
him  penniless,  but  all  is  not  lost ;  the  best  survives  the  wreck. 
Honesty  will  never  perish  ;  and  noble  hearts  bring  their  lov- 
ing tributes  of  respect  in  the  dark  hour  of  misfortune.  Hon- 
esty triumphs. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  called  "  Honest  Abe."  This  sobri- 
quet was  given  to  him  at  New  Salem,  Illinois,  whither  he  went 
to  take  charge  of  the  "  country  store"  of  one  Orfutt,  in  1831. 
He  was  about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  awkward,  bashful, 
but  strictly  upright.  He  took  no  advantage  of  the  ignorance 
or  necessities  of  customers,  but  represented  goods  just  as 
they  were,  gave  Scripture  measure  and  weight,  and  always 
hastened  to  correct  mistakes. 

One  day  he  sold  a  bill  of  goods,  amounting  to  two  dollars 
and  six  cents,  to  Mrs.  Duncan,  living  more  than  two  miles 
away.  On  looking  over  the  account  again  in  the  evening, 
before  closing  the  store,  he  found  that  Mrs.  Duncan  paid  him 
six  cents  too  much.  "That  must  be  corrected  to-night,"  he 


*3  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

said  to  himself ;  so,  as  soon  as  he  had  closed  the  shutters  for 
the  night,  he  posted  away  with  the  six  cents  surplus  to  her 
house.  She  was  preparing  to  retire  when  he  knocked  at  the 
door,  and  was  very  much  surprised,  on  opening  it,  to  see 
Orfutt's  clerk  standing  there.  Apologizing  for  the  mistake, 
Lincoln  deposited  the  six  cents  in  her  hand,  and  slept  all  the 
better  that  night  for  having  corrected  the  error. 

At  another  time,  a  woman  came  to  the  store  late  in  the 
evening,  when  Lincoln  was  closing  it,  for  a  half  pound  of  tea, 
which  was  weighed  in  haste.  Immediately  after  she  left, 
Lincoln  locked  the  store  and  went  home.  On  returning  the 
next  morning,  his  attention  was  called  to  the  scales,  which 
had  a  four-ounce  weight  instead  of  eight  in  them.  He  knew 
at  once  that  he  must  have  given  the  woman  a  quarter  instead 
of  a  half  pound  of  tea.  Weighing  another  quarter  of  a 
pound,  he  closed  the  store  and  delivered  it  to  the  customer, 
asking  her  pardon,  before  commencing  the  labors  of  the  day. 

Such  examples  of  honesty  were  not  overlooked  by  the 
public.  Men  and  women  talked  about  them,  and  extolled  the 
author  of  them.  They  led,  also,  to  something  more.  In  that 
part  of  the  country,  at  that  time,  various  games  prevailed  in 
which  two  sides  enlisted ;  and  it  was  the  custom  to  appoint 
an  umpire  for  each  game.  Lincoln  became  the  universal 
umpire,  both  sides  insisting  upon  his  appointment  on  account 
of  his  fairness.  His  honesty  won  the  confidence  of  all. 

One  Henry  McHenry  planned  a  horse-race,  and  applied  to 
Lincoln  to  act  as  judge. 

"  No ;  I  Ve  done  with  that,"  answered  Lincoln. 

"  But  you  must,"  urged  McHenry. 

"  I  must  not  and  I  will  not,"  responded  Lincoln,  with 
much  emphasis  ;  "  this  horse-racing  business  is  all  wrong." 

"Just  this  once;  never  will  ask  you  again,"  continued 
McHenry. 

"Well,  remember,  'just  this  once'  it  is,"  was  Lincoln's 
conclusion,  thinking  it  might  be  the  best  way  to  make  a  cor- 
rupting practice  of  "  wild  western  life  "  unpopular.  He  acted 
as  judge,  and  the  party  against  whom  his  judgment  weighed 
said,  "  Lincoln  is  the  fairest  man  I  ever  had  to  deal  with.  If 
he  is  in  this  country  when  I  die,  I  want  him  to  be  my  adminis- 
trator, for  he  is  the  only  man  I  ever  met  with  that  was  wholly 
and  unselfishly  honest." 


HONESTY.  89 

Dr.  Holland  says:  "When  Lincoln  terminated  his  labors 
for  Orfutt,  every  one  trusted  him.  He  was  judge,  arbitrator, 
referee,  umpire,  authority  in  all  disputes,  games,  matches  of 
man-flesh  and  horse-flesh  ;  a  pacificator  in  all  quarrels  ; 
everybody's  friend  ;  the  best  natured,  the  most  sensible,  the 
best  informed,  the  most  modest  and  unassuming,  the  kindest, 
gentlest,  roughest,  strongest,  best  young  fellow  in  all  New 
Salem  and  the  region  round  about." 

This  is  a  just  encomium  ;  but  it  never  could  have  been  said 
of  him  but  for  his  unbending  honesty,  a  quality  for  which 
he  was  known  from  his  boyhood.  The  honest  boy  makes  the 
honest  man. 

When  Lincoln  became  a  lawyer,  he  carried  to  the  bar  this 
habitual  honesty.  His  associates  were  often  surprised  by  his 
utter  disregard  of  self-interest,  while  they  could  but  admire 
his  conscientious  defense  of  what  he  considered  right.  One 
day  a  stranger  called  to  secure  his  services. 

"State  your  case,"  said  Lincoln.  A  history  of  the  case 
was  given,  when  Lincoln  astonished  him  by  saying  :  — 

"  I  cannot  serve  you  ;  for  you  are  wrong,  and  the  other 
party  is  right." 

"  That  is  none  of  your  business,  if  I  hire  and  pay  you  for 
taking  the  case,"  retorted  the  man. 

"  Not  my  business  !  "  exclaimed  Lincoln.  "  My  business  is 
never  to  defend  wrong,  if  I  am  a  lawyer.  I  never  undertake 
a  case  that  is  manifestly  wrong." 

"  Well,  you  can  make  trouble  for  the  fellow,"  added  the 
applicant. 

"Yes,"  replied  Lincoln,  fully  aroused  ;  "there  is  no  doubt 
but  that  I  can  gain  the  case  for  you,  and  set  a  whole  neigh- 
borhood at  loggerheads.  I  can  distress  a  widowed  mother 
and  her  six  fatherless  children,  and  thereby  get  for  you  six 
hundred  dollars,  which  rightly  belongs  as  much  to  the  woman 
and  her  children  as  it  does  to  you ;  but  I  won't  do  it." 

•'  Not  for  any  amount  of  pay  ?"  continued  the  stranger. 

"  Not  for  all  you  are  worth,"  replied  Lincoln.  "  You  must 
remember  that  some  things  which  are  legally  right  are  not 
morally  right.  I  shall  not  take  your  case." 

"  I  don't  care  a  snap  whether  you  do  or  not ! "  exclaimed 
the  man,  angrily,  starting  to  go. 

"  I  will  give  you  a  piece  of  advice  without  charge,"  added 


90  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Lincoln.  ' '  You  seem  to  be  a  sprightly,  energetic  man.  I  would 
advise  you  to  make  six  hundred  dollars  some  other  way." 

Judge  Treat  gives  the  following:  "A  case  being  called 
for  hearing  in  the  court,  Mr.  Lincoln  stated  that  he  ap- 
peared for  the  appellant,  and  said,  '  This  is  the  first  case  I 
have  ever  had  in  this  court,  and  I  have,  therefore,  examined 
it  with  great  care.  As  the  court  will  perceive,  by  looking  at 
the  abstract  of  the  record,  the  only  question  in  the  case  is  one 
of  authority.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  authority  to 
sustain  my  side  of  the  case,  but  I  have  found  several  cases  to 
sustain  the  other  side.  I  will  now  give  these  cases,  and  then 
submit  the  case.' : 

Some  lawyers  present  thought  he  was  crazy,  not  being 
accustomed  to  look  for  "exact  justice/' 

He  undertook  the  celebrated  Patterson  trial,  a  case  of  mur- 
der, supposing  the  accused  was  innocent.  Before  the  evidence 
was  all  in,  he  became  satisfied  that  the  man  was  guilty,  and 
withdrew  from  the  case,  leaving  his  partner  to  conduct  it. 
The  accused  was  acquitted,  but  Lincoln  would  not  take  a  cent 
of  the  one  thousand  dollars  paid  to  his  partner  for  services. 

Lincoln's  professional  life  abounded  with  similar  incidents, 
leading  Judge  David  Davis  to  say,  "  The  framework  of  his 
mental  and  moral  being  was  honesty.  He  never  took  from  a 
client,  even  when  the  cause  was  gained,  more  than  he  thought 
the  service  was  worth  and  the  client  could  afford  to  pay." 

The  time  came,  in  1860,  when  Lincoln's  honesty  was  needed 
to  save  the  nation.  Slavery  threatened  to  overthrow  the 
Republic  unless  it  was  allowed  to  become  universal.  North 
and  South  there  was  distrust,  alienation,  and  apprehension. 
The  retiring  president  had  governed  for  the  South,  in  the 
interest  of  bondage.  Loyal  citizens  had  lost  confidence  in 
public  men.  The  next  president  must  be  one  whose  character 
would  challenge  the  respect  and  confidence  of  loyal  people,  or 
the  ship  of  state  would  go  under  in  the  fearful  storm  gather- 
ing. Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  man.  He  could  be  trusted. 
Friends  of  the  Union  gave  him  their  implicit  confidence,  and 
became  a  unit.  His  honesty  had  reached  its  highest  value 
and  saved  the  Republic  by  destroying  slavery. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

JOHN   DAVIS   LONG. 


ON  THE   PROBLEM   OF   LIFE HIS  ANCESTRY LIFE    IN    OXFORD    COUNTY, 

MAINE AT    HEBRON    ACADEMY COLLEGE    CAREER — -AS    A    LAW    STUDENT 

THE    LAWYER POLITICAL   BEGINNINGS GOVERNOR   OF    MASSACHUSETTS 

SECRETARY    OF    THE     NAVY PERSONAL     CHARACTERISTICS.       CHOICE    OF 

COMPANIONS. 

The  problem  of  lifo  is  never  solved,  and  yet  the  method  of 
its  solution  is  as  plain  as  daylight,  and  that  method  is  progress, 

progress,  progress, —  progress  in  physical  and 
material  circumstance,  in  intellectual  en- 
largement and  force,  in  moral  sentiment,  in 
aesthetic  refinement,  in  personal  character. 

No  man  is  altogether  the  master  of  his 
own  character  or  inclination,  but  I  should 
say  the  personal  elements  of  success  are 
natural  capacity  and  industry.  With  these 
must  go,  however,  thoroughness  in  intel- 
lectual culture  and  moral  impress  on  char- 
acter. 

My  maturer  experience  has  shown  me  that  nothing  is  so 
important  to  a  young  man  in  the  formation  of  character  as 
the  influence,  inspiration,  elevation  of  a  riper  or  superior 
mind,  sensibly  or  insensibly  holding  him  to  higher  standards, 
not  in  the  goody-goody  sense,  but  in  the  appreciation  of  his 
own  powers,  capacities  and  obligations. 


"HERE  is  a  type  of  character  which  we  have  come  to  look 
upon  as  distinctively  American.  It  is  compounded  of 
keen  intelligence,  celerity  in  action,  readiness  of  re- 
source, large  toleration,  easy  good  humor,  confident 
optimism,  and  entire  independence.  A  shrewd  wit  flavors  it, 
a  ready  speech  belongs  to  it,  a  fine  and  tender  sentiment  lies 


92  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

at  its  heart.  It  scorns  conventionalities,  though  it  easily 
takes  on  the  polish  of  the  great  world.  Through  all  its  knowl- 
edge of  men  and  things  we  detect  that  racy  smack  of  the 
soil,  that  solidity  of  principle,  that  intense  conviction  of  a 
great  future  for  our  country,  which  mark  the  true  home-bred 
American. 

To  this  type  belongs  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  and  we  are 
to  learn  to  what  influences  it  owes  its  existence  ;  from  what 
strong  sources  its  springs  are  fed. 

Back  of  a  man,  as  the  foundation  of  his  personality,  lie  his 
ancestors.  We  do  not  gather  figs  of  thistles.  Education  and 
environment  do  much,  no  doubt,  to  mold  the  outward  show, 
but,  given  ordinary  conditions  of  wholesome  country  living  in 
childhood,  an  individual  is  apt  to  develop  on  pre-determined 
lines,  and  it  is  characteristic  of  the  strong  American  to 
promptly  select  his  own  surroundings  as  soon  as  he  is  out  of 
leading  strings,  to  bring  his  own  force  to  play  on  circum- 
stance, and  to  elect  his  own  form  of  education,  assimilating 
what  is  congenial,  rejecting  the  superfluous,  moved  by  a  keen 
natural  instinct  of  what  he  needs. 

The  more  one  studies  our  men  of  mark,  the  more  one  be- 
comes convinced  that  they  are  the  lords,  not  the  slaves  of 
circumstance,  and  that  if  they  stand  out  from  the  multitude 
of  their  fellows  who  had  a  similar  start  in  life,  it  is  owing  to 
that  happy  combination  of  qualities  which  makes  them  mas- 
ters of  the  event.  What  America  gives  them  is  the  chance  — 
that  they  avail  themselves  of  it  is  their  proof  of  ability. 

First  of  all,  then,  we  must  examine  the  stock  to  understand 
the  shoot. 

John  Davis  Long  came  of  a  line  of  Massachusetts  ancestry 
which  extends  back  to  the  "Mayflower"  and  the  "Ann." 
For  whatever  reason  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  came  to  this 
country,  the  fact  of  their  coming  at  all  shows  them  to 
have  been  daring,  resolute,  enterprising  men,  afraid  of  no 
risks  so  long  as  they  were  assured  of  a  chance  to  carry  out 
their  own  ideas  without  government  interference.  Bold  were 
they  and  willful,  full  of  stern  convictions,  unflinching  amid 
perils  unknown,  scornful  of  luxury,  familiar  with  hardship, 
in  which  they  had  the  Anglo-Saxon's  joy.  Labor  was 
their  pleasure,  religion  their  meat  and  drink.  Hard  and 
narrow  as  no  doubt  many  of  them  were,  they  were  clear- 


JOHX  DAVIS  LONG.  93 

sighted,  conscientious,  and  tenacious,  inspired  by  that  prac- 
tical imagination  which  is  the  endowment  of  the  English 
race,  an  imagination  which  has  led  to  the  planting  of  a  thou- 
sand colonies,  and  the  development  of  them  along  lines  once 
purely  ideal ;  an  imagination  which  could  picture  the  desert 
blossoming  as  the  rose,  and  see  the  future  city  in  the  hamlet. 
Aided  by  it  the  great  race  has  spread  over  the  face  of  the 
globe,  building  up  mighty  states,  enforcing  its  theories  of  life 
and  free  government  along  its  conquering  path.  Such  a  race 
stamps  its  characteristics  upon  its  children  to  remotest  gen- 
erations. 

On  his  father's  side,  Mr.  Long  hails  from  Plymouth.  His 
grandfather  was  a  descendant  of  the  pilgrim  Thomas  Clark, 
who  came  over  in  the  "  Ann  "  in  1623,  and  his  grandmother 
Bathsheba  Churchill's  forbear,  Richard  Warren,  was  one  of 
the  passengers  in  the  ''Mayflower."  His  mother's  progeni- 
tor, Dolar  Davis,  came  with  the  emigration  of  1634  and  settled 
first  in  Cambridge  and  died  in  Barnstable.  His  wife  was 
Margery  Willard,  the  sister  of  Major  Simon  Willard  of  Con- 
cord, Mass. 

Thus  we  see  by  what  right  their  descendant  holds  many  of 
the  qualities  which  stand  for  success  :  steadfastness,  endur- 
ance, capacity,  and  a  genius  for  hard  work — the  key  perhaps, 
to  many  a  triumph. 

From  the  strong  stock  which  first  occupied  Massachusetts 
went  forth  into  the  Province  of  Maine  a  class  of  especially 
vigorous  settlers,  whose  descendants  still  return  from  time 
to  time  to  the  parent  state,  to  administer  its  affairs  and  lead 
in  its  councils,  with  the  freshness  and  force  characteristic 
of  the  sturdy  men  of  the  Pine  Tree  state.  Among  these 
pioneers  went  in  1806,  sailing  by  packet  from  Plymouth  to 
Salem  and  thence  overland  in  a  pioneer's  wagon,  Thomas 
Long,  the  grandfather  of  John  D.  Long. 

Zadoc  Long,  the  latter's  father,  was  then  six  years  old,  and 
often  told  him  of  the  mile-long  hill  at  their  journey's  end 
which  they  had  to  climb  to  reach  the  half-finished  house  and 
half-cleared  farm  which  was  to  be  their  future  home  in  Buck- 
field,  Maine.  The  other  men  who  settled  Oxford  county 
were  a  sturdy  set,  whose  descendants  are  well-known  to  fame. 
They  were  poor,  as  everybody  was  poor  in  those  parts,  but 
shrewd,  intelligent,  thinking  men,  who  read  books  and  talked 


94  LEADERS  OF  MEN, 

politics,  kept  alert  minds,  and  gave  their  children   the  best 
education  going. 

Among  these  sturdy  people,  in  a  hill  country,  which  always 
develops  individuality,  and  in  an  atmosphere  of  home  cultiva- 
tion (for  Zadoc  Long  was  a  reading  man  and  a  writer  of 
verse),  little  John  grew  up.  In  one  of  his  speeches  he  feel- 
ingly alludes  to  the  impression,  never  to  he  effaced,  of  snowy 
peaks,  cool  woods,  and  picturesque  roads  over  hills  and 
through  valleys,  upon  his  childish  mind.  Alluding  to  Oxford 
county  he  says  :— 

"  Enlarging  and  educating  as  were  its  physical  influences,  I  pay  my  tribute 

still  more  gratefully  to  the  living  influence  of  its  people the  solid 

democracy  of  a  country  such  as  Oxford  county  typifies — absolutely  meeting 
the  ideal  of  a  free  and  equal  people,  and  ignorant  of  such  a  thing  as  caste  or 
class.  Add  to  such  a  democracy  the  elements  of  the  education  of  the  com- 
mon schools,  the  unfettered  exercise  of  religious  freedom,  the  popular  political 
discussion  of  the  street  corner,  the  store,  and  the  hay-field,  the  frequent 
vacancies  of  leisure,  the  common  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  the  splendid 
ingrained  inheritance  of  English  common  law  ripened  into  the  maxims, 
habits,  converse  and  system  of  the  people,  the  absence  on  the  one  hand  of 
great  accumulations  of  wealth,  and  on  the  other  of  any  consciousness  of  the 
deprivations  of  extreme  poverty,  and  especially  that  unconscious  unreserve 
and  inartificiality  of  intercourse  which  made  the  hewer  of  stone  the  free  and 
easy,  if  not  superior  disputant  as  well  as  companion  of  the  owner  of  the  field, 
—add  all  these,  and  you  have  an  atmosphere  of  education  out  of  which  no 
boy  could  emerge,  and  not  have  a  fitting  future  life  such  as  the  metropolis 
with  its  schools,  the  university  with  its  colleges,  could  not  give,  a  homely 
familiarity  with  the  popular  mind,  an  inbred  sympathy  with  the  masses,  not 
artificial  nor  assumed,  but  a  part  of  the  character  itself,  and  a  helpful 
agency  in  public  service,  and  in  useful  conduct  in  life.  Its  fruits  you  see 
to-day,  and  for  years  have  seen,  in  the  elements  which  from  rural  counties 
like  Oxford  have  gone  into  the  busy  avenues  of  our  national  life,  and  given 
enterprise,  growth,  success  to  the  business,  the  government,  the  literature, 
and  the  progress  of  the  country." 

This  paragraph  is  quoted  at  length  as  the  keynote  of  that 
popularity,  arising  from  his  true  humanity,  which  has  made 
the  career  of  the  able  ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy  a  long  prog- 
ress from  one  honor  to  another.  A  life  so  wise,  serene,  and 
successful  affords  little  light  and  shadow  for  writing  a  dramatic 
story  full  of  sharp  and  interesting  contrasts  ;  but  it  is  worth 
studying  as  a  product  of  the  truest  Americanism,  and  we  can 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG.  95 

see,  though  Buckfield  was  too  small  to  long  hold  a  man  of  his 
caliber,  how  his  roots  are  there,  how  his  heart  ever  fondly 
returns  thither,  while  to  it  his  happiest  hours  of  leisure  are 
still  devoted  on  the  old  home  farm. 

One  of  Mr.  Long's  classmates  at  Hebron  Academy,  where 
he  prepared  for  college,  alluding  to  his  early  proficiency  in 
composition  and  declamation,  says  :  - 

"  We  looked  upon  Johnny  Long  as  if  he  were  Daniel 
Webster  himself.'"  This  must  have  been  when  he  was  quite 
a  boy,  for  he  entered  Harvard  at  fourteen. 

The  youth  was  really  too  young  to  reap  the  advantages  of 
college  life,  but  he  was  a  good  student,  with  a  fine  memory 
and  unusual  abilities,  so  that  though  almost  the  youngest 
member  in  his  class,  being  only  eighteen  when  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1857,  he  stood  second  in  it  in  the  senior  year  and  was 
assigned  a  commencement  part. 

He  narrates  his  experiences  in  a  way  which  must  find  an 
echo  in  the  heart  of  many  a  solitary  country  boy  struggling 
far  from  home  for  an  education. 

"  I  got  no  lift  from  college  at  all.  Nobody  noticed  me.  I 
had  the  knack  of  getting  lessons  easily.  I  was  under  age  and 
out  of  sight."  Again,  in  a  speech,  he  tells  how  he  walked 
from  Boston  to  Cambridge,  to  take  his  entrance  examina- 
tions, so  that  every  inch  of  Main  street  is  "blistered  into  his 
memory"  and  later  "sat  crying  for  sheer  homesickness  on 
the  western  steps  of  Gore  Hall,"  a  record  which  may  be  a 
consolation  to  some  of  the  university's  future  LL.D.'s,  now 
heart-sick  from  neglect  and  solitude  in  that  cosmos. 

He  did  not  live  in  the  college  except  in  his  senior  year,  and 
so  did  not  get  the  benefit  of  its  social  life,  but  trudged  back 
and  forth  two  miles  a  day  to  his  lodgings,  working  hard  no 
doubt,  and  learning  at  least  the  valuable  lessons  of  self-reli- 
ance and  fortitude. 

After  leaving  college  he  taught  for  two  years  at  Westford 
Academy,  which  he  alludes  to  as  "  an  outburst  into  a  larger 
life,"  and  then  settled  down  to  the  study  of  the  law  in  the 
office  of  Mr.  Sydney  Bartlett,  one  of  the  famous  lawyers  of 
Boston.  This  contact  he  considered  wasted,  for  his  chief 
never  spoke  to  him  but  once  on  any  legal  subject.  "  From 
him,"  he  says,  "I  got  nothing.  I  was  in  his  office  nearly  a 
year,  reading  a  book,  and  now  and  then  copying  a  paper,  but 


96  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

never  talked  with  him  five  minutes.     He  took  no  interest  in 
me  and  was  otherwise  occupied." 

Afterwards  the  youth  attended  the  Harvard  Law  School 
for  a  while,  taught  for  a  few  months  in  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  and  was  finally  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  bar,  and  began 
the  practice  of  the  law  in  ]SG2  in  Buckfield,  Maine. 

Fond  as  Mr.  Long  has  ever  been  of  the  simple  neighbor- 
hood in  which  his  boyhood  was  spent,  it  was  "a  pent-up 
Utica"  for  mental  powers  like  his,  and  very  soon  we  find  him 
drifting  back  to  Boston,  into  the  office  of  Mr.  Stillman  B. 
Allen,  with  whom  he  formed  a  partnership  in  1867,  in  which 
they  were  afterwards  joined  by  Mr.  Alfred  Hemenway,  who 
had  been  a  neighbor  and  warm  friend  of  Mr.  Long  from  the 
beginning  of  the  latter's  life  in  Boston. 

These  years  were  not  conscious  periods  of  development 
for  the  young  lawyer,  but  were  undoubtedly  spent  in  gaining 
knowledge  of  men  and  life  and  books,  of  which  he  was  an 
eager  and  industrious  reader,  which  was  to  be  of  service  to 
him  in  his  after  career. 

Later,  he  looked  upon  them  as  drifting,  purposeless  years, 
when  he  was  without  ambition,  or  any  particular  object  ex- 
cept that  of  getting  some  kind  of  foothold  so  as  to  earn  a 
living. 

He  worked  at  his  profession  when  he  got  a  chance,  and  in 
his  leisure  moments  he  wrote  poetry  by  the  cart  load,  and  he 
even  composed  a  play  for  Maggie  Mitchell,  then  a  popular 
actress,  which  was  given  several  times  at  the  Boston  Theater. 
When  he  was  afterwards  speaker  he  made  a  translation  of 
Virgil's  ^Eneid  in  blank  verse. 

By  an  accident  he  drifted  to  Hingham,  one  of  the  earliest 
settlements  on  the  south  shore  of  Massachusetts  bay,  where 
a  pleasant  boarding  place  was  offered  for  the  summer.  The 
quaint,  picturesque  old  town  suited  him,  and  he  chose  it  as 
his  home.  Born  among  mountains  he  had  always  dreamed 
of  living  by  the  blue  waters,  and  as  he  walked  to  and  from 
the  steamboat  landing,  he  often  crossed  the  lot  on  which  his 
dwelling  now  stands,  and  thought  of  it  as  one  he  would  like 
to  own,  and  occupy  with  his  parents. 

His  mother  died  before  that  dream  came  true,  but  when  in 
1870  he  married  Miss  Mary  Woodward  Glover,  daughter  of 
George  S.  and  Helen  M.  (Paul)  Glover,  he  built  his  house 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG.  97 

upon  it,  and  there  his  two  daughters,  Margaret  and  Helen, 
passed  their  childhood.  In  1882,  Mrs.  Long  died  in  Boston. 

To  his  life  in  a  country  town  Mr.  Long  owes  his  political 
preferment.  Undoubtedly  his  ability  would  have  won  him  a 
position  as  a  lawyer  in  Boston,  had  he  settled  there  ;  but  as  a 
recognized  force  in  a  small  community  he  came  very  soon  to 
the  top. 

His  father  was  always  an  old-fashioned  Whig,  but  the 
great  tide  of  18GO  swept  the  son  into  the  Republican  party, 
and  he  cast  his  vote  in  that  momentous  election,  for  Israel 
Washburn,  its  candidate  for  governor  of  Maine,  and  spoke 
for  Lincoln  on  the  stump.  Before  the  November  election  he 
went  to  Boston,  and  there,  having  no  vote,  he  lost  the  oppor- 
tunity which  he  desired  to  vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
President.  After  that  he  seems  to  have  had  for  a  time 
no  special  interest  in  politics,  and  when  his  abilities  first 
brought  him  to  the  attention  of  the  Hingham  people  as  a  pos- 
sible candidate  for  the  Legislature,  in  1871,  he  was  nominated 
to  run  as  a  Democrat,  but  in  his  reply  to  the  electors  he  ex- 
pressed his  desire  to  be  regarded  as 

"  An  independent  candidate,  free  to  do  my  duty  in  the  improbable  event 
of  my  election,  according  to  the  best  of  my  own  judgment  and  intelligence, 
unpledged  and  unbiased,  and  considered  as  the  representative,  not  of  party 
issues,  but  of  the  general  interests  of  this  district  and  of  the  Common- 
wealth." 

This  was  not  enough  for  Hingham,  however,  and  he  was 
defeated.  In  1872  he  shared  the  dissatisfaction  of  Sumner 
and  other  Republicans  with  Grant,  and  voted  for  Horace 
Greeley.  In  the  fall  of  1874  he  was  nominated  and  elected 
by  the  Republicans  and  represented  them  in  the  General 
Court  for  four  years.  In  the  Legislature  his  readiness  in  de- 
bate, his  geniality,  and  his  fairness  of  mind  were  promptly 
recognized.  The  Speaker  often  called  him  to  the  chair,  and 
in  1876  he  was  elected  to  occupy  it,  and  remained  for  three 
years  Speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representa- 
tives. 

In  1879  he  was  elected  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  state, 
and  upon  the  retirement  of  Governor  Talbot,  the  following 
year,  he  was  given  the  first  place  on  the  ticket.  He  was  Gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  in  1880,  1881,  and  1882,  and  distin- 


98  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

guished  himself  as  an  administrator,  and  by  the  excellence 
of  his  appointments.  His  official  public  speeches  were  admi- 
rable for  appropriateness  and  eloquence. 

Many  vacancies  in  the  courts  occurred  during  his  terms  of 
office,  and  so  rapid  were  the  changes  on  the  supreme  bench, 
that  at  one  time  every  judge  there  held  his  commission  from 
him,  including  such  distinguished  men  as  Chief  Justice 
Morton,  Judges  Devens,  William  and  Charles  Allen,  Field. 
Holmes,  Colburn,  etc.  Five  of  the  eleven  judges  of  the  su- 
perior court  also  held  their  commissions  from  him. 

His  choice  of  men  for  important  positions  has  always  been 
marked  by  the  clear  insight  and  sound  judgment  for  which  he 
is  distinguished.  Those  who  know  him  best  say  that  his  in- 
tuitive perception  of  character  is  never  at  fault.  His  deci- 
sions are  swift  and  sure,  and  always  justified  by  results. 

He  made  a  steady  and  efficient  chief  magistrate,  and  one 
most  popular  with  the  people.  His  clear,  prompt  habits  of 
mind,  his  perfect  coolness,  and  his  absolute  faithfulness  in 
the  performance  of  every  function,  made  executive  duty  easy 
for  him,  and  as  an  administrator  he  has  always  excelled.  His 
dignified  and  cordial  manners,  his  memory  of  names  and 
faces,  combined  with  the  happy  humor  and  eloquence  which 
made  his  official  speeches  models  of  their  kind,  endeared  him 
to  every  one,  and  then,  as  now,  he  was  always  warmly  and 
eagerly  welcomed  as  a  brilliant  figure  in  any  gathering. 

At  the  close  of  his  third  term,  Mr.  Long  was  elected  to 
the  Forty-Eighth  and  afterwards  to  the  Forty-Ninth  and 
Fiftieth  Congresses  of  the  United  States,  distinguishing  him- 
self in  these  by  attention  to  legislative  business  and  by  cer- 
tain noticeable  speeches  :  On  the  Whisky  Tax  (March  25, 1884), 
on  Interstate  Commerce  (December  3,  1884),  on  Silver  Coinage 
(March  27,  1886),  and  on  the  French  Spoliation  Claim  (August 
4,  1888),  all  of  which  were  logical,  well-reasoned  discourses  of 
weight  and  interest. 

Legislative  duty  proved,  however,  not  altogether  to  his 
taste.  He  chafed  at  being  everybody's  errand  boy,  and  the 
issues  of  that  time  did  not  call  especially  for  his  gifts  of  ora- 
tory, while  his  administrative  ability  was  largely  thrown 
away. 

The  necessity  of  looking  after  his  private  interests  induced 
him  to  decline  a  re-nomination  and  he  returned  to  his  law 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG.  99 

practice  in  Boston  at  the  close  of  his  third  term  in  Congress. 
In  188G  he  had  made  a  second  marriage  with  Miss  Agnes 
Pierce,  daughter  of  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Pierce  of  North  Attle- 
boro,  Mass.,  and  his  son  Pierce  was  born  in  that  town  Decem- 
ber 29,  1887. 

As  a  jury  lawyer  Mr.  Long  was  called  one  of  the  foremost 
in  the  state.  His  knowledge  of  the  law,  founded  on  long,  in- 
telligent study,  became  instinctive  rather  than  the  result  of 
memory.  He  knew  what  the  law  ought  to  be,  and  announced 
it  fearlessly,  while  the  junior  counsel  looked  up  the  authori- 
ties. His  simple,  direct  statements,  his  genial  humor,  carried 
juries  with  him  and  insured  a  favorable  verdict. 

In  the  law  he  was  held  in  high  esteem  on  account  of  his 
aptitude  for  business,  his  quick  insight,  and  rapid  methods, 
and  also  for  an  unusual  ability  to  adjust  cases  by  the  fairness 
of  mind  which  enabled  him  to  see  both  sides,  and  bring  op- 
ponents to  an  understanding.  For  some  years  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  House  Construction  Committee,  and  was 
influential  in  obtaining  the  open  space  about  the  building  so 
essential  to  its  effect. 

It  was  while  he  was  taking  a  much  needed  rest  in  1896  from 
the  arduous  duties  of  his  profession,  that  President-Elect 
McKinley  made  him  the  unlooked-for  offer  of  a  seat  in  his 
cabinet,  with  a  choice  between  several  offices.  The  sugges- 
tion was  such  a  surprise  to  Mr.  Long  that  there  was  some 
delay  in  his  acceptance,  but  he  finally  selected  the  Navy, 
thinking  that  under  its  able  chiefs  of  department  its  perfec- 
tion of  routine  was  such  as  to  make  the  position  of  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  comparatively  easy  in  a  time  of  profound  peace 
such  as  was  then  enjoyed. 

His  nomination  was  sent  to  the  Senate  by  the  President 
and  on  March  5,  1897,  it  was  promptly  confirmed,  but  to  his 
surprise,  after  a  short  time,  the  post  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
became  one  of  unexpected  importance.  After  a  year  of 
enjoyment  of  the  otium  cum  dignitate  of  the  position,  during 
which  he  had  an  opportunity  to  become  familiar  with  the 
duties  of  his  office,  and  a  chance  to  learn  to  know  the  qualities 
of  his  subordinates,  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Spain  made 
the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  contrary  to  all  expec- 
tations, one  of  the  most  responsible  positions  in  the  United 


471612A 


100  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

To  this  surprising  emergency  Mr.  Long  brought  the  calm 
good  judgment  and  ready  perception  which  have  never  failed 
him  in  his  administrative  career.  Recognizing  the  need  of 
technical  counsel,  he  promptly  called  about  him  the  most 
experienced  naval  men  and  organized  them  into  a  board  of 
strategy.  The  purpose  of  this  board  was  to  divine  and  fore- 
stall the  possible  plans  of  the  enemy,  and  to  devise  a  plan  of 
campaign  to  which  the  best  skill  in  the  profession  should 
contribute  advice  and  knowledge. 

The  results  of  this  well  considered  scheme  promptly  testi- 
fied to  its  value.  The  success  of  Dewey  in  Manila  Bay  speedily 
brought  about  a  respectful  consideration  from  those  nations 
of  the  old  world  which  in  the  beginning  were  most  hostile  in 
their  attitude  towards  the  United  States. 

The  forethought  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  had  insured 
proper  preparation  for  the  event  long  before  war  was  declared. 
"  Let  me  know,"  he  said,  "just  how  much  money  you  need 
to  put  the  ships  in  sailing  order  and  you  shall  have  it."  The 
first  Congressional  appropriation  of  twenty  millions  gave  him 
the  means  of  carrying  out  the  promise,  and  when  the  19th  of 
April,  1898,  came,  the  navy  was  ready,  and  its  victory  was  the 
first  thing  to  turn  the  scale  among  foreign  governments,  and 
to  win  for  the  United  States  the  enthusiastic  moral  support  of 
England,  most  important  to  it  at  that  crisis.  During  the  year 
of  the  war,  the  business  of  his  department  involved  amounts 
aggregating  $140,000,000,  every  cent  of  which  was  properly 
accounted  for. 

The  story  of  the  astounding  success  of  our  fleets  in  the 
Philippines  and  Cuba,  without  the  loss  of  a  vessel,  is  a  tribute 
not  only  to  the  valor  and  ability  of  officers  and  men,  but  also 
to  the  foresight  and  wise  supervision  of  the  Secretary,  owing 
to  which  the  great  increase  in  the  laboring  force  at  the  navy 
yards,  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  was  accomplished  without 
undue  rush,  and  under  such  regulations  as  resulted  in  obtain- 
ing only  skilled  men.  Also  the  right  commanders  were  sent 
to  the  right  places. 

Though  the  Secretary  modestly  awarded  the  merit  to  the 
able  department  chiefs,  no  one  can  deny  that  mal-adminis- 
tration  at  the  head  might  have  brought  about  fatal  delays  or 
lack  of  proper  equipment  at  the  right  time  ;  and  the  country 
did  not  fail  to  recognize  that  in  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  the 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG.  101 

right  man  was  in  the  right  place,  and  gave  him  its  entire 
confidence. 

A  little  untimely  neglect,  a  few  appointments  for  some 
reason  besides  proved  ability,  a  lack  at  headquarters  of  an  in- 
telligent plan,  and  no  master  hand  at  the  helm,  might  have 
brought  about  disaster,  a  lagging  campaign,  disaffection  at 
home,  and  the  mockery  cf  those  outside  spectators  whose 
sympathy  it  was  important  to  win. 

One  of  his  considerations  for  the  comfort  and  welfare  of 
the  sailors  at  the  front  was  the  provision  of  refrigerating 
supply  ships,  which  are  practically  innovations  in  naval  war- 
fare, and  never  before  were  hospital  ships  so  admirably 
equipped  for  service. 

After  the  war  with  Spain  was  over,  Secretary  Long  gave 
his  direct  attention  to  increasing  the  material  and  personal 
efficiency  of  the  naval  service,  and  also  to  the  reduction  of 
the  expenditures  of  his  great  department  to  the  lowest  limit 
consistent  with  efficiency.  During  his  incumbency  the  entire 
personnel  of  the  navy  was  reorganized  upon  a  new  basis  :  the 
naval  militia  organizations  of  our  various  states  were  fos- 
tered and  encouraged,  the  upbuilding  of  the  navy  was  carried 
011  with  a  proper  regard  for  our  future  necessities,  and  the 
beginning  of  the  20th  century  found  him  urging  upon  Con- 
gress a  naval  reserve  force  to  act  as  an  extension  of  the 
navy  in  time  of  war,  and  thus  enable  the  regular  establish- 
ment to  be  kept  at  the  lowest  limit  consistent  with  due  regard 
for  the  care  of  our  vessels  during  peace  times.  He  resigned 
early  in  1902. 

A  subordinate  said  of  him  during  his  term  of  office  :  "  Sec- 
retary Long's  devotion  to  the  business  of  the  department  is 
complete.  Reaching  his  office  before  nine  (the  opening  hour) 
every  morning,  he  makes  it  a  point  to  answer  every  commu- 
nication addressed  to  him.  When  this  is  accomplished  he 
gives  the  rest  of  the  morning  to  the  examination  of  and  decis- 
ion in  matters  of  business  of  the  various  bureaus,  and  to 
receiving  official  and  private  visitors.  Nor  does  he  leave  the 
department  until  all  the  letters  are  signed,  and  every  item  of 
the  day's  business  has  been  completed." 

A  gentleman,  who  was  his  guest  for  a  few  days  during  the 
war,  was  struck  with  an  interview  at  which  he  was  present, 
between  the  Secretary  and  two  Senators  who  came  to  advo- 


102  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

cate  some  plausible  scheme.  Mr.  Long  listened  to  them  with 
his  usual  cordial  deference,  but,  when  the  plan  had  been  laid 
before  him,  politely  asked  a  question  or  two,  which  showed 
that  he  had  laid  his  finger  at  once  upon  the  weak  point  in  the 
proposition,  and  afterwards  could  not  be  moved  by  any  spe- 
cious argument  or  personal  influence  to  give  his  consent  to  it. 

This  honesty  and  keen  perception  of  shams  have  been  in- 
valuable to  Mr.  Long  in  his  executive  positions  and  he  has 
that  practical  sense  and  celerity  in  dispatching  business 
characteristic  of  the  able  administrator,  which  always  makes 
itself  felt.  Exciting  the  least  possible  friction  by  a  courteous 
and  conciliating  bearing,  he  obtains  what  he  wants  without 
bluster  or  fuss.  Behind  his  suavity  of  manner  lie  a  resolute 
will,  and  a  passionate,  high  spirit  in  excellent  control,  and  his 
playful  ease  never  detracts  from  a  simple  and  manly  dignity 
upon  which  no  one  dares  to  presume,  while  his  acuteness  pre- 
vents deception. 

Perfectly  reasonable  in  listening  to  argument,  deliberate 
in  coming  to  an  important  decision,  Mr.  Long  is  entirely  tena- 
cious of  a  position  once  taken  as  the  result  of  his  mature 
judgment,  and  this  clearness  and  moderation,  combined  with 
resolution,  give  his  opinions  great  weight  in  cabinet  councils. 
Sharing  the  anxiety  with  regard  to  the  ambassadors  in  Pekin 
at  the  time  of  the  massacres  in  the  summer  of  1900,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  alone  firmly  maintained  the  logical 
opinion  that  the  foreign  ministers  must  be  alive,  since  we 
knew  for  certain  of  the  one  death  which  had  occurred.  This 
shrewd  judgment,  though  ridiculed  at  home  and  abroad, 
proved  to  be  correct,  and  is  another  instance  of  that  sagacity 
which  has  often  stood  the  administration  in  good  stead. 

Add  to  these  qualities  a  great  power  of  turning  off  work 
with  coolness,  insight,  and  dispatch,  apparent  freedom  from 
doubt  or  anxiety,  a  large  serenity  of  temper,  the  capacity  to 
change  promptly  from  one  duty  to  another,  combined  with  a 
fresh,  gay  humor  which  enlivens  and  makes  palatable  serious 
counsel, —  and  we  have  an  ideal  administrator,  whose  steadi- 
ness and  cheerfulness  in  emergencies  were  a  great  support  to 
the  Executive  as  well  as  to  public  confidence. 

jSuch,  briefly,  is  the  sketch  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  20th 
century  of  the  life  of  a  typical  American,  who  has  performed 
his  duty  simply  and  effectively  to  his  town,  his  state  -and  his 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG.  103 

country.  The  story  shows  no  dramatic  events,  no  melancholy 
depths,  no  dazzling  glory,  but  a  career  manly,  efficient,  dis- 
tinguished, honorable  alike  to  the  individual  and  to  the  civili- 
zation of  which  he  is  a  characteristic  product. 

In  estimating  the  causes  of  his  success  we  must  not  fail  to 
take  into  account,  after  his  sincerity,  and  the  kindliness  of  his 
nature,  his  exceptional  mental  ability  and  his  remarkable 
gift  of  oratory,  especially  that  which  is  best  characterized  as 
"occasional,"  the  aptitude  for  speaking  at  a  given  moment 
words  beautiful  and  appropriate  which  move  every  listener 
and  touch  the  heart. 

In  his  speeches  Mr.  Long  has  the  literary  gift  of  grace  and 
poetic  feeling,  but  still  better  he  has  the  power  to  comprehend 
and  express  the  popular  sentiment,  not  with  effort,  but  from 
true  understanding.  He  is  by  turns  playful,  tender,  impas- 
sioned ;  he  can  strike  the  keynote  of  the  moment,  always.  Of 
dignified  and  appropriate  eloquence,  he  is  a  master.  His  pub- 
lished speeches  give  a  clew  to  his  character,  and  in  them  the 
true,  hearty,  kindly  simplicity  of  the  man  are  clearly  appar- 
ent, lighted  up  by  that  cheerful  optimism,  that  boundless  con- 
fidence in  the  future  of  the  race,  which  distinguish  him. 

One  of  his  warmest  friends,  speaking  of  him,  says  :  "He 
has  no  personal  enthusiasms,  and  no  vanity.  He  never  thinks 
highly  of  anything  he  does  himself,  but  only  feels  that  anyone 
in  his  place  would  have  done  as  well."  And  this  feeling  he 
brings  to  bear  on  historical  characters  whose  greatness  he 
feels  to  be  the  greatness  of  the  hour,  of  the  opportunity, 
rather  than  of  remarkable  heroism  or  ability. 

Whether  one  agrees  with  this  or  not,  that  he  believes  it,  is  a 
part  of  the  unpretending  nature  of  a  man  who  thinks  that  do- 
ing one's  duty  is  easy  and  natural  to  every  one,  and  that  its 
simple  performance  in  high  moments  must  lead  to  high  re- 
sults. Great  men  he  considers  myths,  and  when  we  search  for 
his  own  best  title  to  distinction,  we  find  it  in  that  large  com- 
mon sense, —  the  common  sense  of  Washington,  of  Lincoln,  of 
Queen  Victoria,  which  acts  sincerely  and  acts  wisely,  because 
it  feels  with  the  people,  and  knows  instinctively  the  larger 
human  needs.  J 

In  summing  up  his  character,  Mr.  Long's  great  friendliness 
and  sympathy  must  not  be  forgotten,  a  generous  helpfulness 
that  all  his  townspeople  recognize  so  fully,  that  every  one  of 


104  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

them  turns  instinctively  to  him  in  an  emergency  for  aid  and 
advice,  sure  of  comprehension  and  service  given  without 
stint.  That  flower  of  courtesy  which  recognizes  every  indi- 
vidual as  having  equal  rights  distinguishes  him  from  lesser 
men,  and  wins  him  a  place  in  the  popular  heart,  such  as  can 
only  be  gained  by  something  genuine,  cordial,  and  unpretend- 
ing in  the  individual  himself. 

In  looking  back  over  his  career  we  find  nothing  adventi- 
tious in  his  success  in  life, —  no  struggle  for  effect,  no  am- 
bitious grasping  for  power,  no  powerful  backing,  no  great 
financial  support.  We  have  only  the  straightforward  prog- 
ress of  a  country  lad  of  fine  abilities  and  sound  judgment, 
endowed  with  the  gift  of  silver  speech,  who,  by  the  sheer 
force  of  his  intellect,  and  his  honorable  fulfillment  of  every 
duty  which  fell  to  him,  rose  in  time  to  distinction  in  his  town, 
and  in  the  capital  of  the  state,  to  the  highest  place  in  the  gift 
of  the  commonwealth,  and  to  one  of  the  most  responsible 
positions  in  the  nation.  We  see  him  filling  these  offices  with 
efficiency  and  dignity,  with  no  shadow  on  his  fair  fame, 
respected  by  his  fellow-men  of  all  stations  ;  and  we  are  anew 
proud  of  a  country  where  such  a  character  is  sure  of  recog- 
nition, and  in  which  we  can  truly  claim  he  is  no  uncommon 
type  of  the  public  men  who  are  the  result  of  the  splendid 
opportunities  for  development  afforded  by  the  United  States 
of  America. 

CHOICE    OF   COMPANIONS. 

GOOD  companion  or  adviser  is  better  than  a  fortune, 
for  a  fortune  cannot  purchase  those  elements  of  char- 
acter which  make  companionship  a  blessing.  The 
best  companion  is  one  who  is  wiser  and  better  than  ourselves, 
for  we  are  inspired  by  his  wisdom  and  virtue  to  nobler  deeds. 
Greater  wisdom  and  goodness  than  we  possess  lift  us  higher 
mentally  and  morally.  Says  Feltham  :  "  He  that  means  to  be 
a  good  limner  will  be  sure  to  draw  after  the  most  excellent 
copies,  and  guide  every  stroke  of  his  pencil  by  the  better 
pattern  that  lies  before  him  ;  so  he  who  desires  that  the  table 
of  his  life  may  be  fair  will  be  careful  to  propose  the  best 
examples,  and  will  never  be  content  till  he  equal  or  excels 
them." 

"Keep  good  company,  and  you  shall  be  of  the  number," 


SECRETARY   LONG   IX   THE   NAVY   OFFICE. 


CHOICE  OF  COMPANIONS.  107 

said  George  Herbert,  and  nothing  can  be  more  certain.  "A 
man  is  known  by  the  company  he  keeps."  It  is  always  true. 
Companionship  of  a  high  order  is  powerful  to  develop  charac- 
ter. Character  makes  character  in  the  associations  of  life 
faster  than  anything  else.  Purity  begets  purity  ;  like  begets 
like ;  and  this  fact  makes  the  choice  of  companions  in 
early  life  more  important,  even,  than  that  of  teachers 
and  guardians.  When  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  a  boy,  he 
had  so  great  a  reverence  for  the  character  of  Pope,  that 
he  would  press  through  a  crowd  to  touch  his  coat  with  the 
end  of  his  forefinger,  as  if  he  expected  to  be  lifted  higher  by 
the  act,  and  finally  become  more  of  a  man.  Somewhat  of 
that  feeling  should  rule  in  the  choice  of  companions,  selecting 
those  whose  nobleness  challenges  the  touch  of  admiration. 

It  is  true  that  we  cannot  always  choose  all  of  our  com- 
panions. Some  are  thrust  upon  us  by  business  and  the  social 
relations  of  life.  We  do  not  choose  them,  we  do  not  enjoy 
them  ;  and  yet,  we  have  to  associate  with  them  more  or  less. 
The  experience  is  not  altogether  without  compensation, 
if  there  be  principle  enough  in  us  to  bear  the  strain. 
Still,  in  the  main,  choice  of  companions  can  be  made,  and 
must  be  made.  It  is  not  best  nor  necessary  for  a  young 
person  to  associate  with  "Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry/'  without 
forethought  or  purpose.  Some  fixed  rules  about  the  company 
he  or  she  keeps  should  be  observed.  The  subject  should  be 
uppermost  in  the  thoughts,  and  canvassed  often. 

Companionship  is  education,  good  or  bad ;  it  develops 
manhood  or  womanhood,  high  or  low  ;  it  lifts  the  soul  upward 
or  drags  it  downward  ;  it  ministers  to  virtue  or  vice.  There 
is  no  halfway  work  about  its  influence.  If  it  ennobles,  it 
does  it  grandly  ;  if  it  demoralizes,  it  does  it  devilishly.  It 
saves  or  destroys  lustily.  One  school  companion  saved  Henry 
Martyn,  and  made  a  missionary  of  him  :  one  school  com- 
panion ruined  John  Newton,  and  made  a  most  profligate  and 
profane  companion  of  him.  Newton  was  sent  away  to  a 
boarding  school.  He  was  an  obedient  and  virtuous  lad,  and 
his  parents  had  no  anxiety  for  his  moral  safety.  But  there 
was  a  bright,  immoral  youth  in  the  school,  who  cared  more 
for  coarse  fun  than  he  did  for  books,  and  was  profane,  vulgar, 
and  artful.  He  sought  the  companionship  of  young  Newton, 
and  the  latter  was  captivated  by  his  brilliancy  and  social 


108  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

qualities.  He  did  not  appear  to  be  a  bad  young  man.  The 
two  became  intimate,  their  friendship  strengthening  from 
week  to  week.  John  Newton  soon  became  as  wicked  as  his 
companion,  and  finally  ran  away  from  home  and  went  to  sea 
—the  worst  school  he  could  enter.  On  board  the  ship  he 
found  kindred  spirits,  and  he  waxed  worse  and  worse.  At 
last  he  was  "  the  worst  sailor  on  board  the  vessel,"  and  many 
were  the  boon  companions  that  he  ruined.  His  end  would 
have  been  fearful,  had  not  a  kind  Providence  interposed, 
after  years  of  debauchery,  and  made  him  a  Christian  man. 

The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Thomson,  of  New  York  city,  published 
the  story  of  a  youth  who  came  under  his  ministry  at  nineteen 
years  of  age.  He  was  the  son  of  pious  parents,  neither 
profane,  idle,  nor  vicious,  and  had  established  a  character  for 
industry  and  sobriety.  At  twenty  he  united  with  Dr.  Thom- 
son's church,  and  at  twenty-one  was  employed  by  a  rail- 
road company,  where  wicked  companions  beset  him.  He 
soon  fell  into  evil  ways,  and,  in  less  than  one  year,  became  too 
abandoned  and  reckless  to  be  harbored  by  the  church.  The  end 
came  within  three  years  and  Dr.  Thomson  shall  describe  it: — 

"Two  weeks  ago  to-day  I  knelt  in  that  murderer's  cell,  in 
company  with  his  parents,  sister,  and  brother,  who  had  come 
for  their  last  interview  with  him  on  earth.  That  narrow  ceU 
was  more  solemn  than  the  grave  itself.  Two  weeks  ago 
to-morrow  I  saw  the  youth,  who  had  once  been  of  my  spirit- 
ual flock,  upon  the  scaffold.  It  was  an  awful  scene.  He 
made  a  brief  address.  Oh,  that  you  could  have  heard  the 
warning  of  that  young  man  from  the  scaffold:  'You  know,' 
he  said,  '  how  I  was  brought  up.  I  had  the  best  instructions  a 
Christian  father  could  give.  Oh,  if  I  had  followed  them,  I 
should  have  been  in  my  dear  father's  home  ;  but  evil  compan- 
ions led  me  astray,  and  I  have  come  to  this  !  I  hope,  now,  as 
I  leave  the  world,  my  voice  will  warn  all  young  men.  Our 
desires  and  passions  are  so  strong  that  it  requires  very  little  to 
lead  us  astray.  I  want  to  urge  it  upon  all  young  men,  never 
to  take  the  first  step  in  such  a  career  as  mine.  When  the  first 
step  is  taken  in  the  paths  of  sin,  it  is  very  difficult  to  stop." 

Companionship  did  it.  It  can  make  or  mar  a  man.  It  is 
powerful  even  to  disprove  the  truth  of  the  familiar  maxim, 
"  The  boy  is  father  to  the  man."  The  promising  boy  is  trans- 
formed into  the  felon.  All  the  good  lessons  of  home  are  nulli- 


CHOICE  OF  COMPANIONS.  109 

fied,  and  the  language,  spirits,  and  habits  of  the  saloon  and 
other  evil  resorts  are  substituted.  Nothing  good,  fair,  and 
beautiful  can  withstand  its  destructive  power.  The  picture  is 
relieved  only  by  the  fact  that  good  companionship  has  equal 
power  to  ennoble  and  bless  forever.  It  can  do  more  for  a 
youth  than  wealth,  home,  or  books.  Even  the  blessings  of 
schools  and  churches  are  the  outcome,  in  a  large  measure,  of 
the  high  and  pure  companionships  that  are  found  there. 

Beware  of  companions  whose  moral  character  is  below 
your  own,  unless  you  associate  with  them  solely  to  reform 
them.  Avoid  those  who  depreciate  true  worth,  and  speak 
lightly  of  the  best  class  of  citizens,  and  sneer  at  reforms. 
They  who  sip  wine,  use  profane  and  vulgar  language,  think 
that  man  cannot  be  successful  in  business  and  be  honest,  find 
their  pleasure  in  the  circus,  theater,  or  ball  room,  instead  of 
books,  lectures,  and  literary  society,  are  not  suitable  compan- 
ions. They  may  not  be  bad  young  people,  but  their  moral 
tone  is  below  yours,  and  hence  they  are  perilous  associates  for 
you.  Rather  choose  those  of  higher,  nobler  aims,  whose  aspira- 
tions are  to  be  true  and  useful,  who  would  not,  knowingly,  risk 
a  stain  upon  their  life-work,  with  whom  "a  good  name  is  bet- 
ter than  great  riches,"  and  whose  strong  purpose  is  to  make 
the  best  record  possible. 

Strength  of  character  may  successfully  resist  the  worst 
companionship.  The  princess  regent  of  Russia  planned  to  de- 
stroy the  claim  of  Peter  the  Great  to  the  throne  by  subjecting 
him  to  the  company  of  a  hundred  profligate  young  Russians. 
Peter  was  a  youth  of  sagacity,  sobriety,  and  moral  principle,  so 
that  his  character  withstood  the  test  without  a  blemish.  In- 
stead of  being  lured  into  excesses  of  any  kind,  he  beguiled  his 
wayward  companions  into  "the  love  of  manly  sports  and 
military  exercises."  The  evil  designed  by  the  princess  was 
rebuked  by  the  failure  of  her  fiendish  plot. 

Thomas  Jefferson's  life  was  shaped  by  the  companionship  of 
his  early  years.  He  was  an  excellent  scholar,  fond  of  books, 
and  bent  upon  securing  a  thorough  education.  He  commenced 
the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek  at  nine  years  of  age,  and  entered 
William  and  Mary  College,  at  Williamsburg,  Virginia,  when 
he  was  seventeen.  At  this  time  he  was  a  remarkable  youth, 
whose  personal  appearance  attracted  many  friends  older  than 
himself.  Among  them  were  Francis  Farquier,  governor  of 


110  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  colony,  Doctor  William  Sewell,  professor  of  mathematics, 
and  George  Wythe,  an  eminent  lawyer, —  all  citizens  of  Wil- 
liamsburg.  These  men  were  much  with  young  Jefferson, 
whom  they  treated  as  a  younger  brother,  and  their  influence 
over  him  was  very  decided.  Governor  Farquier  was  a  skep- 
tic, and  he  converted  the  youth  into  another,  while  the  other 
two  gentlemen  inspired  him  with  the  desire  to  become  a  public 
man.  Their  companionship  really  decided  his  career. 


CHAPTER  V. 

JOHN   WARWICK   DANIEL. 

PLACES    EMPHASIS     ON    PERSEVERING    EFFORT ENTRANCE    INTO    POLIT- 
ICAL    LIFE A    VIRGINIA     CAMPAIGN  ELECTED     TO     CONGRESS IN     THE 

UNITED     STATES    SENATE AS    AN    ORATOR MENTAL    CHARACTERISTICS 

TONE     OF     HIS      PUBLIC      LIFE RELATIONS     WITH     THE     PEOPLE HIS    AN- 
CESTRY --  YOUTH      AND     EDUCATION  MILITARY     CAREER  --  BEGINS     THE 

STUDY     OF     LAW--  THE     LAWYER  —  PERSONALITY.        THE     IMPORTANCE     OF 
PERSEVERANCE. 


Success  in  life,  whether  confined  to  business  pursuits  or 
to  professional  or  public  careers,  is  reached  in  many  differ- 
ent ways.  Sometimes  it  is  largely  a  matter 
of  chance,  or  environment ;  more  often,  how- 
ever, it  is  dependent  upon  the  personal  equa- 
tion of  the  individual.  Opportunity,  natural 
equipment,  application,  purpose,  self-reliance, 
all  have  their  proper  place  in  its  attainment, 
but  primarily,  in  my  opinion,  in  order  to  suc- 
ceed as  we  ordinarily  construe  it,  a  man  has 
to  do  two  things  :  first,  find  out  what  he 
wants  to  get  or  to  do  ;  second,  stick,  stick, 
stick. 

Any  man  who  has  these  qualifications  has  the  qualities 
of  knowing  what  to  attempt,  and  of  sustained  effort.  He 
has  all  the  chances  of  success  in  his  favor. 


HE    position   of  pre-eminence    in    the    political   life  of 
Virginia  occupied   by  John  Warwick  Daniel  may  be 
said  to  date  from  about  twenty  years  ago.     Previous 
to  that  he  was  a  force  in  politics.     He  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  and  the  state  Senate. 
He  had  attained  high  rank  as  a  lawyer.     His  reputation  as 
an  orator  had  extended  beyond  the  borders  of  the  state.     But 


112  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

when  in  1881,  at  the  Democratic  State  convention  at  Rich- 
mond, he  was  nominated  for  governor,  and  accepted  in  a 
speech  that  quickened  the  pulses  and  roused  to  enthusiasm 
the  great  party  gathering,  his  political  fortune  was  made. 
True,  before  the  fact  became  apparent,  he  had  to  suffer  the 
pang  of  defeat.  The  funding  of  the  state  debt  was  the  issue. 
Thousands  of  voters  who  had  for  years  supported  Demo- 
cratic candidates  at  every  election,  joined  with  the  solid 
black  and  white  Republican  party  to  defeat  the  "  Bourbon 
Funders,"  as  they  called  the  regular  Democracy.  The  Coali- 
tion, under  the  name  of  Readjusters,  triumphed  at  the  polls, 
Daniel  went  down,  and  William  E.  Cameron  was  elevated  to 
the  governorship. 

It  was  a  titanic  battle.  Both  the  candidates  were  bril- 
liant, aggressive,  and  tireless.  The  ablest  platform  speakers 
in  the  commonwealth,  and  many  from  elsewhere,  stumped 
the  state  from  end  to  end,  meeting,  in  every  town  and  county, 
foemen  worthy  of  their  steel.  For  forensic  fury  and  sus- 
tained, excited  public  interest,  it  was  a  campaign  without  a 
parallel  in  the  annals  of  Virginia  politics.  As  many  as  one 
hundred  and  eighty  speeches  were  made  at  different  points  in 
a  single  day,  and  the  fight  went  fiercely  on  until  the  polls 
closed  on  the  day  of  election. 

It  was  in  that  fiery  struggle  that  Daniel  came  in  touch 
with  the  whole  state,  revealing  to  the  people  everywhere  his 
high  motives  and  his  qualifications  for  leadership,  while  over 
all  he  threw  the  spell  of  his  magnetic  eloquence.  In  the  light 
of  events  that  followed,  it  is  seen  that  he  then  established 
himself  firmly  in  the  confidence  of  the  rank  and  file.  The 
forces  allied  against  his  party  in  that  contest  could  not  then 
be  overcome.  But  from  then  till  now  his  title  to  first  place 
among  political  leaders  in  the  popular  regard  has  been  seri- 
ously questioned  but  once.  And  the  outcome  of  that  one 
episode  served  but  to  further  intrench  him. 

The  rule  of  the  Readjuster  regime  was  brief.  The  debt- 
scaling  measure  was  passed  by  the  legislature,  and,  after  a 
long  series  of  contentions  in  the  courts,  was  made  effective. 
A  Democratic  State  convention,  accepting  the  readjustment 
as  the  verdict  of  the  people,  and  res  adjudicata,  formally 
acquiesced  in  the  settlement.  Men  in  great  numbers,  who 
had  with  reluctance  separated  from  the  party  on  the  debt 


JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL.  113 

issue,  returned  with  eagerness  to  its  ranks.  The  power  of 
Gen.  "William  Mahone,  masterful  but  despotic,  who  had 
organized  the  victory  of  the  Readjusters,  had  moreover  been 
tremendously  weakened  by  the  refusal  of  certain  conspicuous 
adherents  of  his  party  in  the  legislature  to  obey  the  com- 
mands from  party  headquarters.  The  breach  thus  made 
never  healed,  but  widened,  for  Mahone  brooked  no  insubordi- 
nation --he  asked  for  no  quarter  and  gave  none.  From  these 
and  a  variety  of  other  causes,  after  a  bitter  and  tragic  cam- 
paign in  1883,  the  Democrats  regained  control  of  the  legisla- 
ture. Two  years  later,  the  Democratic  candidate,  Gen 
Fitzhugh  Lee,  was  elected  governor,  defeating  John  S.  Wise. 
Another  Democratic  legislature  was  chosen,  and  the  reju- 
venated Democracy  was  again  firm  in  the  saddle. 

John  S.  Barbour,  president  of  the  Virginia  Midland  Rail- 
road, was  the  chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  Executive 
Committee  during  these  critical  contests,  and  he  and  his  lieu- 
tenants had  perfected  an  organization  of  the  party  more 
thorough  and  far-reaching  than  had  ever  been  known.  Bar- 
bour, not  a  speaker,  but  a  worker  ;  Barbour,  silent,  sagacious, 
efficient,  had  done  a  giant's  part  toward  wresting  the  state 
from  the  control  of  the  opposition.  The  sentiment  of  the 
party  toward  him  was  that  of  gratitude  mingled  with  admira- 
tion. Meanwhile,  in  1884,  Major  Daniel  had  been  elected  to 
the  lower  house  of  Congress  from  his  district.  He  had  been 
taking  part  in  every  campaign  with  all  his  zeal  and  fire,  with 
every  appearance  before  an  audience  adding  to  his  prestige 
and  power  among  the  people.  It  was  universally  understood 
that  these  two  men  were  slated  for  the  United  States  Senate 
to  succeed  Mahone  and  Riddleberger,  the  senators  elected  by 
the  Readjusters.  Mahone's  term  expired  first,  in  1887 ;  Rid- 
dleberger's  expired  in  1889.  The  names  of  their  successors 
were  known  of  all  men,  before  the  legislature  met  in  Decem- 
ber, 1885, —  but  which  should  it  be,  Barbour  and  Daniel  or 
Daniel  and  Barbour  ? 

That  was  the  question  the  legislature  had  to  decide.  It 
would  have  pleased  the  majority  to  honor  both  candidates  in 
the  most  conspicuous  manner.  But  a  choice  had  to  be  made, 
and  upon  Daniel  fell  the  mantle.  Barbour's  turn  came  two 
years  later,  but  the  preference  given  to  his  younger  com- 
petitor in  the  first  instance  set  the  seal  of  popular  support 


114  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

upon  Daniel  in  a  way  that  the  circumstances  rendered  doubly 
impressive.  Not  since  then  has  any  contest  been  made 
against  him  for  the  office  of  United  States  senator  from  Vir- 
ginia. He  has  been  twice  re-elected,  by  the  legislatures  of 
1891-2  and  1897-8,  both  times  unanimously. 

Since  his  advent  in  the  Senate,  the  reputation  and  influence 
of  Senator  Daniel  have  steadily  widened.  It  is  a  forum  for 
which  he  is  peculiarly  fitted  by  inclination,  talents,  and  educa- 
tion, and  his  long  service  has  added  invaluable  experience  to 
his  other  qualifications.  Now,  in  the  prime  of  his  matured 
powers,  he  is  one  of  the  counselors  whom  the  Senate  always 
hears  with  attention,  and  often  applauds.  His  prominence 
has  become  national,  and  in  Democratic  National  conven- 
tions he  is  a  well-known  and  conspicuous  figure.  In  1896, 
most  probably  he  could  have  had  the  nomination  for  vice- 
president  for  the  asking. 

As  a  member  of  the  Senate  Committees  on  Foreign  Rela- 
tions and  on  Finance,  and  of  the  Industrial  Commission,  he 
has  had  to  deal  with  subjects  of  permanent  and  universal  im- 
portance. Bringing  to  the  task  a  well-stored,  well-trained, 
comprehending  mind,  and  a  patriotic  purpose,  his  counsel  is 
respected  and  his  advice  valued  by  men  of  all  parties.  He  is 
easily  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  minority  in  the  Chamber,  and 
in  many  of  the  great  debates  his  words  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  whole  country. 

Senator  Daniel's  record  is  that  of  a  career,  not  an  episode. 
The  forces  by  which  it  has  been  promoted  are  various.  It 
cannot  be  doubted,  however,  that  the  chief  agency  to  bring 
his  abilities  and  worth  into  public  view  and  public  favor  at 
the  outset,  was  his  brilliancy  as  an  orator.  Daniel  as  a 
speaker  makes  a  strong  appeal  to  a  people  of  sensibility  and 
patriotism.  His  appearance  on  the  platform  is  impressive 
and  engaging.  He  has  a  handsome  face,  strong  yet  pleasing, 
and  marked  with  the  lines  that  bespeak  the  man  of  serious 
reflection.  His  fine  head  is  crowned  with  hair  almost  black, 
and  worn  rather  long,  which,  at  sixty,  shows  scarcely  a  trace 
of  gray.  He  comes  forward  always  to  the  music  of  hand- 
clapping  and  cheers.  He  walks  with  a  limp  that  has  a  his- 
tory, being  the  result  of  a  severe  wound  received  in  1864, 
when,  as  Major  Daniel,  the  young  Confederate  officer  he  was 
fighting  for  the  "Lost  Cause"  in  the  battles  of  the  Wilder- 


JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL.  115 

ness.  The  efforts  of  admirers  to  coin  a  sobriquet  that  should 
refer  to  his  war  record  have  not  been  altogether  successful, 
the  product  being  "The  Lame  Lion  of  the  Virginia  Democ- 
racy," and,  for  those  more  fond  of  alliteration,  "The  Larne 
Lion  of  Lynchburg."  It  needs  not  to  be  said  that  the  phys- 
ical reminder  of  his  gallantry  in  battle  detracts  nothing  from 
his  "stage  presence"  -most  certainly  not  in  the  eyes  of  a  Vir- 
ginia audience.  It  but  adds  a  touch  of  pathos  to  the  grace  of 
his  bearing.  His  voice  is  sonorous,  with  music  in  it,  capable 
of  expressing  a  wide  range  of  feeling  •  his  gestures,  not  too 
frequent,  are  graceful  without  being  theatrical ;  his  manner, 
while  at  times  exceedingly  vigorous,  seldom  reaches  the  stage 
of  excitement.  Denunciatory  in  a  personal  way,  he  rarely  is, 
and  only  under  the  stress  of  strong  provocation.  Buffoonery 
is  foreign  to  his  style. 

Senator  Daniel  for  years  has  been  in  great  demand  as  a 
speaker  on  all  sorts  of  occasions.  His  addresses  have  covered 
a  great  variety  of  subjects.  Speeches  on  the  political  issues, 
as  they  vary  in  successive  campaigns,  have,  of  course,  been 
most  numerous.  He  has,  however,  moved  many  a  gathering 
of  Confederate  veterans  to  laughter  and  tears  and  enthusi- 
asm with  reminiscences  of  camp  and  field,  and  appeals  to 
noble  sentiment.  He  has  delivered  literary  addresses  at  col- 
lege commencements,  engaged  in  dignified  controversy  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate,  and  in  arguments  before  courts  and  juries, 
and  in  the  rough-and-tumble  joint  debate  of  the  campaign 
tour.  He  has  spoken  on  a  number  of  occasions  that  are  his- 
toric—  his  address  on  Washington  in  the  hall  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  the  completion  of  the  Washington 
monument,  and  that  on  Lee  at  the  unveiling  of  the  recumbent 
statue  of  the  Confederate  leader  at  Lexington,  are  master- 
pieces of  their  kind.  Many  others  might  be  included  in  the 
same  category. 

He  has  wide-sweeping  command  of  the  resources  of  the 
language,  and  words  when  used  by  him  seem  to  fall  without 
effort  on  his  part  into  rhythmic  sentences,  or  energetic,  con- 
vincing phrases,  as  the  moment  may  demand.  If  in  later 
years  there  is  less  of  a  certain  exuberance  that  marked  his 
earlier  speeches,  there  is  not  less  of  richness  and  beauty,  and 
even  more  of  salient  thought  and  convincing  power.  It  is  the 
minted  product.  Variety  and  force  of  illustration  continue, 


116  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

while  the  play  of  fancy  and  the  brilliant  climax  work  their 
magic  still. 

Given  an  occasion  and  a  subject  worthy  of  his  powers, 
Senator  Daniel  will  not  hurry  through.  Opening  with  some 
happy  hit,  grave  or  gay,  that  puts  him  en  rapport  with  his 
audience,  he  passes  almost  imperceptibly  into  his  argument. 
Step  by  step  it  is  developed,  with  here  and  there  an  anecdote 
to  divert,  a  bit  of  history  or  philosophy  to  point  a  moral,  or  a 
burst  of  eloquence  to  inspire.  With  striking  facility  he  mar- 
shals facts  and  knowledge  for  the  purposes  in  hand.  Through 
it  all,  the  line  of  his  reasoning  is  kept  close  and  unbroken, 
until  the  conclusion  seems  to  follow  as  naturally  as  the  se- 
quence of  days.  His  method  is  persuasive  rather  than  per- 
emptory, but  is  none  the  less  compelling.  "That's  exactly 
what  I  think  on  that  question,  only  he  can  tell  it  and  I  can't,'' 
was  the  tribute  to  Daniel  from  a  man  who  had  listened  to  him 
intently  for  over  two  hours. 

While  his  eloquence  was  Daniel's  first  stepping-stone  to 
political  preferment,  this  fine  gift  cannot  be  set  down  as  the 
sole  bulwark  of  his  political  strength.  This  has  endured  so 
long  in  the  past,  consistently  growing  all  the  while,  and  prom- 
ises to  continue  so  long  in  the  future,  that  broader  foundations 
must  be  sought.  As  the  people  have  come  to  know  him  bet- 
ter and  better,  they  have  come  to  realize  and  appreciate  more 
fully  the  high  order  of  ability  with  which  he  is  endowed,  the 
rectitude  of  the  sentiments  and  motives  which  actuate  him, 
his  loyalty  to  the  best  traditions  of  the  state,  his  unquestion- 
able integrity,  and  the  genuineness  of  his  democracy. 

With  well-balanced  judgment,  cultivated  by  reflection  and 
experience,  he  is  not  easily  deceived  by  "the  shouting  and  the 
tumult."  Though  comporting  himself  as  a  representative  of 
the  people,  and  not  a  dictator,  yet  he  has  often  made  his  hand 
felt  as  a  restraining  force.  He  is  not  given  to  extremes,  and 
recklessness  or  undue  haste  in  matters  affecting  the  public 
interest  he  is  not  afraid  to  oppose,  having  confidence  that  the 
"sober  second  thought"  will  sustain  him.  "War,"  said  he 
in  the  Senate  when  so  many  members  of  his  party  were 
clamoring  for  immediate  aggressive  action — "war,"  said 
Daniel,  "can  wait  a  day."  He  was  fordoing  things  —  even 
the  things  that  had  to  be  done  —  deliberately,  and  in  order. 
He  desired  to  omit  no  precaution,  or  even  formality,  that 


JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL.  117 

might  afterward  be  needed  to  justify  the  course  of  this  coun- 
try, in  the  view  of  the  enlightened  sentiment  of  the  world.  In 
Virginia  his  political  utterances  have  much  weight.  He  does 
not  assume  the  tone  of  an  oracle,  but  expresses  his  views  with 
the  reasons  for  them,  as  something  to  be  considered  and  not 
to  be  swallowed  with  eyes  closed.  Thus  is  enlisted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  thinking  element,  and  the  influence  on  public  opin- 
ion is  obviously  far  greater  than  could  be  wielded  through  the 
cocksure  edict  of  a  "boss." 

Amid  the  criticism  and  censure  that  have  been  aimed  at 
the  United  States  Senate  in  recent  years,  there  has  never  been 
a  suggestion  that  an  unworthy  motive  has  inspired  any  act  of 
Senator  Daniel.  In  respect  of  personal  and  official  integrity, 
he  is  absolutely  above  suspicion.  Whatever  verdict  may  be 
passed  by  ally  or  antagonist  concerning  him  or  his  course,  it 
never  takes  the  color  of  an  intimation  that  he  is  corrupt. 
On  that  point  the  people  of  Virginia  feel  secure.  They  know 
that  Daniel  is  a  clean  man,  and  know  it  so  well  that  the  con- 
trary idea  never  presents  itself.  Political  mistakes  and  errors 
of  judgment  many  may  attribute  to  him  ;  dishonesty,  none. 
This  is  a  tower  of  strength  in  the  midst  of  the  modern  fashion- 
able outcry  concerning  corruption  in  public  life. 

Daniel's  attitude  is  that  of  a  Democrat  from  conviction 
and  principle.  His  effort  is  to  place  himself  at  the  stand- 
point of  the  masses,  and  then  to  evolve  his  own  conclusions. 
His  opinions  so  arrived  at  may  or  may  not  satisfy  all  men, 
but  as  to  his  point  of  view  there  can  be  no  doubt.  He  identi- 
fies himself  with  the  people  at  large,  and  he  joins  with  them 
in  attacking  problems  involving  the  common  welfare.  It 
would  be  surprising  in  an  age  of  independent  thought  if  his 
solution  should  in  every  case  receive  universal  approbation. 
But  in  every  case  it  is  felt  that  he  himself  is  convinced,  and 
deliberately  convinced,  that  he  is  acting  for  the  best  interests 
of  his  constituency.  There  is  no  fear  that  on  any  issue  involv- 
ing a  principle  he  will  place  himself  in  any  other  position  —  that 
he  will  allow  himself  to  be  diverted  from  his  course  by  either 
the  lures  or  the  threats  of  any  class  as  opposed  to  the  whole. 

Senator  Daniel  keeps  in  touch  with  the  people.  He  is  very 
approachable,  ready  to  hear  the  opinions  of  others,  anxious 
for  new  light  from  any  source.  In  his  many  campaigns  he 
has  met  the  citizens  of  the  commonwealth  of  all  classes,  on 


118  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  court  green,  by  the  fireside,  on  the  railroad  train,  as  well 
as  in  the  mansion,  the  political  council,  and  the  hall  of  legis- 
lation. He  marks  the  trend  of  public  opinion,  continually 
refreshing  his  interest  in  the  subjects  that  enlist  the  attention 
of  those  whom  he  represents.  He  keeps  himself  in  a  position 
to  act  on  information  rather  than  hearsay. 

This  identification  in  interest  and  aspiration  with  the 
masses,  and  respect  for  them  as  the  source  of  power  in  a  free 
government,  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  strong  and  apparently 
permanent  hold  upon  their  support,  and,  it  may  be  added, 
upon  their  affections.  Here  again  comes,  indispensably,  the 
confidence  of  the  public  in  his  sincerity.  He  is  a  man  of 
ideals,  and  the  fact  is  recognized  -  -  ideals  of  government  and 
civic  development  toward  which  he  endeavors  to  lead  the 
way  by  such  steps  as  may  be  practicable  in  the  changing  con- 
ditions of  the  times. 

Honors  rest  so  fittingly  upon  the  shoulders  of  Senator 
Daniel,  and  time  has  touched  him  so  lightly,  that  the  fact  is 
apt  to  be  overlooked  that  his  success  has  been  a  growth, 
reached  by  successive  stages  from  his  youth  to  the  present 
day.  Advantages  he  had  which  do  not  fall  to  the  lot  of  every 
man,  but,  with  all  that,  he  has  had  to  carve  out  his  own  career, 
to  abide  defeats  as  well  as  to  win  victories,  and  whatever  he 
has  become  must  be  attributed  in  chief  degree  to  his  own  well- 
directed  efforts  in  the  use  of  his  powers  and  his  opportunities. 
He  comes  of  old  Virginia  stock,  and  of  a  family  of  lawyers. 
His  father,  Judge  William  Daniel,  Jr.,  and  his  grandfather, 
also  named  William,  were  both  lawyers  and  judges  of  dis- 
tinction. John  W.  Daniel  was  born  in  Lynchburg  on  Septem- 
ber 5,  1842.  His  early  inclination  was  toward  the  profession 
with  which  his  family  had  been  so  prominently  identified. 
He  attended  in  his  boyhood  days  several  of  the  excellent 
private  schools  at  his  home.  At  the  old  Lynchburg  College 
in  the  late  fifties  his  favorite  field  of  effort  was  not  so  much 
the  class  room  as  the  platform.  The  weapon  that  in  the  fu- 
ture was  to  prove  so  notably  efficient  was  already  shaping 
itself,  and  as  declaimer,  debater,  and  orator  he  shone  even 
then  among  his  contemporaries.  Public  debates  participated 
in  by  the  students,  and  attended  by  the  people  of  the  town 
generally,  in  those  days  were  not  infrequent,  and  on  such 
occasions  Daniel  carried  off  a  large  share  of  the  honors.  He 


JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL.  119 

is  remembered  also  by  his  schoolfellows  as  a  youth  of  kindly 
impulses,  sociable  in  disposition,  courteous  and  companion- 
able, and  fond  of  the  outdoor  sports  of  the  time. 

The  war  between  the  states  came  on  and  young  Daniel, 
nineteen  years  of  age,  went  to  the  front,  soon  thereafter  be- 
ing elected  second  lieutenant  of  Company  A,  Eleventh  Vir- 
ginia Regiment.  Subsequent  promotions  raised  him  to  the 
rank  of  major,  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Jubal  A.  Early.  His 
three  strenuous  years  in  the  army  were  full  of  incident  and 
abundantly  exciting,  and  his  record  was  one  of  gallant  con- 
duct and  devotion  to  duty.  He  received  four  wounds  at  dif- 
ferent times,  the  last  being  the  most  serious.  On  the  6th  of 
May,  1864,  during  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  he  was  in  the 
act  of  leading  forward  a  section  of  the  Confederate  force.  It 
was  not  a  duty  required  of  a  major  of  the  staff,  but  he  saw  a 
point  where  it  appeared  that  a  mounted  officer  could  be  of 
service,  and  there  he  went.  On  horseback  and  in  front  of  the 
soldiers  on  foot,  he  was  a  good  mark.  A  detachment  of  the 
enemy  seemed  to  rise  up  from  the  ground  in  the  woods  just 
ahead.  A  volley  came,  and  Major  Daniel  was  unhorsed.  A 
large  femoral  vein  had  been  opened  by  the  bullet,  and  there 
was  danger.  His  own  presence  of  mind  and  the  timely  aid  of 
a  comrade  from  the  ranks  saved  him  from  bleeding  to  death, 
but  his  active  service  in  the  army  was  over.  The  thigh  bone 
had  been  shattered,  and  it  is  still  necessary  for  him  to  use 
crutches. 

After  the  close  of  the  struggle  at  arms,  Major  Daniel  found 
himself  in  the  thick  of  the  battle  of  life.  The  environment  of 
wealth  that  had  been  his  lot  in  his  boyhood  had  been  changed 
by  the  blight  of  war,  and  he  had  his  own  future  to  make.  It 
required  no  prophet  then  to  predict  that  it  would  be  a  bright 
one.  He  studied  law  at  the  University  of  Virginia  for  a  year, 
incidentally  carrying  off  the  highest  honors  for  oratory.  Re- 
turning to  Lynchburg,  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  with 
his  father,  the  partnership  continuing  until  the  death  of 
Judge  Daniel  seven  years  later.  John  Daniel  devoted  him- 
self earnestly  to  the  labors  of  his  profession,  and  soon  estab- 
lished himself  at  the  bar.  His  intellectual  gifts,  his  talents 
as  speaker  and  advocate,  and  his  popularity  soon  marked 
him,  however,  for  the  political  arena.  There  was  urgent  call 
for  the  brightest  and  best  in  those  troubled  times.  In  1869  he 


120  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  as  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Delegates,  remaining  in  that  body  for  three  years.  In  1875, 
he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  was  re-elected  four  years 
later,  and  was  a  state  senator  when  nominated  for  governor 
in  1881.  In  the  meantime,  he  had  twice  been  an  unsuccessful 
candidate  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Congress,  the 
honor  being  awarded  to  older  men,  and  in  1877,  his  name  had 
been  presented  to  the  Democratic  State  convention  for  gov- 
ernor. There  was  a  deadlock  between  him  and  his  leading 
competitor,  and  a  dark  horse  won.  The  result  of  the  unsuc- 
cessful but  splendidly  fought  campaign  of  1881  has  already 
been  told.  In  1884,  Major  Daniel  was  nominated  and  elected 
to  the  National  House  of  Representatives  from  the  Sixth 
District  of  Virginia.  Here  he  served  but  one  term,  his  election 
to  the  Federal  Senate  occurring  in  the  meantime.  He  began 
his  service  in  that  body  in  1887. 

Major  Daniel's  rank  as  a  lawyer  is  high  and  of  long  stand- 
ing. When  he  was  a  comparatively  young  man,  in  his  thirties, 
he  was  rated  among  the  leaders  at  the  Virginia  bar.  His 
reputation  in  this  regard,  extended  and  strengthened  by  time 
and  experience,  rests  upon  a  solid  basis.  His  thoroughness  of 
equipment  and  power  of  concentration  are  no  less  marked 
than  his  eloquence  and  skill  as  an  advocate.  He  does  not 
spare  himself  in  point  of  hard  labor  when  affairs  of  moment 
claim  his  attention;  indeed,  his  intensity  of  application  at 
times  is  extreme.  He  turns  the  light  from  many  directions 
on  the  subject  before  him.  Not  merely  the  letter  of  the  law, 
but  literature,  history,  philosophy,  any  and  all  of  them, 
furnish  tools  for  his  mental  laboratory,  and  he  uses  them 
with  an  ease  and  deftness  of  touch  that  is  as  fascinating  as  it 
is  enlightening.  In  elucidation  he  is  a  master,  having  an 
instant  perception  of  essentials  and  the  ability  to  extract  from 
a  seeming  chaos  of  facts  the  relevant  and  the  significant. 

Senator  Daniel  is  the  author  of  two  law  books  which  are 
accepted  as  standards — "Daniel  on  Negotiable  Instruments" 
and  "Daniel  on  Attachments."  Among  the  honors  which 
have  been  bestowed  upon  him  is  the  degree  of  LL.D.,  con- 
ferred by  both  Washington  and  Lee  University  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan. 

Senator  Daniel  is  not  a  wealthy  man.  The  time  and  the 
talents  that  might  have  brought  him  riches  have  been  de- 


JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL.  121 

voted  in  greater  part,  during  many  years  of  his  life,  to  his 
legislative  duties  and  the  political  responsibilities  which  leader- 
ship imposes.  He  applies  himself  to  these  as  assiduously  as 
the  business  man  does  to  the  affairs  of  his  countingroom.  He 
lives  in  modest  style  in  Washington  during  the  sessions  of 
Congress,  and,  during  the  recesses,  at  his  residence  in  Camp- 
bell county,  about  a  mile  from  the  corporate  limits  of  Lynch- 
burg.  Here,  on  the  crest  of  a  hill,  surrounded  by  a  fine  land- 
scape of  fields  and  woods,  mountains  and  valleys,  he  has  a 
delightful  home,  where  he  lives  with  his  interesting  family, 
comfortably  but  unostentatiously. 

He  is  a  man  of  exceptionally  attractive  personality.  His 
manner  is  of  the  courtly  type,  but  unaffected,  cordial,  and 
friendly  withal.  He  does  not  hedge  himself  in.  In  the  more 
intimate  circle,  he  is  genial,  responsive,  and  unreserved.  He 
cherishes  his  friendships,  and  they  are  many. 

Without  sacrifice  of  dignity,  he  is  essentially  democratic  in 
his  mingling  with  men.  The  atmosphere  of  popular  applause 
in  which  he  has  lived  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  not  un- 
duly elated  him,  nor  caused  him  to  forget  that  "a  man's  a 
man  for  a'  that."  And  with  all  his  attainments,  it  may  well 
be  believed  that  not  the  least  important  factor  in  his  educa- 
tion has  been  the  free  and  friendly  contact  with  many  kinds 
of  men  of  his  own  country  in  his  own  day  and  generation. 

Senator  Daniel's  passport  to  promotion  and  success  in  pub- 
lic life  is  found  in  the  fullness  with  which  he  has  measured  up 
to  his  opportunities  ;  the  ability  in  a  constantly  expanding 
sphere  of  influence  and  activity,  to  meet  the  emergencies,  and 
to  fulfill  the  expectations  of  the  people  ;  always  ready,  and 
ready  with  the  best  there  is  in  him.  Throughout  he  has  been 
faithful  to  the  fundamental  ideas  of  democracy,  and  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  in  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose  has  never 
been  shaken.  He  is  a  stanch  party  man,  generally  in  full  har- 
mony with  the  organization  leaders ;  but  his  real  strength  is 
with  the  people  themselves,  independent  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree of  the  ordinary  devices  of  what  is  called  "  practical  poli- 
tics.'' He  has  already  served  in  the  Federal  Senate  longer 
than  any  other  member  from  Virginia  in  the  history  of  the 
state,  and  he  will,  from  all  indications,  continue  there  for  an 
indefinite  period.  Under  modern  conditions,  the  term  "  favor- 
ite son"  is  generally  a  misnomer  ;  in  Daniel's  case  it  may  be 


122  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

applied  literally.  He  has  not  escaped  criticism,  of  course  ;  no 
man  of  convictions  can  escape  it.  But  personally  and  politi- 
cally, he  is  held  in  high  regard  throughout  the  state.  He  is 
thoroughly  trusted,  after  having  been  in  the  public  eye  for 
thirty  odd  years.  One  of  the  newspaper  editorials  written  at 
the  time  Daniel  was  nominated  for  the  state  Senate,  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  spoke  of  his  exceptional  qualifications,  his 
patriotism,  his  eminence  as  a  lawyer,  and  predicted  for  him  a 
"still  higher  niche  in  the  Temple  of  Fame''  than  that  of  a 
state  senator.  The  references  to  Major  Daniel  were  in  strong 
terms  of  eulogy.  There  was  one  word  in  italics,  and  that 
word  was  "  integrity."  Twenty-seven  years  later,  it  can  still 
be  underscored. 

Senator  Daniel's  achievement  and  the  best  of  his  reward 
are  not  wholly  disclosed  by  the  bare  appellation  of  United 
States  Senator.  Nor  can  they  be  briefly  summed  up,  since, 
aside  from  the  conspicuous  part  he  has  had  in  national  politi- 
cal conventions  and  the  federal  legislative  bodies,  his  hand 
and  voice  for  two  decades  and  more  have  been  potential  in 
all  the  prominent  councils  and  policies  of  the  party  that  con- 
trols in  his  commonwealth.  He  is  the  representative  Vir- 
ginian of  his  time.  There  is  no  great  political  movement  but 
that  there  is  call  for  him  at  the  front ;  no  state  enterprise  that 
does  not  seek  his  support ;  no  great  civic  or  patriotic  demon- 
stration that  is  quite  complete  without  his  presence.  It  is  a 
flattering  distinction,  and  rare,  and  it  falls  to  the  lot  of  a  man 
but  once  in  a  while. 

PERSEVERANCE. 

PERSEVERANCE  means  the  steady  pursuit  of  a  plan, 
whether  good  or  bad  ;  but  it  would  be  very  unwise  to 
persevere  in  a  plan  which  conscience  or  practice  had 
proved  to  be  bad.  In  actual  life,  where  there  are  so  many 
different  pursuits,  and  different  ways  of  doing  the  same  thing, 
it  means  steadiness  in  the  execution  of  whatever  plan  is  de- 
termined upon.  Burgh  makes  mention  of  a  merchant  who, 
at  first  setting  out,  opened  and  shut  his  shop  every  day,  for 
several  weeks  together,  without  selling  goods  to  the  value  of 
one  penny,  who,  by  the  force  of  application  for  a  course  of 
years,  rose  at  last  to  a  handsome  fortune.  "  But  I  have 
known,"  he  says,  "  many  who  had  a  variety  of  opportunities 


SENATOR  JOHN   W.   DANIEL. 


_-,_      r    .--,1-> 

1 

PDBLiC  ;JC;:; 


ASTOR,  LENOX  AND 
TILD&N  FOUiSIOATIuNS 


PERSEVERANCE.  125 

of  settling  themselves  comfortably  in  the  world,  yet,  for  want 
of  steadiness  to  carry  any  scheme  to  perfection,  they  sank 
from  one  degree  of  wretchedness  to  another  for  many  years 
together,  without  the  least  hopes  of  ever  getting  above  dis- 
tress and  pinching  want.  There  is  hardly  an  employment  in 
life  so  trifling  that  it  will  not  afford  a  subsistence,  if  con- 
stantly and  faithfully  followed.  Indeed,  it  is  by  indefatigable 
diligence  alone  that  a  fortune  can  be  acquired  in  any  business 
whatever." 

An  accomplished  author  says:  ''The  man  who  is  per- 
petually hesitating  which  of  two  things  he  will  do  first,  will 
do  neither.  The  man  who  resolves,  but  suffers  his  resolution 
to  be  changed  by  the  first  counter-suggestion  of  a  friend  - 
who  fluctuates  from  opinion  to  opinion,  from  plan  to  plan,  and 
veers  like  a  weathercock  to  every  point  of  the  compass  with 
every  breath  of  caprice  that  blows  —  can  never  accomplish 
anything  great  or  useful.  Instead  of  being  progressive  in 
anything  he  will  be  at  best  stationary,  and  more  probably  ret- 
rograde in  all.  It  is  only  the  man  who  carries  into  his  pur- 
suits that  great  quality  which  Lucan  ascribes  to  Csesar,  Nescia 
virtus  stare  loco  -  -  who  first  consults  wisely,  then  resolves 
firmly,  and  then  executes  his  purpose"  with  inflexible  perse- 
verance, undismayed  by  those  petty  difficulties  which  daunt 
a  weaker  spirit  —  that  can  advance  to  eminence  in  any  line." 

If  anyone  is  in  doubt  as  to  what  perseverance  is,  he  may 
soon  find  it  out  by  a  little  observation.  Look  round  among  your 
friends  and  acquaintances  ;  there  is  perhaps  among  them  an 
example  of  perseverance.  Keep  your  eye  on  him  for  a  time  ; 
does  it  not  seem  as  though  he  had  a  double  vitality  within 
him,  some  other  man's  life  as  well  as  his  own  ?  It  is  true  that 
his  heart  beats  and  his  blood  circulates  in  the  same  way  as 
that  of  other  men,  but  you  cannot  help  fancying  that  there  is 
something  else  in  the  circulation  invigorating  every  nerve 
and  muscle,  only  to  cease  when  the  wonderful  machine  stands 
still.  If  at  times  it  seems  to  be  idle,  you  may  be  sure  that  it 
is  not  real  idleness  —  but  only  a  pause  for  a  new  start. 

In  the  possession  of  rank  and  riches  he  may,  perhaps,  not 
be  so  well  off  —  that  is,  not  so  bountifully  supplied  as  many 
of  his  neighbors  ;  but  yet  he  goes  on  with  a  cheerful,  hopeful 
spirit,  which  sustains  him  in  trials  that  would  swamp  ordi- 
nary people.  There  is  reciprocal  cause  and  effect ;  perse- 


126  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

verance  promotes  cheerfulness,  and  cheerfulness  promotes 
perseverance.  He  who  is  never  idle,  who  has  no  waste  time, 
is  in  the  fairest  way  to  secure  contentment  of  mind  and  body. 
Nine  times  out  of  ten,  the  idle  man,  he  who  has  nothing  to 
do,  is  unhappy,  and  is  put  to  all  sorts  of  shifts  to  kill  time  - 
the  most  lamentable  kind  of  murder.  There  is  something 
terrible  in  the  idea  of  flinging  away  one's  breathing  moments, 
hours  and  days  which  are  only  lent  to  us,  as  though  they  were 
worthless.  No  one  likes  to  fling  away  shillings  by  the  hand- 
ful, and  yet  how  few  hesitate  to  squander  minutes  ! 

Not  so,  however,  with  the  persevering.  He  has  an  object 
in  view,  and  strives  to  accomplish  it.  Early  and  late  he  fol- 
lows it  up,  finding  time  not  too  long,  but  too  short.  He  can- 
not do  half  that  he  would  in  a  day ;  all  his  waking  moments 
are  employed  with  the  duty  he  has  in  hand,  or  in  thinking 
about  it. 

Whether  in  business  or  pleasure,  he  knows  how  to  make 
the  most  of  a  minute.  Idle  gossip,  trivial  recreation,  dissipat- 
ing pursuits,  have  no  charms  for  him  ;  there  is  a  purpose  in 
all  that  he  undertakes,  whether  of  business  or  pleasure.  If 
at  times  he  fail,  he  tries  again — and  again  —  and  still  tries, 
come  what  may.  It  is  a  fine,  manly  quality,  this  persever- 
ance, especially  when  well  directed. 

President  Lincoln  was  asked,  "  How  does  Grant  impress 
you  as  a  leading  general  ?  " 

"  The  greatest  thing  about  him  is  cool  persistency  of  pur- 
pose," he  replied.  "He  is  not  easily  excited,  and  he  has  the 
grip  of  a  bulldog.  When  he  once  gets  his  teeth  in,  nothing 
can  shake  him  off.'? 

That  is  perseverance, —  putting  the  teeth  of  invincible  pur- 
pose into  the  object  sought,  and  holding  on  until  it  is  yours  ! 
Even  in  religion  this  is  the  condition  ;  the  angel  will  go  if  you 
will  let  him  ;  Jacob  wrestled  with  him,  and  compelled  him  to 
stay  or  bless.  He  cried  aloud,  "  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except 
-thou  bless  me." 

Success  yields  to  such  persistency,  as  the  angel  did. 

But  it  was  a  good  angel  that  Jacob  wrestled  with.  There 
are  fallen  angels  :  beware  of  them.  Let  them  go  if  they  will. 
Woe  to  the  youth,  male  or  female,  who  wrestles  with  a  bad 
angel !  for  his  perseverance  will  drive  him  over  the  road  to 
ruin  at  a  rapid  rate.  It  is  only  when  a  person  is  sure  of  being 


PERSEVERANCE.  127 

in  the  right  way,  that  perseverance  becomes  a  great  blessing 
to  him."  The  Bible  calls  it  "patient  continuance  in  well-do- 
ing.'' This  is  perseverance  of  the  saints. 

But  "patient  continuance"  in  evil-doing  is  the  persever- 
ance of  sinners,  which  every  wise  and  thoughtful  youth  will 
shun. 

Stephenson,  the  inventor  of  the  locomotive,  addressed  an 
audience  of  mechanics  in  the  city  of  Leeds,  his  purpose  being 
to  encourage  them  in  persistent  efforts  to  reach  a  higher 
standard  in  their  pursuits. 

"I  stand  before  you,"  he  said,  "as  a  humble  mechanic.  I 
commenced  my  career  on  a  lower  level  than  any  man  here. 
I  make  this  remark  to  encourage  young  mechanics  to  do  as  I 
have  done, —  to  persevere.  The  humblest  of  you  occupy  a 
much  more  favorable  position  than  I  did  on  commencing  my 
life  of  labor.  The  civil  engineer  has  many  difficulties  to  con- 
tend with  ;  but  if  the  man  wishes  to  rise  to  the  higher  grades 
of  the  profession,  he  must  never  see  any  difficulties  before 
him.  Obstacles  may  appear  to  be  difficulties,  but  the  engi- 
neer must  be  prepared  to  throw  them  overboard  or  to  conquer 
them." 

It  is  characteristic  of  perseverance  not  to  see  difficulties,  or 
expect  defeat.  It  anticipates  success. 

When  Columbus  was  searching  for  the  New  World,  his 
ship's  crew  became  discouraged,  and  rose  in  rebellion.  They 
insisted  upon  turning  back,  instead  of  persevering  on  a  fool's 
errand.  There  was  no  New  World  to  be  found,  in  their  view. 

But  this  commander  expected  to  find  it ;  he  had  not  the 
least  doubt  of  it.  Still,  under  the  circumstances,  he  was 
obliged  to  compromise  with  them ;  and  he  promised  that,  if 
they  would  be  patient  and  faithful  three  days  longer,  he 
would  abandon  the  enterprise,  unless  land  should  be  dis- 
covered. 

Before  the  three  days  expired,  however,  the  New  World 
burst  upon  their  view. 

That  last  three  days  was  the  gift  of  perseverance,  and  it 
saved  the  expedition  from  disaster  and  disgrace.  The  three 
days  were  only  a  fractional  part  of  the  time  consumed  by  the 
voyage,  but  they  were  worth  to  Columbus  all  that  his  life  and 
the  New  World  were  worth.  Months  and  years  of  labor, 
study,  and  care  had  been  spent,  requiring  decision,  energy, 


128  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

industry,  and  courage  clear  up  to  the  last  three  days,  all  of 
which  would  have  been  worse  than  wasted  had  Columbus 
yielded  to  the  mutiny  and  abandoned  the  enterprise. 

Such  is  frequently  the  value  of  even  one  day  or  hour  in  ac- 
complishing a  purpose.  That  brief  time,  wrested  from  ignoble 
failure,  is  not  only  worth  more  than  all  the  rest,  but  it  gives 
value  to  all  the  rest. 

Robert  Bruce  took  this  hint  from  a  spider.  He  had  made 
several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  possess  his  kingdom  and 
crown,  and  his  heart  began  to  fail  him.  He  was  exhausted, 
and  was  seeking  concealment  from  his  foes  in  a  shattered 
barn,  where,  lying  upon  his  back,  he  discovered  a  spider  cast- 
ing its  silken  line  from  one  beam  to  another.  Six  times  in 
succession  the  attempt  was  made  and  failed,  but  the  seventh 
time  the  persistent  little  creature  succeeded. 

Bruce  took  the  hint  and  sprang  to  his  feet,  his  soul  on  fire 
with  hope  revived,  and  his  heart  expectant  of  victory  ;  and  he 
soon  sat  upon  the  throne  of  Scotland. 

He  learned  that  the  value  of  the  seventh  effort  was  great- 
est of  all ;  indeed,  that  all  previous  efforts  were  valueless 
without  it. 

The  lack  of  perseverance  becomes  manifest,  sooner  or 
later,  in  both  old  and  young,  and  that,  too,  in  the  different 
relations  of  life.  This  class  behold  many  difficulties  in  the 
way,  "  I  can't !"  being  a  very  prominent  phrase  in  their  vo- 
cabulary. 

They  begin  enterprises  with  more  enthusiasm  than  they 
end  them, — that  is,  when  they  end  them  at  all.  They  are 
more  likely  to  begin  and  soon  drop  the  object  for  something 
else,  thus  changing  from  one  thing  to  another  until  they  illus- 
trate "the  rolling  stone"  that  "gathers  no  moss." 

In  school,  lessons  are  "too  long,"  or  "too  hard,"  or  "too 
difficult,"  or  too  something  else  ;  their  tasks  are  half  done,  or 
not  done  at  all ;  they  are  poor  scholars,  and  make  a  very  poor 
exhibit  of  themselves  ;  on  the  farm,  and  in  the  workshop, 
they  find  a  large  amount  of  "drudgery";  a  day's  work  is 
"too  long,"  or  the  pay  "too  small,"  to  enlist  their  best  efforts. 
So  they  make  an  exhibition  of  their  indifference,  indolence, 
and  shiftlessness. 

An  amusing  story  is  told  of  a  scholar  whose  indolence  by 
far  exceeded  his  perseverance.  The  class  were  reading  the 


PERSEVERANCE.  129 

third  chapter  of  Daniel  where  the  proper  names  Shadrach, 
Meshach,  and  Abednego  were  encountered.  Most  of  the  class 
found  it  difficult  to  speak  them,  but  all  persevered  and  over- 
came the  difficulty,  except  one  indolent  youth. 

In  a  few  days  the  teacher  had  the  class  read  the  same 
chapter  again,  in  order  to  drill  them  on  the  pronunciation  of 
these  names.  The  indolent  boy  read  the  text  unusually  well 
squarely  up  to  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego,  when  he 
spoke  out,  in  the  most  disheartened  manner  :— 

"  Teacher,  there's  them  three  fellers  again." 

It  is  not  only  "three  fellers "  which  block  the  way  of  those 
who  lack  perseverance,  but  scores  of  them,  of  all  sorts  and 
colors. 

Many  years  ago,  a  student  lost  his  eyesight  by  a  missile 
thrown  by  a  classmate.  His  father  was  an  eminent  jurist, 
and  was  educating  the  son  for  the  bar,  but  this  calamity  pre- 
vented the  prosecution  of  the  original  plan. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  however,  the  son  resolved  to  be- 
come an  author.  He  spent  ten  years  of  close,  systematic 
study,  using  the  eyes  of  an  assistant,  of  course,  before  he 
selected  his  theme.  Then  he  spent  another  ten  years  in  care- 
ful research,  exploring  archives,  libraries,  correspondence, 
and  consulting  official  documents  and  old  chronicles.  Then 
followed  his  great  history,  "Ferdinand  and  Isabella"  when 
he  was  forty  years  old;  "Mexico,"  "Peru,"  and  "Philip  the 
Second  "  appeared  in  due  time,  establishing  his  reputation  as 
a  profound  historian  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  perseverance  of  Prescott  is  almost  unparalleled  in 
human  effort. 

There  is  so  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  keeping  on.  Apart 
from  any  ultimate  benefit,  the  habit  of  occupation  is  a  per- 
petual charm,  preserving  the  mind  from  a  host  of  irritations 
and  discontents.  Sailors  when  in  danger  of  shipwreck,  find 
it  best  to  keep  on  making  efforts  to  save  themselves,  even  if 
they  perish  at  last,  rather  than  to  sit  still  and  think  about  the 
horrors  of  their  situation.  Far  better  to  swim  badly  than  not 
to  swim  at  all,  if  there  be  a  chance  of  escaping  drowning. 
For  one  devil  that  tempts  the  busy  man,  there  are  a  hundred 
circumventing  the  idle  one. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  whether  a  man  may 
learn  to  be  persevering  —  for,  if  perseverance  be  of  such  value 


130  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

and  benefit,  why  should  not  all  possess  it  ?  The  answer  is, 
that  a  man  may  learn  to  persevere  if  he  will.  Timid  people 
have  learned  how  to  subdue  their  timidity,  cowards  have  be- 
come brave  by  dint  of  trying,  and  the  feeble  have  felt  that 
strength  may  be  gained  by  proper  exercise.  So  a  man  may 
learn  perseverance.  To  do  this,  he  must  begin  by  believing 
that  he  can  do  it.  He  must  not  be  disheartened  at  the  outset 
by  certain  stock  phrases  which  seem  to  tell  against  him,  such 
as  "prerogative  of  genius,"  or  "predominance  of  the  natal 
star  "  ;  he  must  set  these  down  as  "  cabalistic  nonsense,"  and 
confide  in  the  assurance  that  "  diligence  overcomes  all." 
Truly  has  it  been  said  that  "there  are  few  difficulties  that 
hold  out  against  real  attacks  ;  they  fly,  like  the  visible  horizon 
before  those  who  advance."  A  passionate  desire  and  un- 
wearied will  can  perform  impossibilities,  or  what  seem  to  be 
such  to  the  cold  and  feeble.  If  we  do  but  go  on,  some  unseen 
path  will  open  upon  the  hills.  Nothing  good  or  great  is  to  be 
attained  without  courage  and  industry.  Resist  unto  the  end. 
It  may  be  truly  said  of  difficulty,  what  is  fabulously  said  of 
the  devil --talk  of  it,  think  of  it,  and  forthwith  it  will  be 
present  with  you.  For  one  substance  of  it,  as  the  poet  says 
of  grief,  there  are  at  least  twenty  shadows.  Let  no  one  doubt 
that  perseverance  may  be  learned  until  he  has  tried  bravely 
and  honestly  for  a  year. 

To  those  who  can  and  do  persevere,  we  would  say — "Go 
on  ;  but  see  that  what  you  strive  for  is  worth  the  effort." 
Remember  that  there  is  a  false  as  well  as  a  true  perseverance, 
and  it  is  possible  to  waste  the  energies  of  a  life  on  unworthy 
objects.  "  By  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  them."  We  are  com- 
manded to  be  "  diligent  in  business,"  but  this  is  not  the  whole. 
We  must  persevere  with  our  inward  life  as  well  as  our  out- 
ward life  ;  there  should  be  harmony  between  the  two,  if  we 
are  to  feel  that  each  day,  as  it  passes,  has  helped  to  refine  our 
mind,  soften  our  heart,  or  heighten  our  love  of  justice. 

To  those  who  persevere  only  by  fits  and  starts  —  now  hot, 
now  cold  —  we  would  say,  "Never  give  up."  Do  not  lose 
courage  or  grow  weary.  Slow  as  the  tortoise  crept,  he 
reached  the  goal  before  the  sleeping  hare.  If  you  cannot  run, 
walk  ;  if  you  cannot  fly,  plod.  Plodding,  humble  as  it  seems, 
has  done  wonders,  and  will  do  more  yet.  Consider,  further- 
more, that  when  the  reward  comes  it  is  scarcely  ever  such  as 


PERSEVERANCE.  131 

we  anticipated.  We  may  have  aimed  at  getting  rich ;  the 
riches  do  not  come.  But  instead  thereof  we  find  ourselves 
rich  in  mind  ;  conscious  of  having  striven  manfully  to  do  the 
duty  that  lay  before  us,  and  in  so  doing  have  armed  ourselves 
with  a  reliant  spirit,  which  passes  by  small  trials  and  looks  on 
great  ones  with  calm  courage. 

View  it  as  we  will,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable  that  perse- 
verance is  its  own  reward. 

' '  Never  give  up  !  there  are  chances  and  changes 

Helping  the  hopeful  a  hundred  to  one, 
And  through  the  chaos  High  Wisdom  arranges 
Ever  success  —  if  you  '11  only  hope  on  ; 

"  Never  give  up  !   for  the  wiser  is  boldest, 

Knowing  that  Providence  mingles  the  cup  ; 
And  of  all  maxims  the  best,  as  the  oldest, 
Is  the  true  watchword  of  —  Never  give  up  !  " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MARCUS   ALONZO   HANNA. 

THE     KEY    TO     HIS     SUCCESS A      TYPICAL      AMERICAN PARENTAGE  — 

LEAVES    COLLEGE    AND    BEGINS    WORK HIS    EARLY    BUSINESS    ENTERPRISES 

-  QUALITIES    AS    A    MANAGER FIRST    MEETING    WITH    WILLIAM    McKINLEY 

-THE    EXPANSION    OF    HIS    BUSINESS    INTERESTS AVHY    HE    ENTERED    POL- 
ITICS  LATER    POLITICAL    CAREER  THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1896 A    CONA^EN- 

TION     EPISODE  --  CHARACTERISTICS  --  NOT      A      BOSS AS      AN      ORATOR  — 

MORE     CHARACTERISTICS  --  BUSINESS     METHODS  ATTITUDE     TOAVARD    LA- 
BOR.      INDUSTRY. 

The  question  came  up  in  our  family  councils  whether  I 
should  go  to  work  or  go  to  college.  I  wanted  to  go  to 

work.     My  mother  said  I  should  go  to  col- 
lege, so  I  went. 

I  was  young,  innocent,  confiding.  One 
day  some  of  the  sophomores  induced  me  to 
help  distribute  copies  of  a  burlesque  pro- 
gram of  the  exercises  of  the  junior  class. 
I  stood  on  the  steps  handing  them  to  the 
audience  as  they  passed  in.  The  president 
of  the  college  came  along.  He  grasped  me 
by  the  shoulder  and  asked,  "  Young  man, 
what  are  you  doing  ?  "  I  replied  that  I  was 
distributing  literature  in  the  interests  of  education  and 
morality.  I  quit  college  soon  after  that. 

One  day  the  president  met  me  on  the  street.  I  had  on 
blue  overalls,  and  was  hard  at  work.  He  looked  at  me 
with  an  expression  which  seemed  to  say,  "Well,  I  guess 
you  have  found  your  right  place ! "  and  I  thought  so,  too. 
I  liked  work  better  than  study.  I  have  been  hard  at  work 
ever  since.  Boys,  don't  be  ashamed  of  work  or  overalls. 


ill 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.  133 

ARGUS  ALONZO  HANNA  is  an  American  type.  The 
story  of  his  life  epitomizes  the  biographies  of  thou- 
sands  of  other  successful  Americans.  It  is  the  dram- 
atization of  energy --the  romance  of  industrial  achievement. 
In  another  one  hundred  years,  perhaps,  such  romances  will 
seem  as  remote  from  the  life  then  living  as  stories  of  our 
Western  border,  bloody  with  Indian  wars,  appear  to-day. 
Opportunity  may  not  always  stand  knocking  on  the  gate 
for  American  youths.  But  at  any  rate,  the  story  of  Senator 
Banna's  rise  is  a  brave  tale,  and  one  well  worth  the  telling. 

Senator  Hanna  was  born  in  Ohio  sixty-five  years  ago.  Of 
his  ancestry  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  society  of  Philadelphia,  in  full  communion  and 
good  standing.  His  grandfather  was  bound  out  to  a  Quaker, 
and  for  the  one  hundred  years  last  past  the  Hannas  have  been 
Quakers.  In  1852  the  Senator's  father  moved  to  Cleveland, 
and  brought  his  seven  children  along.  The  elder  Hanna 
started  a  grocery  store,  trading,  more  or  less,  in  a  wholesale 
way,  on  the  lakes,  particularly  in  the  Lake  Superior  country. 
Young  Mark  plodded  through  the  public  schools  and  got 
enough  education  to  admit  him  to  the  Western  Reserve  Uni- 
versity. But  in  1857,  after  a  year  in  college,  he  returned  to 
Cleveland  to  learn  the  grocery  business,  which  was  growing, 
and  had  become  exclusively  a  wholesale  concern,  with  cus- 
tomers all  over  the  lake  region.  A  year  or  so  later  the  elder 
Hanna  sickened,  and  the  management  of  the  store  fell  on  the 
boy,  Mark.  It  was  a  heavy  load  to  carry  for  a  young  man 
barely  past  his  majority,  but  the  responsibility  put  iron  into 
him,  and  gave  him  the  luck-stone  of  his  life  —  the  habit  of  in- 
dustry. It  schooled  him,  as  no  university  can,  in  the  uses  of 
grit  and  self-reliance  and  courage.  It  made  a  man  of  him  at 
the  time  of  life  when  other  youths  are  addicted  to  the  picnic 
habit. 

In  1862  Mark's  father  died,  and  the  young  man  took  charge 
of  the  business  for  the  estate.  When  he  closed  up  the  store 
successfully  five  years  later,  he  knew  all  about  the  grocery 
business,  and  his  energy  was  proverbial  in  the  town  of  Cleve- 
land. At  the  age  of  thirty  he  married,  and  went  into  business 
with  his  father-in-law,  Daniel  P.  Rhodes.  The  firm  Rhodes 
&  Co.  dealt  in  coal,  iron  ore,  and  pig  iron.  That  was  a 
generation  ago.  Young  Hanna  threw  himself  into  that  busi- 


134  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ness  with  passionate  enthusiasm.  He  learned  the  iron  trade 
from  the  bottom,  omitting  no  circumstance.  He  was  insa- 
tiably curious.  He  had  an  artist's  thirst  to  know  the  how  of 
things.  He  learned  about  coal  mines  and  bought  coal  lands, 
learned  about  ore  and  bought  mines,  learned  about  boats  and 
bought  boats.  Then  he  took  his  iron  and  his  coal,  and  he 
built  the  first  steel  boats  that  ever  plowed  the  lakes.  He 
established  foundries  and  forges  and  smelters.  Men  worked 
for  him  from  western  Pennsylvania  to  the  base  of  the  Rockies. 
He  knew  his  men  and  he  knew  the  work  they  did.  He  knew 
the  value  of  a  day's  work,  and  he  got  it  —  he  also  paid  for  it. 
Where  there  was  labor  trouble  the  contest  was  short  and  de- 
cisive. The  employer  met  the  men  himself.  Either  things 
were  right  or  they  were  wrong.  If  he  thought  they  were 
wrong,  he  fixed  them  on  the  spot.  If  he  believed  they  were 
right,  the  work  went  on. 

In  the  early  seventies  the  miners  in  the  Rhodes  &  Co.'s 
mines  formed  a  union.  Mark  Hanna  studied  the  union  as  he 
studied  mines  and  ores  and  ships.  He  mastered  its  details, 
got  the  hang  of  it,  and  got  up  another  union  —  a  union  of  em- 
ployers. Then  when  the  men  at  a  mine  had  troubles,  they 
conferred,  not  with  the  mine  operator,  but  with  the  mine 
operators'  union.  The  two  unions  got  along  without  friction, 
until  the  walking  delegate  found  himself  deposed,  after  which 
Hanna's  union  dissolved.  But  the  mining  operators'  union 
gave  the  first  public  recognition  to  organized  labor  which  it 
had  received  at  that  time,  and  the  invention  was  Hanna's.  It 
was  a  practical  thing.  After  the  dissolution  of  the  mine 
operators'  union  there  was  trouble.  A  number  of  arrests 
followed  some  shaft  burning.  Hanna  went  down  to  western 
Ohio  to  prosecute  the  men  under  arrest.  They  were  defended 
by  a  young  man  named  McKinley  -  -  William  McKinley  - 
and  he  did  his  work  so  well  that  most  of  the  miners  went 
scot-free,  and  those  convicted  got  short  terms.  Hanna  took  a 
liking  to  the  young  lawyer  whose  tactics  had  won  the  legal 
battle  which  Hanna  had  lost.  A  friendship  began  which  is 
now  famous  in  contemporaneous  history.  Hanna  had  won 
his  point  in  the  strike.  Perhaps  he  was  in  a  mellow,  expan- 
sive mood  which  may  have  tempered  his  admiration  for  the 
attorney  for  the  strikers. 

The  regularity  with  which  Mark  Hanna  won  in  his  labor 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.  135 

contests  gave  him  business  prestige.  He  says  that  he  never 
let  the  men  deal  fairer  with  him  than  he  dealt  with  them. 
His  office  door  swings  inward  as  easily  on  its  hinges  for  the 
dollar-a-day  man  as  for  the  superintendent.  But  they  say  in 
Cleveland  that  there  is  an  automatic  spring  on  it  for  the 
chronic  grumbler,  for  the  shirker,  and  for  the  walking  dele- 
gate. The  door  swings  out  upon  these  men  with  force  and 
emphasis. 

Mark  Hanna  is  a  hard  worker.  He  asks  none  of  his  em- 
ployees to  work  as  hard  as  he  does.  He  has  the  intelligence 
which  makes  work  easy  and  increases  the  capacity  to  do 
work.  Genius  is  something  of  that  sort.  Hanna's  secret  is 
system.  After  he  had  reduced  mining  to  a  system,  he  added 
shipping,  then  he  reduced  that  to  a  system  and  took  on  ship- 
building. Reducing  that  to  its  lowest  terms,  where  the  ma- 
chinery works  smoothly,  he  built  a  street  railway  —  made 
the  cars  of  his  coal  and  iron,  and  the  rails  of  his  steel.  When 
he  came  to  man  that  railway  —  the  Cleveland  City  Street  Rail- 
way--he  had  reduced  the  labor  problem  to  such  an  exact 
science  that  there  has  never  been  a  strike  on  that  system, 
although  the  cars  of  other  lines  in  Cleveland  are  tied  up 
frequently. 

About  this  time  Mark  took  a  fancy  to  the  theatrical  busi- 
ness. He  bought  the  town  opera  house  and  began  studying 
the  gentle  art  of  making  friends  with  the  theatrical  stars  of 
the  world.  He  learned  the  business  of  friendship  thus  as 
thoroughly  as  he  learned  the  iron  and  coal  and  steel  and  ship 
and  railway  businesses.  He  omitted  no  detail ;  he  went  the 
whole  length  —  put  on  a  play  by  Mr.  Howells  and  invited  the 
author  out  to  see  the  job  done  properly.  To-day  Hanna  has 
the  friendship  of  men  like  Jefferson,  Irving,  Francis  Wilson, 
Robson,  Crane, —  all  of  them,  and  the  best  of  the  playwrights. 
They  know  the  appreciative  eyes  that  laugh  so  easily,  and  he 
knows  all  the  actors'  stories  and  can  find  the  paths  that  lead 
to  their  hearts. 

In  the  early  eighties,  apparently  by  the  way  of  diversion, 
when  the  coal,  iron  ore,  pig  iron,  steel,  shipping,  railway,  and 
theatrical  business  became  nerve-racking  monotony,  Hanna 
started  a  bank.  He  took  the  presidency  of  it,  and  devoured 
the  minutiae  of  the  new  business  ravenously.  When  he  was 
watching  the  wheels  go  around,  looking  at  the  levers  and 


.136  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

cogs,  and  making  the  bank  part  of  his  life,  he  began  to  notice 
remarkable  movements  in  the  works.  Some  years  the  fly- 
wheel would  not  revolve.  At  some  times  it  whirled  too 
rapidly.  He  went  through  the  machinery  with  hammer  and 
screws,  but  he  found  that  the  trouble  lay  outside  the  bank. 
He  traced  it  to  iron  ore,  through  that  to  coal,  and  still  it  eluded 
him.  The  trouble  was  outside  the  things  he  knew.  It  was  in 
the  lodestone  of  politics.  So  Hanna  went  into  politics. 

With  a  modesty  which  is  remarkable,  he  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  Garfield  campaign  of  1880  by  cleverly  bringing 
about  a  meeting  between  Garfield  and  Roscoe  Conkling,  who 
had  been  sulking  in  retirement  because  his  plan  to  renomi- 
nate  General  Grant  had  failed.  Nothing  except  the  voting 
that  ended  the  campaign  was  of  more  importance  to  the  Re- 
publican party  and  its  candidate  than  this  meeting  of  the  New 
York  chieftain  and  the  nominee  of  the  party.  During  this 
campaign  Senator  Hanna  actively  interested  himself,  as  a 
friend  and  admirer  of  the  candidate,  in  national  politics,  but 
in  what  then  seemed  a  small  way. 

What  he  did  was  to  organize  the  Business  Men's  League, 
beginning  it  in  Cleveland,  yet  helping  it  to  spread  until  its 
silent  force  of  organized  work  and  influential  opinion,  and  its 
help  in  drawing  campaign  funds  from  men  of  large  means, 
made  it  so  powerful  that  the  politicians  who  said  that  Hanna 
was  ' '  only  a  business  man ' '  came  to  lean  upon  it  — without 
knowing  that  it  was  the  offspring  of  this  mere  business 
man's  brain.  The  general  public  paid  no  heed  to  this  power- 
ful organization  beyond  applauding  the  great  "parades"  of 
merchants  which  became  a  feature  of  all  subsequent  cam- 
paigns. 

Thus  we  see  with  new  interest  the  form  and  manner  of  the 
bow  made  by  this  hard-working,  thrifty,  friend-compelling 
descendant  of  traders  and  scion  of  old  Quaker  stock,  when  he 
entered  the  great  arena  of  national  politics.  Being  a  practi- 
cal man  and  a  business  man,  given  to  the  clannish  habits  of 
the  Scotch  and  Irish,  and  the  smooth  and  shrewd  methods  of 
the  Quakers,  he  carried  all  these  forces  into  politics  and  began 
his  work  on  business  principles  with  a  league  of  business  men. 

In  1884  he  went  to  the  National  Republican  convention  as  a 
delegate  pledged  to  support  John  Sherman.  Four  years  later 
he  went  to  the  next  convention  as  one  of  the  managers  of 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.  137 

Sherman's  campaign.  After  each  of  these  conventions  he 
spent  two  months  in  campaign  work.  It  was  in  1894  that  he 
began  the  gigantic  work  of  preparing  the  country  for  McKin- 
ley's election  in  1890.  He  had  known  William  McKinley  since 
the  early  seventies,  and  they  became  bound  together  by  the 
two  strongest  ties  —  outside  of  blood  relationship  —  which 
Senator  Hanna  reverences  :  those  of  friendship  and  those  of 
a  common  enthusiasm  for  the  protective  policy.  Mr.  McKin- 
ley was  first  made  a  national  figure  for  a  mere  half-hour  by 
James  G.  Elaine,  who,  in  1876,  feeling  too  tired  to  make  a 
long  speech  in  Philadelphia,  reached  out  and  drew  Mr.  Mc- 
Kinley forward,  saying  :  "  And  now  I  want  you  to  meet  a 
young  friend  of  mine  from  Ohio,  who  can  speak  to  you  from 
personal  observation  of  the  needs  of  labor  and  the  righteous- 
ness of  its  protection." 

"The  needs  of  labor  and  the  righteousness  of  its  protec- 
tion ! "  Undoubtedly  Mark  Hanna  will  say  that  this  sentence 
sums  up  the  whole  of  his  political  creed.  How  remarkable 
that  these  words  should  have  been  used  to  introduce  into  na- 
tional politics  the  man  whom  Mark  Hanna  made  president, 
and  with  whom  he  is  so  conspicuously  coupled  in  the  minds 
of  his  fellow-citizens  !  He  believes  in  protection  as  the  first 
essential  of  American  industrial  success,  coupling  the  work- 
man and  the  employer  alike  as  beneficiaries  of  the  principle. 
He  says  that  George  Washington  was  the  first  protectionist, 
with  both  sword  and  pen,  and  he  quotes  Lincoln  as  another. 
McKinley's  adherence  to  the  policy  and  his  conspicuous  work 
in  connection  with  it,  interested  and  won  Hanna  to  the  young 
Ohioan's  side  while  McKinley  was  in  Congress.  And  I  do 
not  doubt  that  when  Senator  Hanna  says,  as  he  does,  that  the 
demand  for  McKinley's  election  was  in  the  general  atmos- 
phere two  years  before  he  was  nominated,  he  really  means 
that  in  his  opinion  our  commercial  interests  were  endan- 
gered by  the  tendency  of  the  times  and  of  the  opponents  of 
Republican  rule,  that  the  business  men  of  the  country  were 
beginning  to  feel  insecure  in  the  conditions  which  protection 
had  developed,  and  that  a  candidate  strongly  identified  with 
the  protective  policy  was  what  was  needed  to  restore  secu- 
rity to  capital  and  courage  to  investors  and  operators. 

It  was  the  business  view  of  the  business  man,  and  he  took 
up  McKinley  as  a  business  man's  candidate,  confidently  ap- 


138  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

pealing  to  the  business  men  in  and  out  of  the  league  which  he 
had  created.  Senator  Hanna  speaks  of  his  work  as  "  an 
active  part  in  crystallizing  the  demand  for  McKinley  for 
president  out  of  patriotism  for  the  protection  of  the  material 
or  business  interests  of  the  country.  I  had  large  interests 
myself,  and  I  was  alarmed  at  what  I  saw  of  the  growth  of 
socialism,  the  tendency  toward  free  trade,  and  the  threatened 
adoption  of  fiat  money."  He  denies  that  he  "  picked  Mc- 
Kinley as  the  winner,"  to  use  a  sporting  phrase.  The  way  in 
which  he  puts  the  case  is  that  he  had  seen  the  demand  for 
that  candidate  growing  through  three  conventions.  He  "  saw 
the  great  protectionist's  popularity  grow  and  grow  and  he  saw 
the  people  turning  toward  him  more  and  more." 

Having  decided  that  this  was  to  be  the  business  man's 
candidate,  he  went  to  work  to  secure  his  nomination  pre- 
cisely as  a  business  man  would  do.  The  old-school  politicians 
trusted  to  luck,  to  sentiment,  to  bungling  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition,  arid  to  the  use  of  what  sums  of  money  could  be 
raised  by  distribution  among  generally  irresponsible  profes- 
sional politicians  who  kept  no  books,  made  no  returns,  and 
accounted  for  both  defeat  and  victory  by  the  same  set  phrase  : 
"It  was  a  tidal  wave."  Senator  Hanna  was  as  thorough  as 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  but  far  outdid  Tilden  in  the  way  of  reduc- 
ing vote-getting  to  a  science.  He  did  keep  books  and  he  kept 
clerks  and  offices  and  applied  so  powerful  a  telescope  to  his 
uses  that  he  studied  every  county  as  other  managers  used  to 
study  only  states. 

He  began  work  for  McKinley  by  capturing  the  delegations 
from  the  Southern  states,  and  then,  with  this  strength  as- 
sured, he  went  to  work  upon  the  nation  at  large.  Mr.  Frank 
G.  Carpenter  has  written  more  intimately  and  informingly  of 
this  task  than  anyone  else.  He  says  :  "  Hanna  is  a  good 
judge  of  men,  and  he  picked  out  a  force  of  organizers  which 
needed  only  his  general  direction.  He  does  not  believe  in  do- 
ing things  he  can  get  others  to  do.  He  managed  the  cam- 
paign as  no  campaign  was  ever  managed  before.  The  whole 
United  States  was  divided  up  just  as  he  divided  up  Ohio.  He 
knew  as  much  about  any  one  of  the  counties  of  California  or 
of  Maine  as  he  did  about  the  different  parts  of  northern  Ohio. 
He  not  only  knew  individuals,  but  he  knew  public  sentiment, 
and  he  spent  vast  sums  to  change  it,  His  correspondence 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.  139 

was  so  enormous  that  for  a  time  it  was  said  that  he  spent  as 
much  as  sixty  thousand  dollars  a  week  for  postage,  and  I  have 
seen  it  stated  that  thirty  millions  of  documents  were  sent  out 
in  one  week  by  mail.  The  amount  of  money  at  his  command 
is  said  to  have  been  more  than  a  million  dollars.  He  skimped 
nothing.  A  letter  was  never  sent  where  a  telegram  would 
bring  the  news  more  quickly  and  much  of  the  business  was 
done  by  special  wires  and  long-distance  telephones." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Senator  Hanna  was  in  touch 
with  Mr.  McKinley  all  through  the  campaign.  A  telephone 
connected  them,  and  several  times  a  week  Senator  Hanna 
went  to  the  President's  home  in  Canton,  carrying  with  him 
whatever  documents,  notes,  and  newspaper  articles  he  wished 
to  discuss.  When  it  is  remembered  that  Mr.  McKinley  was 
declared  to  be  the  shrewdest  and  most  skillful  politician  who 
was  ever  elected  president,  the  value  of  his  counsel  to  Senator 
Hanna  became  apparent.  That  is  the  material  we  possess  for 
a  study  of  Marcus  A.  Hanna's  secret  of  success,  both  in  poli- 
tics and  business.  Just  as  this  country  was  reaching  its  arms 
out  to  secure  the  world  for  its  market,  there  appeared  upon 
the  scene  the  men  that  the  hour  imperatively  demanded  :  the 
advocate  of  protection,  who  was  to  be  the  business  man's 
candidate,  and,  to  be  his  manager,  the  great  organizer  and 
executive  whom  the  other  politicians  called  "  merely  a  busi- 
ness man."  He  twice  secured  Mr.  McKinley's  election,  but  it 
was  only  the  first  campaign  that  required  all  his  skill.  His 
secret  was  that  he  was  practical,  shrewd,  thorough,  earnest, 
and  a  man  who  understood  his  fellow  men. 

When  the  party's  platform  had  been  reported  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions,  at  the  St.  Louis  convention,  and  the 
clause  indorsing  the  gold  standard  had  been  read,  Senator 
Teller,  of  Colorado,  made  a  speech  favoring  the  adoption  of  a 
minority  report  of  the  Resolutions  Committee,  which  report 
eliminated  the  gold  standard  declaration.  While  Teller  spoke, 
a  pudgy  man  —  broad-shouldered  and  of  robust  girth  —  sat 
fidgeting  in  his  chair,  but  one  row  removed  from  the  aisle, 
among  the  Ohio  delegates.  It  was  Hanna.  The  loose  skin 
around  his  mouth  twitched  irritably  as  Teller's  swan-song 
rose  and  fell.  Occasionally  he  lifted  a  broad  hand  to  a  large, 
bumpy  cranium,  as  if  to  scratch.  Instead,  he  rubbed  the  rich, 
healthy,  terra-cotta  hide  on  his  full,  firm  neck.  His  bright 


140  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

brown  eyes  took  the  orator's  mental  and  moral  measure  with 
merciless  precision.  When  Teller  sat  down,  Harina  grunted 
his  relief.  Others  spoke  in  favor  of  the  Teller  resolution  - 
perhaps  an  Idaho  man,  maybe  a  Montanian,  from  a  chair 
behind  the  Ohio  delegation.  A  dapper  little  chap,  with  a  bou- 
tonniere  on  his  perfectly  fitting  frock  coat,  came  chassezing 
festively  down  the  rostrum,  and  received  Chairman  Thurs- 
ton's  recognition. 

"  Who's  that  ?  "  asked  Hanna  of  Grosvenor. 

"Cannon."      . 

"Who's  Cannon?" 

Mind  you  it  was  Hanna  who  was  asking  these  questions  — 
Hanna,  who  was  popularly  supposed  to  be  omniscient  and 
omnipotent  at  St.  Louis  that  day.  Yet  here  was  a  senator 
whom  Hanna  did  not  know,  and  whose  presence  on  the  speak- 
ers' list  surprised  the  man  who  held  the  convention  in  the 
hollow  of  his  hand. 

"  Senator  —  Utah,"  replied  Grosvenor. 

The  festive  man  opened  his  mouth  to  read  his  address. 

"Well,  for  heaven's  sake,  goin'  to  read  it !  Lookee  there  —  " 
and  Hamia's  broad,  fat  hand  waved  towards  the  orator. 
"Perty,  ain't  he?" 

"  Looks  like  a  cigar  drummer  ! " 

The  man  on  the  rostrum  continued.  He  made  an  acrid 
reference  to  the  gold  standard. 

"Well,  d — 11  him! — how  did  he  get  in  here?"  snapped 
Hanna,  and  no  one  could  answer. 

A  small-boned,  fat  leg  flopped  across  its  mate,  and  Hanna 
changed  his  weight  from  one  hunker  to  the  other. 

Cannon's  remarks  were  growing  more  and  more  luminous. 
Hanna's  brown  eyes  began  to  glow  in  heat  lightning  as  the 
oration  proceeded.  His  twitching  mouth  spilled  its  rage  in 
grunts,  The  rhetoric  of  the  Utah  man  was  telling.  He  be- 
gan to  threaten  to  leave  the  party.  Finally  he  put  the  threat 
into  a  flamboyant  period.  Then  Hanna's  harsh  voice  blurted  :  - 

"  Go,  go  !  " 

There  was  a  tragic  half-second's  silence.  Ten  thousand 
eyes  turned  toward  Hanna.  Evidently  he  could  feel  their 
glances  hailing  on  his  back,  for  his  flinty  auburn  head  bobbed 
like  a  cork,  and  an  instant  later,  when  the  whole  convention 
was  firing  "go's"  at  the  rostrum,  Hanna  rose  proudly  from 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.         HI 

the  small  of  his  back,  and  got  on  the  firing  line.  After  that 
the  Utah  man  was  in  the  hands  of  a  mob.  Hanna  devoted 
himself  to  the  pleasurable  excitement  of  the  chase.  He 
stormed  and  roared  with  the  mob  ;  he  guyed  and  he  cheered 
with  the  mob.  He  was  of  it,  led  by  it,  enjoying  it,  whooping 
it  up.  Then,  when  it  was  all  over,  when  the  gold-standard 
platform  had  been  adopted,  Hanna  climbed  into  his  chair, 
clasped  his  hands  composedly  behind  him,  threw  back  his 
head,  let  out  his  voice,  and  sang  "America"  with  the  throng. 
When  he  forgot  the  words,  his  dah-dah-de-dah-de-dums  rang 
out  with  patriotic  felicity,  and  his  smile  of  seraphic  satisfac- 
tion was  a  good  sight  for  sore  eyes.  For  Mark  Hanna  was 
giving  an  excellent  representation  of  a  joyous  American  citi- 
zen, with  his  wagon  hitched  to  a  bucking  star,  jogging  peace- 
fully down  the  milky  way  of  victory. 

By  this  token  may  the  gentle  reader  know  that  Hanna  is 
intensely  human.  There  is  nothing  godlike,  nothing  de- 
moniac, nothing  cherubic,  nothing  serpentine  about  him.  He 
is  a  plain  man,  who  stands  in  the  last  ditch  with  his  friends, 
and  fights  his  enemies  to  the  death.  He  enjoys  a  good  joke, 
a  good  fellow,  or  a  good  dinner ;  and,  if  possible,  likes  all 
three  served  at  the  same  table.  Often  he  wins  brilliantly, 
sometimes  loses  conspicuously,  makes  a  fool  of  himself  occa- 
sionally, laughs  at  it  good-naturedly,  and  does  it  over  again, 
"  even  as  you  and  I."  He  has  on  his  bones  the  clay  of  unex- 
plainable  old  Adam  —  rich  in  weakness  and  strength,  graces 
and  foibles,  and  withal  he  has  the  philosophy  which  sustained 
the  shepherd  of  Arden.  So  his  strength  is  more  than  his 
weakness,  for  he  has  the  virility  of  common  sense.  He  is  not 
happy  crocheting  tidies  and  adopting  ringing  resolutions.  He 
is  a  man  of  deeds  rather  than  of  explanations. 

Hanna  is  not  a  boss.  The  boss  in  the  American  political 
system  supplies  a  human  need  which  the  king  supplies  in 
other  principalities  and  powers.  The  people  of  this  Republic 
expect  their  boss  to  rob  them,  to  snub  them,  to  revile  them, 
just  as  royal  subjects  expect  dishonor  and  contumely  from 
their  king.  The  parallel  runs  further  ;  neither  a  boss  nor  a 
king  is  elected,  and  it  would  be  as  difficult  to  explain  to  a 
republican  the  divine  right  of  kings  as  to  make  a  monarchist 
comprehend  the  reasons  for  the  domination  of  the  boss.  The 
boss  exists  outside  the  actual  government  of  the  state ;  the 


142  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

king  is  generally  extraneous.  "  The  sovereign,"  says  Walter 
Bagehot,  "has  under  a  constitutional  monarchy  the  three 
rights/the  right  to  be  consulted,  the  right  to  encourage,  and 
the  right  to  warn."  Add  to  this  the  right  to  steal,  and  behold 
the  boss  !  Elsewhere,  speaking  of  the  monarchy,  Bagehot  has 
said  :  "  It  is  often  said  that  people  are  ruled  by  their  imagina- 
tion ;  but  it  would  be  truer  to  say  they  are  governed  by  the 
weakness  of  their  imagination.  The  nature  of  a  constitu- 
tion, the  action  of  an  assembly,  the  play  of  parties,  the  un- 
seen formation  of  a  guiding  opinion,  are  complex  facts, 
difficult  to  know  and  easy  to  mistake.  But  the  action  of  a 
single  will,  the  fiat  of  a  single  mind,  are  easy  ideas  ;  anybody 
can  make  them  out,  and  no  one  can  ever  forget  them." 
Hence  the  office  of  king  and  hence  the  rise  of  the  boss.  Now 
every  boss  is  the  founder  of  his  own  dynasty,  which  ends 
with  him  ;  and  he  rises  as  the  founders  of  all  dynasties  rise, 
through  much  intrigue,  great  diplomacy,  resistless  ambition, 
unscrupulous  daring,  and  ceaseless,  unremitting,  pertinacious 
energy  directed  to  one  object  for  a  long  term  of  years.  No 
king  or  no  boss  ever  carried  his  profession  as  a  side  line,  and 
this  paragraph  is  written  to  show  that,  as  the  word  "  boss  "  is 
used  and  accepted  in  the  bright  lexicon  of  politics  to-day, 
Hanna  cannot  be  a  boss.  First,  because  a  national  boss  is  as 
impossible  to  the  American  people  as  a  national  monarch  ; 
secondly,  Hanna  has  too  well  developed  a  sense  of  humor  to 
be  a  boss  if  he  would  be.  As  for  the  first  proposition,  a  weak 
popular  imagination  presumes  a  weak,  popular  intelligence  ; 
and  as  a  nation,  the  people  of  this  country  have  more  intel- 
ligence than  is  the  popular  average  of  intelligence  in  the 
boss-ridden  cities  and  states.  And  as  for  the  second  proposi- 
tion, no  living  man  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye  and  a  smile 
teetering  on  the  threshold  of  his  countenance  can  view  with 
composure  the  deadly  implacable  hunger  for  a  little  brief 
authority  which  often  moves  men  to  sell  their  souls  for  it. 
This  hunger  is  the  mainspring  which  makes  the  boss  a  joss. 
In  politics,  he  who  laughs  at  the  visceral  convolutions  of  the 
joss  is  lost.  Hanna  has  to  laugh  at  these  things.  It  is  his 
"nature  to"  ;  and  when  he  cannot  laugh  he  swears,  which 
brings  relief  to  the  soul  much  as  laughter  does. 

As  an  orator,  Mr.  Hanna  was,  to  use  the  expression  of  a 
Cleveland  banker,  "  a  surprise  party." 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.  143 

They  had  known  him  as  a  keen,  clear-headed  business 
man,  terse  of  speech,  quick  of  decision,  vigorous  and  aggres- 
sive in  all  his  dealings. 

They  had  not  realized  that  there  was  in  him  a  strain  of 
Irish  eloquence,  inherited  from  no  one  knows  what  rebellious 
agitator  of  the  Emerald  Isle  ;  for  Hanna's  ancestry,  like 
McKinley's,  was  of  Scotch  and  Irish  blood,  and  dwelt  amid 
the  green  hills  of  County  Antrim,  from  which  have  come 
to  America's  shores  so  many  elements  of  strong  and  noble 
character. 

His  eloquence  is  not  of  the  schools.  It  lacks  the  artificial 
graces  of  a  studied  style  and  practiced  gesture.  But  it  has 
the  force  and  vigor  of  a  manly  character  behind  it ;  a  direct- 
ness like  that  of  Antony,  persuasive  by  its  very  honesty, 
compelling  assent  by  virtue  of  that  mystic  force  which  we 
call  personal  magnetism.  It  has  wit  and  a  homely  wisdom  in 
it ;  the  wisdom  of  a  large  experience  in  the  matters  of  which 
he  speaks. 

If  he  knows  little  about  a  particular  subject  he  is  as  mute  as 
the  Egyptian  sphinx.  Dynamite  would  not  blast  an  opinion 
out  of  him.  But  what  he  knows,  of  that  he  will  speak. 

He  is  not  satisfied  to  know  a  little  about  a  subject.  He 
must  dig  under  it,  look  over  it,  surround  it,  and  take  it  cap- 
tive, before  he  will  venture  to  discuss  it. 

This  is  the  same  quality  that  made  him  succeed  in  business 
as  a  young  man.  When  he  went  into  the  grocery  store  of 
Hanna,  Garrettson  &  Company,  in  the  early  days  of  Cleve- 
land, he  made  up  his  mind  to  know  all  about  groceries.  He 
built  up  a  large  trade  with  the  vessels  plying  between  the 
Lake  Superior  mines  and  the  port  of  Cleveland,  and  soon 
became  a  partner  in  the  firm. 

Those  who  have  met  Mr.  Hanna  in  business  or  political 
councils  feel  and  acknowledge  a  power  in  him  to  sway  the 
minds  of  other  men,  which  is  quite  beyond  the  influence  of 
mere  words.  When  he  feels  that  he  is  right,  you  might  as 
well  pepper  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar  with  pebbles  as  assail  him 
with  arguments  of  mere  expediency. 

He  will  not  retreat,  he  will  not  compromise.  He  stands 
like  Fate,  proof  against  all  prayers  and  tears. 

This  adamantine  character  has  won  him  many  a  victory. 
Men  weary  of  battering  against  that  wall  of  rock.  And  yet, 


144  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

having  gained  a  victory,  he  is  generous  toward  his  conquered 
enemy.  His  head  is  hard,  but  his  heart  is  tender.  He  can 
strike  with  mailed  hand,  and  strong  men  hesitate  to  invite 
his  blow  ;  but  he  can  also  caress  like  a  child. 

To  his  friends  and  companions  in  private  life  there  seems 
to  be  nothing  very  remarkable  about  Senator  Marcus  Alonzo 
Hanna.  They  say  that  he  is  just  a  hearty,  kindly,  good  man  ; 
very  simple  in  his  tastes,  unpretentious  in  his  manners,  ear- 
nest and  strong  in  his  beliefs  and  principles,  and  remarkable 
among  men  in  general  only  for  his  loyalty  to  his  friends. 

A  sympathetic  nature,  a  warm  heart,  a  working  arm,  a 
kinship  with  the  toiling  masses  and  a  shrewd  and  practical 
mind  are  the  principal  elements  of  his  strength. 

Mr.  Hanna  is  no  snob,  no  aristocrat,  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word  ;  but  he  is  a  man  ^ho  can  read  character  by  its 
natural  signs,  and  who  recognizes  no  other  passport  to  his 
favor. 

When  you  have  been  introduced  to  him,  if  you  are  a 
stranger,  he  calmly  waits  the  statement  of  your  business. 
He  has  no  time  for  mere  words.  What  you  would  say,  you 
must  say  briefly,  concisely. 

He  looks  you  through  and  through  with  his  keen,  dark 
eyes.  They  are  searchlights,  from  which  no  secret  can  be 
hidden.  If  you  are  dissembling,  you  will  not  deceive  those 
eyes.  Whatever  your  words  may  say,  those  eyes  will  detect 
the  lie  in  your  mind. 

It  is  said  that  one  of  the  principal  elements  in  the  success 
of  Napoleon  was  his  ability  to  estimate  the  character  of  his 
associates.  In  the  business  and  political  world,  this  faculty 
is  quite  as  important  as  in  the  military,  and  Mr.  Hanna  pos- 
sesses it  to  a  remarkable  degree. 

When  you  have  stated  your  business,  Mr.  Hanna  will 
probably  ask  you  a  few  quiet  questions.  You  will  perceive 
that  he  does  not  waste  words  upon  superficial  matters,  but 
each  question  goes  to  the  bottom  of  the  business.  Practical 
above  all  things,  he  seeks  always  for  some  guarantee  of  suc- 
cess. It  is  not  a  question  whether  the  plan  be  a  good  one,— 
but,  will  it  work  in  practice  ?  If  it  will  not,  Mr.  Hanna  will 
have  none  of  it. 

As  he  sits  quietly  at  his  desk,  with  a  certain  massive  dig- 
nity and  poise,  you  feel  that  you  are  in  the  presence  of  a  man 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA.  145 

of  power.  He  is  not  a  mere  figurehead.  He  is  the  man  who 
does  things, —  large,  masculine,  with  a  certain  quiet  command 
in  tone  and  gesture  which  indicates  the  natural  leader  of  men. 

His  mind  acts  quickly,  but  powerfully,  upon  whatever 
question  comes  before  him.  He  has  the  Napoleonic  grasp  of 
details,  and  his  self-reliance  is  born  of  the  consciousness  of  his 
own  power. 

In  his  business  councils  he  is  what  Grant  was  in  his  coun- 
cils of  war.  He  sits  quietly  listening  to  the  varous  remarks, 
reserving  his  own.  When  all  others  have  spoken,  he  gives 
his  opinion,  in  a  few  quiet  words  :  and  his  business  associates 
assert  that  he  is  almost  invariably  correct. 

As  you  talk  with  him,  his  secretary  enters  with  a  dozen 
letters,  and  presents  them  for  Mr.  Hanna's  reply  or  signature. 
Turning  to  his  desk,  he  with  a  few  strokes  of  the  pen  disposes 
of  questions  involving  perhaps  thousands  of  dollars,  and  the 
destinies  of  hundreds  of  men.  He  turns  the  searching  power 
of  his  strong  mind  upon  each  letter,  and  you  can  catch  per- 
haps a  few  words  of  his  instructions  to  the  secretary, — "Tell 
Mr.  Cortelyou,"  or,  "write  the  Senator  that,"  etc. 

Having  disposed  of  these  matters,  he  turns  to  you  again, 
and  without  the  loss  of  a  single  thread  of  your  discourse,  re- 
sumes the  consideration  of  your  business. 

You  are  inevitably  impressed  with  his  immense  power  of 
application  and  concentration  of  mind.  Quietly,  with  no 
display  of  effort,  as  an  ocean  liner  turns  in  the  harbor,  his 
strong  intellect  applies  itself  to  each  matter,  weighs  each 
statement  and  each  argument,  and  renders  its  decision  in  a 
few  well-chosen  words. 

Here  is  a  type  of  intellect  which  has  not  yet  been  included 
in  the  world's  category  of  genius  ;  the  type  of  the  successful 
business  man. 

But  why  should  it  not  be  so  included  ?  Are  the  classic 
languages  and  the  higher  mathematics  the  only  worthy  field 
for  the  exercise  of  intellectual  powers  ? 

Must  a  man  devote  the  powers  of  his  intellect  to  problems 
of  physical  science,  or  to  abstract  questions  of  law  and  ethics, 
in  order  to  be  recognized  as  a  man  of  culture  ? 

In  the  complex  affairs  of  the  modern  industrial  world  are 
problems  quite  as  worthy  of  intellectual  power  as  are  the 
more  classic  problems  of  purely  professioiial  life. 


146  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

When  you  have  in  a  brief  interview  concluded  your  busi- 
ness with  Mr.  Hanna,  you  retire,  to  pass,  perhaps,  in  the  cor- 
ridor, a  senator  or  two  who  have  called  to  pay  their  respects, 
or  a  half-dozen  coal  or  street  car  magnates,  who  have  come 
to  discuss  with  Mr.  Hanna  some  business  project.  How  this 
man  can  manage  so  many  various  affairs,  commercial  and 
political,  and  manage  them  all  so  successfully,  is  a  mystery 
to  those  who  do  not  appreciate  the  immense  native  strength 
of  his  intellect,  cultivated  by  many  years  of  application  to 
complex  and  weighty  problems. 

He  has  now  undertaken  to  bring  capital  and  labor  together 
upon  friendly  and  fraternal  terms,  and  to  organize  their  forces 
so  that  they  shall  settle  their  own  differences  by  arbitration. 
He  calls  this  the  great  aim  of  his  life,  and  he  began  to  work 
upon  his  plan  before  the  last  nomination  of  Mr.  McKinley. 
He  views  this  in  all  probability  as  he  did  his  project  of  bring- 
ing together  the  iron  ore  and  the  coal  with  which  it  is  smelted, 
a  consummation  with  which  he  is  credited  with  having  been 
among  the  first  to  promote.  As  that  tended  toward  the  eco- 
nomical making  of  iron  and  steel,  so,  he  says,  the  absence  of 
friction  between  labor  and  capital  will  benefit  both  parties  to 
the  alliance  and  work  material  good  to  the  nation.  He  is  just 
so  sensible,  shrewd,  and  practical  in  all  things,  and  in  these 
words  and  the  phrase  "  loyalty  to  his  friends,"  you  sum  up 
the  character  of  the  Ohio  senator. 

INDUSTRY. 

EVER  waste  anything,  but,  above  all,  never  waste  time. 
To-day  comes  but   once  and  never  returns.     Time   is 
one  of  Heaven's   richest  gifts  ;  and  once  lost  is  irre- 
coverable. 

"  Not  Heaven  itself  upon  the  past  has  power, 
For  what  has  been,  has  been  ;  and  I  have  had  my  hour." 

Do  not  spend  your  time  so,  now,  that  you  will  reproach 
yourself  hereafter.  There  are  no  sadder  thoughts  than  "  Too 
late,"  and  "It  might  have  been."  Time  is  a  trust,  and  for 
every  minute  of  it  you  will  have  to  account.  Be  "  spare  of 
sleep,  spare  of  diet,  and  sparest  of  time." 

When  generals  and  statesmen  tilled  the  soil  of  Italy,  and 


o 

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,  LENOX  AND 

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INDUSTRY.  149 

labor  was  considered  honorable  by  the  magistrates  of  the 
land,  the  Roman  empire  flourished.  But  the  introduction  of 
slaves  wrought  a  great  change  in  public  opinion.  Labor 
became  discreditable  to  those  who  could  live  without  it,  and 
indolence  and  ease  usurped  the  place  of  industry.  The  ruling 
classes  gave  themselves  up  to  pleasure  and  luxury  ;  and  soon 
corruption,  in  high  places  and  low,  sapped  the  foundation  of 
the  empire,  and  it  fell. 

Industry  is  a  virtue  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to  practice  it. 
Believing  this,  Sir  Walter  Scott  wrote  to  his  son  Charles  :  "I 
cannot  too  much  impress  upon  your  mind  that  labor  is  the 
condition  which  God  has  imposed  on  us  in  every  station  in 
life  ;  there  's  nothing  worth  having  that  can  be  had  without  it, 
from  the  bread  which  the  peasant  wins  with  the  sweat  of  his 
brow,  to  the  sports  by  which  the  rich  man  must  get  rid  of  his 
ennui.  As  for  knowledge,  it  can  no  more  be  planted  in  the 
human  mind  without  labor,  than  a  field  of  wheat  can  be  pro- 
duced without  the  previous  use  of  the  plow.  Labor,  there- 
fore, my  dear  boy,  and  improve  the  time.  In  youth,  our  steps 
are  light,  and  our  minds  are  ductile,  and  knowledge  is  easily 
laid  up  ;  but  if  we  neglect  our  spring,  our  summer  will  be  use- 
less and  contemptible,  our  harvest  will  be  chaff,  and  our  win- 
ter of  old  age  unrespected  and  desolate." 

Scott,  himself,  was  a  remarkable  example  of  industry. 
Sometimes  his  health  was  impaired  by  his  great  labors.  At 
one  time  the  physician  besought  him  to  abridge  his  literary 
work,  to  which  the  inveterate  worker  replied  :  - 

"  As  for  bidding  me  not  to  work,  Molly  might  just  as  well 
put  the  kettle  on  the  fire  and  say,  '  Now,  kettle,  don't  boil.' ' 

At  fifty-five  years  of  age  he  became  heavily  involved 
through  the  failure  of  his  publishers,  with  whom  he  was  con- 
nected as  silent  partner.  His  indebtedness  amounted  to  the 
enormous  sum  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Men  of  ordi- 
nary courage  and  industry  would  have  sunk  down  in  utter 
despair  under  such  a  pecuniary  burden  ;  but  Scott  had  bound- 
less faith  in  the  achievements  of  persistent  industry,  and  he 
resolved  that  the  last  dollar  should  be  paid  by  the  product  of 
his  pen.  Summoning  all  the  faculties  of  soul  and  body  to  the 
task,  he  set  himself  to  work  with  more  earnestness  and  deter- 
mination than  ever.  Volume  after  volume  rolled  from  his 
pen,  as  if  it  were  as  easy  for  him  to  write  books  as  it  was  for 


150  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

sugar  to  be  sweet,  each  one  illustrating  more  and  more  the 
greatness  of  the  man,  and  each  one  greeted  with  increasing 
delight  by  the  reading  public.  Year  after  year  he  performed 
these  prodigious  labors,  inspired  by  the  thought  of  being  able 
to  liquidate  the  mammoth  debt,  and  thereby  vindicate  his 
honor.  His  purpose  was  accomplished.  The  last  dollar  of 
his  indebtedness  was  paid,  and  he  was  satisfied,  though  his 
physical  constitution  was  seriously  impaired  by  the  excessive 
toil.  He  died,  in  consequence,  a  martyr  to  his  uprightness 
and  sense  of  honor.  The  patriot  who  dies  for  his  country,  or 
the  Christian  who  dies  for  the  truth,  is  not  more  of  a  martyr 
to  his  convictions  than  he. 

The  most  industrious  habits  in  secular  pursuits  do  not 
interfere  with  intellectual  culture,  as  a  multitude  of  facts 
prove.  Spenser  was  secretary  to  the  lord  deputy  of  Ireland  ; 
Bacon  was  a  hard-working  lawyer ;  Milton  was  secretary  to 
the  commonwealth ;  Locke  was  secretary  to  the  board  of 
trade  under  Charles  II.,  and  afterward,  under  William  III., 
was  commissioner  of  appeals  and  of  trade,  and  of  plantations  ; 
Adclison  was  secretary  of  state ;  Steele  was  commissioner  of 
stamps,  and  Cowley  "  held  various  offices  of  trust  and  confi- 
dence "  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  The  labor  and  drudgery  of 
business  did  not  unfit  them  for  the  best  literary  work.  Rather, 
it  stimulated  them  to  nobler  efforts  in  literary  life. 

In  Italy,  nearly  every  distinguished  man  of  letters,  in  the 
time  of  Dante,  was  a  hard-working  merchant,  physician, 
statesman,  diplomatist,  judge,  or  soldier.  Villani  was  a  mer- 
chant ;  Dante  was  in  the  public  service,  after  he  was  chemist 
and  druggist  ;  Galileo  was  a  physician ;  Petrarch  was  an  am- 
bassador, and  Goldoni  a  lawyer. 

In  Great  Britain,  Isaac  Walton  was  a  linen-draper  ;  DeFoe 
a  shopkeeper  ;  Isaac  Taylor  an  engraver  of  patterns  for  Man- 
chester calico  printers ;  John  Stuart  Mill  was  "  principal 
examiner  in  the  East  India  House,"  where  Charles  Lamb  and 
Edwin  Morris  were  clerks  ;  Macaulay  was  secretary  of  war 
when  he  wrote  his  "Lays  of  Ancient  Rome'';  Sir  Henry  Tay- 
lor, Anthony  Trollope,  and  Matthew  Arnold  were  all  holding 
important  public  offices  when  their  most  popular  literary 
works  appeared. 

In  our  own  land  it  is  equally  true  that  hard  toil  in  secular 
life  has  contributed  largely  to  literary  and  public  distinction. 


INDUSTRY.  151 

If  we  cannot  say,  with  Louis  XIV.,  "  It  is  by  toil  that  kings 
govern,"  we  can  say,  truthfully,  that  our  country  has  been 
governed  and  molded  by  self-made  men,  who  have  risen 
from  the  ranks  of  the  industrious  in  humble  pursuits  by  their 
own  brave  and  self-denying  efforts.  The  names  of  Washing- 
ton, Jackson,  Clay,  Roger  Sherman,  Lawrence,  Jay,  Lincoln. 
Garfield,  Grant,  and  a  host  of  others,  are  familiar  as  belong- 
ing to  this  class,  whose  memory  posterity  will  not  willingly 
let  die.  Their  industry  in  early  life  seemed  to  command  every 
faculty,  sharpening  them  for  greater  and  better  service,  until 
they  were  as  well  qualified  to  rule  the  nation  as  to  run  a  shop 
or  farm. 

The  biographer  of  Samuel  Budgett  says  :  "  He  seemed  born 
under  a  decree  to  do.  Doing,  doing,  ever  doing  ;  his  nature 
seemed  to  abhor  idleness  more  than  the  natures  of  the  old 
philosophers  a  vacuum.  An  idle  moment  was  an  irksome 
moment ;  an  idle  hour  would  have  been  a  sort  of  purgatory. 
No  sooner  was  one  engagement  out  of  his  hand,  than  his 
instinct  within  him  seemed  to  cry  out,  '  Now,  what  is  the  next 
thing  ? '  Among  such  memoranda  as  escaped  destruction  by 
his  hand,  one  note  tells  of  a  '  joyless  and  uncomfortable  Sab- 
bath ;  and  no  wonder,  for  I  did  not  rise  until  half-past  five 
o'clock.'  When  this  man  died  it  was  said,  'No  death  in 
England,  but  that  of  the  Queen  herself,  would  have  touched 
hearts  so  tenderly.'  A  stranger  at  his  funeral,  remarked  to  a 
man  by  his  side,  '  This  is  a  remarkable  funeral.' 

"Yes,"  the  man  addressed  answered,  "such  a  one  as  we 
never  had  in  Kingwood  before.  Ah,  sir,  a  great  man  has 
fallen." 

"No  doubt  he  was  an  important  man  in  this  neighbor- 
hood," responded  the  stranger. 

"  In  this  neighborhood  !  "  exclaimed  the  man  ;  "  there  was 
not  his  equal  in  all  England.  No  tongue  can  tell  all  that  man 
did." 

The  connection  between  his  industry  and  success  was  clear 
as  day. 

"If  any  man  will  not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat."  God's 
decree  is,  Work  or  starve.  "  The  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh 
rich."  Industry  is  the  source  of  all  ,the  wealth  of  our  nation, 
and  of  all  nations.  Idleness  never  maketh  rich,  physically 
or  morally,  but  industry  creates  both  material  and  moral 
wealth,  the  latter  being  best  of  all. 


152  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Horace  Mann  said  :  "  Let  the  young  man  remember  there 
is  nothing  derogatory  in  any  employment  which  ministers  to 
the  well-being  of  the  race.  It  is  the  spirit  that  is  carried  into 
an  employment  that  elevates  or  degrades  it.  The  ploughman 
that  turns  the  clod  may  be  a  Cincinnatus  or  a  Washington,  or 
he  may  be  brother  to  the  clod  he  turns.  It  is  every  way 
creditable  to  handle  the  yardstick  and  to  measure  tape  ;  the 
only  discredit  consists  in  having  a  soul  whose  range  of 
thought  is  as  short  as  the  stick  and  as  narrow  as  the  tape.'' 

Who  shall  stand  before  kings  ?  "  Seest  thou  a  man  dili- 
gent in  his  business  ?  he  shall  stand  before  kings  ;  he  shall  not 
stand  before  mean  men."  The  kind  of  diligence  spoken  of  in 
these  words  embraces  much  more  than  the  superficial  reader 
supposes.  To  be  diligent  in  one's  business  as  above  enlists  all 
the  powers.  All  that  is  good  in  a  man  is  brought  to  the  front. 
He  must  be  sincere,  earnest,  honest,  persevering,  self-reliant, 
industrious,  enterprising,  and  courageous,  if  he  would  be 
"diligent  in  business."  Even  more  than  this  will  appear; 
for  the  whole  triumphal  train  of  virtues  that  assure  honorable 
success  will  file  into  the  grand  march  to  the  king's  throne. 
They  are  all  necessary  to  pursue  a  noble  purpose  and  make  it 
great  and  successful  enough  for  kings  to  honor.  For  the 
man  does  not  "  stand  before  kings,"  cringing  like  a  slave  or 
crawling  like  a  beggar  ;  he  stands  there  every  inch  a  man, 
dignified  in  his  consciousness  of  having  won,  with  a  life 
record  he  is  willing  that  royalty  itself  should  scan  ;  not  the 
royalty  that  nourishes  in  robe  and  crown,  but  the  royalty  of 
goodness  and  truth.  "  He  shall  not  stand  before  mean  men." 
A  king  may  be  mean  ;  there  have  been  such.  He  will  not 
stand  before  a  monarch  who'is  "mean."  ISTo  !  The  "  kings" 
that  he  will  stand  before  are  the  great,  good  ones  of  the 
earth,  who  have  been  true  to  themselves  and  God.  He  may 
be  their  equal,  and  the  bearing  of  his  royal  life  will  command 
their  respect. 

Prove  the  foregoing  by  a  fact.  The  late  Hon.  William  E. 
Dodge  had  poor  but  Christian  parents.  He  was  obliged  to 
work  when  he  was  a  mere  boy.  He  had  no  idle  moments, 
and  scarcely  any  leisure  moments  even  in  boyhood.  Poor 
schools  offered  their  small  advantages  only  a  few  weeks  in  a 
year,  and  out  of  school  he  was  expected  to  be  "diligent  in 
business."  Industry  being  a  law  of  the  family,  he  was  early 


INDUSTRY.  153 

trained  to  industrious  habits,  so  that  when  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  New  York  city,  an  inexperienced  youth,  he  was 
well  equipped  for  work.  It  was  immaterial  to  him  how  early 
his  day's  work  began,  or  how  late  it  closed,  if  so  be  that  his 
employer's  interests  were  faithfully  served.  The  work  he 
had  in  hand  engaged  his  attention  as  if  it  were  his  own. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  disposition  in  him  to  avoid  labor 
or  responsibility.  He  had  no  fear  or  dread  of  these,  he  rather 
sought  them.  As  a  consequence,  he  won  the  confidence  of  his 
employer  at  once,  and  that  of  all  other  men  around  him.  His 
industry  marshaled  a  fine  array  of  attributes  :  uprightness, 
courtesy,  perseverance,  singleness  of  purpose,  loftiness  of 
aim,  thoroughness,  tact,  energy,  decision  of  character,  self- 
reliance,  courage,  and  purity  of  life, —  a  combination  of  traits 
well  suited  to  find  or  make  a  way  to  success. 

Two  temptations  of  a  great  city  he  especially  tried  to 
escape  :  the  intoxicating  cup  and  Sabbath-breaking.  Treat- 
ing was  common,  but  no  one  had  an  opportunity  to  treat  him  ; 
Sabbath-breaking  was  contagious,  but  he  did  not  take  the 
evil.  Always  in  the  public  place  of  worship  on  Sunday, 
"  diligent  in  his  business  "  six  days  in  the  week,  his  evenings 
devoted  to  reading,  study,  literary  and  religious  lectures, 
—  this  was  the  routine  which  he  followed  month  after  month 
and  year  after  year.  His  employer  would  have  intrusted  his 
whole  property  to  his  care  had  it  been  necessary  ;  and  so 
would  any  other  merchant  who  knew  him.  The  lures  of  the 
metropolis  that  had  carried  thousands  of  youth  down  to  ruin, 
made  no  impression  upon  him.  He  paid  no  attention  to  them, 
and  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  as  if  temptations 
were  not.  "Every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away 
of  his  own  lust  and  enticed/' 

His  advance  upward  was  rapid.  Within  a  few  years  he 
was  doing  business  for  himself.  His  character  was  his  capi- 
tal --  better  capital  than  money.  "  When  poverty  is  your  in 
heritance,  virtue  must  be  your  capital."  There  was  no  limit 
to  his  credit,  for  his  capital  was  moral.  Money  is  not  a 
guarantee  against  duplicity,  cheating,  or  overreaching  •  but 
character  is;  "A  good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great 
riches."  It  is  as  true  in  a  warehouse  as  it  is  in  the  chapel  or 
church.  When  Dexter  Smith,  author  of  "  Put  me  in  my  Little 
Bed,"  was  a  youth,  he  overheard  an  influential  man  say,  "  If 


154  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

I  could  live  my  life  over  again,  there  are  some  things  I  would 
not  do."  "And  what  are  they  ?"  inquired  a  friend.  "I  would 
not  use  intoxicating  drinks  ;  I  would  not  smoke,  chew,  swear, 
lie,  or  gamble  ;  I  would  not  visit  billiard  halls  and  bar  rooms  ; 
and  I  would  not  keep  bad  company."  Young  Smith  went 
away  saying,  "  That  man  knows  ;  he  speaks  from  experi- 
ence ;  I  will  avoid  these  things  !  "  and  he  did. 

Young  Dodge  did  the  same,  and  prospered.  He  was  get- 
ting ready  to  meet  kings.  Wealth  began  to  accumulate  ; 
his  business  grew  ;  friends  multiplied.  Though  his  time  was 
now  his  own  he  had  none  to  waste.  Even  his  recreation  was 
found  in  philanthropic  and  benevolent  deeds.  Down  into  the 
slums  of  the  city  he  went  and  rescued  many  a  boy.  He  was 
a  pillar  hi  his  church.  He  became  an  animating  spirit  in 
home,  foreign,  and  other  missionary  societies.  "  City  Mis- 
sions," "  Freedmen's  Aid  Societies,"  "Jerry  McAuley's  Mis- 
sion," the  "Female  College  at  Beyroot,"  and  a  score  of  other 
organizations  to  bless  the  world,  shared  his  counsels,  labors, 
and  munificent  benefactions.  Some  years  he  gave  away  one 
thousand  dollars  a  day.  That  was  getting  pretty  near  a 
throne.  He  "never  lost  the  prayers  of  the  poor." 

He  became  a  wise  counselor,  sought  after  by  leading  men 
in  great  enterprises, —  banks,  insurance  companies,  temper- 
ance and  anti-slavery  societies,  railroad  corporations,  colleges, 
theological  seminaries,  and  other  institutions  watched  over 
by  the  wise  and  learned  of  the  age.  His  counsel  was  sought 
at  Washington  in  the  dark  hour  of  his  country's  peril.  There 
he  stood  "before  kings,"  the  greatest  and  best  statesman  of 
the  land.  His  name  and  fame  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  the 
high  and  low  in  the  mother  country  desired  to  see  him  and 
hear  him  speak.  He  went  thither.  He  was  invited  to  address 
many  public  bodies  where  learned  professors  and  renowned 
statesmen  gave  him  the  warmest  welcome.  He  dined  with 
Gladstone,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  other  representatives  of 
England's  noble  queen.  There  he  stood  literally  "before 
kings."  The  divine  promise  was  fulfilled,  "  Seest  thou  a  man 
diligent  in  his  business?  he  shall  stand  before  kings  ;  he  shall 
not  stand  before  mean  men." 

Dr.  Franklin  said  in  his  autobiography,  that  his  father 
gave  him  line  upon  line  in  regard  to  the  virtue  of  industry  in 
his  boyhood,  enforcing  his  lessons  by  repeating  the  text. 


INDUSTRY.  165 

"  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ?  he  shall  stand  be- 
fore kings  ;  he  shall  not  stand  before  mean  men."  In  his  last 
days,  Dr.  Franklin  honored  the  wisdom  of  his  father  by  say- 
ing, "  I  have  stood  before  five  kings  and  dined  with  two." 

The  story  of  genius  even,  so  far  as  it  can  be  told  at  all,  is 
the  story  of  persistent  industry  in  the  face  of  obstacles,  and 
some  of  the  standard  geniuses  give  us  their  word  for  it  that 
genius  is  little  more  than  industry.  A  woman  like  "  George 
Eliot"  laughs  at  the  idea  of  writing  her  novels  by  inspiration. 
"  Genius,"  President  Dwight  used  to  tell  the  boys  at  Yale, 
"is  the  power  of  making  efforts." 

Begging  is  after  all  harder  than  working,  and,  taking  it 
altogether,  does  not  pay  so  well.  Every  man,  however, 
should  stand  upon  his  own  feet.  "A  ploughman  on  his  feet," 
says  Franklin,  "is  higher  than  a  gentleman  on  his  knees." 

Milton  was  not  merely  a  man  of  genius,  but  of  indomitable 
industry.  He  thus  describes  his  own  habits:  "In  winter, 
often  ere  the  sound  of  any  bell  wakes  man  to  labor  or  devo- 
tion ;  in  summer,  as  oft  with  the  bird  that  first  rouses,  or  not 
much  tardier,  to  read  good  authors,  or  to  cause  them  to  be 
read  till  the  attention  be  ready,  or  memory  have  its  full 
freight ;  then,  with  clear  and  generous  labor,  preserving  the 
body's  health  and  hardiness,  to  render  lightsome,  clear,  and 
not  lumpish  obedience  to  the  mind,  to  the  cause  of  religion, 
and  our  country's  liberty." 

Do  not  look  on  your  work  as  a  dull  duty.  If  you  choose 
you  can  make  it  interesting.  Throw  your  heart  into  it,  master 
its  meaning,  trace  out  the  causes  and  previous  history,  con- 
sider it  in  all  its  bearings,  think  how  many,  even  the  hum- 
blest, labor  may  benefit,  and  there  is  scarcely  one  of  your 
duties  which  you  may  not  look  to  with  enthusiasm.  You  will 
get  to  love  your  work,  and  if  you  do  it  with  delight  you  will 
do  it  with  ease.  Even  if  you  find  this  at  first  impossible,  if 
for  a  time  it  seems  mere  drudgery,  this  may  be  just  what  you 
require  ;  it  may  be  good,  like  mountain  air,  to  brace  up  your 
character.  Our  Scandinavian  ancestors  worshiped  Thor. 
wielding  his  hammer  ;  and  in  the  old  Norse  myth  Voland  is 
said  to  have  sold  his  soul  to  the  devil,  in  order  to  be  the  best 
smith  in  the  world  ;  which,  however,  is  going  too  far. 

It  is  a  great  question  how  much  time  should  be  given  to 
sleep.  Nature  must  decide.  Some  people  require  much  more 


156  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

than  others.  I  do  not  think  it  possible  to  diminish  the  amount 
which  Nature  demands.  Nor  can  time  spent  in  real  sleep 
be  said  to  be  wasted.  It  is  a  wonderful  restorer  of  nervous 
energy,  of  which  those  who  live  in  cities  never  have  enough. 
Sir  E.  Cooke's  division  of  the  day  was- 

"  Six  hours  in  sleep,  in  law's  grave  study  six, 
Four  spent  in  prayer  —  the  rest  on  Nature  fix." 

Sir  W.  Jones  amended  this  into — 

"  Six  hours  to  law,  to  soothing  slumbers  seven, 
Ten  to  the  world  allot,  and  all  to  heaven." 

Neither  six  nor  seven  hours  would  be  enough  for  me.  We 
must  sleep  till  we  are  so  far  refreshed  as  to  wake  up,  and  not 
down. 

In  times  of  sorrow,  occupation,  which  diverts  our  thoughts, 
is  often  a  great  comfort.  Indeed,  many  of  us  torment  our- 
selves in  hours  of  leisure  with  idle  fears  and  unnecessary 
anxieties.  Keep  yourselves  always  occupied. 

"  So  shalt  thou  find  in  work  and  thought 
The  peace  that  sorrow  cannot  give." 

"  Every  place,"  says  old  Lilly,  "  is  a  country  to  a  wise  man, 
and  all  parts  a  palace  to  a  quiet  mind." 

Work,  moreover,  with,  and  not  against  Nature.  Do  not 
row  against  the  stream  if  you  can  help  it ;  but  if  you  must, 
you  must.  Do  not  then  shrink  from  it ;  but  Nature  will  gener- 
ally work  for  us  if  we  will  only  let  her. 

"  For  as  in  that  which  is  above  Nature,  so  in  Nature  itself  : 
he  that  breaks  one  physical  law  is  guilty  of  all.  The  whole 
universe,  as  it  were,  takes  up  arms  against  him,  and  all 
Nature,  with  her  numberless  and  unseen  powers,  is  ready  to 
avenge  herself  upon  him,  and  on  his  children  after  him,  he 
knows  not  when  nor  where.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
obeys  the  law  of  Nature  with  his  whole  heart  and  mind,  will 
find  all  things  working  together  to  him  for  good.  He  is  at 
peace  with  the  physical  universe.  He  is  helped  and  be- 
friended alike  by  the  sun  above  his  head  and  the  dust  beneath 
his  feet  :  because  he  is  obeying  the  will  and  mind  of  Him  who 
made  sun,  and  dust,  and  all  things  ;  and  who  has  given  them 
a  law  that  cannot  be  broken.' 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CHARLES   EMORY    SMITH. 


HOW    SUCCESSES     ARE     ACHIEVED INCIDENTS     OF    HIS     LIFE    COMPARED 

WITH     THOSE     OK    THE    I.IKE    OK    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN  --   BIRTHPLACE,    PAR- 
ENTAGE,    AND      EDUCATION  --  CHOICE     OF     VOCATION EARLY     NEWSPAPER 

EXPERIENCE CAREER    AT     UNION  COLLEGE HIS    PAKT    IN  THE    CAMPAIGN 

OF     1860 BECOMES     EDITOR     OF     THE     ALBANY     EXPRESS  --  MEETING     WITH 

HORACE    GREELEY--  EDITOR    OF     THE     PHILADELPHIA     PRESS   -•- MADE    MIN- 
ISTER    TO     RUSSIA CAMPAIGNS     WITH      McKINLEY HIS     APPOINTMENT     AS 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL PERSONAL     CHARACTERISTICS A     FORCEFUL     AND 

ELOQUENT    PUBLIC     SPEAKER  -  -  TO     WHAT     HE     ATTRIBUTES      HIS      SUCCESS. 
CHOOSING     AN     OCCUPATION. 

Among  the  personal  elements  of  success  I  would  give 
special  prominence  to  the  qualities  of  concentration,  perse- 
verance, and  practical  knack.  Decide  what 
you  will  do,  stick  to  it,  and  be  tactful  in 
doing  it.  Don't  scatter,  don't  waver,  and 
don't  bungle.  Many  men  of  ability  fritter 
away  their  strength  by  undertaking  too 
many  things.  Choose  the  work  for  which 
you  seem  adapted,  put  your  force  in  it  and 
do  it  faithfully  and  thoroughly.  It  goes 
without  saying,  that,  other  things  being- 
equal,  the  more  the  ability  the  greater  the 
success,  but  ability  alone  will  achieve  little 
without  well-directed,  persistent,  and  judicious  application. 

Large  successes  are  attained  by  the  union  of  opportunity 
and  capacity.  What  is  estimated  as  great  success  is  some- 
times accidental.  But  generally  success  comes  because  of 
tenacious  effort  directed  by  a  clear  head,  and  the  clearer  the 
head  and  the  stronger  the  effort,  the  larger  the  success. 


158  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

several  particulars  the  lives  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  the 
first  postmaster-general,  and  of   Charles   Emory  Smith, 
the  late  head  of  our  great  postal  service,  singularly  coin- 
cide.    Franklin,  though  born  in  Massachusetts,  went  in  early 
manhood  to  Philadelphia,  and  there  the  active,  useful  years 
of  his  life  were  spent  ;  Charles  Emory  Smith,  though  born  in 
Connecticut,  spent  his  youth  and  early  manhood  in  Albany. 
New  York,  but  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  became  a  resident  of 
Philadelphia,    and  there   has   lived   the  years   of   his   prime. 
Franklin   was   a  true   patriot   during  the  momentous   epoch 
which  witnessed  the  war  for  independence,  and  aided  by  wise; 
counsel   and   forceful  pen   in   the  achievement  of  that  end ; 
Charles  Emory  Smith,  during  the  still  more  stupendous  strug- 
gle  to   preserve  the  Union   which   Franklin  helped  to  form, 
rendered  loyal  and  effective  service  under  the  leadership  of 
Lincoln.     The  task  of  Franklin  as  postmaster-general   was  a 
hard  one,  involving  the  extension  of  a  postal  system  to  por- 
tions of  our  land  almost  unexplored  ;  that  of  Charles  Emory 
Smith  has  been  more  difficult,  involving  not  only  the  perfect- 
ing of  our  vast  domestic  postal  system,  but  also  the  establish- 
ing of  similar  facilities  in  islands  thousands  of  miles  from  our 
shores.     Franklin,    great   in   many   fields,   was   a   student,  a 
thinker,  an  editor,  a  diplomat  ;  it  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  career  of  Charles  Emory  Smith  has  run  on  some- 
thing of  the  same  lines,  and  he  has,  besides,  been  a  member 
of  the  Cabinet,  and  the  valued  adviser  of  a  president. 

Upon  a  closer  examination,  therefore,  the  career  of  Charles 
Emory  Smith,  if  only  because  of  its  similarity  to  that  of 
another  great  American,  should  prove  an  interesting  and 
instructive  one  to  the  young  men  of  to-day.  He  was  born  on 
a  farm  near  Mansfield,  Connecticut,  on  February  18,  1842, 
his  parents  being  Emory  Boutelle  and  Arvilla  Royce  Smith. 
Seven  years  afterward  his  parents  removed  to  Albany,  New 
York,  wThere  his  grandfather  was  engaged  in  manufacturing. 
The  schooling,  which  had  been  interrupted  by  the  removal, 
was  at  once  resumed,  and  it  was  not  long  before  young 
Charles  was  placed  in  the  Albany  Academy.  Almost  from 
the  time  that  he  began  to  read  and  to  think  of  his  future,  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  be  either  a  journalist  or 
a  lawyer,  and  achieve  the  right  to  have  his  name  numbered 


CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH.  159 

among  those  of  public  men.  Shortly  after  his  removal  to 
Albany  the  first  indication  of  his  decided  bent  came  ;  he  had 
not  been  at  the  Albany  Academy  long  before  he  started  his 
first  newspaper,  the  Academy  Record,  one  copy  making  up  an 
edition,  all  written  out  by  hand,  but  made  up  as  far  as  possible 
like  the  printed  newspapers  of  the  day.  It  was  then  that  he 
decided  that  journalism  was  his  goal ;  the  law  was  no  longer 
considered.  But  when  he  tried  to  find  out  what  he  should  do 
to  fit  himself  for  the  career  he  had  chosen,  he  groped  in  the 
dark  ;  journalism  was  not  then  a  profession,  nor  had  the  inti- 
mate relations  of  to-day  been  established  between  journalism 
and  statesmanship.  He  decided  to  take  Horace  Greeley  as  his 
model ;  to  his  mind  the  most  forceful  editor  the  country  ever 
had.  He  launched  into  the  study  of  the  politics  of  the  city  of 
Albany, —  which,  as  the  capital  of  the  Empire  State,  is  always 
a  storm  center, —  and  found  it  an  exceedingly  congenial  and 
interesting  diversion. 

The  excitement  of  the  Fremont  campaign  of  1856  appealed 
as  strongly  to  young  Smith  as  to  most  of  the  actual  electors. 
A  boy  of  fourteen,  with  his  lessons  to  prepare,  he  attended  all 
the  meetings,  listened  to  all  the  speeches,  and  took  part  in  the 
parades.  The  Republican  organization  formed  to  support  Fre- 
mont was  full  of  the  vitality  of  youth,  fervid  with  the  solem- 
nity of  conviction.  It  voiced  the  growing  antislavery  senti- 
ment, which  was  strong  in  the  country.  The  feeling  of 
national  unrest,  the  presentiment  of  national  disaster,  in- 
flamed the  imagination  even  of  the  schoolboy.  This  party, 
which  seemed  to  be  founded  on  righteousness  and  justice, 
which  had  sprung  from  the  ruins  of  the  old  Whig  party  and 
now  appealed  to  the  conscience  of  the  country,  was  the  politi- 
cal organization  with  which  he  desired,  above  all  things,  to  be 
connected.  Its  orators  became  his  instructors,  its  principles 
as  announced  on  the  stump  were  so  many  text-books  to  him. 
Politics  was  a  part  of  his  education.  Thus  it  was  that  when 
he  had  finished  his  academy  course,  in  1858,  he  was  able  to 
offer  to  the  Albany  Transcript,  edited  by  one  of  his  former 
teachers,  editorials  which  the  editor  liked  well  enough  to 
warrant  his  engaging  the  youthful  contributor  to  continue 
them.  This  in  itself  is  an  evidence  of  the  merit  of  his  compo- 
sitions, as  it  was  extremely  unusual,  even  in  those  days  of  the 
infancy  of  the  profession  of  journalism,  for  an  outsider  thus 


160  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

to  elevate  himself  at  once  into  the  sanctum  without  having 
climbed  the  lower  rungs  of  the  ladder.  The  young  editor  had 
a  year  of  this  work,  which  was  also  a  year  of  the  study  and 
practice  of  politics,  and  then  he  entered  Union  College  at 
Schenectady. 

The  war  fever  was  already  in  the  air.  Young  Smith  went 
into  the  presidential  campaign  of  1860,  and  stumped  the  coun- 
ties adjacent  to  the  college,  acquiring  a  marked  taste  for 
political  speaking,  unmarred  by  the  stage  fright  of  most 
untried  orators.  He  has  said  that  in  more  recent  years  he 
has  experienced  time  and  again  a  feeling  of  apprehension  or 
hesitation  when  rising  to  speak  on  some  theme  of  grave 
import.  That  this  feeling  was  not  experienced  in  1860  was 
probably  due  to  the  deep  personal  interest  which  he  took  in 
the  canvass.  In  all  the  neighboring  parades  and  proces- 
sions of  that  eventful  time,  when  the  Wide-Awakes  began 
to  cut  a  figure  in  the  public  eye,  the  college  campaign  club,  of 
which  he  was  captain,  took  an  active  part. 

The  president  of  the  college,  Dr.  ISTott,  was  an  old  gentle- 
man of  a  fatherly  disposition  and  unsettled  politics.  He 
wanted  Seward  nominated,  as  one  of  his  boys,  and  hardly 
forgave  Lincoln  for  defeating  Seward,  and  on  the  whole 
favored  Douglas's  election.  Young  Smith,  as  editor  of  the  col- 
lege magazine  and  captain  of  the  Wide-Awakes,  was  com- 
pelled to  work  harder  than  he  ever  had  before.  At  half-past 
two  his  alarm  clock  waked  him  daily,  and  he  studied  till 
breakfast.  Then  recitations  and  compositions  went  on  all 
day.  In  the  evening  he  drilled  the  Wide-Awakes  from  after 
supper  until  late  at  night,  affording  him  exercise  to  compen- 
sate for  his  early  rising  and  giving  him  good  health.  Dr. 
Nott  resolved  to  break  up  the  college  Wide-Awakes,  and  sent 
for  Captain  Smith,  and  said  it  could  not  be  allowed.  The 
captain  protested  that  it  was  a  proper  purpose  of  young  men 
soon  to  become  citizens.  But  the  doctor  tried  again,  and  said 
they  must  leave  the  college  ;  when  he  was  told  that  sixty 
of  the  young  men  would  leave  together,  the  old  gentleman 
dropped  the  matter.  When  Lincoln  was  elected,  young  Smith 
entered  the  president's  class-room  with  a  newspaper,  and  the 
latter  inquired  what  paper  it  was.  "A  New  York  daily,  sir,' 
the  young  man  replied,  "with  the  glorious  news  of  the  elec- 
tion of  Abraham  Lincoln  !  "  It  was  wormwood  to  the  aged 
president ! 


CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH.  161 

Just  after  leaving  Union  College,  from  which  institution 
he  graduated  in  1861,  young  Smith  conceived  the  idea  that  he 
would  like  to  enter  the  service  of  the  government  in  one  of 
the  departments  at  Washington.  He  saw  nothing  better  in 
prospect  just  then,  and  he  could  not  ask  his  father  foT  assist- 
ance, having  promised  that  if  his  father  would  send  him  to 
college  he  would  never  ask  for  further  aid  from  that  source. 
His  pride,  therefore,  forbade  his  going  to  his  father  for  help  ; 
so,  after  making  up  his  mind,  he  sought  the  aid  of  Mr.  George 
Dawson,  the  editor  of  the  Albany  Journal.  Mr.  Dawson,  after 
hearing  him  through,  flatly  told  him  that  he  would  not  recom- 
mend him  for  government  employment,  and,  moreover,  would 
oppose  his  appointment,  as  he  considered  him  destined  for 
higher  things  than  a  government  clerkship.  This  ended  his 
ambition  in  that  direction,  and  it  is  an  interesting  circum- 
stance that  within  a  few  years  he  became  the  partner  of,  and 
joint  editor  with,  Mr.  Dawson.  Subsequently,  when  offered 
the  nomination  for  Congress,  or  to  other  offices,  he  consist- 
ently declined,  preferring  to  devote  his  undivided  attention 
to  his  chosen  work. 

Although  active  for  the  next  two  years  as  an  aide  on  the 
staff  of  General  Rathbone,  under  War-Governor  Morgan,  in 
raising  and  organizing  volunteer  regiments,  he  also  found 
considerable  time  during  the  next  three  or  four  years  to  de- 
vote to  political  study,  organization,  and  activity.  By  1864  he 
had  become  familiar  with  open-air  campaign  speaking.  Dur- 
ing leisure  moments  he  continued  his  study  of  general  history, 
American  history,  and  economics,  as  well  as  his  contributions 
to  newspapers.  In  1865,  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  was 
offered  the  editorship  of  the  Albany  Express,  which  he  ac- 
cepted, and  soon  acquired  an  interest  in  the  paper.  The 
Transcript,  on  which  lie  had  begun  his  journalistic  career, 
had  been  purchased  by  the  owners  of  the  Express  and  merged 
into  it.  He  also  was  for  a  time  a  member  of  the  faculty  of 
the  Albany  Academy. 

While  editing  the  Albany  Express  he  was  introduced  to 
Horace  Greeley.  It  was  soon  after  Greeley  had  gone  on  Jef- 
ferson Davis's  bail-bond,  and  had  provoked  from  all  over  the 
country  a  fire  of  criticism  which  had  drawn  out  his  characteri- 
zation of  country  editors  as  "those  insignificant  fellows  that 
God,  in  his  inscrutable  wisdom,  permits  to  edit  the  country 


162  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

papers."  Mr.  Greeley  came  to  Albany,  and  Governor  Fen- 
ton  presented  Mr.  Smith  to  him,  at  a  reception  at  the  execu- 
tive mansion,  as  the  editor  of  the  Express.  "Yes,  Mr.  Gree- 
ley," said  Mr.  Smith,  as  he  grasped  the  hand  outstretched 
to  him,  "I  am  one  of  those  insignificant  fellows  that  God,  in 
his  inscrutable  wisdom,  permits  to  edit  the  country  papers." 
Greeley  laughed  heartily,  and  they  became  good  friends. 
Shortly  afterward  Mr.  Smith  was  appointed  private  secretary 
to  Governor  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  and  one  day  was  sent  to 
New  York  on  a  confidential  mission  from  the  governor.  He 
called  upon  Mr.  Greeley,  and  saw  him  at  that  historic  desk 
in  the  Tribune  office,  writing  away  with  his  hand  up  under 
his  chin  as  he  followed  his  pen  with  his  eye. 

In  1870  Mr.  Smith  beceme  joint  editor  of  the  Albany  Even- 
ing Journal.  In  1871  he  was  elected  a  trustee  of  Union  Col- 
lege, on  the  part  of  the  graduates,  and  served  five  years.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Republican  National  convention  in 
1876,  and  was  secretary  of  the  platform  committee.  In  1877, 
on  the  retirement  of  George  Dawson,  he  became  sole  editor 
of  the  Journal.  The  legislature  of  New  York,  in  1878,  elected 
him  a  regent  of  the  State  University.  He  was  delegate  to  the 
Republican  State  conventions  for  several  successive  years, 
and  was  almost  invariably  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
resolutions,  and  author  of  the  platform. 

Once  when  Senator  Roscoe  Conkling  and  Mr.  Smith  were 
delegates  to  a  state  convention  both  men  were  placed  upon 
the  platform  committee.  The  senator  was  made  chairman  of 
the  committee,  but  that  the  platform  as  reported  was  the 
work  of  Mr.  Smith  the  senator  practically  admitted  to  the 
convention ;  for,  instead  of  presenting  the  report  himself,  he 
asked  Mr.  Smith  to  read  it,  saying,  with  a  smile  whose  signif- 
icance his  fellow-delegates  evidently  appreciated,  "  Mr.  Smith 
is  more  familiar  with  the  handwriting  of  the  report  than 
I  am." 

In  1880  Mr.  Smith  reached  what  may  be  termed  the  turn- 
ing point  in  his  career.  Differences  with  the  majority  owners 
of  the  Journal  on  some  questions  of  public  policy  rendered  it 
easier  for  him  to  accept  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Calvin  Wells, 
a  wealthy  and  influential  citizen  of  Pittsburg,  who  had  shortly 
before  this  time  purchased  the  Philadelphia  Press,  and  who 
offered  Mr.  Smith  the  editorship  of  that  paper.  For  many 


CHAELES  EMORY  SMITH.  163 

reasons  he  was  not  at  first  inclined  to  accept  the  offer.  He 
had  become  thoroughly  identified  with,  and  a  leader  in,  the  polit- 
ical life  of  New  York,  and  had  been  asked  in  state  conven- 
tions time  after  time  to  frame  the  resolutions  embodying  the 
platform  of  the  party.  He  was  sole  editor  of  the  leading 
newspaper  of  the  capital  of  his  adopted  state,  and  as  such 
could  command  a  prominent  place  in  the  councils  of  his  party, 
and,  should  he  so  desire,  preferment  for  state  or  federal  posi- 
tions of  dignity  and  influence.  His  important  work  in  the 
national  convention  of  1876  had  given  him  a  national  posi- 
tion. He  had,  moreover,  married  an  Albany  girl,  Miss  Ella 
Huntley,  and  the  home  ties  of  both  would  have  to  be  broken. 
He  had  come  to  anticipate  but  one  possible  removal  from 
Albany, —  that  to  New  York  city.  After  mature  considera- 
tion, however,  he  thought  it  best  to  accept  the  offer  of  Mr. 
Wells,  and  consequently  in  February,  1880,  he  removed  to 
Philadelphia  and  took  up  his  duties  as  editor  of  the  Press. 
Upon  assuming  charge  of  the  editorial  columns  of  the  Press, 
Mr.  Smith,  following  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  Pennsylvania, 
espoused  the  cause  of  James  G.  Elaine,  and  up  to  the  time  of 
the  latters  death  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  supporters  of 
the  Maine  statesman. 

His  fame  as  an  orator  and  politician  had  preceded  him, 
and  he  was  soon  in  demand  for  advice  and  assistance  in  polit- 
ical campaigns,  state  and  national.     In  1881  he  was  selected 
to  make  the  opening  speech  of  the  Republican  campaign  in 
Pennsylvania.     The  factional  quarrels  in  Pennsylvania  poli- 
tics, however,  were  quite  perplexing  to  the  new  editor  of  the 
Press  for  a  time,  and  he  remarked  to  a  friend  that  while  he 
had  seen  a  good  deal  of  New  York  politics  the  kind  they  had 
in  Pennsylvania  and  in  Philadelphia  puzzled  him  more  than 
anything  he  had   encountered  in   New  York,  and   confessed 
that  it  was  sometimes  not  easy  for  him  to  find  the  connec-j 
tions.     After  only  about  five  years'  residence  in  Philadelphia,  : 
however,  he  had  made  so  strong  an  impression  on  the  leadeOn 
of  his  party  as  to  be  thought  of  as  one  of  the  candidates  to  >ns' 
presented  to  the  "conference,"  held  in  advance  of  the     vvas 
vention  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  mayor  under  thelcQing 
charter  for  Philadelphia.     He  refused  to  entertain  thq  head 
gestion,  but  was  chairman  of  the  Union  League  Comractical 
which  as  a  part  of  the  conference  was  potential  in  nethods  ; 
the  nomination. 


164  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Mr.  Smith  took  a  leading  part  in  the  fight  for  the  gold 
standard  in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  selected  to  uphold  that 
cause  before  the  legislature  of  his  state,  participating  in  a 
joint  debate  before  that  body  with  Charles  Heber  Clarke,  then 
the  best  equipped  and  most  formidable  champion  of  the  silver 
cause  in  the  East. 

When  in  1890  Mr.  Smith  was  nominated  by  President  Har- 
rison as  minister  to  Russia,  he  was  tendered  a  banquet  at 
which  the  foremost  men  in  journalism  and  politics  in  the  city 
and  state  united  to  do  him  honor. 

The  mission  to  Russia  was  entirely  unsought  by  Mr.  Smith. 
He  had,  in  fact,  declined  when  requested  to  be  a  candidate 
and  had  gone  to  Washington  to  urge  the  appointment  of  a 
prominent  resident  of  that  city  to  the  position.  It  turned  out 
that  President  Harrison  had  already  determined,  without  his 
knowledge,  to  appoint  him,  but  did  not  disclose  the  fact  in  the 
conversation.  A  few  days  after  his  return  to  Philadelphia  he 
received  a  note  from  Secretary  Blaine  offering  him  the  Rus- 
sian mission.  Although  disinclined  to  accept  because  of  the 
break  it  would  necessitate  in  his  business  relations  he  finally 
acquiesced  on  the  appointment  being  pressed  upon  him. 
While  in  Russia  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  relief  work 
of  the  great  Russian  famine  in  1891  and  1892,  and  had  charge 
of  the  American  contributions,  amounting  to  over  $100,000  in 
money  and  five  ship  loads  of  provisions.  He  resigned  in  1892 
to  resume  his  editorial  duties. 

In  1895  Mr.  Smith   accompanied   the   then   Governor   Mc- 

Kinley  at  two  or  three  points  of  his  campaign  tour  in  Ohio, 

and  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  opening  mass  meeting  at 

Canton  in  the  campaign  of  1890.     It  is  generally  understood 

that  Mr.  Smith  wrote  a  large  part  of  the  Republican  national 

platform  of  that  year.     He  had  long  been  an  intimate  friend 

of  President   McKinley,   and,  upon   the  resignation   of  Post- 

naster- General    Gary,    President    McKinley    requested    Mr. 

mth  to  become  a  member  of  his  official  family,  and  the  in- 

iiation  was  accepted.     Mr.  Smith  was  accordingly  nominated 

ol^>ostmaster-general  on  April    21,  1898,  and  the  nomination 

easronfirmed  by  the  Senate  the  same  da}'. 

a  we's  not  within  the  scope  of  this  sketch  to  treat,  in  detail, 

beforvthings  accomplished  by  Mr.  Smith  as  the  head  of  the 

offerecSce   Department,  and,    in  fact,   if   that  were  done,  it 


CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH.  165 

could  convey  to  the  reader  no  just  estimate  of  the  value  of 
the  services  he  had  rendered  his  country  and  its  President  in 
the  trying  times  of  the  last  three  years.  It  is  said  that  when 
President  McKinley  offered  Mr.  Smith  the  portfolio  of  post- 
master-general the  editor  of  the  Press  at  first  demurred  be- 
cause he  feared  that,  owing  to  the  vast  amount  of  routine 
connected  with  the  conduct  of  the  postal  business  of  the  gov- 
ernment, he  would  have  but  little  time  to  devote  to  considera- 
tion of  those  larger  matters  of  international  and  domestic 
policy  which  are  continually  pressing  upon  the  President  and 
his  advisers.  The  President  is  said  to  have  told  him  then 
that  he  could  delegate  the  details  to  the  subordinates  in  the 
department :  that  a  president  could  get  a  postmaster-general 
almost  anywhere,  but  that  he  wanted  Mr.  Smith  at  his  council 
table  in  order  that  he  might  have  the  benefit  of  his  varied 
talents  in  settling  the  great  questions  of  the  day  as  they  arose. 
Mr.  Smith  followed  the  President's  suggestion,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, in  the  conduct  of  his  great  department,  and  by  leav- 
ing to  his  subordinates  the  decision  of  all  matters  of  detail 
falling  properly  under  their  charge,  was  able  to  render  to  the 
President  intelligent  co-operation  in  solving  the  innumer- 
able, momentous,  and  perplexing  questions  which  presented 
themselves  during  Mr.  McKinley's  first  administration.  He 
was  renominated  as  postmaster-general  by  the  President  on 
March  5,  1901. 

One  of  the  qualities  which  every  successful  public  official 
should  possess  is  the  ability  to  be  absolutely  silent  or  non- 
committal when  he  thinks  it  necessary  or  desirable.  Mr. 
Smith  is  an  adept  in  this  art,  as  all  who  have  business  with 
him  can  testify,  and  as  was  well  illustrated  in  one  of  the 
upheavals  in  municipal  politics  in  Philadelphia  several  years 
ago.  As  editor  of  the  Press  he  was,  of  course,  making  it  his 
business  to  tell  the  people  of  his  city  everything  that  was 
going  on.  But  the  forces  confronting  each  other  were  three  : 
the  bosses,  the  Citizens'  Reform  Association,  and  the  Union 
League.  The  bosses  were  in  an  ugly  mood  ;  the  Citizens' 
Reform  Association,  like  such  organizations  too  often,  was 
full  of  energy  but  lacked  experienced  judgment  for  handling 
a  great  crisis  ;  so  Mr.  Smith,  as  a  skilled  politician  and  head 
of  the  Union  League,  had  to  do  most  of  the  hard,  practical 
work.  This  responsibility  wrought  a  change  in  his  methods  ; 


166  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

instead  of  following  his  professional  bent  he  had  to  keep  his 
own  counsel  with  the  utmost  care.  He  became  like  the 
sphinx.  The  news-gatherers  of  the  Press  complained  that 
even  they  could  not  screw  a  word  out  of  him.  They  tried 
the  trick  of  writing  out  what  they  had  learned  during  the 
day,  and  sending  proofs  of  it  to  him,  as  editor,  to  revise.  But 
it  was  useless.  If  he  found  some  glaring  misstatement  of 
fact,  he  would  run  his  pencil  through  it,  but  he  never  told 
what  ought  to  be  inserted  in  its  place.  It  is  a  gift  few  public 
men  have,  and  few  can  acquire,  the  faculty  of  calmly  smiling 
under  a  volley  of  questions  or  remarks  intended  to  draw  out 
an  expression,  and  yet  keeping  absolutely  silent. 

The  fellow-feeling  which  Mr.  Smith  has  always  shown 
toward  younger  aspirants  for  similar  honors  is  well  illus- 
trated by  a  story  told  by  one  now  prominent  in  journalism. 
When  a  very  young  man  the  narrator  desired  very  much  to 
get  into  the  newspaper  business,  but  he  lived  away  back  in 
the  country,  and  do  what  he  could,  turn  which  way  he  would, 
there  seemed  no  opening.  Finally  he  wrote  a  hundred  letters 
to  as  many  newspaper  editors,  begging  each  of  them  to  give 
him  some  sort  of  encouragement.  One  of  these  letters  he 
sent  to  Mr.  Smith,  then  editor  of  the  Albany  Journal.  In  due 
time  he  began  to  receive  replies  ;  all  told  there  were  about 
sixty  of  them,  but  only  one  gave  him  the  slightest  hope. 
Most  of  them  were  discouraging,  and  some  of  them  even 
made  fun  of  his  untrained  aspirations.  But  the  letter  from 
Mr.  Smith  was  of  such  a  character  as  to  make  him  forget  all 
the  others.  It  did  not  offer  him  a  place  on  the  Journal,  it  did 
not  even  advise  him  to  push  forward  in  the  certainty  that  he 
was  cut  out  for  a  newspaper  man,  but  it  was  kindly  and 
considerate  in  tone,  and  it  contained  two  or  three  practical 
suggestions  which  he  followed,  and  because  of  which  he  ulti- 
mately succeeded  in  obtaining  a  foothold  in  his  chosen  pro- 
fession. 

Mr.  Smith  is  in  constant  demand  for  public  addresses  of 
every  character.  Each  spring  brings  a  large  number  of  invi- 
tations from  schools  and  colleges  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
for  commencement  addresses  ;  and  to  all  banquets  given  by 
large  political  or  commercial  organizations  of  the  great  cities 
of  the  country  he  receives  a  cordial  invitation,  usually  coupled 
with  a  request  for  a  speech  or  response  to  a  toast.  He  has 


CHARLES  EMORY  SMITH.  167 

frequently,  on  such  occasions,  voiced  the  sentiments  of  the 
president  and  cabinet  on  important  questions  then  before  the 

people. 

Mr.  Smith  has  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most 
adroit  and  resourceful  campaigners  in  public  life  to  day.  It 
has  been  his  fortune  to  be  placed  in  some  peculiar  situations 
while  on  speechmaking  tours,  but  by  the  exercise  of  tact  and 
forensic  skill  he  has  been  able  invariably  to  extricate  himself 
with  credit.  One  such  occasion  presented  itself  during  the 
campaign  of  11)00,  when  he  canvassed  all  doubtful  states  from 
Maine  to  Nebraska.  He  was  in  Kansas,  and  was  invited  to 
visit  one  of  the  principal  universities  in  a  near-by  city,  Metho- 
dist in  its  teachings,  and  where  many  Methodist  ministers, 
out  of  active  service  from  old  age,  spent  their  closing  days. 
The  president  of  the  university  begged  Mr.  Smith  to  make  a 
speech  to  the  students,  who  had  pleaded  so  earnestly  for  a 
few  remarks  that  he  hoped  the  postmaster-general  would  not 
refuse.  Mr.  Smith  consented,  and  the  chapel  was  soon  com- 
pletely filled  by  an  eager  audience.  A  political  speech  pure 
and  simple  Mr.  Smith  could  not  give  to  these  young  men  ; 
but,  with  subtlety  and  brilliancy,  he  led  his  large  audience 
along  on  national  issues,  without  once  mentioning  the  name 
of  either  candidate  or  the  specific  issues  involved  in  the  pend- 
ing campaign.  When  he  began  his  speech  he  had  no  idea  of 
saying  more  than  a  few  words,  but  suddenly,  from  the  nearest 
seat,  an  aged  minister  cried  out  "  Amen  !  "  A  few  more  sen- 
tences, and  again  that  "Amen!"  now  reinforced  by  others, 
rang  through  the  chapel.  The  of  tener  it  sounded,  the  more  im- 
passioned and  eloquent  and  fervent  Mr.  Smith  became.  It  was 
the  most  unique  applause  ever  given  to  a  campaign  orator. 

In  his  habits  Mr.  Smith  is  exceedingly  temperate.  He  does 
not  use  tobacco  in  any  form,  and  it  is  only  upon  the  occasion 
of  some  formal  function  that  he  indulges  in  wine,  and  then 
only  a  glass  for  form's  sake,  not  because  he  enjoys  it.  He 
has  said  that  he  never  had  the  time  to  be  convivial ;  that  he 
could  always  find  more  profitable  employment  for  the  little 
leisure  vouchsafed  him  during  his  busy  life.  He  does  not  find 
it  necessary,  as  do  many  speakers,  to  take  a  glass  of  wine 
before  rising  to  respond  to  a  toast  in  order  to  stimulate 
thought ;  his  brain  is  always  clear  and  his  thoughts  always 
ready  for  expression. 


168  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  was  conferred  upon  Mr. 
Smith  by  Union  University  in  1889,  Lafayette  College  in  1899, 
Knox  College  in  1900,  and  Wesleyan  University  in  1901. 

Upon  being  asked  not  long  ago  to  what  he  attributed  his  suc- 
cess in  the  career  mapped  out  for  himself  while  a  schoolboy, 
Mr.  Smith  replied  that  it  had,  in  his  opinion,  been  primarily 
due  to  "concentration  and  constancy.'"  He  had  applied  all 
his  energies  along  the  chosen  line  and  had  not  allowed  him- 
self to  be  swerved  from  it  until  success  had  been  achieved. 
While  continuing  his  newspaper  work  he  endeavored  each 
year  to  make  a  substantial  addition  to  his  equipment.  Ameri- 
can biography  he  found  stimulating  as  well  as  instructive  ;  in 
fiction,  "Vanity  Fair,"  "David  Copperfield,''  and  "The  Three 
Musketeers/'  delighted  him.  He  has  always  been  fond  of  the 
theater,  but  has  found  little  time  to  go.  He  has  found  his 
chief  pleasure  in  his  work. 

It  has  been  well  said  by  one  of  Mr.  Smith's  friends  that  the 
young  men  of  this  generation  may  learn  from  his  life  to  be 
bodily  pure,  to  be  temperate  in  their  habits,  never  to  let  down 
their  moral  tone  in  intercourse,  to  be  large  rather  than  small 
in  observation  and  reflection,  and  to  keep  their  eye  on  national 
affairs  rather  than  on  village  quarrels  and  small  politicians. 

CHOOSING   AN   OCCUPATION. 

'HE  choice  of  an  occupation  is  a  very  important  factor  in 
the  success  of  life.  The  earlier  it  can  be  done  the  bet- 
ter. The  more  nearly  the  aptitudes  of  the  man  or 
woman  fit  the  occupation,  the  more  congenial  and  suc- 
cessful is  the  career.  To  follow  the  "natural  bent,''  when- 
ever it  is  possible,  appears  to  be  eminently  wise,  for  "square 
men  should  be  put  into  square  holes,  and  round  men  into 
round  holes.''  Failing  to  regard  the  drift  of  one's  being  in 
the  choice  of  an  occupation  is  almost  sure  to  put  square  men 
into  round  holes,  and  round  men  into  square  holes. 

A  good  mechanic  has  often  been  spoiled  to  make  a  poor 
clergyman  or  merchant,  and  a  good  minister  has  been  spoiled 
to  make  a  commonplace  artisan.  Overlooking  the  "  natural 
bent,"  the  youth  has  selected  an  occupation  for  which  he  has 
no  special  aptitude,  and  he  brings  little  to  pass. 

Strong  minds  readily  indicate  the  pursuit  for  which  they 


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CHOOSING  AN  OCCUPATION.  171 

are  naturally  fit ;  others  do  not.  When  Dr.  Watts  was  a  boy, 
his  propensity  for  rhyming  was  irresistible.  His  father  be- 
came disgusted  with  his  habit  in  this  direction,  and  finally 
proceeded  to  expel  it  from  his  soul  by  flogging.  In  the  midst 
of  the  punishment,  with  the  tears  running  down  his  cheeks, 
young  Watts  cried  out  :  - 

"  Dear  father,  do  some  pity  take 
And  I  will  no  more  verses  make." 

His  father  saw  that  what  was  bred  in  the  bone  could  not 
be  expelled  with  the  rod,  and  he  very  wisely  concluded  to  let 
the  boy  develop  into  a  poet. 

The  celebrated  English  engineer,  Smeaton,  displayed  a 
marvelous  ability  for  mechanical  pursuits  even  in  his  child- 
hood. Before  he  had  donned  jacket  and  trousers  in  the  place 
of  short  dress,  his  father  discovered  him  on  the  top  of  his  barn 
putting  up  a  windmill  that  he  had  made.  But  his  father  paid 
no  regard  to  his  aptitude  for  this  or  that  position.  He  was 
determined  to  make  a  lawyer  of  him,  and  sent  him  to  school 
with  that  end  in  view.  But  the  boy  thought  more  of  wind- 
mills and  engines  than  he  did  of  Euclid  or  Homer,  and  the 
result  was  unfavorable.  His  father  was  trying  to  crowd  a 
square  boy  into  a  round  hole,  and  it  was  too  repugnant  to  the 
born  engineer.  Nature  fitted  him  for  a  particular  place,  and 
he  got  it. 

The  Scotch  teacher  of  David  Wilkie  was  wiser  than  Smea- 
ton's  father,  for  when  he  saw  that  the  lad  could  paint  better 
than  he  could  write,  and  loved  drawing  more  than  reading,  he 
said,  "  Make  a  great  painter  of  him."  He  was  continually 
drawing  the  heads  of  schoolmates,  sometimes  singly,  and 
sometimes  as  they  stood  in  classes,  always  doing  his  work  so 
thoroughly  as  to  surprise  beholders.  Even  when  he  was  a 
little  boy,  Lord  Balgonie  called  at  the  manse  one  day,  when 
David  drew  a  half-burned  heather  stem  from  the  fire,  and  with 
it  drew  a  portrait  of  his  lordship  on  the  hearthstone,  exclaim- 
ing, "  Mother,  look  at  Gome's  nose."  His  lordship  possessed  a 
nose  that,  if  it  was  not  larger  than  was  necessary,  was  larger 
than  any  of  his  neighbors  could  boast,  and  he  said  the  likeness 
was  perfect. 

The  mother  of  Benjamin  West,  too,  showed  her  good  sense 
by  recognizing  the  natural  bent  of  her  boy  toward  art.  One 


172  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

day  he  drew  a  picture  of  his  chubby  little  sister  as  she  lay  in 
the  cradle  asleep,  and  the  likeness  was  so  striking  that  his 
mother  observed  it  with  admiration,  and  then  imprinted  a  kiss 
on  Benjamin's  cheek.  "That  kiss,"  said  West  forty  years 
thereafter,  '•  made  me  a  painter."  Instead  of  seeing  nothing 
but  a  freak  of  childhood  in  the  act,  Mrs.  West  beheld  the  fore- 
shadowing of  a  distinguished  artist,  and  acted  accordingly. 

Sir  John  Franklin  was  an  illustration  of  our  theme.  His 
father  designed  that  he  should  b.e  a  preacher  ;  but  in  his  heart 
of  hearts  the  boy  meant  to  be  a  sailor.  This  was  somewhat 
singular,  as  he  lived  twelve  miles  from  the  sea,  and  never  saw 
it  until  he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  On  that  day,  accom- 
panied by  an  intimate  companion,  he  walked  that  distance  for 
the  purpose  of  gazing  upon  the  ocean.  It  was  the  grandest 
spectacle  he  had  ever  seen  ;  and  for  hours  he  sat  and  gazed  in 
silence  upon  its  restless  bosom.  His  desire  for  a  ''life  on  the 
ocean  wave"  grew  stronger  than  ever.  He  talked  about  it  by 
day  and  dreamed  about  it  by  night.  He  must  go  to  sea ;  a 
denial  would  break  his  heart.  As  he  was  deaf  to  all  entreaties 
and  counsels  of  his  parents,  who  were  thoroughly  opposed  to 
a  seafaring  life  for  their  son,  there  seemed  to  be  no  alterna- 
tive. His  father  yielded  to  the  boy's  wish  for  a  seafaring 
life,  and  procured  a  situation  for  him  as  cabin  boy  in  a  mer- 
chant vessel  bound  for  Lisbon.  This  voyage  was  selected 
for  its  roughness,  his  father  thinking  that  enough  hardship 
would  sicken  him  of  the  sea.  But  from  the  time  the  vessel 
set  sail,  it  was  one  continuous  festival  for  the  adventurous 
and  fearless  cabin  boy.  He  returned  more  enthusiastic  than 
ever  for  the  life  of  a  sailor,  and  his  father  secured  for  him  a 
midshipman's  place  on  board  of  a  seventy-four  gun  sh:^  of  the 
royal  navy.  He  was  then  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  from 
that  time  he  began  to  make  his  mark.  At  fifteen  his  ship 
was  in  the  battle  of  Copenhagen,  under  Nelson  ;  and  his  valor, 
tact,  and  efficiency  in  that  conflict  proved  that  he  was  a  gifted 
naval  commander  in  embryo.  Obedience  to  orders,  loyalty  to 
his  country,  and  the  habit  of  doing  the  best  he  could,  were  his 
traits.  He  was  in  the  battle  at  Trafalgar,  where  he  performed 
the  perilous  duty  of  signal  officer  when  his  comrades  were 
falling  fast  about  him, —  a  youth  of  nineteen  displaying  the 
courage  and  military  skill  of  a  veteran.  By  devotion  to  his 
profession  and  fidelity  to  his  superiors,  he  worked  his  way  up 


CHOOSING  AN  OCCUPATION.  173 

to  knighthood.  Great  Britain  delighted  to  honor  him.  He 
was  the  naval  commander  above  all  others  selected  in  1845  to 
undertake  a  voyage  of  discovery  in  the  Arctic  ocean.  From 
that  voyage  he  never  returned. 

Had  his  father's  plan  to  make  him  a  minister  in  spite  of 
his  taste  for  the  sea  been  carried  into  effect,  the  world  would 
have  lost  the  services  of  one  of  the  greatest  and  noblest  ex- 
plorers whose  memory  it  delights  to  honor. 

But  such  examples  as  the  preceding  are  exceptional.  The 
aptitudes  of  most  boys  and  girls  are  not  so  manifest.  There 
is  little  or  nothing  to  show  whether  nature  designed  them  for 
this,  or  that,  or  the  other  occupation.  The  choice  of  a  profes- 
sion is  a  more  difficult  matter  with  them.  Time,  thoughtful- 
ness,  and  sound  judgment  are  indispensable  in  making  the 
choice.  Since  almost  every  one  will  do  better  in  a  certain  oc- 
cupation than  he  can  in  any  other,  the  choice  becomes  doubly 
important  because  so  difficult.  But  forethought,  circumspec- 
tion, and  a  sincere  desire  to  make  the  most  of  one's  life,  will 
overcome  the  difficulty,  and  guide  to  the  best  employment. 
Emerson  said,  "  The  crowning  fortune  of  a  man  is  to  be  born 
with  a  bias  to  some  pursuit,  which  finds  him  in  employment 
and  happiness/'  But  youth  who  have  not  that  "crowning 
fortune  "  must  fall  back  upon  their  own  good  sense. 

But  sometimes  youths  desire  an  occupation  for  which  they 
are  not  at  all  fitted.  They  consult  their  desires  only,  and  pos- 
sibly think  that  duty  prompts  them  to  it.  A  youth  of  no 
scholarship,  but  possessing  a  real  Christian  heart,  thought  it 
was  his  duty  to  become  a  preacher.  Finally  his  well-to-do 
father  consented,  and  he  was  put  through  a  course  of  study, 
and  entered  the  ministry.  After  he  was  licensed  to  preach, 
he  visited  an  aunt,  several  miles  distant,  and  spent  the  Sab- 
bath. The  pastor  invited  him  to  preach  in  the  afternoon,  and 
his  aunt  listened  to  him  with  mingled  emotions  of  surprise 
and  pity.  At  the  supper  table  the  aunt  said  :  - 

'•  John,  why  did  you  enter  the  ministry  ?  " 

"  Because  I  was  called  of  God."  John  answered  promptly. 

The  aunt  sat  in  silent  thought  for  a  moment,  then  she 
said  :  — 

"  John,  might  it  not  have  been  some  other  noise  you 
heard  ? " 

Youth  of  both  sexes  should  be  guided  by  something  better 


174  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

than  a  noise  in  choosing  an  occupation.     Let  them  not  mis- 
take a  personal  desire  for  a  divine  commission. 

Parents  often  overlook  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  urge  their 
sons  into  pursuits  only  because  they  are  honorable,  and  will 
give  them  rank  at  once.  We  need  scarcely  say  that  such  a 
course  leads  to  failure.  Where  there  is  no  fitness  for  the 
place,  there  can  be  no  real  honors.  Matthews  was  right  in 
saying  :  - 

"Whatsoever  nature  intended  you  for,  that  be,  if  only  a 
counter  or  tailpiece.  If  Providence  qualified  you  only  to  write 
couplets  for  sugar  horns,  or  to  scribble  editorials  for  the 
Bunkumville  Spread  Eagle,  stick  to  the  couplets  or  to  the  edi- 
torials ;  a  good  couplet  for  a  sugar  horn  is  more  respectable 
than  a  villainous  epic  poem  in  twelve  books." 

Some  youths  find  their  places  late  in  life,  and  that,  too, 
without  much  regard  to  their  own  choice.  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
belonged  to  this  class.  It  is  quite  evident  that  when  he  was  a 
farmer,  broker,  and  tanner,  he  had  not  found  his  own  place. 
But  when,  in  the  late  Civil  War,  he  led  the  loyal  army  of  the 
North  to  victory,  and  saved  the  Union,  he  found  the  place  for 
which  he  was  fitted  above  all  others. 

The  famous  poet  Longfellow  was  endowed  by  nature, 
without  doubt,  with  the  gifts  that  won  him  so  great  success. 
His  father  was  a  lawyer,  and  designed  that  the  son  should 
follow  the  same  profession,  but  the  son  had  no  taste  for  the 
practice  of  law.  He  had  already  proved  that  he  possessed 
remarkable  talents,  and  the  gift  of  real  poetry.  During  his 
academic  course  of  study  he  composed  several  of  his  best 
poems.  He  entered  Bowdoin  College  at  fourteen  years  of 
age,  and  before  he  was  nineteen  was  graduated  and  appointed 
professor  of  modern  languages  and  literature  in  his  alma 
mater,  with  the  understanding  that  he  would  spend  a  year  or 
more  in  Europe,  in  study  for  a  complete  preparation  for  col- 
lege work.  The  reader  knows  what  followed, —  rapid  intel- 
lectual growth  until  a  world- wide  fame  as  scholar  and  poet 
won  admirers  fop  him  in  every  civilized  land. 

When  the  occupation  is  selected,  adherence  to  it  is  a  condi- 
tion of  success.  ';A  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss,"  is  the 
maxim,  and  it  fairly  describes  the  man  who  often  changes 
one  occupation  for  another.  Matthews  says,  "  The  great 
weakness  of  your  young  men  is  fickleness,  and  where  one  of 


CHOOSING  AN  OCCUPATION.  175 

them  perseveres  in  a  calling  which  he  ought  to  abandon,  a 
dozen  abandon  their  calling  when  they  ought  to  stick  to  it. 
The  better  the  profession,  the  more  likely  they  are  to  do  this  ; 
for  all  those  kinds  of  business  which  are  surest  in  the  end, 
which  pay  best  in  the  long  run,  are  slowest  in  beginning  to 
yield  a  return."  Therefore,  his  advice  is,  choose  an  occupa- 
tion and  stick  to  it. 

A  writer  in  the  Merchants'  Magazine  -says:  "Mark  the 
men  in  every  community  who  are  notorious  for  ability  and 
equally  notorious  for  never  getting  ahead,  and  you  will 
usually  find  them  to  be  those  who  never  stick  to  any  one 
business  long,  but  are  always  forsaking  their  occupation 
just  when  it  begins  to  be  profitable.  Young  man,  stick  to 
your  business.  It  may  be  you  have  mistaken  your  calling  ;  if 
so,  find  it  out  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  change  it ;  but  do 
not  let  any  uneasy  desire  to  get  along  fast,  or  a  dislike  of  your 
honest  calling,  lead  you  to  abandon  it.  Have  some  honest 
occupation,  and  then  stick  to  it.  If  you  are  sticking  type, 
stick  away  at  them  ;  if  you  are  selling  oysters,  keep  on  selling 
them  :  pursue  the  business  you  have  chosen,  persistently,  in- 
dustriously, and  hopefully,  and  if  there  is  anything  of  you  it 
will  appear  and  turn  to  account  in  that  as  well,  or  better,  than 
in  any  other  calling  ;  only,  if  you  are  a  loafer,  forsake  that  line 
of  life  as  soon  as  possible,  for  the  longer  you  stick  to  it  the 
worse  it  will  '  stick '  to  you." 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  repelled  the  idea  of  being  called  a  genius, 
and  declared  that  his  success  was  won  wholly  by  "  continuous 
application.'7  He  applied  himself  so  closely  that  he  often  for- 
got his  meals,  and  sometimes  he  pursued  his  studies  into  the 
night  without  observing  that  the  sun  had  set. 

Archimedes,  the  great  mathematician  of  Syracuse,  often  be- 
came oblivious  to  the  passing  scenes  around  him  in  his  enthusi- 
asm to  master  his  subject.  When  his  native  city  was  invaded 
by  a  foreign  foe,  and  the  inhabitants  were  driven  therefrom 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  he  was  in  his  study  endeavoring 
to  solve  a  geometrical  problem.  The  enemy  broke  into  his 
study  and  demanded  his  surrender,  but  he  only  raised  his 
eyes  from  his  work,  and  politely  requested  them  to  wait  until 
he  had  completed  the  problem. 

The  celebrated  William  Mason,  author  of  "Spiritual  Treas- 
ury," became  so  completely  absorbed  in  the  preparation  of 


176  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

that  work  that  he  scarcely  knew  whether  he  was  in  the  flesh 
or  out.  One  day  a  gentleman  called  upon  him  on  business, 
promising  to  call  again  to  complete  it  at  a  certain  date,  which 
Mason  marked  down,  or  thought  he  did,  in  his  book  of  memo- 
randa. On  recurring  to  it  thereafter,  however,  he  found  writ- 
ten, "  Acts  II.:  verse  8,"  -the  passage  he  was  studying  when 
the  gentleman  called. 

Horace  Mann,  known  the  world  over  in  his  day  as  an  edu- 
cator and  author  of  the  "Common  School  of  Massachusetts/' 
won  his  position  and  influence  by  the  closest  application. 
Born  in  Franklin,  Massachusetts,  to  an  inheritance  of  poverty 
and  hard  work,  there  was  no  prospect,  seemingly,  that  he 
would  ever  be  known  beyond  the  school  district  in  which  he 
received  the  scanty  rudiments  of  an  education.  But  he  carried 
about  in  his  heart  a  quenchless  thirst  for  an  education.  It 
was  the  dream  of  his  boyhood.  Somehow  he  hoped  that  the 
advantages  of  seminary  and  college  would  be  his  in  the  future, 
though  he  could  not  imagine  how.  His  father  was  too  poor 
to  buy  even  his  few  schoolbooks,  so  the  boy  braided  straw  to 
earn  money  therefor.  It  was  really  "all  work  and  no  play'' 
with  him.  In  manhood,  he  wrote:  "The  poverty  of  my 
parents  subjected  me  to  continued  privations.  I  believe  in 
the  rugged  nursing  of  toil,  but  she  nursed  me  too  much.  I  do 
not  remember  the  time  when  I  began  to  work.  Even  my  play 
days, —  not  play  days,  for  I  never  had  any,  but  my  play  hours, 
-were  earned  by  extra  exertion  finishing  a  task  early  to  gain 
a  little  leisure  for  boyish  sports.  Industry  or  diligence  be- 
came my  second  nature,  and  I  think  it  would  puzzle  any 
psychologist  to  tell  where  it  joined  on  to  the  first.  Owing  to 
these  ingrained  habits,  work  has  always  been  to  me  what 
water  is  to  the  fish." 

His  hard  lot  was  made  harder,  at  thirteen  years  of  age,  by 
the  death  of  his  father.  Still,  he  continued  to  dream  of  an 
education  and  appropriated  every  moment  he  could  in  the 
daytime,  and  many  hours  at  night,  for  mental  improvement. 
When  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  a  teacher  who  was  qualified 
to  prepare  him  for  college  came  to  town.  By  the  closest  ap- 
plication he  was  prepared  to  enter  in  six  months,  and  entered 
one  year  in  advance.  Few  such  examples  of  brave  resolve 
and  devotion  to  a  given  work  are  on  record.  His  hopefulness 
got  the  better  of  his  poverty  every  time  in  college,  and  he 


CHOOSING  AN  OCCUPATION.  377 

wrote  to  his  sister  :  "If  the  children  of  Israel  were  pressed 
for  'gear'  half  as  hard  as  I  have  been,  I  do  not  wonder  that 
they  were  willing  to  worship  the  golden  calf.  It  is  a  long, 
long  time  since  my  last  ninepence  bade  good-bye  to  its 
brethren  ;  and  I  suspect  that  the  last  two  parted  on  no  very 
friendly  terms,  for  they  have  never  since  met  together.  Poor 
wretches  !  Never  did  two  souls  stand  in  greater  need  of  con- 
solation !" 

If  he  did  not  make  fun  of  poverty,  it  did  not  make  fun  of 
him. 

The  incident  reminds  us  of  young  Garfield,  when  he 
trudged  off  to  Geauga  Seminary,  with  no  clothes  except  the 
poor  ones  on  his  back,  and  a  solitary  ninepence  in  his  pocket. 
"It  is  having  a  lonely  time,"  he  said  to  his  two  companions, 
in  a  tone  of  pleasantry.  The  next  Sabbath,  when  the  con- 
tribution box  was  passed,  he  dropped  into  it  the  lonely  nine- 
pence  "  that  it  might  have  company,"  as  he  said. 

Notwithstanding  Horace  Mann  spent  but  six  months  in 
preparing  for  college,  and  then  entered  a  year  in  advance,  he 
at  once  rose  to  the  highest  rank,  and  was  graduated  valedic- 
torian of  his  class.  His  heroic  purpose  and  intense  applica- 
tion found  its  reward  in  early  distinction  as  an  educator  and 
statesman.  He  succeeded  John  Quincy  Adams  in  Congress, 
where  he  served  six  years  with  great  ability.  Then  he  was 
nominated  for  governor  of  Massachusetts  ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  was  appointed  president  of  Antioch  College.  Prefer- 
ring a  literary  to  a  political  life  and  being  deeply  interested 
in  the  education  of  young  men  and  women,  he  declined  the 
former  and  accepted  the  latter  offer.  His  career  confirms  the 
remark  of  Disraeli,  "Mastery  of  a  subject  is  attainable  only 
through  continuous  application." 

Oft'en  the  dull,  plodding  pupil,  faithful  in  his  place,  and 
doing  the  best  he  can,  in  the  long  run  leaves  his  brilliant, 
talented  companion  far  in  the  rear.  In  the  lapse  of  years,  his 
persistent  application,  seconded  by  its  invincible  purpose, 
makes  for  him  a  place  and  name.  For  the  want  of  these  ele- 
ments of  strength,  ten  talents  often  fail  in  the  race  of  life. 

We  recall  the  brilliant  collegian  who  might  have  stood  at 
the  head  of  his  class,  but  who,  for  the  want  of  application, 
stood  nearer  to  the  foot.  He  went  forth  into  the  world  and 
adopted  the  legal  profession,  in  which  he  made  a  signal 


178  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

failure,  and  finally  went  down  to  his  grave  without  leaving  a 
ripple  on  the  surface  of  life. 

The  young  architect  who  spent  his  evenings  in  hard  study 
was  ridiculed  by  his  fellow-associates  for  his  efforts  at  self- 
improvement.  "  The  boss  will  never  give  you  any  credit  for 
it,"  they  said  ;  "  we  won't  bother  our  brains  so."  But  he  still 
bent  all  his  energies  to  master  his  calling,  and,  ere  his  ap- 
prenticeship closed,  he  won  the  prize  of  two  thousand  dollars 
for  the  best  plan  for  a  state  house,  offered  by  a  New  England 
commonwealth.  The  result  confounded  his  young  associate 
architects,  who  undervalued  his  application. 

It  is  this  spirit  of  consecration  to  a  noble  purpose  that  bids 
defiance  to  perils,  hardships,  and  difficulties  of  every  sort.  It 
led  Locke  to  live  on  bread  and  water  in  a  Dutch  garret ; 
Franklin  to  dine  on  a  small  loaf,  with  book  in  hand,  while  his 
companions  in  the  printing  office  were  absent  a  whole  hour  at 
dinner  ;  Alexander  Murray  to  learn  to  write  on  an  old  wool 
card,  writh  a  burnt  heather  stem  for  a  pen,  and  Gideon  Lee  to 
go  barefoot  in  winter,  half-clothed  and  half-fed.  It  was  the 
price  they  were  willing  to  pay  for  success. 

"A  smooth  sea  never  made  a  skillful  navigator,"  as  a 
smooth  road  never  leads  to  success. 

Says  another  :  "The  idle  warrior,  cut  from  a  shingle,  who 
fights  the  air  on  the  top  of  the  weathercock,  instead  of  being 
made  to  turn  some  machine  commensurate  with  his  strength, 
is  not  more  worthless  than  the  man  who  dissipates  his  labor 
011  several  objects,  when  he  ought  to  concentrate  it  on  some 
great  end." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CHARLES   ARNETTE    TOWNK. 

ON    THE    QUALIFICATIONS     THAT     ASSURE     SUCCESS SOME    MORAL     AND 

MENTAL    TRAITS HIS    EARLY    LIFE SCHOOL    DAYS COLLEGE  CAREER  — 

FIRST  EFFORT    IN    POLITICS REVOLT  AGAINST    MACHINE  METHODS ELEC- 
TION   TO     CONGRESS HIS     ELOQUENT     PLEA     ON     THE     MONEY     QUESTION  - 

LEADER    OF    THE    SILVER    REPUBLICANS NOMINATED    FOR    VICE-PRESIDENT 

BY     THE     POPULIST     CONVENTION APPOINTMENT    TO     THE     UNITED     STATES 

SENATE RETIREMENT    FROM    POLITICAL    LIFE.        OPPORTUNITY. 


Success,  as  commonly  understood,  it  seems  to  me,  may  be 
regarded  as  the  result  of  a  happy  combination  of  opportunity 

and  qualification.     I  assign,  therefore,  a  cer- 
tain function  to  that  which  we  call  "  luck"  ; 
for  while  qualification  may  improve  original 
',L  opportunities  and  may  make  secondary  ones, 

it  can  never  create  the  first  one.  Since, 
moreover,  no  man  is  responsible  for  his  own 
inheritances,  there  is  still  another  element 
of  luck  in  that  equipment  of  genius,  talent, 
habit,  and  mental  and  moral  predilections 
with  which  his  conscious  life  commences. 

The  qualifications  that  chiefly  assure  suc- 
cess may  be  grouped  as  physical,  temperamental,  mental 
and  moral  :  good  health,  cheerfulness,  intelligence,  sincerity. 
With  these  a  man  will  aim  at  right  ends,  study  their  require- 
ments, persevere  in  their  achievement,  and  make  a  noble  use 
of  results. 

-c^TT^o- 
""> 


best  type  of  successful  manhood  is  not  necessarily 
that  which  accumulates  the  greatest  wealth  or  occu- 
pies  the  most  exalted  position.  A  pirate,  whether  of 
the  Spanish  Main  in  old  buccaneering  days,  or  on  the  Stock 
Exchange  of  modern  times,  where  men  may  rob  and  steal 


180  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

without  exposure  to  physical  danger,  may  acquire  great 
riches,  and  all  too  often  the  thrifty  and  shifty  politician, 
who  takes  advantage  of  every  changing  public  sentiment  to 
advance  a  selfish  interest,  is  landed  in  high  office  ;  but  suc- 
cess so  obtained  never  appeals  to  the  higher  and  nobler  nature 
in  mankind.  No  poet  who  loves  truth,  and  sings  of  justice 
and  humanity,  chants  the  praises  of  the  success  attendant 
upon  the  betrayal  of  either  friends  or  principles,  or  glorifies 
the  thrift  that  follows  fawning. 

In  the  struggle  of  life  to  the  man  of  high  aims  and  pure 
impulses,  the  greater  measure  of  success  may  lie  in  present 
defeat,  and  the  victory  ultimately  belong  to  the  vanquished. 

These  statements  seem  commonplace  enough,  but  no  cor- 
rect estimate  of  the  life,  labors,  and  achievements  of  Charles 
A.  Towne  can  be  made  unless  judgment  is  founded  upon  the 
basis  of  high  ideals,  a  love  of  truth  and  justice,  and  a  lofty 
and  disinterested  patriotism. 

Possessed  of  great  ability  as  an  organizer,  an  advocate 
and  a  logician,  with  an  intellect  that  can  at  once  "  snatch 
the  essential  grace  of  meaning  "  out  of  a  business  proposition, 
an  involved  question  in  the  law,  or  detect  a  false  thesis  in 
political  economy  ;  a  mind  that  deals  in  fundamental  princi- 
ples and  conducts  discussions  on  lofty  grounds  and  for  noble 
purposes  ;  thus  superbly  equipped  for  a  successful  business 
career,  he  has  rather  chosen  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  minority, 
and  has  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  the  advancement 
of  those  ideas  of  government  and  public  morality  that  seem 
to  him  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  Republic. 

The  story  of  his  life  is  the  not  uncommon  one  of  the  strug- 
gles and  trials  of  a  lad  from  poverty  to  a  position  of  leader- 
ship in  a  great  nation.  Charles  Judson  Towne  and  Laura 
Fargo,  his  wife,  were  farmers  in  Oakland  county,  Michigan, 
in  1858,  and  here,  in  what  was  in  those  early  days  one  of  the 
substantial  farmer  homes  of  the  community,  Charles  Arnette 
Towne  was  introduced  to  the  world.  Born  at  a  time  when 
human  slavery  was  the  burning  topic  of  the  day  ;  when  ora- 
tors like  Phillips,  writers  like  Mrs.  Stowe  and  Horace  Greeley, 
poets  like  Whittier  and  Lowell,  statesmen  like  Lincoln,  and 
patriots  like  John  Brown  were  stirring  the  conscience  of  the 
nation,  focusing  thought  upon  the  great  problem  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  human  beings  in  their  relations  to  each 


CHARLES  ARNETTE  TOWNE.  181 

other.  The  father  was  a  follower  of  John  C.  Fremont  "to 
the  glorious  defeat  of  1856,"  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  Charles  was  literally  born  into  the  heat  of  that 
great  contest,  with  all  of  his  immediate  surroundings  influ- 
encing the  development  of  his  character.  This  may,  to  some 
extent,  be  responsible  for  that  fine  sense  of  justice,  that  re- 
gard for  the  rights  of  others,  that  sympathy  for  the  oppressed, 
and  the  high  ideals  of  honor  and  honesty  that  have  been 
leading  characteristics  of  his  manhood. 

In  his  school  days,  Charles  was  numbered  among  the  best 
students  in  his  books,  but  was  always  the  acknowledged 
leader  in  declamation  and  amateur  theatricals.  Little  Charlie 
Towne  was  ever  in  demand  at  church  entertainments,  and 
was  the  chief  number  at  school  exhibitions.  So  pronounced 
was  this  talent  for  public  speaking,  that  at  an  early  age  peo- 
ple predicted  a  public  career  and  a  seat  in  Congress  ;  but, 
coupled  with  a  glib  tongue  and  an  easy  presence  before  an 
audience,  young  Towne  possessed  that  much  rarer  quality,  a 
capacity  for  intense  application  to  the  task  at  hand.  When 
lessons  were  hard  the  night  would  find  him  sitting  with 
classics  and  mathematics,  his  open  book  upon  his  mother's 
lapboard,  and  a  wet  towel  bound  about  his  head  to  assist  by 
its  cooling  influence  in  keeping  the  mind  at  work. 

He  was  graduated  from  the  Owosso  High  School  in  1875. 
His  graduating  oration  was  on  agriculture,  this  being  the  last 
of  several  he  had  prepared,  and  it  was  pushed  through  under 
high  pressure  during  the  last  days  of  the  term.  This  faculty 
of  speedy  preparation  has  distinguished  his  work  through 
life  ;  the  ability  to  formulate  in  a  brief  time  the  study  and 
thought  of  years.  His  exhaustive  speech  on  the  currency, 
made  the  summer  following  his  election  to  Congress,  was  pre- 
pared in  four  days,  and  his  famous  speech  in  the  Senate  on 
January  28,  1901,  was  written  in  forty-eight  hours. 

Towne's  course  in  college  was  not  markedly  brilliant  in 
scholarship,  though  he  was  a  good,  all-round  student,  espe- 
cially good  in  the  classics,  and  leading  his  section  in.  history 
and  political  economy.  It  was  as  a  debater  and  an  organizer 
that  he  won  his  chief  laurels.  Like  many  of  the  great  men  of 
the  nation,  his  reading  was  careful  and  his  selection  wise. 
The  library  held  much  more  of  value  to  him  than  the  class 
room  ;  indeed,  the  class  work  was  supplemented  by  library 


182  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

work,  giving  a  broader  and  better  foundation  than  ever  comes 
to  the  scholar  who  follows  too  closely  in  the  beaten  track  of 
the  college  curriculum. 

Towne  was  the  leader  of  independent  college  politics.  By 
adroit  management,  keeping  his  forces  intact,  and  creating 
dissension  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  he  was  able  to  hold  the 
minority  in  control  like  a  skillful  general  managing  a  cam- 
paign. It  was  here  that  his  power  as  a  leader  of  men  was 
first  manifest.  Perhaps  there  is  no  better  test  of  a  man's 
qualification  for  leadership  than  this  acknowledged  suprem- 
acy in  a  university  numbering  two  thousand  of  the  brightest 
boys  that  the  country  produces.  He  was  graduated  in  1881,  and 
was  selected  as  class  orator.  Eight  years  later,  while  a  young 
and  unknown  lawyer  in  Chicago,  the  Alumni  Association  of 
his  university  extended  an  invitation  to  him  to  deliver  the 
annual  oration  at  commencement  time,  a  most  distinguished 
and  unusual  compliment,  showing  better  than  words  the  mark 
the  young  man  made  in  his  college  course  ;  this  position  hav- 
ing been  filled  by  Senator  Cushman  K.  Davis,  Charles  Dudley 
Warner,  and  other  eminent  statesmen  and  scholars  of  the 
country. 

Mr.  Towne's  first  effort  in  politics  was  in  1876,  when,  a 
lad  of  seventeen,  he  made  a  few  speeches  in  Ottawa  county. 
He  spoke  again  in  the  state  campaign  of  1878,  but  his  real 
introduction  into  the  work  was  at  Owosso,  Michigan,  where 
the  family  lived  during  the  campaign  of  1880.  It  was  to 
be  his  first  vote,  and  he  was  intensely  interested  in  the 
issues  of  the  contest.  He  volunteered  his  services  to  the  local 
committee  ;  an  appointment  was  made,  but,  through  the  negli- 
gence of  the  managers,  no  hall  was  engaged.  Nothing  daunted 
by  this,  young  Towne  secured  a  dry  goods  box,  carried  it  to 
the  principal  corner  of  the  city,  and,  mounting  it,  delivered  to 
the  people  who  had  gathered  to  hear  him  an  address  that 
created  more  comment  than  any  other  of  the  local  campaign. 
How  well  I  recall  him  as  he  stood  there  above  the  crowd  in 
the  dim  light  of  the  street,  his  pale  face,  his  large,  expressive 
eye,  and  his  ringing  voice,  as  he  spoke  in  fierce  denunciation 
of  the  policy  and  history  of  the  opposition.  The  fine  convic- 
tion as  to  his  duty ;  the  resolve  to  do  it  and  bear  his  part  in 
the  responsibilities  of  republican  government,  were  already 
manifest  in  him.  From  this  day  on,  it  was  merely  a  question 


CHARLES  AENETTE  TOWNE.  183 

of  time  until  he  should  have  the  ear  of  the  nation,  some  cause 
that  should  enlist  his  sympathies  in  behalf  of  the  people  and 
in  defense  of  the  tradition  of  the  government  that  he  loved. 

After  graduation,  Mr.  Towne  secured  a  clerkship  in  the 
capitol  at  Lansing.  For  four  years  he  held  this  position, 
carrying  on  at  the  same  time  the  study  of  the  law  at  home 
nights,  but  these  things  did  not  claim  all  his  time.  He  took 
an  active  interest  in  politics,  and  during  campaigns  was  sent 
to  the  most  difficult  appointments  in  the  county.  In  1884  the 
State  Republican,  the  leading  Republican  newspaper  of  the 
state,  suggested  him  for  Congress  from  that  district. 

In  1887  he  married  Miss  Maud  Wiley  of  Lansing.  Mr. 
Towrne  was  then  living  in  Marquette,  Michigan.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  moved  to  Chicago,  but  the  change  proved  disas- 
trous, and  in  the  summer  of  1890  he  settled  in  Duluth,  Minne- 
sota. Arriving  there  without  an  acquaintance  in  the  city,  and 
without  means,  he  soon  won  his  way  into  the  confidence  and 
affections  of  the  people.  Two  years  after  his  arrival  he  was 
offered  the  Republican  nomination  for  mayor,  but  refused  it. 
For  four  years  he  continued  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  estab- 
lishing a  reputation  for  honesty  and  fair  dealing,  known  as  an 
attorney  who  scorned  to  become  a  party  to  questionable  suits 
at  law  or  tricky  practices  in  politics. 

In  1894  he  headed  a  revolt  against  the  machine  politics  in 
control  of  the  Republican  party  in  St.  Louis  county  and  Du- 
luth, wrested  the  city  and  county  from  their  grasp,  and  ac- 
cepted the  nomination  to  Congress  in  a  district  at  that  time 
represented  by  a  Democrat.  Mr.  Towne  managed  his  own 
campaign,  and,  despite  the  opposition  of  the  Republican  ring, 
without  funds  to  carry  on  the  canvass,  with  a  district  as  large 
as  the  state  of  Indiana,  with  poor  facilities  for  transportation, 
and  two  other  candidates  in  the  field,  he  was  elected  by  a 
plurality  of  almost  ten  thousand  votes. 

Mr.  Towne  was  now  thirty-six  years  old,  and  though  he  had 
been  a  Republican  all  his  life,  and  had  engaged  in  active  work 
since  his  seventeenth  year,  this  was  the  first  time  he  had 
accepted  a  nomination  to  office.  With  this  election  com- 
mences his  career  as  a  public  man. 

About  this  time  the  depreciation  of  silver  and  the  general 
fall  of  prices  turned  attention  to  the  study  of  finance.  With 
characteristic  energy  Mr.  Towne  went  into  the  subject.  He 


184  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

became  convinced  that  there  was  a  systematic  and  stealthy 
effort  to  control  the  money  of  the  world  in  the  interest  of  the 
great  financial  concerns,  and  to  the  disadvantage,  and  often 
ruin,  of  the  producer  and  the  debtor. 

Mr.  Towne  had  been  elected  on  a  Republican  platform  de- 
manding a  return  to  bi-metallism.  After  careful  preparation 
he  invited  the  citizens  of  Duluth  to  a  public  discussion  of  the 
money  question,  and  then  delivered  a  speech  that  attracted 
the  attention  of  students  of  finance  throughout  the  nation. 

Mr.  Towne  took  his  seat  in  Congress  in  December,  1805, 
and  applied  himself  with  diligence  to  the  duties  of  the  office. 
He  came  with  a  reputation  as  an  orator,  he  must  prove  that 
he  was  a  man  of  affairs  as  well.  Duluth  had  long  made 
efforts  to  secure  harbor  improvements  commensurate  with  her 
growing  importance  as  the  head  of  lake  navigation.  Mr. 
Towne  went  into  the  subject  with  his  usual  energy,  became 
thoroughly  posted  on  the  situation,  secured  an  appointment 
on  the  Rivers  and  Harbors  Committee,  and  presented  an  array 
of  facts  and  figures  that  not  only  gained  the  needed  appropria- 
tion at  once,  but  placed  the  harbor  on  the  continued  list  so 
that  the  completion  of  the  work  was  assured.  Here  was  a 
Congressman  who  in  two  months  of  his  first  term  had  accom- 
plished more  than  his  predecessors  in  many  years. 

After  the  holiday  recess,  the  attention  of  the  House  was 
turned  to  financial  legislation.  Bills  were  introduced  seeking 
to  remedy  the  existing  commercial  depression,  and  discussion 
was  rife  both  in  Congress  and  out.  The  friends  of  bi-metal- 
lism, knowing  Mr.  Towne's  views  on  the  subject  from  his 
speech  of  the  previous  summer,  insisted  that  he  should  take 
part  in  the  debate.  With  some  reluctance,  Mr.  Towne  con- 
sented. There  was  no  time  for  special  preparation  and  he 
waited  with  some  nervousness  the  appointed  hour,  for  it  was 
to  be  his  first  effort  in  addressing  the  House.  Through  life  he 
had  been  a  student  of  political  history  and  the  character  of 
the  nation's  great  men.  As  he  entered  the  House  on  that 
eighth  clay  of  February,  1896,  he  thought  of  the  many  con- 
flicts that  had  occurred  there  ;  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and  his 
defense  of  the  right  of  petition  ;  of  Webster  and  Clay  and  the 
battles  for  Americanism  and  the  constitution  ;  of  the  many 
heroes  who  had  done  service  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  in 
defense  of  the  people  and  the  republic.  He,  too,  believed  pro- 


CHARLES  ARNETTE  TOWNE.  185 

foundly  in  the  righteousness  of  his  cause,  and  was  convinced 
that  he  was  championing  the  rights  of  the  people  against  the 
encroachments  of  as  selfish  and  unscrupulous  a  power  as  ever 
upheld  human  slavery. 

When  Mr.  Towne  commenced  speaking  there  were  perhaps 
fifty  people  in  the  House  and  the  galleries  were  empty,  but,  as 
he  proceeded,  word  was  passed  through  the  capitol  that  a  new 
orator  was  awakening  the  best  traditions  of  the  House.  At 
the  end  of  thirty  minutes  his  time  was  extended  and  it  was 
noticed  that  for  the  first  time  in  the  session  the  House  was 
crowded  ;  even  the  press  galleries  were  full  and  many  sena- 
tors had  strolled  over  to  listen.  Twice  his  time  was  extended, 
and  then  he  was  given  unlimited  time  in  which  to  finish  his 
argument,  though  earlier  in  the  day  old  members  had  been 
refused  even  five  minutes  in  which  to  address  the  House. 
For  over  two  hours  he  held  the  great  and  critical  audience  in 
closest  attention. 

The  effect  of  the  speech  was  magical.  It  was  a  trumpet 
call  to  the  friends  of  bi-metallism  throughout  the  nation,  and  a 
mine  of  information  to  all  students  of  finance.  Copies  of  it 
were  circulated  running  into  the  millions.  Letters  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  were  delivered  by  the  bushel  and  com- 
mendation from  friends  of  the  cause  was  carried  to  the  ex- 
treme. Such  success  following  a  maiden  effort  would  have 
turned  most  heads,  but  Mr.  Towne  moved  quietly  through  it 
all,  attending  to  the  duties  of  his  office. 

Not  long  after  the  delivery  of  this  speech,  Mr.  Towne 
passed  through  an  experience  that  illustrates  one  phase  of 
his  character,  a  trait  that,  unfortunately,  is  too  rare  in  con- 
gressmen, and  too  little  appreciated  by  so  large  a  percentage 
of  the  people.  Mr.  Towne  was  invited  to  a  banquet  where  he 
met  a  chosen  coterie  of  Republican  leaders  of  the  House  and 
the  Senate.  At  its  conclusion  each  guest  spoke  in  compli- 
mentary strain  to  Mr.  Towne,  closing  his  remarks  with  the 
expressed  belief  or  hope  that  he  would  not  leave  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  predicting  the  highest  honors  a  party  can  be- 
stow, if  he  remained  in  the  fold.  When  the  time  came  for 
Mr.  Towne  to  reply,  he  thanked  each  speaker  for  his  interest 
and  expressed  friendliness,  and  then  said,  "  But,  gentlemen, 
as  highly  as  I  hold  your  friendship  and  esteem,  there  is  one 
man  whose  commendation  is  dearer  to  me  than  that  of  all  of 


186  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

you  ;  that  man  is  myself.  I  am  a  disbeliever  in  any  scheme 
that  looks  toward  an  increased  money  value  through  a  con- 
traction of  the  primary  money  of  the  nation.  If  the  Repub- 
lican party  remains  true  to  its  declarations  of  the  past  I  shall 
stay  with  it  and  labor  for  its  success,  but  if  it  declares  for  the 
gold  standard  at  the  coming  St.  Louis  convention,  abandons 
its  previous  platforms  and  passes  under  the  control  of  the 
money  power,  it  is  not  I  who  have  left  the  party,  but  the 
party  that  has  left  me,  and  I  cannot  follow  it  and  retain  my 
self-respect."  Here  was  a  congressman  of  the  old  school  who 
could  riot  be  bought  or  flattered  out  of  a  position  he  believed 
to  be  right. 

The  proceedings  of  the  St.  Louis  convention  are  now  a 
matter  of  history.  Mr.  Towne,  as  an  alternate  from  Minne- 
sota, walked  out  of  the  convention  with  Senator  Teller  and 
about  forty  others,  amid  the  hootings  and  jeers  of  the  thou- 
sands, upon  its  adoption  of  the  platform  indorsing  the  gold 
standard.  He  did  it  after  refusing  arguments  that  were  more 
potent  with  many  delegates  whose  belief  was  with  him. 

At  Chicago  Mr.  Towne  labored  for  the  nomination  of  Sena- 
tor Teller  ;  but  Mr.  Bryan's  eloquent  appeal  swept  him  into  the 
nomination,  the  famous  Chicago  platform  was  adopted,  and 
the  old  parties  were  aligned  on  new  issues. 

From  this  time  on,  to  write  the  story  of  Mr.  Towne's  life  is 
to  write  the  history  of  the  movement  opposed  to  modern  Re- 
publicanism. 

He  was  renominated  for  Congress  in  his  district  in  1896  by 
the  Silver  Republican,  Democratic,  and  Populist  parties.  The 
campaign  against  him  was  bitter  and  determined,  and  though 
he  carried  Duluth,  the  home  of  his  opponent  as  well  as  him- 
self, by  a  large  majority,  he  lost  the  district  by  a  few  hundred. 

Shortly  after  this  he  was  elected  chairman  of  the  Silver 
Republican  National  Committee.  His  task  was  not  an  easy 
one.  With  scant  funds  at  his  command,  he  was  to  perfect  the 
organization  of  a  new  party.  After  some  months  of  labor  a 
meeting  was  called  at  Chicago.  Thirty-one  states  responded 
by  sending  delegates.  Mr.  Towne  was  the  moving  spirit  of 
the  meeting  and  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  cause. 

During  1897,  Mr.  Towne's  entire  time  was  devoted  to 
organizing  the  machinery  of  the  party,  and  carrying  on  the 
propaganda.  Not  the  least  useful  of  his  services  was  his 


CHARLES  AENETTE  TOWNE.  187 

faculty  of  settling  disputes  between  factions,  and  bringing 
about  harmonious  action.  Both  Democrats  and  Populists 
trusted  him,  and  to  his  exertions  was  largely  due  the  har- 
monious action  of  the  three  parties.  In  one  state,  when  rup- 
ture seemed  certain,  Mr.  Towne  was  sent  for.  He  called  the 
representatives  of  all  the  parties  together  and  commenced  his 
plea  for  harmony  by  saying,  "If  there  is  a  man  here  to-day 
who  does  not  hold  the  cause  for  which  we  work  above  per- 
sonal ambitions,  likes  and  dislikes,  I  wish  he  would  leave  the 
room.  I  am  here  representing  a  party  that  is  formed  to  fill  a 
present  mission,  and  to  die  ;  I  believe  you  are  equally  sincere." 
As  a  result  of  the  conference,  united  action  was  assured,  and 
this  occurred  not  once,  but  in  several  states  where  Mr.  Towne's 
persuasive  and  unselfish  pleading  united  the  discordant  fac- 
tions. 

In  the  spring  of  1898,  Mr.  Towne  made  a  tour  of  the  Pacific 
coast  in  his  capacity  as  chairman  of  the  national  organization, 
speaking  two  and  three  times  daily  to  audiences  limited  only 
by  the  capacity  of  the  halls,  often  numbering  several  thou- 
sands. That  series  of  speeches  still  remains  unanswered ; 
logical,  eloquent,  patriotic,  lofty  and  pure  in  tone,  they  are 
an  exposition  and  a  defense  of  the  principles  he  advocated. 

In  the  summer  of  1898,  Mr.  Morton,  Ex-Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture, arranged  a  joint  discussion  at  the  Omaha  Exposition, 
lasting  three  days,  the  Greenbackers  having  one  day,  the  Bi- 
Metallists,  one,  and  the  Gold  Standard  advocates,  one.  Mr. 
Towne  was  the  leader  for  the  Bi-Metallists.  By  previous 
arrangements  it  was  agreed  that  the  proceedings  should  be 
published  at  the  joint  expense  of  the  three  parties.  Why  that 
agreement  was  never  carried  out,  and  why  the  stenographer's 
notes  could  never  be  obtained,  the  Gold  Standard  delegates 
alone  can  explain,  but  Mr.  Moreton  Freneau,  the  celebrated 
English  bi-metallist,  in  writing  to  a  friend  in  this  country 
said,  "Thanks  for  your  kind  letter  describing  the  Omaha 
debate  and  Mr.  Towne's  speech.  How  I  wish  I  might  have 
been  there  to  witness  the  cleavage  of  that  terrible  axe  and 
count  the  strokes  !  " 

In  1898  Mr.  Towne  was  again  nominated  for  Congress,  but 
the  unlimited  resources  of  the  Republican  national  organiza- 
tion defeated  him  by  a  little  over  four  hundred  votes. 

At  the  national   Populist   convention  in   May,    1900,    Mr. 


188  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Towne  was  nominated  for  vice-president,  but  the  faction  of 
Democracy,  opposed  to  Mr.  Bryan  and  the  Chicago  platform, 
prevented  his  indorsement  by  the  Democratic  National  con- 
vention at  Kansas  City  in  July,  and  here  again  Mr.  Towne's 
devotion  to  the  cause  prevented  a  split  in  the  forces.  It  was 
only  his  plea  for  harmonious  action  that  restrained  the  Silver 
Republican  convention  of  over  thirteen  hundred  delegates 
from  nominating  a  separate  ticket,  with  Mr.  Towne  as  the 
vice-presidential  candidate.  During  the  campaign  that  fol- 
lowed, Mr.  Towne  was  again  an  indefatigable  worker.  Shar- 
ing with  Mr.  Bryan  the  honor  of  being  the  chief  advocate  of 
the  cause,  for  nine  weeks  he  spoke  from  two  to  four  times  a 
day  to  great  crowds  of  people,  enduring  the  fatigue  of  con- 
stant travel  on  regular  trains,  with  no  special  car  accommo- 
dations, and  using  his  voice  to  its  limit  from  four  to  eight 
hours  in  every  twenty-four, —  not  little  platform  speeches  of 
ten  minutes,  but  at  regular  political  gatherings, —  a  record 
without  parallel  in  political  campaigning. 

The  election  in  November  resulted  in  an  overwhelming 
defeat  for  the  Democracy,  but  it  left  Mr.  Towne  one  of  the 
unquestioned  leaders  in  political  thought  in  the  nation. 

Senator  Cushman  K.  Davis  of  Minnesota  died  on  November 
twenty-seventh  following  the  election,  and  the  force  of  public 
opinion,  not  alone  in  Minnesota,  but  throughout  the  nation, 
expressed  in  letters  and  telegrams  demanding  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  Towne  to  fill  the  vacancy,  forced  the  offer  of  the 
commission  from  the  unwilling  governor. 

Mr.  Towne's  position  as  senator  was  a  most  difficult  and 
delicate  one.  He  followed  Mr.  Davis,  whose  long  experience, 
combined  with  great  ability,  made  him  one  of  the  most  influ- 
ential members  of  that  body.  His  term  could  last  only  until 
the  election  of  a  senator  by  the  Republican  legislature  which 
met  in  January.  The  control  of  the  Senate  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  opposition,  and  the  traditions  of  that  body  are  all  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  new  member.  On  January  twelfth,  Mr. 
Towne  pronounced  a  eulogy  on  Senator  Davis  ;  brought  into 
direct  comparison  with  the  best  orators  of  the  Senate,  Mr. 
Towne  unquestionably  bore  off  the  honors  of  the  day. 

Moses  E.  Clapp  was  elected  senator  from  Minnesota  on 
January  twenty-fourth,  and  on  the  day  after  Mr.  Towne  in- 
troduced the  following  resolution  :  — 


CHARLES  ARNETTE  TOWNE.  189 

•'  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  that  justice,  the 
public  welfare,  and  the  national  honor  demand  the  immediate 
cessation  of  hostilities  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  upon  terms 
recognizing  the  independence  of  the  Philippine  people,  and 
conserving  and  guaranteeing  the  interests  of  the  United 
States,"  and  gave  notice  that  he  would  address  the  Senate 
in  support  of  it  the  following  Monday  (the  twenty-eighth). 
Without  further  announcement,  the  galleries  were  packed 
long  before  the  hour  for  the  speech  had  arrived.  The  senators 
were  present  in  unusual  numbers,  and  the  House  was  left 
without  a  quorum. 

Mr.  Towne  addressed  the  Senate  for  over  three  hours  in 
support  of  his  resolution, —  an  exhaustive  resume  of  our  acts 
and  relations  in  the  Philippines,  a  complete  presentation  of 
the  case  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Anti-Imperialists.  There 
it  stands  on  the  records  of  the  Senate,  a  protest  against  the 
policy  of  expansion  by  force  of  arms,  the  violation  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  nullification  of  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  the  great  audi- 
ence, to  the  major  part  of  whom  orators  and  oratory  were 
an  unmitigated  bore,  listened  attentively  through  it  all  as  Mr. 
Towne  pleaded  not  alone  for  the  Philippines,  but  for  a  return 
to  the  principles  upon  which  the  government  was  founded. 

Not  in  the  history  of  that  body  has  such  an  honor  and  such 
a  reception  been  accorded  a  member  of  six  weeks'  standing. 
While  the  applause  was  still  echoing  through  the  chamber, 
and  the  congratulations  of  friends  and  foes  were  being  show- 
ered upon  him,  the  managers  of  the  opposition  rushed  Mr. 
Clapp  to  the  presiding  officer's  desk,  the  oath  was  adminis- 
tered, and  Mr.  Towne,  with  his  manuscript  still  scattered 
about  the  floor,  had  ceased  to  be  a  United  States  senator. 
More  than  one  Republican  senator  said  to  his  neighbor, 
"Thank  God,  we  are  rid  of  him.  He  would  be  a  dangerous 
man  for  us  to  have  in  the  Senate." 

Mr.  Towne  is  now  in  private  life,  engaged  in  business  pur- 
suits, but  the  Senate  has  lost  from  its  counsels  a  patriot  of  the 
old  school  before  the  spirit  of  modern  commercialism  had 
debauched  and  betrayed  the  higher  ideals  of  the  nation.  He 
has  ever  been  a  disciple  of  the  statesmanship  that  declared, 
"  I  had  rather  be  right  than  president,"  and  has  formed  his 


190  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

political  life  upon  the  motto  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  ''Let  us 
have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  to  the  end  dare  to  do 
our  duty." 

OPPORTUNITY. 

PLINY  once  remarked,  "No  man  possesses  a  genius  so 
commanding  that  he  can  attain  eminence,  unless  a 
subject  suited  to  his  talents  should  present  itself,  and 
an  opportunity  occur  for  their  development." 

These  were  wise  words.  No  matter  what  the  talents  are, 
the  opportunity  to  develop  them  must  offer,  and  the  possessor 
of  the  talents  must  appreciate  his  chance. 

For  this  reason,  Dean  Alford  wrote  :  — 

"  There  are  moments  which  are  worth  more  than  years. 
We  cannot  help  it.  There  is  no  proportion  between  space  of 
time  in  importance  or  in  value.  A  stray,  unthought-of  five 
minutes  may  contain  the  event  of  a  life.  And  this  all-im- 
portant moment, —  who  can  tell  when  it  will  be  upon  us  !  " 

No  man  knows  his  opportunity  better  than  Edison,  the 
famous  electrician.  It  is  related  of  him  that,  one  afternoon 
in  the  summer  of  1888,  he  chartered  a  train,  shut  down  his 
works,  and  took  his  employees, —  over  three  hundred  of  them, 
-to  New  York  to  witness  a  ball  game.  They  had  not  been 
upon  the  ball  grounds  over  fifteen  minutes,  when  the  thought 
of  a  new  invention  flashed  upon  Edison's  mind,  like  a  revela- 
tion, and  he  called  to  the  "boys,"  "  We  must  go  back  at  once 
to  Menlo  Park  ;  I  have  a  new  idea."  And  back  they  went  to 

•/ 

their  work,  that  their  employer  might  not  lose  his  opportunity 
to  add  another  invention  to  his  achievements.  It  is  quite 
evident  that  Edison  believes  with  Shakespeare  :  — 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune." 

* 

It  is  not  every  "  new  idea  "  that  is  worth  chartering  a  train 
for,  but  Edison's  ideas  have  been  his  fortune.  They  were  too 
good  to  be  lost ;  and  he  has  made  them  available  by  reducing 
them  to  practice  at  once.  All  else  become  subservient  to  his 
opportunity  for  the  time.  The  miller  must  grind  the  grist 
with  the  water  that  is  running  through  the  mill-race ;  if  he 
waits  till  the  water  has  passed,  his  opportunity  has  gone. 

Several  years  ago,  one  of  Boston's  most  successful  mer- 


EX-SENATOR  CHARLES   A.   TOWNE. 


RK 


,->NS 


OPPORTUNITY.  193 

chants  was  troubled  by  the  scarcity  and  high  price  of  calf- 
skins, in  which  he  dealt.  One  morning  his  daily  paper  gave 
the  report  of  the  London  leather  market,  showing  prices  far 
below  those  of  American  markets.  Calling  his  chief  clerk, 
he  said  :  - 

"  Could  you  get  ready  to  sail  in  the  steamer  for  Liverpool 
this  afternoon  ?  " 

The  young  man  replied  promptly,  "Yes,  sir." 

"  Get  ready,  then,  and  I  will  have  your  instructions  pre- 
pared." 

Before  night  the  clerk  was  on  his  way  to  England,  with  in- 
structions to  purchase  all  the  calfskins  he  could  at  a  given 
price. 

"  I  made  forty  thousand  dollars  by  that  operation,"  said 
the  merchant  to  the  writer  ;  "  and  that  is  the  way  we  have  to 
do  in  these  times, —  watch  for  opportunities." 

"But  many  people  don't  know  an  opportunity  when  they 
see  it,"  we  ventured. 

"Very  true,"  he  replied  ;  "  and,  perhaps,  many  will  never 
learn  to  know  them  ;  that  faculty  is  not  in  them.  Still,  I 
think  it  may  be  cultivated  by  close  observation." 

The  merchant  was  right,  as  well  as  wise. 

For  young  people  to  live  in  expectation  of  golden  oppor- 
tunities is  inspiring.  Some  writers  call  these  occasions  emer- 
gencies ;  we  call  them  opportunities.  Living  in  anticipation 
of  them,  leads  to  looking  for  them.  He  who  is  looking  for 
them  is  more  likely  to  know  them  when  they  do  come. 

The  late  Samuel  Williston  of  Easthampton,  Massachusetts, 
became  a  famous  button  manufacturer  in  this  way  :  - 

He  was  a  young  married  man,  poor,  but  industrious.  He 
purchased  cloth  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  and  his  wife  was  going 
to  make  them.  With  the  cloth  he  brought  home  lasting  but- 
tons, for  which  he  paid  seventy-five  cents  a  dozen. 

"  A  great  price,"  remarked  his  wife  ;  "  I  can  make  as  good 
buttons  as  these  ;  only  get  me  the  molds,  that  will  cost  but  a 
few  cents.  Carry  them  back  and  purchase  button  molds,  and 
I  will  show  you  what  I  can  do." 

Mr.  Williston  returned  the  buttons  and  bought  the  molds. 
When  he  saw  how  readily  and  easily  his  wife  manufactured 
the  buttons,  he  saw  his  opportunity  and  embraced  it.  She 
manufactured  buttons  for  the  market,  after  making  them  for 


194  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

his  coat,  and,  in  time,  her  husband  became  the  largest  button 
manufacturer  in  the  country.  Other  women  have  clone  just 
what  she  did,  but  their  husbands  failed  to  see  an  opportunity. 

The  young  man  or  woman  best  equipped  by  industry  and 
application  for  life  work,  is  quickest  to  discover  opportunities. 
Improvement  of  present  time  and  privileges,  therefore,  is 
urged  by  the  highest  consideration, —  preparation  to  see  and 
use  opportunities  for  one's  greatest  good. 

A  writer  says,  "It  matters  not  what  sea  a  ship  is  to  sail  ; 
its  keel  must  be  securely  laid,  its  masts  firmly  set,  its  rigging 
of  the  toughest  fiber,  in  order  to  sail  any  sea  in  safety.  One 
hour's  tussle  with  the  tempest  will  test  the  fiber  of  its  tim- 
bers which  were  toughened  by  a  hundred  years'  wrestle  with 
Norwegian  blasts."  So  it  is  with  preparation  for  wrestling 
successfully  with  great  opportunities.  The  keel  must  be  well 
laid.  Manhood  and  womanhood  must  be  firmly  set.  Mental 
and  moral  fiber  must  be  tough.  Then,  all  hail  an  opportunity  ! 
It  is  the  golden  gate  that  opens  into  a  noble  life  ! 

A  visitor  to  the  studio  of  the  noted  sculptor,  Story,  at 
Rome,  said  :  "  Around  the  walls  were  shelves  filled  with  small 
clay  models,  single  figures,  and  groups.  The  sculptor  ex- 
plained that  often  as  he  worked,  some  splendid  subject  for  a 
marble  figure  or  group  would  suggest  itself.  There  was  little 
or  no  use  in  trying  to  remember  it ;  so  he  would  at  once  turn 
aside  from  the  work  in  hand,  and  put  his  idea  into  a  model, 
small  indeed,  and  hastily  shaped,  but  he  had  all  that  he  then 
needed,  namely,  the  conception.  At  any  time  it  could  be 
worked  up." 

Story's  experience  was  not  an  exception.  All  readers, 
students,  and  workers  understood  it.  A  valuable  idea  is 
suggested  by  a  book  or  piece  of  work,  and  it  vanishes  forever 
unless  it  is  jotted  down  at  the  time  in  a  book  kept  for  the 
purpose.  Putting  it  off  to  a  more  convenient  season  is  prac- 
tically treating  it  as  being  of  no  value.  Conceptions  slip 
away  as  quickly  as  they  appear,  unless  they  are  secured  by 
promptly  embodying  them  in  script  or  models. 

Paxton,  the  architect  of  the  Crystal  Palace  of  1851,  was  a 
gardener  in  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire.  Several 
years  before,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  an  immense  building  of 
glass,  and  he  studied  the  subject,  made  his  plans,  and  experi- 
mented, repeating  his  studies  and  efforts  again  and  again. 


OPPORTUNITY.  195 

When  the  committee  advertised  for  plans  of  a  building  for 
the  famous  exhibition  of  1851,  Paxton  saw  his  opportunity, 
and  embraced  it.  He  drew  and  forwarded  plans  so  novel  and 
suitable  that  they  were  adopted  at  once.  Professional  archi- 
tects and  engineers  failed  to  meet  the  requirements,  while 
this  gardener,  wholly  unknown  to  fame  in  this  line,  won  the 
prize.  By  close  study  and  persistent  trial,  in  leisure  moments 
by  night  and  day,  he  prepared  himself  to  seize  this  oppor- 
tunity, and  make  the  most  of  it.  It  made  him  Sir  Joseph 
Paxton. 

The  history  of  all  reforms  emphasizes  our  theme.  Oppor- 
tunities come  to  them  as  they  do  to  individuals.  "  There  is  a 
tide  in  the  affairs  "  of  human  progress,  "which,  taken  at  the 
flood,"  assures  victory  sooner  or  later. 

It  was  when  the  attention  of  some  philanthropic  Ameri- 
cans was  turned  to  the  horrors  of  slavery,  that  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  engaged  in  editorial  work  in  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
He  was  not  then  an  Abolitionist,  although  he  was  opposed  to 
slavery.  He  was  in  favor  of  colonization,  so  popular  with 
many  at  that  time.  But,  living  in  the  midst  of  slavery,  where 
the  terrible  nature  of  the  slave  power  and  slave  traffic  was 
revealed  to  him,  he  became  a  resolute  Abolitionist,  in  favor  of 
immediate  emancipation. 

"  Now  is  the  time  to  attack  the  system,  or  never,"  he  said. 
"Slavery  will  destroy  the  nation  unless  we  destroy  it." 

At  once  he  entered  upon  the  most  vigorous  assault  upon 
the  system.  Friends  endeavored  to  dissuade  him  from  his 
purpose,  but  he  resolutely  answered,  "Now  or  never.  Ten 
years  from  now  it  may  be  too  late  !  "  Even  some  of  his  anti- 
slavery  sympathizers  reasoned  in  vain  with  him,  to  modify 
his  views  and  methods.  He  was  thoroughly  aroused  by  the 
conviction  that  it  was  "God's  opportunity"  to  inflict  telling 
blows  upon  the  monster  evil  :  and  this  conviction  braced 
him  to  defy  opposition,  persecution,  and  even  death  itself. 
Dragged  through  the  streets  of  Boston  by  a  mob,  with  a  rope 
about  his  neck,  he  accepted  the  experience  with  a  coolness 
that  astonished  both  friend  and  foe ;  and  he  still  persisted  in 
speaking  and  writing  what  he  pleased,  perfectly  satisfied  that 
the  right  would  win  in  the  end.  "  I  am  in  earnest  ;  I  will  not 
equivocate  ;  I  will  not  excuse  ;  I  will  not  retreat  an  inch  ;  and 
I  ivill  be  heard,''  he  exclaimed. 


196  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Subsequent  events  proved  that  Garrison  was  right.  The 
conflict  with  slavery  did  not  begin  one  day  too  soon.  It  was 
truly  "  God's  opportunity,"  involving  self -sacrifice,  suffering, 
mighty  contests,  and  harrowing  personal  experiences.  Garri- 
son lived  to  witness  the  overthrow  of  slavery;  and  he  was 
never  more  convinced  of  the  importance  and  necessity  of 
seizing  the  favorable  opportunity,  than  he  was  when  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  of  President  Lincoln  set  the  whole 
slave  population  of  the  country  free. 

Nothing  slips  by  more  easily  than  an  opportunity,  and,  once 
gone,  it  is  gone  forever.  The  same  opportunity  comes  but 
once  in  a  lifetime.  If  not  improved  when  it  appears,  it  be- 
comes a  lost  opportunity,  leaving  disappointment  and  pain 
behind,  as  loss  always  does. 

In  one  of  his  poems,  Whittier  says  :  — 

"  Of  all  sad  words  of  tongue  or  pen, 

The  saddest  are  these  :     It  might  have  been  !  ' 

To  see  what  one  might  have  become,  what  achievements 
he  might  have  made,  after  it  is  too  late  to  retrieve  the  fortune, 
is  sorrowful,  indeed.  To  have  the  chance,  yet  lose  the  prize  ! 
To  see  the  offer,  and  let  it  slip  !  Here  is  ground  for  lament 
when  the  fact  is  appreciated. 

The  confession  of  an  American  author  of  "trashy  stories," 
as  he  calls  them,  written  for  the  "  blobd-and-thunder  "  papers 
of  the  land,  is  a  case  in  point. 

He  possessed  both  a  natural  and  acquired  ability  as  a 
writer,  and  might  have  won  fame  for  himself  in  the  highest 
walks  of  literary  life,  but  far  better  pay  was  offered  him  for 
trash  than  for  truth,  and  he  let  the  opportunity  for  usefulness 
and  honor  slip.  His  pen  brought  him  a  fortune  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  but  that  is  all.  No  self- 
respect,  no  pleasant  reflections,  no  peace  ! 

Some  years  ago  he  said  to  the  New  York  correspondent  of 
the  Boston  Journal :  — 

"  I  count  my  life  almost  a  failure.  This  trash  which  I  have 
been  writing  has  brought  me  returns  upon  which  I  can  live 
comfortably,  but  look  at  the  other  side  !  I  have  no  peace  of 
mind  when  I  think  of  the  havoc  I  have  undoubtedly  wrought 
upon  young  and  innocent  minds.  I  can  point  to  nothing  with 
any  pride  of  authorship.  I  am  ashamed  of  it  all.  Even  my 


OPPORTUNITY.  197 

children  would  hang  their  heads  in  shame  did  they  know  their 
father  was  the  author  of  this  trashy  stuff.'' 

The  listener  interrupted  with  the  question,  "  Do  not  your 
children  know  it  ?" 

"Bless  your  soul,  no;  and  God  forbid  that  they  should 
ever  discover  it,  at  least  during  my  lifetime.  Why,  there  are 
only  five  persons  who  know  that  I  am  the  author  of  the  stuff 
I  have  put  out,  and  they  are  pledged  to  secrecy  by  their  friend- 
ship for  me." 

"Why  did  you  start  on  that  line  of  writing,  when  you 
might  have  taken  up  something  better  ? "  the  listener  inquired 
again. 

"  Because  it  paid  me  better  to  write  a  murderous  story  than 
a  clean  one  ;  and,  once  begun,  I  have  kept  right  on.  My  first 
proved  so  appetizing  to  its  readers  that  the  editor  offered  me 
nearly  double  the  price  he  paid  for  the  first,  if  I  would  write  a 
second  one.  Now  I  hate  to  think  of  the  number  I  have  writ- 
ten. I  have  published  my  stories  under  fifteen  or  twenty  dif- 
ferent names,  male  and  female,  and,  if  I  have  written  one,  I 
suppose  I  have  written  two  hundred  of  these  beastly  serial 
novels.  They  are  all  in  the  same  vein,  and  there  is  not  one 
which  has  n't  a  lot  of  robberies  or  murders  in  it.  How  people 
can  read  them,  I  cannot  tell.  If  they  despised  their  reading 
as  I  do  their  writing,  I  would  be  a  poor  man  now.  But  it  is 
now  a  thing  of  the  past ;  I  have  written  my  last  story." 

He  let  slip  the  one  opportunity  of  his  lifetime  to  make  him- 
self a  name  for  the  right  and  good,  and  his  lamentation  shows 
what  a  fearful  mistake  it  was.  Such  an  example  enforces 
the  divine  counsel,  "  Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more 
earnest  heed  to  the  things  which  we  have  heard,  lest  at  any 
time  we  should  let  them  slip." 

A  prominent  business  man  of  New  York  city  let  the  oppor- 
tunities of  his  school  days  slip,  without  improving  them  as  he 
might  have  done.  He  possessed  remarkable  executive  abili- 
ties, was  very  successful  in  business,  and  amassed  a  fortune  ; 
but  he  was  often  embarrassed,  and  even  mortified,  in  the  com- 
pany of  other  business  men,  because  of  his  limited  education. 
He  did  not  think  of  writing  an  important  letter  himself,  for 
fear  that  bad  spelling  and  bad  grammar  would  expose  his 
ignorance.  He  employed  a  private  secretary  for  all  that  sort 
of  work. 


198  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"I  was  like  too  many  other  boys,"  he  said ;  "did  not  like 
school  as  well  as  I  did  work  or  play,  and  so  I  was  never  any- 
thing but  a  poor  reader  and  speller, —  poor  in  most  everything 
in  which  I  should  have  been  proficient,  and  might  have  been. 
But  I  did  not  value  my  opportunities  ;  never  stopped  to  think 
that  they  had  anything  to  do  with  my  manhood  ;  and  now  I 
would  give  my  present  fortune  for  the  acquisitions  those  lost 
opportunities  would  have  given  me.  But  it  is  too  late  ;  regrets 
are  of  no  avail  now  ;  I  must  carry  the  burden  of  that  early 
mistake  through  life." 

Conversation  with  a  gentleman  from  Omaha,  Nebraska, 
upon  the  remarkable  growth  of  that  city,  elicited  from  him 
the  following  :  — 

"Four  years  ago  I  had  three  or  four  thousand  dollars  to  in- 
vest, and  I  had  a  fine  opportunity  to  invest  it  in  real  estate  in 
that  city.  A  piece  of  land  in  the  suburbs,  so  near  to  the  busi- 
ness portion  of  the  town  as  to  assure  a  rapid  advance  in  value, 
was  thrown  upon  the  market.  I  was  urged  by  interested 
friends  to  purchase  it,  and  I  thought  well  of  the  project,  but 
delayed  decision  until  one  morning  the  papers  announced  that 
Mr.  C.  had  bought  the  land.  My  opportunity  was  lost,  and 
too  late  I  saw  my  mistake.  The  land  has  just  been  sold  for 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  it  might  have  been  mine  had  I  not 
foolishly  let  the  opportunity  slip." 

Recently  a  lady  in  a  Southern  city  saw  a  drunken  youth  of 
seventeen  declaiming  to  a  crowd  of  loafers  on  the  street  from 
English  and  Latin  classics,  showing  that  he  was  a  young  man 
of  culture.  While  the  woman  was  looking  on  with  sadness, 
the  police  arrested  the  young  orator,  and  lodged  him  in  jail. 
Interested  in  his  welfare,  she  sought  an  interview  with  him, 
and  found  that  he  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  judge  in  Missis- 
sippi, and  that  he  ran  away  from  home  one  year  before. 

"  Were  your  parents  unkind  to  you  that  you  left  them  ?" 
she  inquired. 

"  Unkind  ! "  he  repeated,  bursting  into  tears.  "  Oh,  I  wish 
I  could  remember  a  single  unkind  word  from  them  !  There 
would  be  a  little  excuse.  No,  they  were  too  indulgent.  I 
was  wild  then,  and  I  've  heard  father  say  after  I  had  sown  my 
wildcats  I  would  come  out  all  right." 

"  But  I  can't  understand  why  you  left  good  parents  and 
home,"  said  the  lady. 


OPPORTUNITY.  199 

"  Wait  a  minute,  and  I  will  tell  you.  You  see  I  had  good 
school  advantages,  and  was  a  great  reader.  For  a  time  I 
read  what  was  elevating  and  good,  and  I  might  have  con- 
tinued to  read  such  works,  but  stories  of  adventure  attracted 
and  charmed  me.  My  chances  for  a  noble  and  successful 
life  were  good  up  to  that  time,  but  I  swapped  the  opportunity 
for  the  best  life  for  the  worst.  Bad  books  made  me  long  to 
imitate  the  young  heroes.  They  gave  me  a  start  downward 
and  the  rest  was  easy.  Warn  young  people  to  beware  of  such 
reading,  for  it  does  great  harm  ;  it  has  ruined  me." 

There  was  a  crisis  in  his  life.  Two  ways  met ;  had  he 
chosen  the  best  books,  companions,  and  habits  that  offered, 
his  brilliant  talents  and  great  advantages  would  have  led 
him  to  usefulness  and  renown,  but  he  spurned  the  opportunity 
and  let  it  slip.  Then,  ruin  was  speedy. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


WILLIAM   BOYD   ALLISON. 

ON    THE    ELEMENTS    OF    SUCCESS HIS     BIRTH     AND     ANCESTRY WHERE 

KIM  CATED ADMITTED    TO    THE    BAR REMOVAL     TO     IOWA ACTIVITY    IN 

LOCAL    POLITICS ELECTED     TO    CONGRESS FIRST     IMPORTANT     SERVICE - 

BECOMF.S     AN     AUTHORITY     ON     PUBLIC     FINANCE A    TEMPERATE     PARTISAN 

IN    POLITICS SOME    CHARACTERISTICS.        POWER    OF    CHARACTER. 

There  is  no  real  success  without  integrity,  energy,  indus- 
try, intelligence,  and  perseverance  in  pursuit  of  the  object 

in  hand.  It  is  possible  that  all  of  these  ele- 
ments may  not  be  present  at  the  same  time 
and  with  equal  force,  but  they  must  never- 
theless enter  into  and  become  components 
of  that  which  we  call  character.  They  are 
strong  allies  and  will  brook  no  opposition  ; 
he  who  possesses  them  will  turn  aside  for 
no  obstacles  that  are  not  absolutely  insur- 
mountable. 

A  strong  character,  thus  equipped,  above 
any  suspicion,  and  a  reputation  without  re- 
proach, is  the  best  capital  a  business  man,  a  professional 
man,  or  any  other  man  can  possess.  It  will  command  honor, 
and  bring  honor  anywhere. 


ILLIAM  BOYD  ALLISON,  senior  senator  from  Iowa, 
was  born  on  a  farm  near  Ashland,  Ohio,  March  2, 
1829.  He  removed  to  Iowa,  in  February,  1857,  mak- 
ing his  home  in  the  city  of  Dubuque,  where  he  has  continu- 
ally resided  until  the  present  time.  He  is  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  not  only  on  his  father's  side,  but  also  on  his  mother's. 
His  ancestors  were  early  settlers  of  Pennsylvania,  his  father 
removing  from  there  in  1823  to  Ohio,  where  he  purchased  a 
tract  of  uniniDroved  land  in  what  was  then  Wayne  county 


WILLIAM  BO  YD  ALL1SOX.  201 

and  commenced  the  making  of  a  farm  by  clearing  away 
the  heavy  timber  which  spread  over  that  entire  section.  Mr. 
Allison's  early  education  was  acquired  at  a  country  school  in 
the  neighborhood  of  his  home.  The  particular  school  which 
he  attended  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  an  excellent  teacher, 
who  had  the  faculty  of  instilling  into  the  minds  of  his  pupils 
the  idea  that  knowledge  is  power,  and  that  this  could  only 
be  secured  by  careful  study.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left  his 
home  011  the  farm  to  attend  an  academy  at  Wooster,  then  the 
county  seat  of  Wayne  county.  After  this  he  spent  a  year  at 
Allegheny  College,  in  Meadville,  Pa.,  and  another  year  at 
Western  Reserve  College,  then  at  Hudson,  Ohio.  Returning 
to  Wooster  he  entered  the  office  of  Hemphill  &  Turner  as  a 
student  of  law,  spending  a  portion  of  his  time  in  the  office  of 
the  auditor  of  that  county,  thus  earning  a  portion  of  his  ex- 
penses. After  reading  law  two  years  at  Wooster  he  removed 
to  Ashland,  which  had  then  become  the  county  seat  of  a  new 
county  established  some  years  before  and  which  was  nearer 
his  fathers  home  than  Wooster.  He  continued  the  practice 
of  law  at  Ashland  until  the  spring  of  1857,  when  he  removed 
to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  where  an  older  brother  had  preceded 
him. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Allison  took  an  active  interest  in  the 
politics  of  the  period.  He  was  justice  of  the  peace  for  the 
township  continuously  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  at 
that  time  there  were  many  contested  neighborhood  cases 
brought  before  these  minor  courts,  and  the  young  man  thereby 
had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  many  discussions  of  the  law. 
His  father  was  a  Whig  in  politics  and  a  great  admirer  and 
supporter  of  Henry  Clay,  voting  for  him  in  1824  and  again  in 
1844.  Mr.  Allison  took  an  active  part  in  the  local  politics  of 
Ashland  county  after  his  removal  there  and  was  a  delegate 
from  that  county  to  the  State  convention  of  1855,  presided 
over  by  the  late  Senator  Sherman,  and  was  made  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  convention.  This  convention  nominated 
Salmon  P.  Chase  for  governor.  In  185G  he  took  an  active 
part  locally  in  the  campaign  of  Gen.  John  C.  Fremont  for 
president,  and  was  placed  upon  the  ticket  for  the  position  of 
district  attorney.  The  county  being  Democratic  he  failed  to 
secure  an  election.  During  his  residence  at  Ashland  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Hon.  Samuel  J.  Kirkwood,  who  was  a 


202  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

practitioner  at  the  bar  there,  residing  at  Mansfield,  only  four- 
teen miles  distant.  Mr.  Kirkwood  came  to  Iowa  in  1854, 
three  years  before  the  removal  of  Mr.  Allison.  Many  of  the 
younger  men  of  Ohio  removed  to  Iowa  about  this  time,  and 
no  doubt  many  of  them  were  influenced,  as  was  Mr.  Allison, 
by' the  fact  that  Mr.  Kirkwood,  who  was  a  prominent  man  in 
Ohio,  had  changed  his  residence  to  this  new  and  growing 
state. 

Mr.  Allison  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  of  1859  which 
nominated  Mr.  Kirkwood  for  governor.  He  was  also  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Republican  National  convention  of  1860  at  Chicago 
which  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  was  one  of  the  sec- 
retaries of  that  convention. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  Governor  Kirkwood 
made  him  a  member  of  his  staff  and  authorized  him  to  raise 
regiments  in  northern  Iowa  and  to  equip  them  for  service  in 
the  field.  He  had  charge  of  the  organization  of  two  regi- 
ments in  1861  and  two  additional  regiments  in  1862,  all  these 
regiments  having  their  rendezvous  in  a  camp  established  at 
Dubuque.  In  the  summer  of  1862  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Republicans  at  West  Union,  Iowa,  to  represent  the  old  third 
district  in  Congress,  and  was  elected. 

During  the  year  1862  several  regiments  were  organized  in 
different  portions  of  the  state,  and  Mr.  Allison  became  satis- 
fied that  it  would  be  a  wise  thing  to  allow  the  soldiers  in  the 
field  and  in  camp  to  vote  at  the  coming  election,  believing 
that  if  this  was  not  done  Iowa  would  lose  at  least  two  of 
her  six  Republican  members  of  Congress.  He  presented  his 
views  to  Governor  Kirkwood  and  asked  him  to  call  a  special 
session  of  the  legislature  to  make  provisions  to  that  end. 
The  governor,  while  expressing  himself  as  favorable  to  the 
plan,  hesitated  on  account  of  the  expense  of  an  extra  session, 
and  he  did  not  wish  to  make  the  call  unless  it  was  approved 
by  Republican  state  leaders  generally.  He  requested  Mr. 
Allison  to  go  to  Burlington  and  consult  with  the  late  Senator 
Grimes,  and  in  the  meantime  he  himself  consulted  with 
others.  Senator  Grimes  unhesitatingly  advised  an  extra 
session  and  wrote  a  note  to  the  governor  to  that  effect,  which 
was  delivered  to  the  governor  in  person  by  Mr.  Allison.  The 
next  day  the  special  session  was  called  and  a  law  was  passed 
providing  for  taking  the  vote  of  soldiers  in  the  field.  The 


WILLIAM  BOYD  ALLISON.  203 

lead  taken  by  Iowa  in  this  respect  was  followed  by  many 
states. 

His  services  in  the  House  of  Representatives  began  March 
4,  1863.  He  was  three  times  re-elected,  serving  in  that  body 
until  March  4,  1871.  He  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election 
in  1870.  At  the  beginning  of  his  second  term  in  the  House  he 
was  placed  on  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  which 
then  had  charge  of  all  financial  subjects  relating  to  taxation, 
tariff,  loans,  currency,  and  the  standard  of  money,  and  all 
questions  incident  thereto. 

In  1872  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  to  suc- 
ceed Senator  Harlan.  He  has  been  continuously  a  member  of 
that  body  since  that  time,  and  his  fifth  term  will  expire  March 
4, 1903.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  March  4,  1873,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  Committee  on  Appropriations,  the  most  impor- 
tant committee  of  the  Senate.  He  was  also  placed  on  the 
Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,  then  as  now  an  important  com- 
mittee, taking  rank  next  to  the  chairman,  and  became  chair- 
man of  that  committee  in  1875,  which  chairmanship  he  held 
until  made  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  in 
1881.  He  has  remained  chairman  of  this  latter  committee  up 
to  the  present  time,  except  for  two  years  when  the  Democrats 
had  control  of  the  Senate. 

His  first  important  service  began  almost  immediately  after 
the  opening  of  the  session  in  December,  1873.  There  had 
been  serious  complaints  respecting  the  government  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  as  organized  under  the  law  of  1871.  A 
joint  commission  of  investigation  was  appointed  to  examine 
and  make  report,  with  full  power  to  send  for  persons  and 
papers,  examine  witnesses  under  oath,  etc.  It  began  its  labors 
in  the  spring  of  1874  and  continued  in  session  day  by  day 
during  the  long  session  of  Congress  which  followed.  Senator 
Allison  became  chairman  of  this  committee,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  investigation  made  an  elaborate  report,  which  proposed  to 
abolish  the  then  existing  District  government  and  Board  of 
Public  Works,  and  provided  for  a  complete  settlement  of  all 
accounts  and  debts  of  the  District  government  up  to  the  time 
of  the  passage  of  the  proposed  law,  and  the  conversion  of  the 
District  debt  into  fifty-year  bonds,  bearing  .0365  per  cent,  in- 
terest, interest  and  principal  to  be  paid  proportionately  from 
the  United  States  treasury  and  from  the  taxes  levied  on 


204  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

property  in  the  District.  It  provided  for  a  temporary  govern- 
ment, which  should  have  charge  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  Dis- 
trict, and  should  consist  of  three  commissioners,  one  of  whom 
should  be  an  engineer  of  the  army,  not  below  the  rank  of 
major.  This  government  was  to  continue  until  Congress,  by 
law,  should  provide  for  a  permanent  government  for  the 
District.  A  bill  embodying  these  provisions  was  introduced 
by  the  joint  committee  and  became  a  law  without  material 
amendment.  This  temporary  form  of  government  was  made 
permanent  by  an  act  passed  in  1878,  and  from  1874  up  to  the 
present  time  this  has  constituted  the  government  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  and  has  been  so  satisfactory  that  no  agita- 
tion has  at  any  time  been  made  for  a  change. 

In  March,  1877,  he  was  placed  on  the  Finance  Committee 
and  has  been  a  member  of  that  committee  since  that  time. 
He  was  entitled  to  the  chairmanship  of  that  committee  in 
March,  1899,  by  reason  of  his  seniority  on  the  committee,  but 
it  seemed  wiser  for  him  to  continue  as  head  of  the  Committee 
on  Appropriations,  where  he  had  so  long  served  as  chairman. 
He  retains  his  membership  on  the  Finance  Committee,  being 
next  in  rank  to  the  chairman. 

During  his  service  on  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means 
in  the  House  many  important  measures  were  passed  relating 
to  the  refunding  of  the  debt,  reduction  of  internal  taxation, 
revision  of  the  tariff,  etc.  Upon  all  questions  arising  in  the 
discussion  of  these  subjects  he  took  an  active  part.  During 
the  whole  period  of  his*  service  in  the  House  the  country  was 
upon  a  paper  standard,  which  resulted  in  the  practical  ban- 
ishment of  gold  and  silver  from  circulation,  and  because  of 
the  large  volume  of  paper  money  and  the  large  debt,  funded 
and  unfunded,  it  was  not  practicable  during  his  service  in 
that  body  to  deal  with  the  question  of  the  restoration  of 
specie  payments.  After  he  left  the  House  and  before  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Senate,  a  law  was  passed  in  Jan- 
uary, 1873,  revising  the  mint  laws,  which  had  been  under 
discussion  for  some  years.  Before  that  time,  although  we  had 
been  on  a  paper  standard  from  1862,  the  law  remained  pro- 
viding for  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  both  gold  and 
silver  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  1.  In  revising  the  mint  laws  these 
coinage  provisions  were  repealed  and  gold  alone  was  made 
the  standard  of  money  and  the  unit  of  value  for  all  trans- 


WILLIAM  BOYD  ALLISON.  205 

actions,  the  mints  were  closed  to  the  free  coinage  of  silver 
and  that  metal  was  relegated  to  a  limited  coinage  on  govern- 
ment account  as  fractional  silver  only,  being  made  legal 
tender  to  the  extent  of  five  dollars.  Later  on  it  was  claimed 
that  the  demonetization  of  silver,  as  it  was  called,  was  a 
mistake  and  not  so  intended  by  those  who  voted  for  the  Act 
of  1873. 

In   the  Congressional  campaign  of   1874   it  was   strongly 
urged  by  Republicans  and  eastern  Democrats  that  the  time 
had  come  for  a  restoration  of  our  currency  to  a  specie  basis 
and  that  steps  should   at  once  be  taken  to   that   end.     The 
Democrats  of  the  South  and  West  generally  took  an  opposite 
view,  contending  that  the  greenback  circulation  was  a  valu- 
able circulation  and  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  a  return 
to  specie  payments.     In  that  election  the  Democrats,  for  the 
first  time  since  1861,  secured  a  majority  in  the  House  of  the 
next   succeeding  Congress.      After  this  election  the  leading 
Republicans  in  both  Houses  decided  that  it  was  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  pass  a  law  looking  to  the  restoration  of  specie 
payments  before  the  new  Congress   should   assemble.     The 
Republicans   of    the    Senate    held  a   caucus  and   selected   a 
committee  of  eleven  to  prepare  a  bill.     This  committee  con- 
sisted largely  of  the  then  older  members  of  the  Senate,  but 
Senator  Allison  was  made  a  member  of  it  and  participated 
actively  in  its  deliberations.     This  committee  reported  a  bill 
to  the   Senatorial   caucus,    which   was  unanimously  agreed 
to  by  the  caucus.     It  was  reported  to   the   Senate  from  the 
Finance  Committee,  passed  the  Senate  without  amendment, 
passed  the   House  without  amendment,  and  became  a  law 
with  the  signature  of  President  Grant.     This  law  has  since 
been  known  as  the  Resumption  Act  of  1875.     During  the  de- 
bate on  this  bill  in  the  two  Houses  no  question  was  raised  as 
respects  the  Act  of  1873,  before  alluded  to,  but  the  new  Con- 
gress which  came  in  in  December,  1875,  criticised  the  Act  of 
1873  on  account  of  the  change  regarding  silver  coinage,  and 
bills  were  introduced  for  the  restoration  of  silver  as  it  had 
stood  in  our  statutes  before  1873.     In  the  presidential  election 
which  followed  in  1876  it  was  strongly  urged  in  some  portions 
of  the  country  that  silver  should  be  restored  to  free  coinage. 
Following  this  election  there  was  a  wide   agitation  for  this 
restoration,  and  the  House  Coinage  Committee  favorably  re- 


206  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ported  a  bill  providing  for  free  silver  coinage.  When  the 
new  House  assembled  in  October.,  1877,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Bland  the  rules  were  suspended  and  the  House  passed,  by  a 
vote  of  163  to  34,  a  measure  for  the  free  coinage  of  silver, 
although  silver  was  depreciated  ten  or  eleven  per  cent,  as 
compared  with  gold,  by  reason  of  the  abandonment  of  the 
free  coinage  of  silver  by  the  Latin  Union  states  in  Europe 
and  by  Germany. 

Senator  Allison's  first  important  service  on  the  Finance 
Committee  related  to  this  subject.  He  had  been  a  member  of 
the  committee  but  a  few  months  when,  in  November,  1877,  this 
bill,  then  called  the  Bland  bill,  came  to  the  Senate  from  the 
House  and  was  referred  to  the  Finance  Committee.  The 
committee  then  consisted  of  nine  members.  Four  of  them 
were  in  favor  of  the  Bland  bill,  and  four  others  were  in  favor 
of  the  single  gold  standard  as  established  by  the  Mint  Act  of 
1873.  Senator  Allison  believed  then  that,  because  of  the  de- 
preciation of  silver  as  compared  with  gold,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  maintain  the  parity  of  the  coins  of  the  two  metals 
at  the  ratio  proposed,  which  had  been  the  statutory  ratio  since 
1837,  except  through  an  international  agreement  to  be  made 
by  all  the  leading  commercial  nations  of  the  world,  and  if 
that  were  not  done  the  opening  of  our  mints  then  to  the  free 
coinage  of  silver  as  proposed  by  the  House  would  result  in  the 
silver  standard  in  this  country.  Therefore  he  voted  with  the 
four  members  who  were  for  the  gold  standard  and  against 
the  House  proposition,  thus  defeating  the  free  coinage  of 
silver  in  the  committee.  He  then  offered  two  amendments  to 
the  bill,  one  of  which  proposed  the  coinage  of  a  limited 
quantity  of  silver  each  month  on  government  account, 
thereby  maintaining  the  standard  as  established  in  1873,  but 
giving  to  the  United  States  a  supply  of  silver  for  circulation 
in  our  own  country  to  be  maintained  at  the  standard  of  gold. 
The  other  amendment  proposed  that  the  nations  of  Europe  be 
invited  to  a  conference  with  a  view  to  re-establish  among  the 
commercial  nations  of  the  world  the  use  of  silver  upon  a  ratio 
of  equivalence  to  be  agreed  upon,  with  the  free  mintage  of 
both  metals  in  all  these  countries  at  such  ratio.  The  bill  with 
these  two  amendments  was  favorably  reported  to  the  Senate 
by  a  majority  of  the  committee,  and  placed  in  charge  of  Sen- 
ator Allison  in  the  Senate.  A  long  and  interesting  debate 


WILLIAM  SO  YD  ALLISON.  207 

upon  the  money  standard  followed.  The  result  of  the  dis- 
cussion was  the  adoption  of  the  amendments  by  the  Senate 
by  more  than  a  two-thirds  majority,  and  the  passage  of  the 
bill  thus  amended  by  a  like  majority,  and,  when  the  bill  was 
returned  to  the  House  in  amended  form,  it  was  accepted  by 
that  body.  It  was  vetoed  by  President  Hayes.  It  was  passed 
over  the  veto  by  a  two-thirds  majority  in  both  Houses  and 
became  a  law,  resulting  in  the  coinage  of  about  three  hundred 
and  seventy  million  silver  dollars  before  it  was  changed  by 
the  Act  of  1890.  In  the  debates  on  this  bill  Senator  Allison 
took  a  leading  part,  making  the  closing  speech  in  the  Senate 
in  behalf  of  the  amendments  and  the  bill,  which  speech  is  well 
worth  perusal  by  all  who  are  interested  in  the  money  stand- 
ard. His  contention  at  that  time  has  been  fully  vindicated  by 
the  history  of  these  two  metals  from  that  time  until  now,  and 
in  all  the  discussions  that  have  taken  place  upon  this  ques- 
tion, and  in  all  the  plans  and  projects  respecting  our  money 
standard  during  these  intervening  years,  he  has  consistently 
adhered  to  the  position  he  took  at  the  outset,  and  has  con- 
stantly maintained  that  it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  United 
States  to  maintain  the  gold  standard  upon  which  we  resumed 
specie  payments  in  1879,  until  by  an  international  agreement 
silver  and  gold  could  be  placed  upon  a  parity  in  general  use 
throughout  the  world  by  the  adoption  of  a  common  ratio. 

The  policy  advocated  by  him  respecting  an  international 
agreement,  and  incorporated  in  the  legislation  of  1878,  was 
generally  accepted  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  both 
the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties  in  their  national  plat- 
forms having  declared  explicitly  in  favor  of  it  as  the  only 
method  of  securing  the  universal  circulation  of  both  gold  and 
silver  as  money  metals,  locally  and  internationally.  The  first 
international  conference  was  held  in  1878.  This  failed,  and 
Congress  unanimously  provided  for  another  conference  to  be 
held  in  1881,  which  also  failed.  At  both  these  conferences  the 
United  States  was  represented  by  able  commissioners  ;  at  the 
latter  one  especially,  the  three  members  being  Hon.  W.  M. 
Evarts  of  New  York,  and  Senators  Thurman  of  Ohio  and 
Howe  of  Wisconsin.  Notwithstanding  these  failures  this  gov- 
ernment still  adhered  to  the  policy,  and  in  1892  Congress  made 
provision  for  another  international  conference,  which  met  at 
Brussels  in  November,  1892.  The  United  States  was  repre- 


208  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

sented  by  five  commissioners  chosen  by  President  Harrison, 
who  selected  Senator  Allison  as  the  chairman  on  behalf  of 
this  country.  This  conference,  like  the  others,  failed  to  adopt 
any  plan,  but  made  progress  toward  an  agreement  beyond 
what  had  hitherto  been  made.  This  subject  then  seemed 
important,  not  only  to  the  United  States,  but  to  all  the  nations 
as  well,  and  its  importance  has  only  diminished  by  reason  of 
the  enormous  production  of  gold  during  the  last  five  or  six 
years.  So  it  will  be  seen  that  his  familiarity  with  this  subject 
and  his  ability  to  deal  with  it  were  recognized  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  Congress  as  well  as  generally  throughout  the  country. 
The  Act  of  1890,  known  as  the  Sherman  Act,  greatly  in- 
creased the  government  purchases  of  silver,  and  provided  that 
treasury  notes,  made  a  full  legal  tender,  should  be  issued  for 
circulation  to  the  amount  of  the  cost  of  the  silver  bullion  pur- 
chased, and  authorized  the  coinage  of  the  silver  from  time  to 
time  to  meet  the  redemption  of  these  notes.  Senator  Allison 
objected  to  this  bill  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  impracti- 
cable, to  sell  on  a  depreciating  market  the  silver  thus  pur- 
chased, and,  although  these  notes  were  nominally  redeemable 
in  silver,  they  were  precisely  the  same  kind  of  notes  as  the 
greenbacks,  which  were  constantly  redeemed  in  gold,  and  that 
these  treasury  notes  must  necessarily  be  redeemed  in  gold  if 
the  gold  standard  was  to  be  maintained  ;  that  as  they  gradu- 
ally accumulated  the  reserve  for  their  redemption  and  for  the 
greenbacks  would  have  to  be  largely  increased,  and  that 
finally  the  whole  system  \vould  fail  and  result  in  the  silver 
standard.  But  he  was  overruled  in  his  opinion  by  most  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Senate  and  House,  and  when  this  bill  was 
finally  agreed  to  as  a  compromise,  although  it  did  not  meet 
his  approval,  he  voted  for  it,  as  did  all  the  Republicans  in  both 
Houses.  His  fear  was  soon  realized  in  part,  and  in  1893  the 
law  was  repealed  so  far  as  it  related  to  continued  purchases  of 
silver,  and  by  that  repeal  the  unavoidable  result  of  a  silver 
standard  of  money,  which  otherwise  would  have  followed  its 
continuance,  on  the  statute  books,  was  averted.  The  experi- 
ence of  the  two  or  three  years  following  this  repeal  clearly 
indicated  that  the  provisions  for  the  redemption  of  greenbacks 
and  treasury  notes  were  inadequate  to  at  all  times  maintain 
their  convertibilit}^  into  gold  coin,  and  various  plans  were 
suggested  to  strengthen  the  laws  providing  for  the  gold  stand= 


WILLIAM  BOYD  ALLISON.  209 

ard  and  for  the  maintenance  of  all  forms  of  money  at  that 
standard.     This  discussion  resulted  in  the  pledge  made  by  the 
Republican  party  in  1890  in  its  National  platform,  and  in  the 
subsequent  authorization  of  a  special  committee  in  the  House, 
and  of  the  Finance  Committee  in  the  Senate,  to  formulate  laws 
which  would  accomplish  these  ends.     Senator  Allison  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  preparation  of  these  measures,  which 
resulted  in  the  passage  of  what  is  known  as  the  Currency  Act 
of  March  14,  1900,  which  provides  for  a  permanent  reserve 
sufficient  to  make  certain  the  convertibility  directly  or  indi- 
rectly of  all  forms  of  money  in  circulation  into  gold  at  the  will 
of  the  holder.     This  law  also  provided  for  the  refunding  of 
the  great  body  of  the  public   debt,  by  exchanging  for  the 
three,  four,  and  five  per  cent,  coin  bonds  outstanding,  a  gold 
bond  bearing  two  per  cent,  interest,  and  up  to  the  time  of 
writing  this   sketch  more  than  one   half  of  all  outstanding 
bonds  have  been  so  converted-- a  financial  operation  unpar- 
alleled in  the  history  of  the  world  —  showing  that  the  credit  of 
the  United  States  is  stronger  and  better  than  that  of  any  other 
nation.     Therefore,  it  may  be  said,  that  in  all  the  important 
legislation  on  this  subject  during  his  service  in  Congress  Sen- 
ator Allison  has  borne  a  conspicuous  part,  and  his  general 
views  are  largely  embodied  in  the  legislation. 

He  has  also  had  a  large  part  in  shaping  the  tariff  laws 
from  1877  to  the  present  time,  having  been  an  active 
participant  as  a  member  of  the  Finance  Committee  in  the 
frequent  revisions  of  the  tariff  since  that  time.  The  Tariff 
Commission  created  by  Congress  in  May,  1882,  made  its  report 
in  December  of  the  same  year,  and  following  this  report 
the  House  considered  a  bill  revising  the  rates  of  duty. 
The  Senate  Committe  011  Finance  in  the  meantime  took  up 
the  internal  revenue  bill,  which  passed  the  House  during  the 
preceding  session,  and  attached  to  that  bill  an  amendment 
revising  the  whole  tariff  system  substantially  in  accord  with 
the  report  of  the  Tariff  Commission,  but  making  many 
changes  in  the  details  of  that  report.  The  bill  as  amended 
passed  the  Senate  after  considerable  debate  near  the  close  of 
the  session.  When  it  reached  the  House  it  led  to  an  acrimo- 
nious debate  upon  the  privileges  of  the  two  Houses,  but  a 
conference  was  finally  agreed  upon  between  the  two  Houses 
and  the  bill  became  a  law  on  the  day  of  final  adjournment. 


210  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

Senator  Allison  was  a  member  of  the  sub-committee  of  the 
Finance  Committee  which  prepared  this  revision  and  was  a 
member  of  the  conference  on  the  part  of  the  Senate. 

In  1885,  after  several  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  had 
called  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  imperfections  in  the 
administration  of  the  custom  laws  and  the  administrative 
features  of  those  laws,  the  Senate  authorized  the  Finance 
Committee  to  investigate  the  subject.  The  chairman  named 
a  sub-committee  of  three  for  this  purpose,  and  Senator 
Allison  became  chairman  of  this  sub-committee.  The  com- 
mittee labored  on  the  subject  for  more  than  two  years,  making 
a  thorough  personal  examination  of  the  details  of  administra- 
tion as  disclosed  in  the  New  York,  Boston,  and  other  custom 
houses.  Senator  Allison  reported  from  the  committee  a  bill 
making  a  complete  revision  of  the  methods  of  collecting  the 
duties  and  creating  new  machinery  for  the  classification  and 
appraisement  of  imports.  It  was  accompanied  by  an  elabo- 
rate printed  report  collating  all  the  laws  on  that  subject  which 
had  been  enacted  since  the  foundation  of  the  government  up 
to  that  time.  This  bill  passed  the  Senate  in  1888.  It  was 
not  considered  in  the  House.  When  the  Mills  tariff  bill  came 
to  the  Senate  this  bill  was  attached  to  it  as  an  amendment, 
but  failed  of  enactment  with  the  Mills  bill.  This  bill,  how- 
ever, was  introduced  by  Mr.  McKinley  in  the  House  in  Decem- 
ber, 1889,  and  became  a  law  substantially  as  it  passed  the 
Senate  about  a  year  before.  Under  this  law  all  our  customs 
collections  are  now  made,  no  material  amendments  having 
since  been  made  to  it. 

The  House  passed  in  1888,  at  an  early  stage  of  the  session, 
a  bill  providing  for  a  revision  of  tariff  duties  on  the  lines  of 
the  Democratic  contention  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  only,  known 
as  the  Mills  bill.  It  was  thoroughly  considered  by  the  Finance 
Committee  in  the  Senate,  first  by  a  sub-committee  of  which 
Senator  Allison  was  chairman.  This  sub-committee  held  hear- 
ings and  took  testimony  comprehending  three  large  octavo 
volumes,  and  continued  its  work  during  most  of  the  summer 
of  that  year.  Senator  Allison  reported  the  bill  from  the  full 
committee  in  September  and  had  charge  of  it  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate.  It  was  considered  up  to  adjournment  on  October 
20  without  passing.  It  passed  the  Senate  at  the  following 
short  session  in  1889,  but  did  not  become  a  law  because  of  the 


WILLIAM  BOTD  ALLISON.  211 

failure  of  the  House  to  agree  to  the  Senate  amendments,  or  to 
a  conference.  These  Senate  amendments  made  an  elaborate 
revision  of  the  tariff  on  the  lines  of  "protection"  as  distin- 
guished from  that  of  "  for  revenue  "  as  proposed  by  the  Mills 
bill,  and  it  introduced  many  new  views  as  to  the  classification 
of  objects  of  import  duty.  It  especially  provided,  among 
other  things,  for  ample  protection  to  the  tin-plate  industry, 
which  provision  was  later  on  embodied  in  the  McKinley  bill, 
the  important  amendment  relating  to  tin-plate  being  offered 
by  Senator  Allison  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  and  agreed  to 
after  debate. 

In  1890  the  McKinley  bill  passed  the  House,  embodying  in 
its  provisions  the  classifications  and  changes  which  were  con- 
sidered and  passed  by  the  Senate  a  year  before,  although  it 
increased  in  many  particulars  the  rates  of  duty  proposed  in 
the  Senate  amendments.  The  bill  was  considered  by  a  sub- 
committee of  the  Finance  Committee  of  which  Senator  Alli- 
son was  a  member,  and  was  reported  to  the  Senate  by  Senator 
Morrill.  During  its  consideration  in  the  Senate,  Senator  Alli- 
son, having  had  charge  of  it  in  sub-committee,  practically 
took  charge  of  it  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  He  was  also 
active  in  proposing  and  offering  amendments  to  what  was 
the  Wilson  bill,  which  became  a  law  in  1894.  He  was  on  the 
sub-committee  that  prepared  the  amendments  to  the  Dingley 
tariff  bill  of  1897  and  gave  patient  attention  to  this  subject 
for  more  than  two  months  in  the  spring  of  that  year. 

He  was  strongly  urged  by  President  Garfield  to  accept  the 
position  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  his  administration. 
The  same  tender  was  made  by  President  Harrison  in  1889, 
and  it  is  well  known  that  he  could  have  taken  the  position  of 
Secretary  of  State  under  President  McKinley's  first  admin- 
istration, but  he  declined  all  these  tempting  offers  of  adminis- 
trative positions,  preferring  to  represent  in  part  the  state  of 
Iowa  in  the  United  States  Senate,  that  position  being  more 
congenial  to  his  tastes  and  more  in  line  with  his  life  work 
and  studies. 

He  was  frequently  mentioned  as  an  available  candidate 
for  president,  and  was  three  times  strongly  supported  by  his 
own  state  in  National  conventions  for  that  office.  It  should 
be  said  in  justice  to  him  that  he  never  had  a  consuming 
ambition  for  the  place,  so  that  no  disappointment  lurked  in 


212  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

his  mind  or  memory  because  others  were  selected  as  candi- 
dates of  the  Republican  party. 

Although  the  Senate  in  its  organization  is  supposed  to  be  a 
conservative  body,  with  long  continued  service  of  its  mem- 
bers, there  is  no  man  now  in  the  Senate  who  was  there  when 
Senator  Allison  took  the  oath  of  office  in  1873,  and  there  are 
few  now  living  who  served  in  that  body  prior  to  1873. 
Senator  Jones  of  Nevada  and  Senator  Allison  took  the  oath 
of  office  on  the  same  day  and  therefore  are  contemporaneous, 
but  the  latter  having  served  eight  years  in  the  House  is  the 
senior  in  service  at  the  Capitol  at  this  time,  and  it  may  be 
truthfully  said  that  he  is  the  natural  and  recognized  leader 
of  that  body  and  exerts  a  wider  influence  than  any  other 
member  of  it.  He  is  chairman  of  the  Republican  caucus  of 
the  Senate  and  as  such  has  charge  and  control  of  the 
business  of  the  Senate.  His  time  is  probably  more  fully 
occupied  during  sessions  of  the  Senate  than  any  of  his 
colleagues.  The  exacting  duties  of  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Appropriations  make  it  necessary  for  him  to 
know  the  scope  of  every  bill  which  carries  an  appropriation 
of  public  money,  and  it  is  often  necessary  for  him  to  be 
absent  from  the  chamber  during  the  sessions  on  committee 
work,  especially  during  the  short  sessions  and  near  the  close 
of  every  session.  And  while  his  name  may  not  appear  so 
actively  and  prominently  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  as  will 
the  names  of  some  others,  yet  all  the  important  legislation 
undergoes  an  investigation  from  him  and  from  his  committee 
in  some  form.  He  is  always  listened  to  in  the  Senate, 
because  when  he  speaks  he  endeavors  to  illustrate  the  topic 
under  debate  and  to  contribute  information  upon  the  matter 
pending. 

He  has  always  been  an  active  though  temperate  partisan, 
and  has  been  able  to  secure  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  polit- 
ical opponents  by  his  fairness  of  method  and  deference  to  the 
opinion  of  those  who  differ  from  him.  He  has  spoken  in  every 
campaign  in  Iowa  since  1862,  first  making  a  thorough  canvass 
of  his  district  when  he  was  in  the  House,  and  afterwards 
when  elected  to  the  Senate  making  a  general  canvass  of  the 
state.  His  speeches,  though  not  as  attractive  in  an  oratorical 
sense  as  those  of  some  of  his  colleagues,  are  always  interest- 
ing, entertaining,  and  instructive  to  his  audience. 


SENATOR  WILLIAM  B.  ALLISON. 


-£& 


u 


POWER   OF  CHARACTER.  215 

He  was  married  in  1854  to  Miss  Anna  Carter,  daughter  of 
Daniel  Carter  of  Ashland,  Ohio,  a  man  of  prominence  in  that 
portion  of  the  state.  She  was  a  highly  intelligent,  amiable, 
and  beautiful  woman,  and  greatly  beloved  by  all  who  knew 
her.  She  died  at  Dubuque  in  1860.  In  1873  he  married  Miss 
Mary  Nealley  of  Burlington,  Iowa,  the  adopted  daughter  of 
Senator  and  Mrs.  Grimes.  During  the  last  few  years  of  her 
life  she  was  an  invalid,  and  in  spite  of  all  that  love  and  skill 
and  affection  would  suggest  she  gradually  declined  and  died 
in  August,  1883. 

Senator  Allison  has  sometimes  been  criticised  because  of 
his  hesitation  to  express  opinions  upon  subjects  or  matters 
upon  which  he  is  called  to  make  decision.  This  is  a  mistaken 
view  of  his  character.  He  does  hesitate,  but  only  to  give  full 
consideration  of  the  subject.  Therefore  he  does  not  introduce 
into  the  Senate  bills  of  an  experimental  character  or  which 
meet  the  fancy  or  suggestion  of  some  one  who  seeks  radical 
changes  in  existing  conditions.  He  is  on  this  account  often 
called  a  conservative  in  the  discussion  and  consideration  of 
public  measures.  He  carries  this  conservatism  into  his  every- 
day life.  As  an  illustration  of  this  :  He  has  lived  in  the 
same  house  at  Washington,  No.  1124  Vermont  avenue,  since 
1877,  during  the  life  of  his  wife  and  her  mother,  Mrs.  Grimes, 
and  he  still  resides  there.  When  in  Iowa  he  resides  at  No. 
1134  Locust  street,  Dubuque,  which  has  been  his  home  from 
August,  1857,  until  now. 

During  his  whole  service  he  has  been  an  active  and  tireless 
worker  on  matters  of  public  character,  not  only  during  ses- 
sions of  Congress,  but  during  most  of  the  recesses.  This  con- 
stant attention  to  his  public  duties  and  willingness  to  take 
upon  himself  the  consideration  of  public  questions  is  probably 
one  of  the  reasons  why  he  has  so  much  strength  in  the  Sen- 
ate, because  it  is  believed  by  his  associates  that  he  gives  full 
consideration  of  the  subjects  placed  in  his  charge. 

POWER   OF   CHARACTER. 

!HARACTER  must  not  be  confounded  with  reputation. 
Character  is  what  a  man  is  ;  reputation  may  be  what 
he  is  not.  Character  is  one's  intrinsic  value  ;  reputa- 
tion is  what  is  thought  of  him  —  his  value  in  the  market  of 
public  opinion.  Hence,  character  is  stable  and  enduring  ; 


216  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

while,  as  another  has  said  :  "  The  reputation  of  a  man  is  like 
his  shadow  ;  it  sometimes  follows  and  sometimes  precedes 
him ;  it  is  sometimes  longer  and  sometimes  shorter  than  him- 
self." 

Character  is  indispensable.  Every  one  is  in  duty  bound  to 
possess  it.  It  is  not  optional  with  us  to  cultivate  it  or  not,  as 
we  please  ;  it  is  a  solemn  obligation.  Professor  Blaikie,  of 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  said  to  a  class  of  young  men  : 
"  Money  is  not  needful,  power  is  not  needful,  cleverness  is  not 
needful,  fame  is  not  needful,  liberty  is  not  needful,  even 
health  is  not  the  one  thing  needful ;  but  character  alone,  is 
that  which  can  truly  save  us,  and  if  we  are  not  saved  in  this 
sense,  we  must  certainly  be  damned."  Smiles  urges  the  same 
truth  :  "  Every  one  is  in  duty  bound  to  aim  at  reaching  the 
highest  standard  of  character  ;  not  to  become  the  richest  in 
means,  but  in  spirit  ;  not  the  greatest  in  worldly  position,  but 
in  true  honor  ;  not  the  most  intellectual,  but  the  most  virtu- 
ous ;  not  the  most  powerful  and  influential,  but  the  most 
truthful,  upright,  and  honest." 

Character  is  greater,  even,  than  intellect.  It  is  the  most 
valuable  possession  a  youth  ever  acquires.  Without  it  he  is 
poor,  though  he  may  have  amassed  a  million  dollars.  The 
most  abject  pauper  on  earth  is  the  man  without  character. 
He  may  live  in  a  stately  mansion  and  flourish  his  magnificent 
turnout,  and  obsequious  fools  may  applaud  him  ;  but  he  is  a 
moral  tramp,  nevertheless,  more  perilous  to  society  on  account 
of  his  money,  and  to  himself  also. 

Every  youth,  then,  should  know  that  it  is  his  and  her 
sacred  duty  to  make  unblemished  character  ;  that  is  an  obliga- 
tion they  cannot  shirk.  It  may  not  be  their  duty  to  be  wise 
and  learned,  or  to  be  senators  or  senators'  wives,  but  it  is  their 
duty  to  possess  spotless  characters.  Anything  short  of  this 
cheats  society  and  robs  God.  The  youth  who  denies  this 
truth,  and  lives  indifferent  to  the  worth  of  character,  will 
probably  drift  along  with  the  current  of  events  until  the  star 
of  his  destiny  reaches  its  zenith  on  the  meridian  of  Sodom. 

Character  is,  also,  power  ;  and  it  is  this  thought  that  we 
especially  emphasize  now.  It  is  said  that  "knowledge  is 
power,"  but  knowledge  may  exist  without  character.  Add 
character  to  it  and  we  have  invincible  power.  Luther  said: 
"  The  prosperity  of  a  country  depends,  not  on  the  abundance 


POWEE   OF  CHARACTER.  217 

of  the  revenues,  nor  on  the  strength  of  its  fortifications,  nor 
on  the  beauty  of  its  public  buildings  ;  but  it  consists  in  the 
number  of  its  cultivated  citizens,  its  men  of  education, 
enlightenment  and  character.  Here  are  to  be  found  its  true 
interests,  its  chief  strength,  its  real  power." 

When  Jonathan  Goodhue,  of  New  York  city,  died,  the 
din  of  traffic  was  hushed  in  the  streets.  Commerce  felt  the 
loss  keenly,  and  merchant  and  artisan  crowded  around  his 
bier  at  the  funeral.  The  mayor  and  other  officials  were  there. 
The  poor  and  unfortunate  were  there,  too.  None  were  so 
high  and  none  so  lowly  as  not  to  do  him  reverence.  His  char- 
acter drew  them  there.  The  preacher  said  on  that  occasion: 
"It  is  the  recognized  worth  of  private  character  which  has 
extorted  this  homage.  It  is  the  man  himself,  the  pure,  high- 
minded,  righteous  man  who  adorned  our  nature,  who  digni- 
fied the  mercantile  profession,  who  was  superior  to  his 
station,  his  riches,  his  exposures,  and  made  the  common 
virtues  more  respected  and  venerable  than  shining  talents  or 
public  honors.  This  was  the  power  of  his  life.'' 

We  have  just  paid  our  centennial  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  Washington  "the  father  of  his  country,"  whose  personal 
character  more  than  his  skill  as  a  general,  or  his  ability  as  a 
statesman,  has  enshrined  him  in  the  heart  of  his  countrymen. 
John  Adams  was  president  in  1798,  when  it  was  expected  that 
France  would  declare  war  against  the  United  States,  and  he 
wrote  to  Washington  saying,  "  We  must  have  your  name  if 
you  will  permit  us  to  use  it :  there  will  be  more  efficacy  in  it 
than  in  an  army.''  This  was  a  greater  tribute  to  his  charac- 
ter than  that  of  a  general  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  who 
declared  that  Washington's  presence  "  doubled  the  strength 
of  the  army."  Moral  qualities  live  longer  than  intellectual 
ones,  because  they  have  more  power  over  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  for  this  reason,  the  name  of  Washington  is  connected 
with  more  places  and  events,  in  this  country  and  Europe,  than 
that  of  Napoleon  or  Csesar. 

When  character  is  found  in  union  with  great  talents  and 
the  best  social  qualities,  its  power  is  phenomenal.  This  is 
eminently  true  of  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  of  whom  a  biographer 
says  :  "  He  is  a  serious  orator  011  any  occasion  worthy  of 
high  eloquence,  a  shrewd  and  far-seeing  politician,  a  broad- 
minded  statesman,  a  successful  business  man,  a  skilled  law- 


218  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

yer,  a  polished  man  of  society  and  of  the  world,  and,  above 
all,  in  all  the  private  relations  of  life,  a  thoroughly  manly 
man,  a  Christian  gentleman."  From  his  earliest  hoyhood  he 
loved  reading,  and  studied  men  and  things.  Everybody  was 
his  friend,  and  a  neighbor  prophesied  that  he  would  become 
renowned  because  of  his  ability,  energy,  perseverance,  and 
moral  principle.  In  college  he  was  a  great  reader,  fine 
debater  and  orator,  "  most  cordially  liked,  and  most  thor- 
oughly respected."  A  classmate  said  of  him  recently:  "Depew 
stood  conspicuous  above  all  the  men  of  his  time  in  college  for 
the  remarkable  union  of  two  sets  of  qualities  :  a  purity  of 
feeling  and  conduct,  a  clearness  of  soul  and  speech,  and  a 
largeness  and  firmness  of  integrity  and  honor  which  are 
rarely  seen,  united  with  a  breadth  of  sympathy,  a  kindliness 
of  heart,  and  a  generosity  of  good  fellowship  which  drew  the 
best  men  to  him.  He  never  bent,  never  swerved,  never 
showed  any  stain  to  the  purest  eye."  He  is  now  what  he  was 
then,  and  this  fact  explains  his  wide  influence,  great  popular- 
ity, and  remarkable  success. 

Smiles  says:  "Character  is  one  of  the  greatest  motive 
powers  in  the  world.  In  its  noblest  embodiments,  it  exem- 
plifies human  nature  in  its  highest  forms,  for  it  exhibits  man 
at  his  best." 

Character  must  not  be  undervalued  as  capital.  Lt  has  been 
said,  "'When  poverty  is  your  inheritance,  virtue  must  be  your 
capital,"  and  many  young  men  have  learned  the  truth  of  this 
maxim  from  personal  experience.  They  have  found  that 
they  started  in  business  just  as  well  without  money  as  they 
could  have  done  with  it.  Seme  years  ago  a  youth  of  sixteen 
years  was  advised  to  sell  bread  on  commission,  because  it 
would  be  more  profitable  to  him  than  to  drive  a  bread  cart  on 
monthly  wages.  He  had  learned  the  business  of  a  baker,  and 
had  sold  bread  from  a  cart  for  several  months. 

"But  I  have  no  money  to  invest  in  horse  and  wagon,"  he 
replied  ;  "  every  dollar  of  my  earnings  I  have  given  to  my 
mother  for  the  support  of  the  family." 

"Buy  a  horse  and  wagon  on  credit,"  advised  the  friend. 
"A  dozen  men  in  town  will  sell  you  an  outfit  on  credit 
because  they  know  you.  Poverty,  with  such  a  character  as 
you  have,  is  a  better  capital  than  ten  thousand  dollars  would 
be  to  some  men." 


POWER   OF  CHARACTER.  219 

Encouraged  by  this  counsel  lie  found  no  difficulty  in  pur- 
chasing a  horse  and  wagon,  for  which  he  paid  in  less  time 
than  he  promised.  He  succeeded  in  business,  established  a 
bakery  of  his  own,  became  a  prominent  citizen  of  his  town, 
represented  it  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  chairman 
of  its  school  committee,  subsequently  represented  his  sena- 
torial district  in  the  Massachusetts  Senate  ;  for  twenty  years 
presided  over  more  political,  temperance,  anti-slavery,  and 
religious  conventions  than  any  other  citizen  of  his  county 
because  of  his  ability  in  that  line  ;  was  presidential  elector  to 
one  of  the  most  important  Republican  conventions  ever  con- 
vened; and  more  than  twenty  years  ago  was  Massachusetts 
commissioner  to  the  International  Exposition  at  Paris, 
France.  Character  did  it.  It  was  better  capital  for  him  than 
money.  Had  he  possessed  only  money  he  might  never  have 
got  beyond  the  bakeshop.  It  was  capital  that  did  even  more 
for  him  out  of  his  business  than  in  it.  Money  could  only  have 
aided  him  in  the  bakery  business;  it  would  not  have  made 
him  an  enterprising,  useful,  and  honored  citizen.  But  char- 
acter did  all  this,  and  even  more,  for  him. 

Money  capital  will  not  secure  confidence,  or,  at  least,  not 
the  confidence  requisite  in  the  transaction  of  business.  Enough 
money  will  beget .  confidence  in  the  pecuniary  ability  of  a 
trader,  but  that  alone  will  not  beget  confidence  in  his  moral 
ability.  It  is  not  a  guarantee  against  lying,  cheating,  or 
other  forms  of  over-reaching  ;  but  character  is.  Hence,  it  is  a 
peculiar  kind  of  capital,  constantly  increasing  in  value,  intro- 
ducing the  possessor  to  channels  of  influence  and  power  he 
had  not  thought  of.  It  was  said  of  that  famed  New  York 
merchant,  Gideon  Lee  :  "It  was  his  misfortune --if,  indeed, 
it  be  one  -  -  to  be  born  poor  ;  it  was  his  merit,  by  industry  and 
perseverance,  to  acquire  wealth.  It  was  his  misfortune  to  be 
deprived  of  an  education  when  young ;  it  was  his  merit  to 
force  it  in  maturer  age.  It  was  his  misfortune  to  be  without 
friends  in  his  early  struggle,  to  aid  him  by  their  means  or 
counsel ;  it  was  his  merit  to  win  them  in  troops  by  a  character 
that  challenged  all  scrutiny." 

It  is  not  the  sight  of  money  that  makes  the  creditor  feel 
easy,  but  it  is  the  sight  of  character.  The  "sound  of  the 
hammer  at  five  in  the  morning  "  satisfies  him  that  industry  is 
only  one  virtue  of  many  in  the  heart  of  the  toiler  whose 


220  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

hammer  is  heard  so  early  in  the  morning.  Even  the  money 
capital  of  the  debtor  who  is  seen  in  the  playhouse,  or  heard  in 
the  barroom,  does  not  make  the  creditor  easy,  for  he  knows 
that  these  and  kindred  resorts  have  exhausted  the  pecuniary 
resources  of  many  a  trader. 

A  young  man  was  serving  as  clerk  on  an  annual  salary  of 
five  hundred  dollars.  He  was  as  efficient,  reliable,  and  pains- 
taking, however,  as  he  would  have  been  on  a  salary  of  five 
thousand.  Customers  liked  him,  his  employers  confided  in 
him,  his  habits  Avere  correct,  and  his  character  was  without  a 
stain.  He  was  surprised,  one  day,  by  an  offer  from  one  of 
their  best  patrons  to  become  his  partner  in  an  extensive  job- 
bing business.  "  Put  your  character  against  my  money,  and 
we  will  share  the  profits  equally." 

The  modest  young  man  scarcely  knew  what  to  say  at  first. 
After  recovering  from  his  surprise,  however,  the  subject 
was  canvassed  with  the  customer,  and  a  speedy  conclusion 
reached.  The  partnership  was  consummated,  and  it  proved 
harmonious  and  successful.  The  character  of  the  young  mer- 
chant was  worth  more  to  the  concern  than  the  capital  of  his 
confiding  friend.  It  gave  the  firm  standing  at  once.  Its 
value  grew,  also,  from  year  to  year,  giving  the  company  a 
firmer  grip  upon  public  confidence.  He  who  had  only  charac- 
ter to  invest  found  himself  in  a  few  years  among  the  leading 
men  of  the  city,  not  only  one  of  its  merchant  princes,  but  one 
of  its  counselors,  officers,  and  benefactors.  The  money  in- 
vested at  the  outset  had  been  long  forgotten,  but  the  character 
which  the  young  man  put  in  had  grown  fairer,  richer,  and 
more  influential. 

Sixty  years  ago,  a  boy  of  eight  or  ten  years,  in  Danville, 
Maine,  lost  his  father  by  death.  His  mother  was  too  poor  to 
support  the  large  family  of  children,  so  this  son  went  to  live 
with  a  neighbor,  a  farmer.  He  was  a  good  boy  ;  industrious, 
pleasant,  self-reliant,  truthful,  aspiring,  and  manly.  The 
farmer  and  his  wife  liked  him.  He  was  a  great  reader,  and 
his  employer  encouraged  him  to  improve  his  spare  moments  in 
that  way,  and  he  allowed  him  all  the  schooling  there  was  in 
town  —  a  few  weeks  each  year.  At  fourteen,  however,  he 
thought  he  might  go  up  higher.  He  felt  that  he  might  do  more 
and  better  in  Boston.  After  proper  conference  with  his  mother 
and  the  farmer,  he  left  for  Boston,  having  little  more  money 


POWER   OF  CHARACTER.  221 

than  enough  to  pay  his  passage  there;  Thinking  it  wise  for 
him,  under  the  circumstances,  to  accept  the  first  offer,  he  went 
to  work  on  a  farm  in  Roxbury,  at  four  dollars  a  month,  at  the 
same  time  keeping  a  lookout  for  a  chance  in  a  store.  In  two 
years  a  favorable  opportunity  introduced  him  to  mercantile 
business  in  Boston.  Without  being  conceited  at  all,  he  knew 
that  he  was  fitted  for  such  a  sphere.  Scarcely  three  years 
more  elapsed  before  Joshua  Stetson,  a  leading  merchant  of 
Boston,  attracted  by  his  intelligence,  self-reliance,  ability,  and 
high  character,  offered  to  furnish  him  with  capital  to  com- 
mence business  for  himself.  He  accepted  the  kind  offer,  and 
became  a  merchant,  at  the  corner  of  Mechanic  and  Hanover 
streets,  just  as  he  became  twenty  years  of  age.  At  the  end  of 
four  years,  his  trade  amounted  to  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  annually.  Then  followed  the  firm  of  Jordan,  Marsh  & 
Company,  before  he  was  thirty  years  of  age  !  It  was  his  devo- 
tion to  business,  and,  more  especially,  his  personal  character, 
that  led  Mr.  Stetson  to  offer  him  capital  with  which  to  set  up 
business  for  himself.  Character  was  transmuted  into  literal 
cash  capital. 

Louis  XIV.  ruled  large  France,  but  he  could  not  conquer 
little  Holland.  The  reason  was  not  quite  clear  to  him,  and  so 
he  asked  Colbert,  his  minister.  The  latter  replied,  "Because, 
sire,  the  greatness  of  a  country  does  not  depend  upon  the 
extent  of  its  territory,  but  on  the  character  of  its  people.  It  is 
because  of  the  industry,  the  frugality,  and  the  energy  of  the 
Dutch  that  your  majesty  has  found  them  difficult  to  over- 
come/' The  war  capital  of  France  was  a  standing  army  ; 
that  of  Holland  was  character. 


CHAPTER  X. 

GEORGE    DEWEY. 

HIS     DETESTATION     OF     LYING BIRTHPLACE  —  GEORGE     DEWEY'S     BOY- 
HOOD  FIRST    CRUISE SCHOOLING AT    THE    NAVAL    ACADEMY IN    THE 

CIVIL    WAR AFLOAT    AND    ASHORE  CHARACTERISTICS MANILA PER- 
SONAL   TRAITS.        COMMON    SENSE. 

If  I  remember   correctly,   I    gave  my    father   considera- 
ble  bother  and  worry  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  even   during 

part  of  my  college  course.  I  was  n't  mali- 
cious, or  classed  in  any  sense  as  bad,  and  I 
think  that  I  uniformly  tried  to  make  the 
most  out  of  my  opportunities  and  behaved 
myself. 

There  is  nothing  that  I  detest  so  much  in 
a  man  as  lying.  If  he  has  n't  the  courage  to 
tell  the  truth,  let  him  at  least  keep  his  mouth 
entirely  closed.  I  don't  believe  that  any 
man  ever  lost  anything  in  the  long  run  by 
telling  the  truth.  At  the  same  time,  I  don't 
think  any  man  ever  gained  anything  in  the  long  run  by  tell- 
ing a  lie. 


'DMIRAL  DEWEY  was  born  in  Montpelier,  Vt.,  Decem- 
ber 26,  1837.  And  if  early  rising  really  be  a  state 
quality,  as  Vermonters  claim,  prosperity  follows  hard 
upon  the  practice  of  it.  To  have  seen  the  city  of  Montpelier 
is  to  have  beheld  the  very  embodiment  of  industry  and  thrift, 
and  of  comfortable  wealth,  their  consequence.  Everybody 
appears  well-to-do,  and,  what  is  better,  busy.  The  little  city 
is  bright  and  clean,  with  solid  and  tasteful  houses  of  the 
colonial  type,  mostly  of  brick,  set  back  behind  broad,  shaded 


GEORGE  DEWEY.  223 

lawns.  The  wide  streets  are  lined  by  magnificent  elms,  and 
the  green  hills  of  Vermont  tower  high  above  you  on  either 
side  as  you  walk.  Montpelier,  like  most  Vermont  towns,  was 
built  upon  the  hills  first,  and  it  was  perhaps  with  reluctance 
that  the  settlers  came  down  into  the  narrow  valley  of  the 
Onion,  now  called  the  Winooski. 

The  cottage  where  George  was  born  and  passed  his  child- 
hood still  stands,  but  it  has  been  removed  some  distance  down 
the  street  from  its  old  site,  directly  across  from  the  white- 
columned  State  House.  In  bygone  days  it  was  a  vine-clad 
cottage,  and  the  Onion  river  ran  through  the  pleasant  fields 
and  gardens  behind  it,  between  weeping  willows  and  stone 
walls.  The  steep,  velvet  side  of  a  hill  rises  from  its  farther 
bank.  Little  George  loved  the  river  ;  his  bare  feet  knew 
every  stone  in  it.  One  day  he  was  summoned  out  of  the 
rapids  and  dragged  reluctant  into  the  parlor  to  meet  ''com- 
pany." The  "company"  still  have  a  vivid  memory  of  the 
very  small  boy  with  the  roguish  black  eyes  and  restless  face 
—  none  too  clean  —  and  of  the  sinewy,  bare  little  legs,  and 
even  of  the  battered  straw  hat,  innocent  of  brim,  which  he 
held  bashfully  in  his  hand  while  the  introduction  was  in  prog- 
ress. 

George's  sister  Mary,  two  years  younger,  was  his  constant 
companion  when  his  excellency  permitted.  She  knew  no 
keener  joy  than  that  of  plodding  after  him  many  a  weary 
mile  with  a  tin  of  worms.  To  bait  his  hook  was  a  privilege 
unspeakable.  How  often  of  late  has  she  lived  over  those 
years  while  awaiting  news  of  him  from  the  far-away  Orient ! 
George  was  not  a  great  reader  in  those  days.  "  Robinson 
Crusoe  "  pleased  him  and  aroused  a  passion  for  adventure  in 
far-away  lands  which  he  took  out  in  tramps  over  his  own 
Vermont  mountains,  with  sister  Mary,  perhaps,  as  man  Fri- 
day. But  a  fateful  day  came  when  his  big  brother  Charles, 
twelve  years  older,  presented  him  with  a  copy  of  the  "  Life 
of  Hannibal.''  Snow  lay  thick  on  the  steep  slope  behind  the 
State  House,  and  over  it  a  heavy  crust  with  surface  like 
glass.  To  ten-year-old  Hannibal  here  was  a  Jungf rau  ready 
to  hand  and  well-nigh  as  formidable.  Orders  were  at  once 
issued  to  sister  Mary,  in  this  instance  the  army  and  all  the 
appurtenances  thereof,  who  cheerfully  left  her  "Child's  Life 
of  Queen  Bess  "  and  the  cozy  fireside  to  follow  her  captain 


224  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

over  the  Alps  —  no  mean  undertaking — and  afterwards  to 
pay  for  her  loyalty,  poor  little  soul !  by  a  week  in  bed.  His- 
tory does  not  mention  what  happened  to  George. 

It  could  scarce  be  expected  that  a  general  or  an  admiral 
should  go  through  life  without  fighting.  Fights  occurred  in 
those  days,  though  the  town  records  of  Montpelier  fail  to  re- 
veal time  or  place  or  results.  If  rumor  be  true,  however,  re- 
sults were  with  the  future  admiral.  He  was  a  born  leader, 
and  owned  a  temper  that  kind  Dr.  Dewey  had  more  than  once 
to  reckon  with.  George  had  a  wiry  little  frame,  and  its  con- 
stant activity  made  the  gaining  of  flesh  quite  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  Rev.  Mr.  Wright,  a  prominent  clergyman  of  Mont- 
pelier, remembers  the  admiral  at  this  period  very  well.  Mr. 
Wright  was  a  schoolmate.  "George  was  always  a  fighting 
boy,"  said  he.  So  is  the  child  father  to  the  man. 

Mr.  Wright  also  recalls  going  to  "  nigger  minstrel  "  shows 
in  George  Dewey's  barn.  George  was  the  life  and  soul  of 
these  shows  (and  they  were  by  no  means  confined  to  such  low 
comedy  as  minstrels)  -  -  he  was  business  manager,  stage 
manager,  took  the  leading  parts,  and  I  believe  the  future 
admiral's  productions  were  exclusively  brought  forth  here. 
Sister  Mary  invariably  preferred  the  audience  and  a  back  seat, 
whence  she  could  admire  without  being  seen.  But  on  one  oc- 
casion the  regular  leading  lady  (ten  years  old),  being  unavoid- 
ably absent,  Mary  was  peremptorily  told  to  come  forward  and 
take  the  part.  "  But  I  don't  know  it  at  all,  George,''  she 
objected.  That  made  no  difference.  George  was  to  fire  his 
pistol  at  the  awkward  crisis,  and  so  Mary  carried  off  the  mat- 
ter, on  the  whole,  very  creditably. 

This  pistol-shooting,  by  the  way,  proved  a  huge  drawing- 
card,  and  attracted  such  crowds  to  the  theater  that  there  was 
scarce  standing  room.  A  wholly  unwarranted  interference 
on  the  part  of  the  neighbors  put  an  untimely  end  to  plays  and 
play  bills  by  an  edict  from  the  doctor.  A  peanut  stand  near 
the  door,  another  feature  of  popularity,  modern  managers 
might  do  well  to  copy. 

The  bump  of  destructiveness  seems  to  be  a  necessary  at- 
tribute to  the  fighting  character,  and  it  was  not  lacking  in 
George  Dewey.  His  chief  offense  in  this  direction  was  the 
killing  of  a  pet  dove  which  belonged  to  a  young  lady  of  twelve 
in  the  neighborhood.  But  since  this  very  trait  in  the  admiral 


GEORGE  DEWEY.  225 

has  finally  led  to  the  destruction  of  all  the  Spanish  ships  he 
could  lay  hands  on,  he  has  recently,  though  not  until  recently, 
been  forgiven  by  the  aggrieved  lady,  who  still  lives  in  Mont- 
pelier.  She  has  so  far  gone  against  her  convictions  as  to  have 
penned  him.  a  letter  of  congratulation. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  admiral's  first  cruise 
took  place  when  he  was  no  older  than  eleven.  It  happened  in 
this  wise  :  He  started  out  one  day  in  his  father's  buggy,  ac- 
companied by  his  friend  Will  Redfield,  bent  upon  an  overland 
trip  of  adventure  —  to  drive  the  cows  home,  it  has  been  said. 
But  when  they  came  to  the  Dog  river,  which  enters  the  Wi- 
nooski  some  distance  from  the  town,  they  found  it  higher 
than  the  oldest  inhabitant  had  ever  seen  it,  the  ford  impassa- 
ble from  recent  rains.  William  prudently  counseled  turning 
back,  but  to  this  the  admiral  would  not  listen. 

"What  man  hath  done,  man  can  do,"  said  he,  and  he 
whipped  up  his  horse  and  went  at  the  ford  four  bells.  Need- 
less to  say,  he  found  no  bottom  ;  the  superstructure  of  his  frail 
craft,  which  in  this  case  was  the  buggy  top,  cast  adrift  and 
floated  swiftly  away  toward  Lake  Champlain,  while  the  ad- 
miral serene  as  ever,  and  the  thoroughly  frightened  William, 
clambered  on  board  the  horse  and  managed  to  land  in  safety. 
When  the  boy  reached  home  the  doctor  was  away  on  a  pro- 
fessional call,  and  an  innate  sense  of  tactics  bade  George  go 
directly  to  bed,  without  waiting  for  supper.  The  father  found 
him  apparently  asleep,  but  was  not  deceived,  and  immediately 
began  to  chide  him  for  his  rashness,  when  his  son  replied  from 
the  depths  of  the  covers  :  - 

"  You  ought  to  be  thankful  that  my  life  wath  thpared." 

Alas  !  the  future  admiral  lisped. 

George  Dewey  was  sent  first,  when  a  little  chap,  to  the 
Washington  County  Grammar  School  in  Montpelier.  The 
scholars  there  did  not  have  the  reputation  of  being  amenable 
to  discipline,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  George  was  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule.  To  this  school,  after  a  variety  of  failures, 
came  Mr.  Z.  K.  Pangborn,  now  Major  Z.  K.  Pangborn  of  the 
Jersey  City  Journal.  The  boys,  quite  exhilarated  by  the  suc- 
cess they  had  had  with  former  masters,  made  a  bold  stand, 
with  young  George  Dewey  to  the  front  and  center.  George 
was  at  once  called  upon  for  examination,  but,  the  spirit  of 
mutiny  being  rife  within  him,  he  declined  to  go.  The  dominie 


226  LEADERS    OF  AfEX. 

thereupon  seized  the  collar  of  young  Dewey  with  one  hand 
and  his  whip  with  the  other  ;  no  quarter  being  cried,  none  was 
given,  and  the  lad  got  a  whipping  the  like  of  which  had  never 
been  served  out  in  that  district.  He  was  then  told  to  go 
home,  and  Mr.  Pangborn  went  along,  the  rest  of  the  school 
trooping  at  his  heels.  Dr.  Dewey  stood  at  his  door,  and  siz- 
ing the  situation  at  sight  of  the  procession,  dismissed  the  boys 
and  took  the  schoolmaster  and  George  to  his  study. 
"What  is  it,  my  son  ?''  he  asked. 

•/ 

In  answer  George  stripped  off  coat  and  shirt  and  showed  a 
back  covered  with  red  stripes,  which  gave  his  father  more 
pain  than  he  felt  himself.  But  the  doctor  was  a  just  man  —  a 
very  just  one.  Perceiving  that  George  was  still  not  as  repent- 
ant as  he  should  be,  he  brought  him  round  by  declaring  that 
he  himself  would  add  to  the  punishment  if  Mr.  Pangborn  had 
not  given  enough.  The  hint  proved  sufficient. 

It  was  natural  that  a  boy  of  Dewey's  spirit  should  grow  to 
have  an  affection  for  the  dominie  who  did  not  flinch  from  his 
duty.  When  Mr.  Pangborn  went  to  Johnson,  Vt.,  a  year  or 
so  afterward  to  establish  a  private  academy,  George  followed 
him  thither  by  his  own  request.  Perhaps  it  was  here  he  wrote 
the  essays  on  "  Fame,''  which  his  sister  treasured  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  or  more  and  sent  to  him  six  years  ago.  Captain 
Dewey  replied  011  reading  it  over  that  it  was  much  better  than 
he  ever  expected  to  write  again. 

At  fifteen  he  went  to  the  Norwich  Military  Academy  at 
Norwich,  Vt.,  and  it  was  while  there  he  conceived  a  strong 
taste  for  a  military  life,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  go  to 
Annapolis.  This  was  greatly  against  his  fathers  wishes. 
But  it  had  never  been  the  doctor's  policy  to  thwart  his  chil- 
dren, and  he  consented.  It  so  happened  that  Dewey  men- 
tioned his  ambition  to  George  Spalding,  a  schoolmate  of  his, 
to  discover  that  Spalding  had  like  designs.  It  was  Spalding 
who  obtained  the  appointment,1  and  Dewey  the  alternate, 
through  Senator  Foote.  But  fate,  in  the  guise  of  a  stern  New 
England  mother,  stepped  in  at  this  juncture,  and  so  it  came 
about  that  the  Rev.  George  B.  Spalding  preached  a  war 
sermon  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  upon  the  occasion  of  his  old 
schoolmate's  great  victory. 

Dewey  entered  the  class  of  1854  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 
At  that  time  he  was  a  strong,  active  boy  of  medium  height, 


GEORGE  DEWEY.  227 

with  flashing  black  eyes  and  shoulders  beginning  to  broaden. 
He  could  swim  as  one  born  to  the  water  should,  and  excelled 
in  all  outdoor  exercises.  At  Annapolis  he  found  the  line 
sharply  drawn  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  boys,  and 
George  proceeded  at  once  to  get  into  trouble.  He  had  a  spirit 
that  would  bear  no  insult,  and  he  was  singled  out  by  the 
leader  of  the  Southern  lads  as  the  most  promising  of  the 
Northern  faction,  for  a  little  excitement.  The  Southerner  was 
not  disappointed.  George  was  far  from  resenting  the  term 
of  "  Yankee  v  ;  he  thought  that  of  "  dough-face  "  more  oppro- 
brious, and  as  the  quarrel  grew  his  enemy  did  not  stop  there. 
So,  one  day,  coming  out  of  mess,  George  waited  for  him  and 
calmly  knocked  him  down,  and  got  decidedly  the  better  of 
the  mix-up  that  followed.  Sometime  afterward  he  had  an 
inkstand  hurled  at  his  head  in  the  reading  room,  which  re- 
sulted in  another  personal  encounter,  with  the  freshman  admi- 
ral again  victorious.  But  the  matter  did  not  end  even  here, 
for  the  Southerner  wrote  a  challenge  to  mortal  combat  with 
pistols  at  close  range.  The  offer  was  accepted  with  alacrity, 
the  seconds  chosen,  and  even  the  ground  paced  off,  when  the 
classmates,  seriously  alarmed,  informed  some  of  the  officers 
stationed  at  Annapolis.  And  so  again  fate  was  kind  to 
Dewey's  country. 

It  is  pleasant  to  learn,  when  now  the  South  and  the  North 
are  firmly  united  under  the  one  flag  with  one  heart  for  our 
country,  that  the  breach  was  eventually  healed.  On  both 
sides  were  lads  of  honor  and  courage,  quick  to  recognize  these 
qualities  in  the  other,  and,  as  the  class  became  united,  George 
Dewey  grew  to  be  one  of  its  most  popular  members.  Some- 
how, a  quiet  fellow  who  can  "  do  things  ''  is  always  popular, 
and  George  was  this  kind. 

Young  Dewey  was  graduated  in  1858,  number  five  in  his 
class.  But  fourteen  out  of  perhaps  sixty-five  who  started  in 
received  diplomas.  George  was  not  naturally  a  student,  but 
he  excelled  in  the  study  of  seamanship.  It  may  be  well  to 
mention  here  that  Admiral  Dewey  is  the  logical  result  of  a 
system  which  produces  the  best  naval  officers  in  the  world. 
The  reason  of  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  We  have  not  only  the 
very  finest  of  material  to  choose  from,  for  the  American  offi- 
cer combines  valuable  qualities  of  his  own  with  the  necessary 
traits  which  are  found  in  the  English  and  other  northern 


228  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

races,  but  also  because  the  whole  result  of  the  Annapolis 
training  may  be  summed  up  in  the  phrase  "the  survival  of 
the  fittest."  It  is  the  refined  metal  alone  that  comes  out. 
At  Annapolis  a  lad  is  thrown  entirely  upon  his  own  resources. 
He  knows  there  is  no  bottom  under  him  if  he  falls  ;  and  he  is 
forced  to  enter  into  competition  with  the  brightest  minds  from 
all  over  the  country  for  his  very  existence,  as  it  were.  And  he 
is  put  to  a  discipline  and  hardship  more  rigid  than  that  of  the 
enlisted  man  aboard  ship.  His  superiors  know  no  such  thing 
as  favor. 

George  Dewey  entered  the  academy  with  a  hatred  of 
lying.  He  went  into  the  service  with  this  feeling  intensified, 
and  in  all  the  years  he  has  been  at  sea  he  has  been  lenient 
with  Jack  for  every  offense  but  this.  As  a  midshipman  he 
was  sent  to  the  European  station,  cruising  for  two  years  in 
the  Mediterranean  on  the  Wabasli,  with  Captain  Barren,  of 
Virginia,  who  afterward  joined  the  Confederate  navy.  Visit- 
ing Jerusalem  he  sent  an  olivewood  cane  to  his  grandfather, 
then  living  in  Vermont.  The  old  gentleman  died  with  that 
cane  by  his  side,  and  his  very  last  words  were  of  affection 
for  the  grandson  who  had  sent  it.  In  I860  George  returned 
to  Annapolis  to  be  examined  for  a  commission,  showing  his 
ability  by  leading  his  fellows.  This  stand,  combined  with 
that  of  his  graduation,  gave  him  a  final  rating  of  three  in  his 
class. 

A  great  deed  like  the  victory  of  Manila  is  not  the  accom- 
plishment of  an  hour,  nor  yet  of  a  day,  but  of  a  lifetime. 
The  spirit  that  impelled  the  eleven-year-old  hero  across  the 
flood  was  the  same,  to  be  sure,  as  that  which  sent  Commodore 
Dewey  into  a  black  harbor  in  the  Malay  archipelago,  past  un- 
known shallows  and  frowning  forts  and  over  torpedoes,  to 
fight  a  treacherous  race.  But  in  the  commodore,  boyish  dar- 
ing was  tempered  by  years  of  hard  study  of  his  profession  and 
other  years  of  hard  fighting  in  some  of  the  fiercest  battles  of 
the  Civil  War. 

Dewey  was  at  home  in  Montpelier  when  Sumter  was  fired 
upon.  One  week  afterward  he  secured  his  commission  as 
lieutenant  and  was  ordered  to  the  steam  sloop  Mississippi,  of 
the  west  Gulf  squadron.  He  was  then  twenty-three  years 
of  age,  and  the  black  eye  had  become  piercing.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  Farragut  raised  his  flag  over  this  fleet  in 


GEORGE  DEWEY.  229 

February,  1862.  The  Mississippi  was  the  only  side-wheeler 
of  the  lot.  Commander  Melancthon  Smith  was  her  captain 
and  Dewey  her  first  lieutenant.  Early  in  April  the  larger 
ships,  the  Mississippiainong  them,  were  unloaded  and  hauled 
over  the  bar,  and  by  the  night  of  the  twenty-third  the  squadron 
was  ready  for  the  business  of  running  past  the  formidable  bat- 
teries of  St.  Philip  and  Jackson,  ready  to  conquer  the  Con- 
federate fleet  beyond  and  to  press  on  to  New  Orleans. 

Farragut  divided  his  ships  into  two  divisions,  Capt.  Theo- 
dore Bailey  to  have  command  of  that  going  first,  and  the 
Mississippi  was  the  third  in  his  line.  Decks  were  white- 
washed, no  lights  were  showing,  and  the  night  was  inky 
black  save  for  the  lurid  red  of  an  occasional  Confederate  fire. 
The  big  ships,  having  a  speed  of  only  eight  knots,  hugged  the 
shore  to  avoid  the  swift  current.  On,  on  they  steamed,  a 
slow,  stately  procession  that  knew  no  check,  until  the  flames 
of  the  broadside  guns  leaped  into  the  very  ports  of  the  bat- 
teries and  the  shot  struck  in  mid-air.  So  close  were  they  that 
the  gunners  hurled  curses  at  each  other  across  the  narrow 
space  of  black  water.  On  the  high  bridge  of  the  side-wheeler, 
in  the  midst  of  belching  smoke  and  flame,  stood  Dewey,  guid- 
ing the  Mississippi  as  calmly  as  though  he  were  going  up 
New  York  bay  on  a  still  afternoon  in  Indian  summer.  He 
was  perfect  master  of  himself. 

"Do  you  know  the  channel,  Dewey?"  Captain  Smith 
asked  anxiously  and  more  than  once  as  he  paced  from  port  to 
starboard.  The  lieutenant  was  very  young,  only  twenty-four, 
and  the  situation  would  have  tried  a  veteran. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  replied  Dewey  with  confidence  each  time.  But 
he  admitted  afterward  that  he  expected  to  ground  any  mo- 
ment. 

This  is  how  Chief  Engineer  Baird,  U.  S.  N.«,  who  was  there, 
remembers  him:  "I  can  see  him  now  in  the  red  and  yellow 
glare  flung  from  the  cannon-mouths.  It  was  like  some  terri- 
ble thunderstorm  with  almost  incessant  lightning.  For  an 
instant  all  would  be  dark  and  Dewey  unseen.  Then  the  forts 
would  belch  forth,  and  there  he  was  away  up  in  the  midst  of 
it,  the  flames  from  the  guns  almost  touching  him,  and  the  big 
shot  and  shell  passing  near  enough  to  him  to  blow  him  over 
with  their  breath,  while  he  held  firmly  to  the  bridge  rail. 
Every  time  the  dark  came  back  I  felt  sure  that  we  would 


230  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

never  see  Dewey  again.  But  at  the  next  flash  there  he  stood. 
His  hat  was  blown  off  and  his  eyes  were  aflame.  But  he  gave 
his  orders  with  the  air  of  a  man  in  thorough  command  of  him- 
self. He  took  in  everything.  He  saw  a  point  of  advantage 
and  seized  it  at  once.  And  when  from  around  the  hull  of  the 
Pensacola  the  rebel  ram  darted,  Dewey  like  a  flash  saw  what 
was  best  to  be  done,  and  as  he  put  his  knowledge  into  words 
the  head  of  the  Mississippi  fell  off,  and  when  the  ram  came  up 
alongside  the  entire  starboard  broadside  plunged  a  mass  of 
iron  shot  and  shell  through  her  armor,  and  she  began  to  sink. 
Her  crew  ran  her  ashore  and  escaped.  A  boat's  crew  from 
our  ship  went  on  board,  thinking  to  extinguish  the  flames 
which  our  broadside  had  started  and  capture  her.  But  she 
was  too  far  gone.  Dewey  took  us  all  through  the  fight,  and 
in  a  manner  which  won  the  warmest  praise,  not  only  of  all 
on  board,  but  of  Farragut  himself.  He  was  cool  from  first  to 
last,  and  after  we  had  passed  the  fort  and  reached  safety,  and 
he  came  down  from  the  bridge,  his  face  was  black  with 
smoke,  but  there  was  n't  a  drop  of  perspiration  on  his  brow." 
Things  began  to  go  wrong  on  the  river  a  year  later,  and 
Farragut  once  more  ran  up  from  the  Gulf  to  adjust  them. 
Port  Hudson  shoals  and  currents  are  among  the  most  danger- 
ous on  the  stream,  and  it  was  while  running  the  forts  here 
that  the  Mississippi  was  lost.  The  Hartford  and  Albatross 
led,  then  came  the  Monongahela  and  Kineo,  the  Richmond 
and  G-enesee,  followed  by  the  Mississippi  alone.  The  Monon- 
gahela and  her  consort  both  grounded,  though  they  managed 
to  get  off.  But  directly  opposite  the  center  of  the  Port  Hud- 
son battery  the  Mississippi  stuck  hard  and  fast,  as  fair  a 
target  as  could  be  wished.  Shot  after  shot  was  poured  into 
her  until  her  hull  was  riddled,  and  she  had  to  be  abandoned. 
She  was  hit  two  hundred  and  fifty  times  in  half  an  hour.  The 
officers  who  took  the  first  boats  never  returned,  and  so  the 
task  of  getting  the  men  to  safety  devolved  upon  Lieutenant 
Dewey.  Twice  he  went  to  the  Richmond  and  twice  came 
back,  until  at  last  he  and  Captain  Smith  stood  alone  on  the 
deck.  She  was  set  afire  in  five  places.  "Are  you  sure  she 
will  burn,  Dewey?"  the  captain  asked  as  he  paused  in  the 
gangway.  Dewey  risked  his  life  to  go  to  the  ward  room  for  a 
last  look,  and  together  they  left  the  ship,  Dewey  without  his 
coat  tails,  sorrowfully,  with  the  shot  splashing  all  around  him. 


GEOEGE  DEWEY.  231 

Lieutenant  Dewey  was  then  made  first  lieutenant  of  one  of 
the  gunboats  which  Farragut  used  as  a  dispatch  boat.  The 
admiral  used  often  to  come  aboard  and  steam  up  near  the 
levee  to  reconnoiter,  and  he  grew  to  have  a  great  liking  for 
the  quiet  young  lieutenant.  The  Southerners  had-  a  way  of 
rushing  a  field  piece  to  the  top  of  the  high  bank,  firing  point- 
blank  at  the  gunboat,  and  then  of  backing  down  again.  Upon 
one  such  occasion  Farragut  sawDewey  dodge  a  shot.  Said  he:— 

"  Why  don't  you  stand  firm,  lieutenant  ?  Don't  you  know 
you  can't  jump  quick  enough  ? " 

A  day  or  so  after  the  admiral  dodged  a  shot.  The  lieuten- 
ant smiled  and  held  his  tongue  ;  but  the  admiral  had  a  guilty 
conscience.  He  cleared  his  throat  once  or  twice,  shifted  his 
attitude,  and  finally  declared  :— 

"Why,  sir,  you  can't  help  it,  sir.  It  's  human  nature,  and 
there  's  an  end  to  it." 

Lieutenant  Dewey  that  same  year  was  at  Donaldsonville, 
and  afterward  succeeded  to  the  temporary  command  of  the 
Monongahela  when  her  captain,  Abner  Read,  was  killed. 

If  getting  into  the  thick  of  the  fighting  be  deemed  good 
fortune  (and  Admiral  Dewey  would  call  it  so),  Lieutenant 
Dewey  was  one  of  the  luckiest  officers  in  the  war.  He  was 
Commodore  Henry  Knox  Thatcher's  first  lieutenant  on  the 
Colorado  at  Fort  Fisher  in  December  and  January,  1864-65. 
The  Colorado,  you  may  be  sure,  was  well  within  striking 
distance  of  the  fort,  but,  being  a  wooden  ship,  was  in  the 
second  circle.  Toward  the  end  of  the  second  engagement, 
when  matters  were  moving  the  right  way,  Admiral  Porter 
signaled  Thatcher  to  close  in  and  silence  a  certain  part  of  the 
works.  As  the  ship  had  already  received  no  inconsiderable 
damage,  her  officers  remonstrated.  But  Dewey,  who,  in  addi- 
tion to  dash  and  bravery,  had  now  acquired  marked  tactical 
ability,  was  quick  to  see  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by  the 
move.  "  We  shall  be  safer  in  there,"  he  said  quietly,  "  and 
the  work  can  betaken  in  fifteen  minutes."  It  was.  The  New 
York  Times,  commenting  upon  this  part  of  the  action,  spoke 
of  it  as  "  the  most  beautiful  duel  of  the  war."  When  Admiral 
Porter  came  to  congratulate  Thatcher  the  latter  said,  gener- 
ously :  - 

"  You  must  thank  Lieutenant  Dewey,  sir.  It  was  his 
move."  -i» 


232  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

The  "move"  won  for  Thatcher  the  nomination  of  acting 
rear  admiral,  and  when,  next  month,  he  was  sent  to  relieve 
Farragut  at  Mobile  Bay,  he  recommended  Dewey  for  his  fleet 
captaincy.  Probably  the  department  hesitated,  for  fear  of 
arousing  jealousy,  to  give  so  great  a  promotion  to  so  young  a 
man,  for  Dewey  was  not  appointed.  But  in  March,  1865,  two 
months  after  Fort  Fisher,  his  courage  was  promptly  rewarded 
by  a  commission  as  a  lieutenant-commander. 

After  the  war  Lieutenant-Commander  Dewey  served  for 
two  years  on  the  European  squadron,  first  on  the  Kear- 
sarge,  and  then  on  the  flagship  Colorado.  In  1867,  while 
on  duty  at  Portsmouth,  he  became  engaged  to  Miss  Susy 
Goodwin,  daughter  of  Ichabod  Goodwin,  known  as  the  "  fight- 
ing governor"  of  New  Hampshire.  In  1868  he  was  attached 
to  the  Naval  Academy,  then  in  charge  of  Admiral  Porter,  and 
many  officers  now  in  the  navy  have  a  keen  recollection  of  the 
hospitable  quarters  on  the  Santee.  In  1870  he  received  his 
first  command,  that  of  the  Narragansett.  In  1872  came  the 
great  and,  so  far  as  the  public  knows,  the  only  cloud  upon 
his  life.  Late  in  that  year  he  was  left  a  widower.  The  admi- 
ral has  one  son,  George  Goodwin  Dewey,  born  in  1872.  He 
has  not  followed  his  father's  career,  but  after  graduating  at 
Princeton  embarked  in  business  in  New  York  city. 

In  1875  Lieutenant-Commander  Dewey  was  advanced  to 
be  commander,  and  was  assigned  to  the  Lighthouse  Board. 
Next  he  was  in  command  of  the  Juniata,  of  the  Asiatic 
squadron,  and  recent  events  showed  that  he  employed  his 
opportunities  to  good  advantage.  He  was  honored  in  1884, 
upon  attaining  his  captaincy,  by  receiving  the  Dolphin, 
which  was  among  the  very  first  vessels  in  our  new  navy,  then 
known  as  the  "  White  Squadron." 

It  was  in  New  York  harbor,  Avhile  on  the  Dolphin,  that 
Captain  Dewey  showed  how  thoroughly  he  knew  the  vagaries 
of  human  nature  as  well  as  the  principles  of  good  discipline. 
Perhaps  he  bore  in  mind  some  lesson  inculcated  in  early  youth 
by  a  wise  father.  At  any  rate,  the  admiral  has  always  been 
noted  for  his  ability  to  deal  with  "Jack."  The  "Jack"  in 
question  was  a  paymaster's  yeoman,  or  something  of  the 
kind,  and  he  refused  to  obey  an  order  of  the  first  lieutenant, 
because,  he  said,  it  was  outside  the  line  of  his  duty.  The  lieu- 
,  after  vainly  remonstrating  with  him,  reported  the 


QEOEGE  DEWEY.  233 

matter  to  Captain  Dewey,  who  sauntered  out  on  deck  and 
looked  his  man  through  and  through,  which  made  the  yeo- 
man exceedingly  uncomfortable.  Nevertheless  he  remained 
stubborn.  "  What !"  said  the  captain,  "you  refuse  !  Do  you 
know  that  that  is  mutiny  ?  When  you  entered  the  service  you 
swore  to  obey  your  superior  officers."  The  man  was  silent 
and  made  no  move,  whereupon  the  captain  very  quietly  told 
the  corporal  to  call  the  guard,  stood  the  obdurate  yeoman  on 
the  far  side  of  the  deck  and  bade  the  marines  load.  Then  he 
took  out  his  watch.  "Now,  my  man,"  said  he,  "you  have 
just  five  minutes  in  which  to  obey  that  order,"  and  began  to 
call  the  minutes.  At  the  fourth  count  the  yeoman  moved  off 
with  considerable  alacrity,  and  has  since  been  one  of  the 
strongest  opponents  of  the  policy  of  tampering  with  the  "  old 
man,"  as  the  admiral  has  for  some  time  erroneously  but 
affectionately  been  called  in  the  forecastle. 

From  the  Dolphin,  in  1885,  Captain  Dewey  went  to  the 
Pensacola,  then  flagship  of  the  European  squadron.  Since 
1888  he  has  occupied  various  responsible  positions  on  shore, 
such  as  a  second  time  a  member  of  the  Lighthouse  Board  and 
chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Equipment.  At  his  promotion  to  be 
commodore  he  went  to  the  head  of  the  Board  of  Inspection 
and  Survey.  It  is  said  that  the  commodore  was  averse  to  the 
Asiatic  station,  where  he  hoisted  his  burgee  on  the  first  day 
of  1898.  He  had  been  in  poor  health,  however,  and  welcomed 
sea  duty  on  that  account,  as  did  his  friends  for  him.  But  war 
with  Spain  was  then  among  the  strong  probabilities,  and 
Commodore  Dewey  regretted  being  sent  so  far  away  from  the 
Atlantic,  which  the  naval  experts  considered  was  to  be  the 
principal  battle  ground.  As  the  commodore  was  leaving  New 
York  for  his  new  station  he  made  the  remark,  which  has 
since  proved  to  have  been  not  without  significance,  that  he 
was  the  first  commodore  in  Asiatic  waters  since  Perry.  As  it 
turned  out  he  went,  as  ever,  into  the  thick  of  it.  The  depart- 
ment put  the  right  man  into  the  right  place. 

The  characters  of  Admiral  Dewey  and  of  his  father,  Dr. 
Dewey,  are  in  many  respects  strongly  alike,  despite  the  dif- 
ferent fields  of  usefulness  in  which  each  has  been  placed. 
Both  have  the  same  quiet  sense  of  humor  and  the  habit  of 
looking  at  the  bright  side  of  life.  Both  are  the  rare  type  of 
man  who  does  that  duty  which  comes  to  hand  with  all  his 


234  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

might.  The  doctor  was  a  man  to  be  trusted  implicitly  ;  so  is 
the  admiral,  and  that  fact  has  even  become  a  byword  at  the 
Navy  Department.  The  doctor's  nature  was  essentially  reli- 
gious, of  the  special  kind  of  religion  which  is  known  as 
charity  ;  Dr.  Dewey's  charity  began  at  home,  with  his  chil- 
dren, to  spread  over  the  countryside.  The  admiral's  has 
spread  wherever  Jack  Tar  has  trod.  He  makes  no  parade  of 
religion  ;  his  devotional  books  and  his  Bible  are  hid  in  his 
cabin  where  none  can  see  them.  But  they  are  there.  The 
admiral  has  won  fame  because  it  came  in  the  line  of  duty. 
He  did  not  seek  it,  but  the  custom  he  had  formed  of  doing 
things  well  made  it  inevitable.  And  this  custom  he  got  from 
his  father. 

Both  men  are  quiet.  The  admiral  talks  little  but  never 
about  himself.  He  also  comes  naturally  by  a  love  of  music 
and  has  an  excellent  voice  ;  there  are  many  men  and  women 
now  in  Montpelier,  who  remember  with  pleasure  the  guitar 
he  brought  home  from  Norwich  and  the  songs  he  sang  to  it. 
At  Annapolis  he  was  a  member  of  the  midshipman's  choir. 
He  also  inherits  from  the  doctor  his  love  of  children.  The 
youngsters  in  his  native  town  call  him  "  Uncle  Captain,"  and 
when  he  revisits  the  old  place  he  is  frequently  surrounded  by 
a  juvenile  audience,  for  he  tells  a  child's  story  to  perfection, 
which  in  itself  is  no  mean  gift.  Of  late  years  his  health  has 
not  been  rugged,  but  he  is  an  ardent  sportsman,  indulging 
his  taste  when  it  is  possible,  but  of  all  lubberly  exercises  he 
prefers  riding.  His  manner  with  strangers  is  almost  reserved, 
but  cordial  ;  with  friends  he  is  unmistakably  earnest.  Out- 
side of  the  study  of  tactics  and  of  his  profession,  which  he 
has  most  completely  mastered,  he  has  read  little. 

The  admiral,  as  may  be  supposed,  has  an  eminently  human 
side  to  him.  He  is  exceedingly  popular,  especially  in  Wash- 
ington, where  he  belongs  to  several  clubs,  the  Metropolitan, 
and  the  Army  and  Navy.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity Club  of  New  York,  and  was  at  one  time  of  the  Somer- 
set, Boston. 

At  the  farewell  dinner  given  to  him  in  November  of  1897, 
Colonel  Hopkins  recited  some  verses  of  his  own  which  seem 
to  embody  the  enthusiastic  esteem  in  which  the  commodore  is 
held:  — 


GEORGE  DEWEY.  235 

"  Ashore,  afloat,  on  deck,  below, 

Or  where  our  bulldogs  roar, 

To  back  a  friend  or  breast  a  foe, 

We  pledge  the  commodore. 

"  We  know  ourTionor  '11  be  sustained 

Where'er  his  pennant  flies  ; 
Our  rights  respected  and  maintained, 
Whatever  power  defies." 

Perhaps  the  admiral  has  gained  a  somewhat  unjust  reputa- 
tion in  regard  to  dress  ;  he  has,  at  least,  proved  that  the  art  of 
being  spick  and  span  is  not  at  variance  with  that  of  a  sea 
fighter.  He  has  done  more  ;  he  has  settled  it  for  all  time  that 
they  go  together  properly.  A  neat  appearance  runs  a  long 
way  toward  one's  estimate  of  a  man,  and  if  the  admiral  really 
is  as  particular  to  shift  into  evening  clothes  at  the  stroke  of 
the  bell  as  he  is  to  change  the  watch  at  sea,  that  is  as  it  should 
be.  One  of  the  most  vivid  recollections  which  a  niece  at 
Montpelier  retains  of  her  uncle  is  a  long  row  of  boots  strung 
outside  of  the  captain's  door. 

This  peculiarity  has  served  to  raise  him  in  the  estimation 
of  the  men  forward,  who  believe  that  an  officer  should  be 
everything  that  he  requires  of  his  ship.  And  however  they 
may  grumble  at  scrubbing  and  "  bright  work,"  they  have  no 
use  for  a  captain  who  lets  his  ship  go.  The  admiral,  in  re- 
turn, has  a  strong  sympathy  for  the  enlisted  man.  "  Give  him 
a  show.  He  '11  be  good  now,"  is  a  remark  he  has  often  been 
heard  to  make.  He  bears  in  mind  the  hardships  of  forecastle 
life,  and  is  almost  long-suffering  of  liberty-breakers,  foc'sle- 
scrappers,  and  others  who  come  aboard  not  quite  what  they 
should  be.  Intuitively  a  leader  of  men,  he  has  found  the 
faintly  drawn  line  between  leniency  on  the  one  hand  and  im- 
position on  the  other.  A  factor  in  the  Manila  victory  by  no 
means  to  be  despised  was  the  enlisted  man,  and  it  may  be 
counted  upon  as  certain  that  the  jackies  of  the  Asiatic  squad- 
ron were  one  and  all  for  Dewey. 

A  blue  jacket  who  made  a  cruise  with  him  tells  this  charac- 
teristic story  in  the  New  York  Suit.  I  give  it  in  his  own 
words,  that  the  flavor  may  not  be  lost  :  "  We  had  n't  been  to 
sea  with  him  long  before  we  got  next  to  how  he  despised  a 
liar.  One  of  the  petty  officers  went  ashore  at  Gibraltar,  got 


236  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

mixed  up  with  the  soldiers  in  the  canteens  on  the  hill  and 
came  off  to  the  ship  paralyzed.  He  went  before  the  captain 
at  the  mast  the  next  morning.  He  gave  Dewey  the  'two- 
beers-and-sunstruck '  yarn. 

"'You're  lying,  my  man/  said  Dewey.  'You  were  very 
drunk.  I  myself  heard  you  aft  in  my  cabin.  I  will  not  have 
my  men  lie  to  me.  I  don't  expect  to  find  total  abstinence  in  a 
man-o'-war  crew.  But  I  do  expect  them  to  tell  me  the  truth, 
and  I  am  going  to  have  them  tell  me  the  truth.  Had  you  told 
me  candidly  that  you  took  a  drop  too  much  on  your  liberty, 
you'd  have  been  forward  by  this  time,  for  you  at  least  re- 
turned to  the  ship.  For  lying  you  get  ten  days  in  irons.  Let 
me  have  the  truth  hereafter.  I  am  told  you  are  a  good  sea- 
man. A  good  seaman  has  no  business  lying.' 

"After  that  there  were  few  men  aboard  who  didn't  throw 
themselves  on  the  mercy  of  the  court  when  they  waltzed  up  to 
the  stick  before  Dewey,  and  none  of  us  ever  lost  anything  by 
it.  He'd  have  to  punish  us  in  accordance  with  regulations, 
but  he  had  a  great  way  of  ordering  the  release  of  men  he  had 
to  sentence  to  the  brig,  before  their  time  was  half  worked  out." 

When  war  broke  out  between  this  country  and  Spain,  Com- 
modore Dewey  at  Hong-Kong,  found  himself  in  a  singular 
and  trying  position.  He  was  forced  to  leave  British  waters, 
and  with  no  coaling  station  nearer  than  Honolulu  there  was 
but  one  thing  to  do  —  take  Manila.  But  the  taking  of  Manila 
involved  first  the  capture  and  destruction  of  the  Spanish  fleet, 
which  in  turn  was  comparatively  simple  after  it  was  once  cor- 
nered. A  Spanish  fleet  with  a  couple  of  thousand  islands  to 
dodge  among  is  about  as  easy  to  catch  as  a  hog  in  a  ten-acre 
lot.  Fortunately  for  Dewey,  however,  Montojo  evidently  had 
the  notion  that  the  American  commodore  had  been  long 
enough  in  the  tropics  to  appreciate  the  blessings  of  that  word 
"to-morrow." 

It  is  said  that  Commodore  Dewey,  counting  on  this  trait  of 
the  Spanish  character  as  well  as  upon  existing  conditions 
when  he  left  Mirs  Bay,  predicted  to  a  day  the  time  of  the 
battle.  He  also  had  his  mind  then  made  up  as  to  what  he 
was  going  to  do,  and  he  carried  out  his  programme  without 
a  hitch.  The  harbor  of  Manila  lies  on  the  western  side  of 
Luzon,  the  principal  island  in  the  Philippine  group,  and  is 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  circumference  —  too 


GEORGE  DEWEY.  237 

large  to  afford  adequate  shelter  for  vessels  putting  in  there. 
It  was  protected  by  forts  at  the  entrance,  the  most  important 
being  upon  Corregidor  Island,  where  the  squadron  arrived 
about  eight  o'clock  on  Saturday  evening,  April  30.  The  moon 
was  up,  but  no  lights  showed  from  the  ships  until  a  spark 
from  the  dispatch  boat  McCullocli  drew  the  fire  of  the  forts. 
It  was  returned,  and  the  fleet  passed  on.  Steaming  at  slow 
speed  all  night,  with  the  men  at  full  length  beside  their  guns, 
gray  dawn  disclosed  the  sleeping  city  of  Manila,  and  Cavite, 
with  its  white  houses  and  battlements,  and  its  great  arsenal 
close  at  hand.  And  there,  best  news  of  all  after  the  peril- 
ous darkness  through  which  few  men  slept,  lay  the  Spanish 
fleet,  afloat  on  the  dead  water  of  daybreak.  A  great  shout, 
as  of  one  accord  and  from  one  throat,  went  up  from  the  Amer- 
ican ships  :  — 

"  Remember  the  Maine ! " 

It  is  npt  clear  from  the  reports  in  what  shape  the  Spaniards 
were  discovered  or  how  they  maneuvered  afterward.  Proba- 
bly the  Reina  Cristina  and  some  of  the  larger  vessels  got 
up  anchor  and  formed  a  line  of  battle.  But  that  does  not 
matter.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Commodore  Dewey,  heading 
his  own  line  in  the  Olympia,  steamed  past  them  five  times 
with  a  gradually  decreasing  range,  and  practically  annihi- 
lated the  enemy's  fleet,  forts  and  all,  in  two  hours.  Then  he 
drew  off,  as  the  morning  was  very  hot  and  the  men  had  had 
only  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  ate  breakfast.  After  a  little  rest  he 
returned  and  finished  his  work. 

He  did  not  lose  a  ship  nor  one  of  his  brave  men.  The  mat- 
ter was  as  simply  and  effectively  carried  out  as  a  bit  of 
squadron  evolution  off  the  Chesapeake  capes.  Our  officers 
navigated  among  strange  shoals  with  a  sure  hand,  and  the 
superb  gunnery  that  has  been  our  pride  since  the  days  of 
John  Paul  Jones  did  the  rest.  The  Spanish  loss  was  fearful. 

Neither  squadron  contained  an  armored  ship.  The  Ameri- 
can vessels  had  their  vitals  covered  by  what  are  known  as 
protective  decks,  while  but  two  of  the  Spanish  ships  were  so 
built.  But  for  all  that  they  might  have  riddled  and  sunk  some 
of  our  squadron  had  they  been  able  to  shoot.  The  little 
Petrel,  secure  in  their  wild  inaccuracy,  danced  up  to  within 
a  thousand  yards  of  their  forts. 

The  results  are  best  told  by  Admiral  Dewey  himself.     His 


238  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

terse  cablegrams  have  become  history.  At  Manila  Bay  he 
showed  the  effects  of  his  schooling  under  Farragut.  One  of 
Farragut's  strongest  points  was  his  ability  to  choose  the 
most  advantageous  distance,  even  when  it  brought  him  within 
a  biscuit's  throw  of  the  batteries,  as  at  Fort  St.  Philip.  And 
the  same  fearlessness  and  cocksureness  which  led  Farragut 
into  Mobile  Bay  and  up  the  Mississippi,  sent  Dewey  straight 
to  Manila. 

The  service  knows  Dewey  as  an  ideal  head  of  a  fleet.  Per- 
fectly courageous,  of  thoroughly  balanced  judgment,  and 
quick  of  decision,  he  has  the  qualities  which  carry  one  to 
fame  if  opportunity  be  given.  The  man  and  the  hour  fortu- 
nately came  together,  and  the  country  is  the  richer  in  another 
brilliant  page  of  history  and  another  heroic  figure. 

Whatever  this  war  has  cost  or  may  cost,  it  will  be  repaid 
to  the  country  in  the  very  wonderful  influence  upon  the  young 
people  of  our  land,  who  will  surely  grow  to  manhood  and  wo- 
manhood with  exalted  views  of  patriotism  and  duty,  which  it 
is  worth  almost  any  sacrifice  to  have  instilled. 

Dewey  in  this  light  stands  for  far  more  than  the  brilliant 
victor  in  a  famous  fight,  or  as  the  author  of  a  proud  page  of 
history.  His  career  has  given  a  lofty  impetus  to  the  young, 
which  will  bear  noble  fruit  in  nobler  aspiration.  He  has  be- 
come one  of  the  most  valued  possessions  which  a  nation  can 
have  —  a  national  hero.  After  all,  the  Romans  read  more 
deeply  into  the  human  heart,  and  into  the  impalpable  causes 
which  sway  humanity,  when  they  apotheosized  their  great 
men,  than  we  are  apt  to  grant.  Washington,  Nelson,  Far- 
ragut, and  the  others  on  the  long  list  of  men  of  heroic  deeds 
stand  for  aspiration  and  noble  planes  of  life  and  thought. 
Every  man  added  is  the  world's  gain,  and  to  such  a  list  must 
be  added  the  name  of  Dewey. 

In  a  summary  of  the  characteristics  of  Admiral  Dewey 
must  not  be  omitted  his  never-failing  consideration  of  others  ; 
his  avoidance  of  act  or  word  that  suggests  the  importance  of 
his  own  unique  position ;  his  finesse  of  manner  and  speech, 
and  man-of-the-world  nature  mingled  with  a  directness  and 
force  of  speech  and  rugged  sailor  spirit  which  show  them- 
selves as  conditions  demand ;  and,  finally,  his  everyday, 
matter-of-fact  method  of  living,  acting,  and  talking. 

There  is  no  better  term  than  "  horse-sense,"  though  it  be 


ADMIRAL  DEWEY  AT  MANILA. 


PUBli 


COMMON  SENSE.  241 

homely,  to  express  the  strongest  quality  in  the  make-up  of  the 
Admiral.  He  knows  that  the  use  of  common  sense  in  all  acts 
is  the  greatest  influence  for  success,  and  he  never  fails  to  em- 
ploy the  good  stock  of  it  he  possesses.  After  all,  in  life,  that 
is  what  a  man  needs  more  to  meet  every  emergency  than  any  • 
thing  else. 

COMMON   SENSE. 

iOMMON  sense  is  the  most  uncommon  kind  of  sense," 
said  Dr.  Emmons  ;  and  a  truer  remark  was  never 
made.  It  is  the  kind  of  sense  for  which  we  have  the 
most  use  ;  and,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be  more  common  than 
it  is.  But  the  schools  cannot  furnish  it.  Teachers  cannot 
teach  it.  Pupils  must  possess  it  in  the  natural  way,  by  birth- 
right, or  cultivate  it  by  sharp  observation.  It  is  what  some 
writers  call  "tact,"  or  is  closely  related  to  it. 

It  is  told  of  four  men  who  met  in  Australia,  that  three  of 
them  were  college  graduates  who  worked  on  a  sheep  farm  for 
the  fourth,  who  was  too  ignorant  to  read  and  write,  or  to  keep 
accounts.  One  of  the  three  employees  had  taken  a  degree  at 
Oxford,  another  at  Cambridge,  and  the  third  at  a  German 
university  ;  and  here  they  were,  at  last,  on  a  sheep  farm  ! 
College  educated  to  take  care  of  brutes  !  Evidently  they  had 
missed  the  mark.  Educated  to  be  leaders  of  thought,  they 
became  drivers  of  sheep.  They  had  failed  in  every  undertak- 
ing for  want  of  common  sense,  and  finally  became  the  serv- 
ants of  a  man  who  knew  as  little  about  school  as  they  did 
about  the  common  affairs  of  life.  But  the  ranchman  had 
a  practical  turn  of  mind,  and  had  become  wealthy  by  his 
business.  Without  an  education,  he  had  accomplished  more 
by  his  common  sense  than  his  employees  had,  though  drilled 
in  the  curriculum  of  famous  universities.  The  fact  shows 
that  education  does  not  create  common  sense.  It  was  a  born 
quality  in  the  ranchman,  but  left  out  of  the  students'  make-up, 
and  the  best  university  could  not  supply  the  deficiency.  Cul- 
ture against  ignorance,  the  college  against  the  ranch;  and 
the  ranch  beat  every  time  ;  not  because  the  ranchman  knew 
more,  nor  because  he  knew  less,  but  because  of  the  practical 
use  he  made  of  what  he  did  know.  It  is  no  argument  against 
the  highest  education,  but  it  is  an  argument  for  the  culti- 


242  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

vation  of  common  sense.     All  the  knowledge  in  the  world  is 
of  little  use  to  him  who  does  not  know  how  to  use  it. 

A  professor  of  mathematics  in  a  New  England  college  was 
called  a  "bookworm."  -Books  were  all  he  knew.  His  knowl- 
edge of  common  things  was  very  limited  indeed.  One  day,  as 
he  was  going  out,  his  wife  asked  him  to  call  at  the  store  and 
get  some  coffee.  Before  returning  he  called  for  the  coffee. 
"How  much  will  you  have?"  inquired  the  merchant.  The 
inquiry  was  unexpected  by  the  professor,  and  related  to  a 
practical  matter  about  which  he  knew  nothing,  so  he  answered, 
after  a  little,  "Well,  I  declare;  my  wife  did  not  say,  but  I 
think  a  bushel  will  be  enough. "  The  fact  does  not  discount 
mathematics,  but  it  does  plead  eloquently  for  acquaintance 
with  common  things. 

Dr.  Emmons,  who  made  the  wise  remark  quoted  at  the 
beginning  of  this  paper,  had  very  little  knowledge  of  the  com- 
mon affairs  of  life.  He  did  not  know  how  to  harness  or  un- 
harness a  horse.  He  was  never  known  to  attempt  to  harness 
one  ;  but,  on  one  occasion,  in  peculiar  circumstances,  he  did 
unharness  the  faithful  old  family  horse,  but  in  doing  so  took 
the  harness  entirely  to  pieces,  unbuckling  every  strap,  so  that 
it  took  his  hired  man  some  time  to  put  it  together  again.  The 
hired  man  said,  "That  horse  was  too  much  unharnessed." 

How  can  we  account  for  such  lack  of  common  sense  ?  The 
author  could  scarcely  credit  a  fact  like  the  foregoing  had  he 
not  seen  it  with  his  own  eyes.  How  can  it  be  explained  ?  In 
this  case,  another  incident  will  answer.  We  were  getting  the 
doctor's  best  hay  into  the  barn.  There  were  three  loads  of  it. 
On  reaching  the  barn  with  the  second  load,  the  hired  man 
observed  a  shower  coming  up  very  rapidly,  and  he  said  to  the 
doctor,  who  was  near  by,  "  The  other  load  will  get  wet  unless 
the  boy  has  some  one  to  help  him  take  it  away."  The  doc- 
tor took  the  hint,  but  answered  promptly,  "Making  hay  is 
your  business,  and  making  sermons  mine.''  He  went  to  his 
study,  and  the  hay  got  wet.  Here  was  singleness  of  purpose 
with  a  vengeance.  Dr.  Emmons  did  not  believe  in  knowing 
how  to  do  but  one  thing,  so  he  gave  common  sense  no  show 
at  all. 

Such  examples  illustrate  the  importance  of  becoming 
familiar  with  common  things,  and  the  process  of  doing  so 
cultivates  common  sense.  In  this  way  men  become  practical. 


COMMON  SENSE.  243 

They  learn,  thereby,  not  only  what  to  do,  but  how  to  do  it ; 
and  the  former  is  of  little  value  without  the  latter. 

The  schools  give  learning,  but  experience  in  the  daily  busi- 
ness of  life  gives  wisdom,  and  wisdom  is  better  than  learn- 
ing. Abraham  Lincoln's  hard  experience  in  the  backwoods, 
and  his  struggles  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  were  of  more 
value  to  him  than  a  college  diploma.  These  qualified  him  to 
conquer  secession,  and  steer  the  ship  of  state  through  the 
roughest  political  waters  ever  sailed  over.  A  well-trained 
mind,  rather  than  learning,  makes  a  great  statesman,  and  his 
was  well  trained  by  the  stern  necessities  and  experiences  of 
early  lifo 

Gibov^u  says,  "Every  person  has  two  educations, —  one  he 
receives  from  others,  and  the  other  he  gives  to  himself." 
Doctor  Emmons  had  only  one,  that  he  received  "  from  others," 
-  the  college.  Lincoln  had  only  one,  that  which  he  gave  to 
himself  in  the  practical  things  of  life.  Both  might  have 
accomplished  more  by  the  two  educations  combined. 

General  Grant  was  a  "  matter-of-fact  man  '  -  that  is,  a 
man  of  sound  common  sense.  General  Sherman  recognized 
this  dominating  quality  in  him  when  he  wrote  that  famous 
letter  that  contained  these  words  :  "  My  only  point  of  doubt 
was  in  your  knowledge  of  grand  strategy'  and  in  books  of 
science  and  history  ;  but  I  confess  your  common  sense  seems 
to  have  supplied  all  these."  Common  sense  did  more  for 
Grant  and  the  country  than  whole  libraries  of  military  science 
and  tactics.  It  studied  "details."  In  like  manner,  the  wis- 
dom of  Napoleon  and  Wellington  compassed  the  smallest 
matters, —  "  shoes,  camp-kettles,  biscuit,  horse-fodder,  and  the 
exact  speed  at  which  bullocks  were  to  be  driven." 

Common  sense  adapts  men  to  circumstances,  and  makes 
them  equal  to  the  occasion.  Without  it,  they  "may  say  even 
their  prayers  out  of  time,"  and  may  aspire  to  take  the  second 
step  before  the  first  has  been  taken.  For  this  need,  Dean 
Swift  nearly  starved  in  an  obscure  country  parish,  while  Staf- 
ford, his  blockhead  classmate  with  practical  sense,  reveled  in 
wealth  and  popularity.  Beethoven,  the  great  musical  com- 
poser, exposed  himself  to  ridicule  when  he  sent  three  hundred 
florins  to  the  store  to  pay  for  a  pair  of  shirts  and  six  hand- 
kerchiefs. He  lacked  common  sense  in  common  affairs. 
When  a  merchant  acts  like  a  statesman,  it  is  proof  that  he 


244  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

has  common  sense,  but  when  a  statesman  acts  like  an  inferior 
merchant,  it  is  proof  that  he  has  none.  Wellington  "  never 
lost  a  battle  because  he  was  a  good  business  man,"  his  biog- 
rapher said.  That  is,  he  had  common  sense.  It  was  so  with 
Gerritt  Smith,  in  a  smaller  way,  and  in  everyday  affairs, 
when  he  settled  a  difficulty  between  two  of  his  laborers  about 
milking  a  cow,  by  taking  the  pail  and  milking  her  himself. 
It  closed  hostilities  on  his  farm  as  effectually  as  Wellington's 
skillful  tactics  closed  the  conflict  between  the  English  and 
French  at  Waterloo.  Common  sense  that  successfully  manip- 
ulates the  smaller  things  of  life,  is  competent  to  utilize  the 
greater  ;  therefore,  have  it  at  any  cost. 

Some  one  has  said  that  "more  men  of  ordinary  than  of  ex- 
traordinary ability  possess  common  sense."  Whether  true  or 
not,  one  of  the  most  famous  men  of  science  that  ever  lived, 
Baron  Humboldt,  possessed  this  attribute  in  a  high  degree. 
His  judgment  was  equally  good  in  great  and  little  things. 
He  was  familiar  with  the  common  affairs  of  life,  as  well  as 
with  the  most  difficult  problems  of  science.  He  was  always 
sensible  and  wise.  His  opinions,  in  consequence,  were  of 
great  value.  He  was  the  author  of  "Kosmos,"  and  other 
great  works,  in  which  are  manifest  both  "his  common  and  his 
uncommon  sense."  To  the  personal  influence  of  Humboldt  is 
due  nearly  all  that  the  Prussian  government  did  for  science, 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  Agassiz  said  of  him,  "  The  in- 
fluence he  exerted  upon  science  is  incalculable.  With  him 
ends  a  great  period  in  the  history  of  science,  a  period  to 
which  Cuvier,  Laplace,  Arago,  Gay-Lussac,  De  Candolle,  and 
Robert  Brown  belonged." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ALBERT  JEREMIAH  BEVERIDGE. 

ON    WHAT     BRINGS     SUCCESS HIS     EARLY     STRUGGLES HOW     HE     COM- 
PLETED   HIS    COLLEGE    COURSE — A    HARD  WORKER  AND  BRILLIANT  SPEAKER 

IN  COLLEGE PREPARES    FOR    THE    BAR HIS    RAPID    RISE    AS   A  LAWYER 

ENTERS     PUBLIC     LIFE — -MENTAL     CHARACTERISTICS  —  FORENSIC     POWER 

CAREER    IN    POLITICS ELECTION  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES   SENATE PHILIP- 
PINE SPEECH.        TACT. 


There  are  so  many  elements  of  success  in  business,  in 
professional  life,  in  everyday  pursuits,  that  I  feel  incom- 
petent even  to  name  them.  I  don't  believe 
there  is  any  chief  element.  Ability,  tact, 
absolute  integrity,  unflagging  perseverance 
that  never  gives  up,  good  health,  creating 
and  organizing  ability  —  a  full  dozen  of  ele- 
ments there  are,  without  any  of  which  a 
man  would  be  likely  to  make  a  failure. 

Nor  must  we  forget  the  importance  of 
work,  labor,  incessant  labor.  The  Latin 
adage  has  it,  "Labor  conquers  all  things." 
There  is  much  truth  in  that.  No  work  for 
the  world,  for  humanity,  even  for  ourselves,  has  ever  been 
done  with  ease.  Even  our  bread  must  we  eat  by  the  sweat 
of  our  faces. 


'LBERT  J.  BEVERIDGE,  United  States  Senator  from 
Indiana,  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Highland  county, 
Ohio,  October  6,  1862.  During  the  war  his  father's 
fortune  was  swept  away  by  financial  reverses,  and  from 
early  youth  Albert  was  inured  to  a  life  of  toil.  As  a  boy  he 
worked  on  a  farm  as  a  laborer  ;  at  fourteen  he  was  in  the  em- 
ploy of  a  railroad  contractor  driving  an  old-fashioned  scraper 


246  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

in  constructing  the  roadbed,  and  at  sixteen  he  was  in  charge 
of  a  logging  camp.  To-day  he  is  prouder  that  he  is  an  ex- 
pert logger  than  of  any  other  acquirement.  Courage  and  in- 
dustry characterized  his  career  from  the  beginning.  He  is  a 
self-made  man  in  the  broadest  sense  and  meaning  of  the  term. 
His  advance  has  been  rapid  and  steady. 

From  his  meager  income  as  a  day  laborer  he  saved  enough 
money  to  enter  De  Pauw  University,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  188G.  There  the  same  industry,  perseverance, 
ambition,  and  thirst  for  knowledge  which  characterized  his 
early  youth  soon  won  for  him  recognition  and  distinction. 
During  his  entire  college  course  he  supported  himself  by  the 
prizes  he  took  and  from  work  he  did  in  vacation.  He  was  an 
indefatigable  worker  and  delighted  in  intellectual  and  espe- 
cially in  forensic  contests.  Naturally  gifted  with  a  brilliant 
intellect  and  keen  discrimination,  he  gained  a  reputation  as 
an  orator  early  in  his  college  career.  He  was  a  splendid  stu- 
dent, especially  well  informed  in  history  ;  ardent  and  thorough 
in  his  examinations  of  public  questions,  intense  and  untiring 
in  his  eagerness  to  win  in  everything  he  undertook. 

As  an  orator  he  was  regarded  in  the  college  from  which  he 
graduated  as  possessing  the  art  in  the  highest  degree.  He 
won  the  State  oratorical  contest  as  a  representative  of  De 
Pauw,  and  the  Interstate  contest  held  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  in 
1885.  As  a  college  politician,  he  was  in  charge  of  his  "  fac- 
tion," as  college  political  parties  were  called,  and  created  and 
maintained  an  organization  that  never  sustained  a  single 
defeat. 

In  1886  Mr.  Beveridge  entered  the  law  office  of  McDonald 
&  Butler  at  Indianapolis  as  a  clerk.  There  his  ability,  in- 
dustry, and  close  application  to  business  soon  won  for  him  the 
confidence  of  his  employers,  and  he  was  intrusted  with  much 
of  the  important  law  business  of  the  firm.  In  1887  he  was 
admitted  to  the  Indianapolis  bar.  In  1888  he  was  married  to 
Katharine  M.  Langsdale,  daughter  of  George  J.  Langsdale  of 
Greencastle,  Indiana.  From  the  day  of  their  marriage  till  the 
time  of  her  death  in  1900,  his  wife  was  a  noble  inspiration  to 
his  ambition,  and  a  wise  and  safe  counselor  in  all  his  legal 
and  political  achievements.  The  same  year  in  which  he  was 
married,  Mr.  Beveridge  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession on  his  own  account  in  Indianapolis.  In  that,  as  in 


ALBERT  JEREMIAH  BEVERIDGE.  247 

everything  else  in  which  he  has  been  engaged,  his  progress 
was  rapid  and  he  soon  took  rank  as  one  of  the  leading  at- 
torneys of  the  Indiana  bar. 

Since  his  college  days  his  fame  as  an  orator  has  grown, 
and  he  is  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  foremost  orators  in  the 
country.  This  talent  won  for  him  distinction  in  the  law  and 
honors  in  the  field  of  politics.  He  thinks  and  speaks  with 
amazing  rapidity.  He  is  ready  in  debate,  quick  to  see  the 
force  of  a  point  made  by  an  opponent,  remarkably  resource- 
ful and  dexterous  in  bringing  to  the  front  the  argument  that 
is  necessary  to  oppose  it,  which  is  always  delivered  with  pecu- 
liar forcefulness  and  broadside  effect.  He  has  a  sympathetic 
voice ;  is  forceful,  impressive,  and  magnetic  in  manner,  and 
at  times  in  the  delivery  of  a  climax  is  intensely  dramatic. 

The  services  of  Mr.  Beveridge  as  a  political  speaker  have 
been  in  demand  since  1884,  when  he  participated  in  the  cam- 
paign in  Indiana.  In  recent  years  he  has  responded  to 
invitations  to  deliver  addresses  upon  a  number  of  important 
occasions  and  on  various  topics. 

In  1894,  1896,  and  1898  Senator  Beveridge  took  the  stump 
for  the  Republican  party  in  Indiana,  and  in  each  of  the  three 
campaigns  made  a  most  brilliant  and  effective  speaking  tour 
of  the  state,  contributing  largely  to  the  success  of  the  party. 
At  the  close  of  the  campaign  in  1898,  his  friends  announced 
him  as  a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  he  had  never  before  been  a  candidate 
for  office,  his  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  speaker,  and  political 
counselor  had  attracted  such  universal  attention  that  his 
many  friends  and  political  admirers  in  the  state  came  to 
his  support,  and  in  a  joint  caucus  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Indiana  on 
January  17,  1899,  he  was  declared  the  caucus  nominee  to  suc- 
ceed David  Turpie  in  the  United  States  Senate.  At  the  time 
of  his  election  to  the  highest  legislative  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment he  was  little  past  thirty-six  years  of  age  and  was  one  of 
the  youngest  members  of  the  Senate. 

Soon  after  his  election  to  the  Senate  he  went  to  the  Philip- 
pines to  study  the  conditions  in  the  islands,  in  order  that  he 
might  be  informed  on  important  questions  involved  in  the 
policy  of  dealing  with  territory  that  came  into  the  possession 
of  the  United  States  as  a  result  of  the  War  with  Spain. 


248  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Senator  Beveridge  was  one 
of  the  youngest  members  of  the  Senate  when  he  entered  the 
upper  branch  of  Congress,  his  ability  and  industry  soon  won 
for  him  a  place  among  the  leaders  of  that  body.  Having 
made  a  special  study  of  insular  affairs,  a  thorough  investiga- 
tion of  our  commercial  relations  with  foreign  countries,  and1 
the  conditions  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Philippines,  his 
utterances  on  questions  of  great  import  at  that  time  were 
accepted  as  authority.  On  January  9,  1900,  he  delivered  his 
first  speech  in  the  Senate.  His  subject  was  the  "Policy  Re- 
garding the  Philippines,"  and  the  speech  was  the  most  mas- 
terful presentation  of  the  subject  yet  made.  It  was  prophetic 
in  character,  and  events  have  proved  the  wisdom  of  his  utter- 
ances. In  fact,  the  logic  of  events  has  done  much  to  strengthen 
Senator  Beveridge's  position  on  questions  of  great  moment  to 
the  country.  His  first  speeches  in  the  Senate  on  the  policy 
regarding  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico  were  regarded  at 
the  time  by  conservative  Republicans  as  radical,  and  by 
Democrats  as  dangerous.  But  the  passage  of  the  Cuban  and 
Philippine  Resolutions  by  the  Senate  and  House  on  February 
27,  1901,  was  a  vindication  of  Senator  Beveridge's  position  on 
the  questions  involved  in  dealing  with  those  islands  previous 
to  the  passage  of  the  resolutions. 

His  Philippine  speech  was  widely  circulated,  universally 
commented  upon,  and  attracted  the  attention  of  politicians 
and  students  of  events  throughout  the  civilized  world. 

TACT. 

success  in  life  tact  is  more  important  than  talent,  but 
it  is  not  easily  acquired  by  those  to  whom  it  does  not 
come  naturally.     Still,  something  can  be  done  by  con- 
sidering what  others  would  probably  wish. 

Never  lose  a  chance  of  giving  pleasure.  Be  courteous  to 
all.  "Civility,"  said  Lady  Montagu,  "costs  nothing  and 
buys  everything."  It  buys  much,  indeed,  which  no  money 
will  purchase.  Try  then  to  win  every  one  you  meet.  "Win 
their  hearts,"  said  Burleigh  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  "  and  you 
have  all  men's  hearts  and  purses." 

Tact  often  succeeds  where  force  fails.  Lilly  quotes  the  old 
fable  of  the  Sun  and  the  Wind:  "It  is  pretily  noted  of  a 
contention  betweene  the  Winde  and  the  Sunne,  who  should 


SENATOR  ALBERT  J.  BEVERIDGE. 


AS-; 


TACT.  251 

have  the  victorye.  A  Gentleman  walking  abroad,  the  Winde 
thought  to  blowe  off  his  cloake,  which  with  great  blastes  and 
blusterings  striving  to  unloose  it,  made  it  to  stick  faster  to  his 
backe,  for  the  more  the  Winde  increased  the  closer  his  cloake 
clapt  to  his  body  :  then  the  Sunne,  shining  with  his  hot  beams, 
began  to  warm  this  Gentleman,  who,  waxing  somewhat  faint 
in  this  faire  weather,  did  not  only  put  off  his  cloake  but  his 
coate,  which  the  Winde,  perceiving,  yeelded  the  conquest  to 
the  Sunne." 

Always  remember  that  men  are  more  easily  led  than 
driven,  and  that  in  any  case  it  is  better  to  guide  than  to  coerce. 

' '  What  thou  wilt 

Thou  rather  shalt  enforce  it  with  thy  smile, 
Than  hew  to't  with  thy  sword." 

It  is  a  good  rule  in  politics,  "pas  trop  gouverner." 

Try  to  win,  and  still  more  to  deserve,  the  confidence  of 
those  with  whom  you  are  brought  in  contact.  Many  a  man 
has  owed  his  influence  far  more  to  character  than  to  ability. 
Sydney  Smith  used  to  say  of  Francis  Horner,  who,  without 
holding  any  high  office,  exercised  a  remarkable  personal  influ- 
ence in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  that  he  had  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments stamped  upon  his  countenance. 

Try  to  meet  the  wishes  of  others  as  far  as  you  rightly  and 
wisely  can  ;  but  do  not  be  afraid  to  say  "  No.'' 

Anybody  can  say  "  Yes,"though  it  is  not  everyone  who 
can  say  "Yes"  pleasantly  :  but  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  say 
"  No."  Many  a  man  has  been  ruined  because  he  could  not  do 
so.  Plutarch  tells  us  that  the  inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor  came 
to  be  vassals  only  for  not  having  been  able  to  pronounce  one 
syllable,  which  is  ''No."  And  if  in  the  conduct  of  life  it  is 
essential  to  say  "No,"  it  is  scarcely  less  necessary  to  be  able 
to  say  it  pleasantly.  We  ought  always  to  endeavor  that 
everybody  with  whom  we  have  any  transactions  should  feel 
that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  do  business  with  us  and  should  wish  to 
come  again.  Business  is  a  matter  of  sentiment  and  feeling- 
far  more  than  many  suppose  ;  every  one  likes  being  treated 
with  kindness  and  courtesy,  and  a  frank  pleasant  manner 
will  often  clinch  a  bargain  more  effectually  than  a  half  per 
cent. 

Almost  anyone  may  make  himself  pleasant  if  he  wishes. 


252  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"  The  desire  of  pleasing  is  at  least  half  the  art  of  doing  it ; " 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  no  one  will  please  others  who  does  not 
desire  to  do  so.  If  you  do  not  acquire  this  great  gift  while 
you  are  young,  you  will  find  it  much  more  difficult  after- 
wards. Many  a  man  has  owed  his  outward  success  in  life  far 
more  to  good  manners  than  to  any  solid  merit ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  many  a  worthy  man,  with  a  good  heart  and  kind 
intentions,  makes  enemies  merely  by  the  roughness  of  his 
manner.  To  be  able  to  please,  is,  moreover,  itself  a  great 
pleasure.  Try  it  and  you  will  not  be  disappointed. 

Be  wary  and  keep  cool.  A  cool  head  is  as  necessary  as  a 
warm  heart.  In  any  negotiations,  steadiness  and  coolness 
are  invaluable  ;  while  they  will  often  carry  you  in  safety 
through  times  of  danger  and  difficulty. 

If  you  come  across  others  less  clever  than  you  are,  you 
have  no  right  to  look  down  on  them.  There  is  nothing  more 
to  be  proud  of  in  inheriting  great  ability,  than  a  great  estate. 
The  only  credit  in  either  case  is  if  they  are  used  well.  More- 
over, many  a  man  is  much  cleverer  than  he  seems.  It  is 
far  more  easy  to  read  books  than  men.  In  this  the  eyes  are 
a  great  guide.  "When  the  eyes  say  one  thing  and  the 
tongue  another,  a  practiced  man  relies  on  the  language  of 
the  first." 

Do  not  trust  too  much  to  professions  of  extreme  good  will. 
Men  do  not  fall  in  love  with  men,  nor  women  with  women,  at 
first  sight.  If  a  comparative  stranger  protests  and  promises 
too  much,  do  not  place  implicit  confidence  in  what  he  says. 
If  not  insincere,  he  probably  says  more  than  he  means,  and 
perhaps  wants  something  himself  from  you.  Do  not  therefore 
believe  that  every  one  is  a  friend,  merely  because  he  pro- 
fesses to  be  so  ;  nor  assume  too  lightly  that  anyone  is  an 
enemy. 

We  flatter  ourselves  by  claiming  to  be  rational  and  intel- 
lectual beings,  but  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
men  are  always  guided  by  reason.  We  are  strange,  incon- 
sistent creatures,  and  we  act  quite  as  often,  perhaps  oftener, 
from  prejudice  or  passion.  The  result  is  that  you  are  more 
likely  to  carry  men  with  you  by  enlisting  their  feelings  than 
by  convincing  their  reason.  This  applies,  moreover,  to  com- 
panies of  men  even  more  than  to  individuals. 

Argument  is  always  a  little  dangerous.     It  often  leads  to 


TACT.  253 

coolness  and  misunderstandings.  You  may  gain  your  argu- 
ment and  lose  your  friend,  which  is  probably  a  bad  bargain. 
If  you  must  argue,  admit  all  you  can,  but  try  to  show  that 
some  point  has  been  overlooked.  Very  few  people  know 
when  they  have  had  the  worst  of  an  argument,  and  if  they 
do,  they  do  not  like  it.  Moreover,  if  they  know  they  are 
beaten,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  are  convinced.  Indeed  it 
is  perhaps  hardly  going  too  far  to  say  that  it  is  very  little  use 
trying  to  convince  anyone  by  argument.  State  your  case  as 
clearly  and  concisely  as  possible,  and  if  you  shake  his  confi- 
dence in  his  own  opinion  it  is  as  much  as  you  can  expect.  It 
is  the  first  step  gained. 

Conversation  is  an  art  in  itself,  and  it  is  by  no  means  those 
who  have  most  to  tell  who  are  the  best  talkers  ;  though  it  is 
certainly  going  too  far  to  say  with  Lord  Chesterfield  that 
"there  are  very  few  captains  of  foot  who  are  not  much  better 
company  than  ever  were  Descartes  or  Sir  Isaac  Newton." 

I  will  not  say  that  it  is  as  difficult  to  be  a  good  listener  as  a 
good  talker,  but  it  is  certainly  by  no  means  easy,  and  very 
nearly  as  important.  You  must  not  receive  everything  that  is 
said  as  a  critic  or  a  judge,  but  suspend  your  judgment,  and  try 
to  enter  into  the  feelings  of  the  speaker.  If  you  are  kind  and 
sympathetic  your  advice  will  be  often  sought,  and  you  will 
have  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  you  have  been  a  help  and 
comfort  to  many  in  distress  and  trouble. 

Do  not  expect  too  much  attention  when  you  are  young. 
Sit,  listen,  and  look  on.  Bystanders  proverbially  see  most  of 
the  game  ;  and  you  can  notice  what  is  going  on  just  as  well, 
if  not  better,  when  you  are  not  noticed  yourself.  It  is  almost 
as  if  you  possessed  a  cap  of  invisibility. 

To  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  thinking,  which  is  to 
most  people  very  irksome,  men  will  often  take  you  at  your 
own  valuation.  "  On  ne  vaut  dans  ce  monde,"  says  La 
Bfuyere,  "  que  ce  que  Von  veut  valoir." 

Do  not  make  enemies  for  yourself  -;  you  can  make  nothing 
worse. 

"  Answer  not  a  fool  according  to  his  folly, 
Lest  thou  also  be  like  unto  him." 

Remember  that  "  a  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath  ";  but 
even  an  angry  answer  is  less  foolish  than  a  sneer  ;  nine  men 


254  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

out  of  ten  would  rather  be  abused,  or  even  injured,  than 
laughed  at.  They  will  forget  almost  anything  sooner  than 
being  made  ridiculous. 

"It  is  pleasanter  to  be  deceived  than  to  be  undeceived." 
Trasilaus,  an  Athenian,  went  mad,  and  thought  that  all  the 
ships  in  the  Piraeus  belonged  to  him,  but,  having  been  cured 
by  Crito,  he  complained  bitterly  that  he  had  been  robbed.  "  It 
is  folly,"  says  Lord  Chesterfield,  "to  lose  a  friend  for  a  jest  : 
but,  in  my  mind,  it  is  not  a  much  less  degree  of  folly  to  make 
an  enemy  of  an  indifferent  and  neutral  person  for  the  sake  of 
a  bon  mot.'" 

Do  not  be  too  ready  to  suspect  a  slight,  or  think  you  are 
being  laughed  at  —  to  say  with  Scrub  in  Stratagem,  "I  am 
sure  they  talked  of  me,  for  they  laughed  consumedly."  On 
the  other  hand,  if  you  are  laughed  at,  try  to  rise  above  it.  If 
you  can  join  in  heartily,  you  will  turn  the  tables  and  gain, 
rather  than  lose.  Every  one  likes  a  man  who  can  enjoy  a 
laugh  at  his  own  expense  —  and  justly  so,  for  it  shows  good 
humor  and  good  sense.  If  you  laugh  at  yourself,  other  people 
will  not  laugh  at  you. 

Have  the  courage  of  your  opinions.  You  must  expect  to 
be  laughed  at  sometimes,  and  it  will  do  you  no  harm.  There 
is  nothing  ridiculous  in  seeming  to  be  what  you  really  are,  but 
a  good  deal  in  affecting  to  be  what  you  are  not.  People  often 
distress  themselves,  get  angry,  and  drift  into  a  coolness  with 
others,  for  some  imaginary  grievance. 

Be  frank,  and  yet  reserved.  Do  not  talk  much  about  your- 
self ;  neither  of  yourself,  for  yourself,  nor  against  yourself  : 
but  let  other  people  talk  about  themselves,  as  much  as  they 
will.  If  they  do  so  it  is  because  they  like  it,  and  they  will 
think  all  the  better  of  you  for  listening  to  them.  At  any  rate 
do  not  show  a  man,  unless  it  is  your  duty,  that  you  think  he  is 
a  fool  or  a  blockhead.  If  you  do,  he  has  good  reason  to  com- 
plain. You  may  be  wrong  in  your  judgment  ;  he  will,  and 
with  some  justice,  form  the  same  opinion  of  you. 

Burke  once  said  that  he  could  not  draw  an  indictment 
against  a  nation,  and  it  is  very  unwise  as  well  as  unjust  to 
attack  any  class  or  profession.  Individuals  often  forget  and 
forgive,  but  societies  never  do.  Moreover,  even  individuals 
will  forgive  an  injury  much  more  readily  than  an  insult. 
Nothing  rankles  so  much  as  being  made  ridiculous.  You  will 


TACT.  255 

never  gain  your  object  by  putting  people  out  of  humor,  or 
making  them  look  ridiculous. 

Goethe,  in  his  "  Conversations  with  Eckermann,"  warmly 
commended  Englishmen,  because  their  entrance  and  bearing 
in  society  were  so  confident  and  quiet  that  one  would  think 
they  were  everywhere  the  masters,  and  the  whole  world 
belonged  to  them.  Eckermann  replied  that  surely  young 
Englishmen  were  no  cleverer,  better  educated,  or  better 
hearted  than  young  Germans.  "  That  is  not  the  point,"  said 
Goethe  ;  "  their  superiority  does  not  lie  in  such  things,  neither 
does  it  lie  in  their  birth  and  fortune  :  it  lies  precisely  in  their 
having  the  courage  to  be  what  nature  made  them.  There  is 
no  halfness  about  them.  They  are  complete  men.  Sometimes 
complete  fools  also,  that  I  heartily  admit ;  but  even  that  is 
something,  and  has  its  weight." 

In  any  business  or  negotiations,  be  patient.  Many  a  man 
would  rather  you  heard  his  story  than  granted  his  request; 
many  an  opponent  has  been  tired  out. 

Above  all,  never  lose  your  temper,  and  if  you  do,  at  any 
rate  hold  your  tongue,  and  try  not  to  show  it. 

"  Cease  from  anger  and  forsake  wrath  : 
Fret  not  thyself  in  any  wise  to  do  evil." 

For 

"  A  soft  answer  turueth  away  wrath  : 
But  grievous  words  stir  up  anger." 

Never  intrude  where  you  are  not  wanted.  There  is  plenty 
of  room  elsewhere.  "Have  I  not  three  kingdoms?"  said 
King  James  to  the  Fly,  "  and  yet  thou  must  needs  fly  in  my 
eye." 

Some  people  seem  to  have  the  knack  of  saying  the  wrong 
thing,  of  alluding  to  any  subject  which  revives  sad  memories, 
or  rouses  differences  of  opinion. 

No  branch  of  science  is  more  useful  than  the  knowledge 
of  men.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  be  able  to  decide 
wisely,  not  only  to  know  whom  you  can  trust,  and  whom  you 
cannot,  but  how  far,  and  in  what,  you  can  trust  them.  This 
is  by  no  means  easy.  It  is  most  important  to  choose  well 
those  who  are  to  work  with  you,  and  under  you ;  to  put  the 
square  man  in  the  square  hole  and  the  round  man  in  the 
round  hole. 


256  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"If  you  suspect  a  man  do  not  employ  him  :  if  you  employ 
him,  do  not  suspect  him." 

Those  who  trust  are  of  tener  right  than  those  who  mistrust. 

Confidence  should  be  complete  but  not  blind.  Merlin  lost 
his  life,  wise  as  he  was,  for  imprudently  yielding  to  Vivien's 
appeal  to  trust  her  "all  in  all  or  not  at  all.'' 

Be  always  discreet.  Keep  your  own  counsel.  If  you  do 
not  keep  it  for  yourself,  you  cannot  expect  others  to  keep  it 
for  you.  "The  mouth  of  a  wise  man  is  in  his  heart ;  the  heart 
of  a  fool  is  in  his  mouth,  for  what  he  knoweth  or  thinketh  he 
uttereth.'' 

Use  your  head.  Consult  your  reason.  It  is  not  infallible, 
but  you  will  be  less  likely  to  err  if  you  do. 

Speech  is,  or  ought  to  be  silvern,  but  silence  is  golden. 

Many  people  talk,  not  because  they  have  anything  to  say, 
but  for  the  mere  love  of  talking.  Talking  should  be  an  exer- 
cise of  the  brain,  rather  than  of  the  tongue.  Talkativeness, 
the  love  of  talking  for  talking's  sake,  is  almost  fatal  to  suc- 
cess. Men  are  "plainly  hurried  on,  in  the  heat  of  their  talk,  to 
say  quite  different  things  from  what  they  first  intended,  and 
which  they  afterwards  wish  unsaid  ;  or  improper  things  which 
they  had  no  other  end  in  saying,  but  only  to  find  employment 
to  their  tongue.  .  .  .  And  this  unrestrained  volubility  and 
wantonness  in  speech  is  the  occasion  of  numberless  evils  and 
vexations  in  life.  It  begets  resentment  in  him  who  is  the 
subject  of  it ;  sows  the  seed  of  strife  and  dissension  amongst 
others  ;  and  inflames  little  disgusts  and  offenses,  which,  if 
let  alone,  would  wear  away  of  themselves." 

"  C'est  une  grande  misere,^  says  La  Bruyere,  "que  de 
ri avoir  pas  assez  d'esprit  pour  bien  parler,  ni  assez  de  judg- 
ment pour  se  taire"  Plutarch  tells  a  story  of  Demaratus, 
that  being  asked  in  a  certain  assembly  whether  he  held  his 
tongue  because  he  was  a  fool,  or  for  want  of  words,  he 
replied,  "A  fool  cannot  hold  his  tongue."  "Seest  thou,"  said 
Solomon, 

"  Seest  thou  a  man  that  is  hasty  in  his  words? 
There  is  more  hope  of  a  fool  than  of  him." 

Never  try  to  show  your  own  superiority :  few  things 
annoy  people  more  than  being  made  to  feel  small. 

Do  not  be  too  positive  in  your  statements.     You  may  be 


TACT.  257 

wrong,  however  sure  you  feel.  Memory  plays  us  curious 
tricks,  and  both  ears  and  eyes  are  sometimes  deceived.  Our 
prejudices,  even  the  most  cherished,  may  have  110  secure 
foundation.  Moreover,  even  if  you  are  right,  you  will  lose 
nothing  by  disclaiming  too  great  certainty. 

In  action,  again,  never  make  too  sure,  and  never  throw 
away  a  chance.  "There's  many  a  slip't;wixt  the  cup  and 
the  lip." 

It  has  been  said  that  everything  comes  to  those  who  know 
how  to  wait ;  and  when  the  opportunity  does  come,  seize  it. 

"  He  that  wills  not  when  he  may ; 
When  he  will,  he  shall  have  nay." 

If  you  once  let  your  opportunity  go,  you  may  never  have 
another. 

"There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  man, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune  : 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries. 
On  such  a  full  sea  are  we  now  afloat ; 
And  we  must  take  the  current  when  it  serves, 
Or  lose  our  venture." 

Be  cautious,  but  not  over-cautious  ;  do  not  be  too  much 
afraid  of  making  a  mistake;  "a  man  who  never  makes  a 
mistake,  will  make  nothing." 

Always  dress  neatly  :  we  must  dress,  therefore  we  should 
do  it  well ;  not  extravagantly,  either  in  time  or  money,  but 
taking  care  to  have  good  materials.  It  is  astonishing  how 
much  people  judge  by  dress.  Of  those  you  come  across,  many 
go  mainly  by  appearances  in  any  case,  and  many  more  have 
in  your  case  nothing  but  appearances  to  go  by.  The  eyes  and 
ears  open  the  heart,  and  a  hundred  people  will  see,  for  one 
who  will  know  you.  Moreover,  if  you  are  careless  and  untidy 
about  yourself,  it  is  a  fair,  though  not  absolute,  conclusion 
that  you  will  be  careless  about  other  things  also. 

When  you  are  in  society  study  those  who  have  the  best 
and  pleasantest  manners.  "Manner,"  says  the  old  proverb 
with  much  truth,  if  with  some  exaggeration,  "maketh  Man," 
and  "  a  pleasing  figure  is  a  perpetual  letter  of  recommenda- 
tion." "  Merit  and  knowledge  will  not  gain  hearts,  though 
they  will  secure  them  when  gained.  Engage  the  eyes  by  your 


258  LEADERS  OF  MEN, 

address,  air,  and  motions  ;  soothe  the  ears  by  the  elegance 
and  harmony  of  your  diction  ;  and  the  heart  will  certainly  (I 
should  rather  say  probably)  follow.''  Every  one  has  eyes  and 
ears,  but  few  have  a  sound  judgment.  The  world  is  a  stage. 
We  are  all  players,  and  every  one  knows  how  much  the  suc- 
cess of  a  piece  depends  upon  the  way  it  is  acted. 

Lord  Chesterfield,  speaking  of  his  son,  says,  "They  tell  me 
he  is  loved  wherever  he  is  known,  and  I  am  very  glad  of  it  : 
but  I  would  have  him  to  be  liked  before  he  is  known,  and 

loved  afterwards You  know  very  little  of  the 

nature  of  mankind,  if  you  take  those  things  to  be  of  little 
consequence  ;  one  cannot  be  too  attentive  to  them  ;  it  is  they 
that  always  engage  the  heart,  of  which  the  understanding  is 
commonly  the  bubble/' 

The  Graces  help  a  man  in  life  almost  as  much  as  the 
Muses.  We  all  know  that  "  one  man  may  steal  a  horse,  while 
another  may  not  look  over  a  hedge  ;  "  and  why  ?  because  the 
one  will  do  it  pleasantly,  the  other  disagreeably.  Horace  tells 
us  that  even  Youth  and  Mercury,  the  gods  of  Eloquence  and 
of  the  Arts,  were  powerless  without  the  Graces. 


PART  TWO. 
LEADERS   IN   PROFESSIONAL   LIFE. 


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CHAPTER  XII. 

HENRY   WATTERSON. 

ON   THE    ELEMENTS    OF    SUCCESS HIS    PERSONALITY A  MAN  OF  GREAT 

VERSATILITY METHODS    OF    WORK BIRTH   AND    EARLY    SURROUNDINGS — • 

EDUCATION THE     "NEW     ERA"    -NEWSPAPER     CAREER     IN     NEW    YORK  - 

WAR    CORRESPONDENT BECOMES    EDITOR    OF    THE    LOUISVILLE    "COURIER- 
JOURNAL  "    —SOME  DIFFICULTIES  ENCOUNTERED HIS  NEW  POLICY WHAT 

POLITICS   MEANS    TO    HIM  —  MEMBER    OF    CONGRESS  —  AS   A    PUBLIC    SPEAKER 

-HOME  LIFE WHAT    LEADS    TO. SUCCESS   IN   JOURNALISM.       COURAGE  AND 

SELF-CONFIDENCE. 


Among  the  many  elements  of  success  I  would  particularly 
mphasize  that  of  personality,  as  it  is  called.     This  attracting 
and  repelling  something  in  men,  is  a  thing 
apart ;  a  light  that  cannot  be  hid.     As  little 
can  it  be  described,  being  in  its  nature  vari- 
able.   Often  it  is  composed  of  one  part  talent 
and  two  parts  character  ;  and  he  who  has  it 
j^j         T  may,  in  spite  of  other  deficiencies,  command 

£jj^fi^^       success. 

&  H  Large    successes    are    attainable    by   the 

JB  union  of  aptitude  and  concentration  of  pur- 

JMIBHBBBI  pose,  coincident  with  opportunity;  the  meet- 
ing of  the  man  and  the  occasion  ;  the  suiting 
of  the  work  to  the  action,  the  action  to  the  work  ;  intelligent 
self-confidence  ;  unflagging  courage  ;  absolute  probity. 


T  seems  trite  and  inadequate  to  describe  Henry  Watterson 
as  a  genius  ;  yet  that  is  the  only  term  general  enough  in 
character  to  explain  such  a  man.  Unquestionably  he  is 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  American  journalists.  But  this 
assertion,  comprehensive  as  it  is,  by  no  means  conveys  any 
idea  of  the  universality  of  his  attainments.  He  has  won 
distinction  in  the  highest  politics  of  his  time.  He  is  an  orator, 


260  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

a  man  of  letters,  a  political  and  social  economist,  an  accom- 
plished man  of  the  world.  He  is  distinctly  of  the  literary  and 
artistic  temperament,  mercurial,  emotional,  imaginative  ;  yet 
he  possesses  many  of  the  practical  qualities  not  commonly 
allied  to  these. 

In  attempting  anything  like  a  complete  portrait  of  Henry 
Watterson,  one  hesitates  before  the  complexity  of  the  subject. 
His  universality  is  as  remarkable  as  any  single  trait  in  his 
character.  One  feels  the  human  side  of  him,  his  personality, 
intensely,  and  is  drawn  closely  to  him  or  quite  repelled.  Con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  it  is  he  who  exerts  the  influence 
either  way,  the  other  person  being  merely  the  recipient.  With 
his  intimates  he  is  a  most  lovable  man  ;  in  the  club  which  he 
frequents  at  home,  to  all  the  younger  men  he  is  their  affec- 
tionate "Marse  Henry."  A  woman  in  tenderness,  a  thought- 
ful friend,  full  of  the  sunshine  of  life,  having  room  in  his 
composition  for  all  save  malice,  he  is  yet  fierce  and  warlike  in 
his  opposition  to  wrong.  He  has  that  sensuousness  which 
accompanies  a  fanciful  and  poetic  imagination,  relieved  by  a 
loftiness  of  purpose  and  a  virility  that  characterize  all  his 
utterances.  He  is  a  sentimentalist,  yet  a  man  of  affairs  ; 
loving  the  graces  of  life,  yet  living  in  and  enjoying  the  strife 
of  partisan  politics  ;  impetuous  and  emotional,  yet  purposeful 
and  far-seeing. 

A  writer  of  pure  English,  his  phrases  have  come  to  be  a 
part  of  our  language.  Who  does  not  know  the  Star-eyed 
Goddess  who  was  born  on  a  night  in  1884,  in  Washington  - 
born  in  the  labor  of  a  dispatch  —  and  who  leaped  straightway 
upon  the  telegraph  wire  to  appear  refulgent  next  morning  in 
the  Courier- Journal  ?  A  less  poetic,  but  equally  terse  expres- 
sion is  the  "  tariff  for  revenue  only,"  whose  absolute  finality 
it  has  been  sought  so  often  to  escape.  "  Between  the  sherry 
and  the  champagne  "  was  coined  in  a  letter  from  Washington 
containing  the  first  public  intimation  that  Grant  would  be  a 
candidate  for  a  third  term.  It  was  meant  to  cover  the  wild- 
ness  of  the  suggestion. 

Journalist,  statesman,  orator,  musician,  student  of  belles 
lettres  and  the  arts,  at  times  an  indomitable  worker,  at  times 
an  equally  vigorous  player, —  Mr.  Watterson  is  all  of  these. 
Into  all  he  puts  the  strong  personality  that  holds  attention. 
Having  suffered  nearly  all  his  life  from  a  seriously  defective 


HENEY  WATTEESON.  261 

vision,  he  nevertheless  reads  with  unequaled  rapidity.  He 
seems  to  take  in  a  whole  page  at  a  glance.  In  the  office  his 
amanuensis  reading  to  him  from  the  "proofs"  is  rarely  per- 
mitted to  finish  a  paragraph  before  a  gesture  hurries  him  on 
to  the  next.  Yet  Mr.  Watterson  has  absorbed  and  digested 
the  article.  In  the  same  way  does  he  read  men  or  reach  a 
conclusion  on  a  question  of  public  policy.  Back  of  it  all  has 
been  much  hard  work,  close  application,  earnest  study,  and  a 
wide  range  of  information  about  current  affairs. 

After  all,  is  not  this  multiplicity,  this  complexity,  just  what 
Mr.  Watterson  is  —  the  journalist  ?  For  what  is  the  journal 
but  the  epitome  of  life  ?  True,  he  is  a  journalist  of  an  old 
school,  the  last  great  survivor  of  that  intensely  individual 
journalism  in  which  the  newspaper  took  its  power  from  the 
editor,  and  not  the  editor  from  his  paper.  It  was  the  school 
of  Raymond  and  of  Greeley,  of  the  elder  Bennett  and  the 
elder  Bowles,  and  of  Mr.  Watterson's  immediate  predecessor, 
George  D.  Prentice.  In  this  school  was  Watterson  trained, 
and  he  is  its  last  great  exponent. 

By  birth,  instinct,  and  early  surroundings,  Mr.  Watterson 
is  a  "newspaper  man."  He  was  born  in  Washington,  Feb- 
ruary 16, 1840,  his  father  being  the  late  Harvey  M.  Watterson, 
who,  two  years  before,  had  succeeded  James  K.  Polk  as  a 
member  of  Congress  from  Tennessee.  The  elder  Watterson 
was  a  journalist.  When  elected  to  Congress  he  owned  and 
was  editing  a  paper  at  Shelbyville,  Tenn.  From  1845  to  1850 
he  owned  and  edited  the  Nashville  Union.  Mr.  Watterson's 
ancestry  was  Scotch-Irish,  which  accounts  for  several  things. 
His  father  was  a  strong  man,  upright,  affable,  and  with 
abundant  common  sense.  But  it  is  from  his  mother  that  he 
derives  his  remarkable  perceptivity  and  imagination.  She 
was  a  woman  of  superior  mental  qualities,  and  her  insight 
was  as  keen  and  penetrating  as  her  son's. 

From  1852  to  1856  young  Watterson  was  sedulously  at 
school,  at  the  Academy  of  the  Episcopal  Diocese  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. At  school  he  was  the  editor  of  the  school  paper,  The 
Ciceronian.  But  the  trouble  with  his  eyes  caused  his  removal 
from  school,  and  his  education  was  completed  by  private 
tutors  at  McMinnville,  Tenn.  His  father  had  a  summer  home 
there,  and  gave  the  lad  a  printing  office  outfit.  The  New 
Era  made  its  appearance  in  October,  1856,  and  for  two  years 


262  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Henry  Watterson  published  his  paper  and  pursued  his  classi- 
cal studies  in  this  little  mountain  town.  He  says  he  still 
remembers  the  first  article  he  ever  wrote  ;  it  was  a  bugle- 
note  article,  a  call  to  the  party.  In  speaking  of  it  he  says : 
"When  I  saw  the  whole  article  had  been  copied  next  day  by 
the  Nashville  American,  then  the  great  paper  of  that  coun- 
try, I  could  n't  sleep  much  that  night ;  but  when  I  saw  it  in 
the  Washington  Union  I  was  knocked  out  completely.  The 
article  went  the  rounds  of  Democratic  papers  all  over  the 
country."  This  happened  when  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age. 

Two  years  later,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  sought  a  wider 
field.  In  the  latter  half  of  1858,  he  was  in  New  York,  where 
he  wrote  for  Harper  s  Weekly,  just  established,  The  Times, 
and  other  papers.  With  Whitelaw  Reid  and  John  Russell 
Young,  he  was  getting  his  training  in  the  school  of  Ray- 
mond and  Forney.  In  the  winter  of  1859,  he  returned  to 
Washington,  and  there  did  much  miscellaneous  newspaper 
work. 

Such  was  the  training  received  by  Henry  Watterson,  when 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  directed  his  fortunes  to  another  field. 
He  had  acquired  many  worldly  graces,  had  already  a  large 
acquaintance  with  men,  and,  being  a  close  and  apt  student, 
possessed  an  unusual  equipment  for  a  successful  career. 

He  returned  to  Tennessee,  the  home  of  his  people,  and  in 
October,  1861,  he  was  made  assistant  editor  of  the  Nashville 
Banner.  Early  in  1862,  Nashville  was  evacuated  by  the  Con- 
federates. Watterson,  to  use  his  own  phrase,  leaped  into  an 
empty  saddle  as  Forrest's  cavalry  swept  by,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  editing  until  October,  1862,  when  Tlie  Rebel,  a  daily 
paper,  made  its  appearance  at  Chattanooga,  with  Henry 
Watterson  in  charge.  It  was  the  soldiers'  newspaper,  and 
naturally  was  not  long-lived,  making  its  last  appearance 
at  Chattanooga,  September  9,  1863.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  revive  it  in  a  small  Georgia  town,  but  with  this  venture 
Mr.  Watterson  had  nothing  to  do.  The  story  that  The  Rebel 
became  a  camp  follower  is  an  error.  Mr.  Watterson  returned 
to  the  army,  serving  under  Polk  and  in  the  Johnston-Sher- 
man campaign. 

"I  came  out  of  the  war,"  Mr.  Watterson  said,  "like  many 
of  the  young  fellows  of  the  South,  a  very  picked  bird,  indeed. 
In  order  to  escape  the  humiliation  of  borrowing  from  a  North- 


HENEY  WATTERSON.  263 

ern  uncle,  whose  politics  I  did  not  approve,  I  went  with  my 
watch  to  an  uncle  who  had  no  politics  at  all,  and  got  fifty 
dollars  on  it.     Along  with  two  blanket-mates,  who  were  as 
poor  as  myself,  I  started,  or,  rather,  revived  the  publication 
of  an  old,  suspended  newspaper  at  Nashville.     Nothing  could 
withstand  the  energy  and  ardor  which  we  three  threw  into 
this.     When  we  began,  there  were   nine  daily  papers  strug- 
gling for  a  footing  in  the  little  Tennessee  capital.     At  the  end 
of  a  year  there  were  but  two,  and  of  these  two   ours  had 
two  thirds  of  the  business.     After  two  years,  I  was  called  to 
Louisville  to  succeed  George  D.  Prentice  as  editor  of  the  old 
Louisville  Journal.     Six  months  later,  Mr.  W.  N.  Haldeman, 
who  owned  the    Courier,  joined  with  me  in  combining  the 
Journal  and  Courier,  under  the  name  of  the  Courier- Journal. 
Incidentally,  this  led  to  the  purchase  of  the  old  Louisville 
Democrat.     The  paper  thus  established  we  have  conducted  — 
he  the  publisher,  and  I  the  editor  —  ever  since,  now  nearly 
thirty-three  years.     During  all  that   time,  we  have  worked 
steadily,  each  in  his  appointed  place,  and  no  issue  has  ever 
arisen  between  us.     We  have  labored  as  one  instead  of  two 
toward  a  common  end — the  making  of  a  newspaper  of  the  first 
class  and  the  highest  character.     Both  of  us  have  disdained 
money,  save  as  it  contributed  to  this  aim.     Neither  of  us  has 
allowed  himself  to  be  diverted  by  the  allurements  of  specula- 
tion or  office.     The  result  shows  for  itself." 

With  the  coming  to  Louisville  there  had  set  in  for  Mr. 
Watterson  a  period  of  very  hard  work.  He  had  married  in 
Nashville,  in  1865,  Miss  Rebecca  Ewing,  a  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  Andrew  Ewing  of  Tennessee.  When  he  took  charge  of 
the  Journal  he  left  his  wife  in  Nashville.  His  whole  time  was 
given  up  to  his  business.  He  slept  in  a  back  room  adjoining 
the  office  and  took  his  meals  at  a  little  restaurant  a  few  doors 
away.  Upon  the  consolidation  of  the  two  papers  he  worked, 
if  possible,  with  even  greater  energy.  Mr.  Prentice  was  yet 
the  chief  editorial  writer,  and  Mr.  Watterson  acted  as  manag- 
ing editor.  His  position  was  a  difficult  one.  He  had  found 
surrounding  Mr.  Prentice  a  number  of  brilliant  men  who, 
under  other  influences,  might  have  made  a  lasting  impression 
on  their  times  ;  but  who,  taking  their  cue  from  their  chief, 
were  too  entirely  given  over  to  a  Bohemian  manner  of  life  to 
be  serviceable  to  a  man  with  serious  purposes.  Mr.  Prentice 


264  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

was  himself  in  an  unlovely  old  age  ;  his  habits  dissolute,  and 
his  power  declining  or  quite  gone.  The  personal  aspect  of 
the  case  as  between  the  young  stranger  and  the  men  already 
installed  was  not  pleasant.  They  regarded  him  as  a  usurper 
and  an  upstart.  He  had  to  rely  on  a  force  of  men  of  inferior 
quality,  but  more  tractable. 

In  another  and  broader  sphere  was  the  new  pitted  against 
the  old  order.  Mr.  Watterson  was  one  of  the  first  of  Southern 
men  to  accept  the  fact  that  politically  and  socially  the  coun- 
try had  experienced  a  complete  transformation  as  a  result  of 
the  war  and  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes.  Then  and 
there  did  he  begin  the  work  of  reconciliation  that  he  has  not 
laid  down.  In  the  then  social  conditions  of  Louisville  this 
was  a  difficult  and  unpleasant,  if  not  a  dangerous,  attitude. 
The  old  Bourbon  spirit  was  strong  in  Kentucky,  where  the 
post-bellum  belligerents  were  now  in  the  saddle.  Mr.  Watter- 
son insisted  that  the  three  new  amendments  to  the  constitu- 
tion were  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  North  and  the 
South,  and  that  the  South  must  accept  them  in  good  faith. 
The  feeling  was  strong  against  the  negro.  It  was  a  serious 
question  whether  or  not  he  should  be  permitted  to  ride  on  the 
street  cars.  The  law  had  to  be  changed  to  enable  his  testi- 
mony to  be  received  in  the  courts.  Mr.  Watterson  took  an 
uncompromising  position  for  the  new  order.  With  all  the 
power  of  his  newspaper  he  exposed  and  fought  the  kuklux 
outrages.  Yet  in  sentiment  he  was  intensely  Southern  ;  in 
manner  a  Cavalier  of  Cavaliers,  for  all  he  insists  that  we 
know  not  Cavalier  or  Puritan. 

But  it  was  not  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Prentice,  in  January, 
1870,  that  Mr.  Watterson  ceased  to  be  the  practical  working 
journalist  who  saw  the  paper  to  press  every  night,  to  become  a 
writer  and  publicist.  Already  he  had  made  his  position  clear, 
as  above  indicated,  but  henceforth  his  pen  was  to  be  in  daily 
defense  of  his  ideas.  The  Democratic  party  had  assumed  a 
hostile  attitude  that  was  intensified  by  the  rule  of  the  carpet- 
bagger. It  was  in  the  hope  of  getting  the  party  out  of  this 
slough  that  the  Liberal  movement  was  undertaken  in  the 
South.  This  movement  Mr.  Watterson  led  in  that  section 
during  1871  and  1872.  The  Greeley  nomination  and  its 
indorsement  by  the  Baltimore  convention  were  the  result  of 
a  campaign  by  journalists  Henry  Watterson,  Horace  White, 


HENRY  WATTERSON.  265 

Samuel  Bowles,  and  Murat  Halstead.  That  the  country  was 
not  ready  for  this  attempted  reconciliation  was  no  fault  of 
Mr.  Watterson,  who  for  six  years  had  been  leading  up  to  it 
with  unfaltering  purpose. 

Mr.  Watterson  had  now  fairly  entered  upon  his  public 
career  in  politics  as  well  as  in  journalism.  Be  it  understood 
that  the  term  politics  is  never  used  in  relation  to  him  in  the 
sense  of  office  seeking  or  office  holding.  He  has  been  in 
politics  only  to  direct  a  policy.  He  has  never  sought  office 
and  never  held  but  one.  In  obedience  to  the  demands  of  the 
hour,  and  in  compliance  with  the  personal  behests  of  Mr. 
Tilden,  he  consented  to  an  election  to  the  Forty-fourth  Con- 
gress, in  1876,  filling  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Edward  Y. 
Parsons.  After  making  his  mark  in  the  House  he  declined  a 
re-election.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  and  his  speeches  on  the  Electoral  Commis- 
sion had  been  the  most  noteworthy  utterances  on  that  subject. 
This  Tilden  period  was  the  most  picturesque  in  Mr.  Watter- 
son's  public  career.  At  the  urgent  demand  of  Mr.  Tilden's 
friends,  he  had  presided  over  the  convention  that  nominated 
him  for  the  presidency.  He  went  to  Congress  because  Mr. 
Tilden  conceived  it  necessary  that  there  should  be  in  the 
House  a  personal  representative  who  could  speak. 

To  write  Mr.  Watterson's  biography  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  from  the  political  side,  would  be  to  write  the  history 
of  Democracy  during  that  period.  His  influence,  however, 
has  been  exerted  not  as  an  office  holder,  but  as  one  independ- 
ent of,  and  undesirous  of,  office.  He  has  stood  for  what  he 
considered  pure  Democracy  against  the  fallacies  that  from 
time  to  time  have  foisted  themselves  upon  the  party, —  national 
fellowship  and  unity  as  against  sectional  prejudice  and  radi- 
calism, honest  money  as  against  both  irredeemable  paper  cur- 
rency and  free  silver,  and  free  trade  as  against  all  compromise 
with  protection.  The  platforms  of  nearly  all  the  Democratic 
conventions  from  1872  until  1896  were  written  by  him  either 
partly  or  in  whole,  and,  in  1892,  he  succeeded  in  reversing  in 
open  convention,  by  a  large  majority,  the  report  of  the  plat- 
form committee.  Foreseeing,  in  1896,  the  course  sure  to  be 
taken  by  the  Chicago  convention,  he  refused  to  serve  as  dele- 
gate, and  later  repudiated  the  platform. 

When  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  was  invited  to  hold 


266  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

its  1895  encampment  in  Louisville,  Mr.  Watterson's  speech, 
more  than  any  other  single  cause,  brought  an  acceptance  of 
the  invitation.  He  did  not  extend  an  invitation  to  the  veter- 
ans to  come  to  Louisville,  but  to  come  South.  Speaking  on 
behalf  of  the  Southern  people,  he  said  :- 

"  Candor  compels  me  to  say  that  there  was  a  time  when 
they  did  not  want  to  see  you.  There  was  a  time  when,  with- 
out any  invitation  whatever,  either  written  or  verbal ;  with- 
out so  much  as  a  suggestion  of  welcome,  you  insisted  on 
giving  us  the  honor  of  your  company,  and,  as  it  turned  out, 
when  we  were  but  ill  prepared  to  receive." 

He  said  it  would  be  a  pity  to  refuse  to  come  now,  when  the 
invitation  was  extended,  wKen  the  preparations  were  made, 
and  the  welcome  assured.  Then,  in  serious  vein,  he  evoked 
the  spirit  of  national  fraternity,  which  he  so  well  knows  how 
to  arouse.  To  have  declined  an  invitation  couched  in  such 
terms  and  extended  in  such  a  spirit  would  have  been  churlish 
indeed. 

Mr.  Watterson  is  the  most  persuasive  of  speakers,  as  he  is 
the  most  persuasive  of  writers.  Whether  he  is  addressing  a 
turbulent  political  body  or  a  dignified  and  imposing  audience 
such  as  that  which  faced  him  when  he  delivered  the  dedica- 
tory address  at  the  World's  Fair,  his  words  and  his  manner 
are  equally  fitted  to  the  occasion.  He  knows  the  value  of 
every  tone  of  the  voice,  every  gesture.  Speaking  to  a  politi- 
cal body,  his  gestures  are  of  the  hammering  and  chopping 
variety.  Resting  his  right  nand  in  his  left,  when  he  makes  a 
point  he  chops  it  off  or  drives  it  in  with  a  quick,  sharp  motion. 
If  his  audience  misses  a  point  he  waits  until  somebody  sees  it, 
then  everybody  does.  But  his  manner  is  entirely  different 
from  this  in  the  delivery  of  his  lectures  or  in  his  addresses 
made  to  sedate  audiences  on  important  public  occasions. 
Then  his  oratory  is  ornate,  his  gestures  abundant,  graceful, 
and  impressive.  His  "  reading"  is  as  carefully  considered  as 
that  of  a  well-trained  actor,  and  one  is  impressed  by  the  dig- 
nity of  the  orator.  He  is  eloquent,  full  of  dramatic  force,  yet 
so  scholarly  as  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting  requirements  of  a 
classic  school. 

Mr.  Watterson's  first  lecture,  "  The  Oddities  of  Southern 
Life,"  was  delivered  in  1877,  followed  a  little  later  by  a  vol- 
ume treating  the  same  theme  of  provincial  humor.  "Money 


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COURAGE  AND  SELF-CONFIDENCE.  269 

and  Morals  "  and  "  The  Compromises  of  Life  "  followed  the 
first  lecture  in  the  order  named,  and  have  been  delivered  to 
delighted  audiences  the  country  over.  His  latest  lecture, 
'•'Abraham  Lincoln,''  is  an  important  addition  to  the  Lincoln 
literature. 

Mr.  Watterson's  home  life  is  ideal.  Loving  the  freedom 
and  "  elbow  room  "  of  the  country,  his  desire  for  long  years 
was  to  possess  a  place  where  he  could  retire  in  old  age  from 
the  noise  aud  rush  and  bustle  of  the  city.  In  1896  he  discov- 
ered his  ideal  place  in  a  plantation  of  about  one  hundred 
acres  near  Jeffersontown,  twelve  miles  south  of  Louisville. 
He  purchased  the  property,  beautified  it  to  suit  his  own 
ideas,  and  moved  out  from  Louisville.  Here  at  "Mansfield"' 
he  does  most  of  his  writing,  coming  usually  to  the  Courier- 
Journal  office  every  day  or  every -other  day  when  occasion 
demands. 

When  asked  to  specify  the  qualities  most  needed  for  suc- 
cess in  journalism,  Mr.  Watterson  said  :  ''The  bases  are  good 
habits,  good  sense  and  good  feeling  :  a  good  common  school 
education,  particularly  in  the  English  branches  ;  application 
both  constant  and  cheerful.  All  success  is,  of  course,  rela- 
tive. Good  and  ill  fortune  play  certain  parts  in  the  life  of 
every  man.  If  Hoche  or  Moreau  had  lived,  either  might  have 
made  the  subsequent  career  of  Napoleon  impossible.  But 
honest,  tireless,  painstaking  assiduity  may  conquer  ill  fortune, 
as  it  will  certainly  advance  good  fortune.  In  the  degree  that 
a  man -adds  to  these  essentials  larger  talents, — peculiar  train- 
ing, breadth  of  mind,  and  reach  of  vision, — his  flight  will  be 
higher.  But  here  we  enter  the  realms  of  genius,  where  there 
are  no  laws,  at  least  none  that  may  be  made  clear  for  ordi- 
nary mortals  to  follow.'' 

COURAGE    AND    SELF-CONFIDENCE. 

lERSEVERANCE   and   self-reliance    are  proof  of  cour- 
age ;  their  continuance  depends  upon  it.     By  courage, 
we  mean  that  power  of  the  mind  which  bears  up  under 
all  dangers  and  difficulties. 

Fortitude  may  express  one  element  of  this  noble  virtue, 
since  fortitude  is  the  power  that  enables  one  to  endure  pain. 
The  man  of  fortitude  will  endure  the  amputation  of  a  limb ; 
the  man  of  courage  will  do  that,  and  also  face  the  cannon's 


270  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

mouth.  "  Courage  comprehends  the  absence  of  all  fear,  the 
disregard  of  all  personal  convenience,  the  spirit  to  begin,  and 
the  determination  to  pursue  what  has  been  begun.'' 

Such  a  quality  is  needed  every  hour.  The  most  humble 
life  will  find  abundant  use  for  it ;  the  cares,  labors,  and 
embarrassments  that  are  the  common  lot  of  humanity,  make 
it  indispensable.  The  burdens  which  boyhood  and  girlhood 
must  bear  in  acquiring  an  education,  learning  a  trade,  resist- 
ing temptations,  and  building  spotless  characters,  demand 
better  physical  and  moral  courage.  A  coward  will  not  under- 
take to  make  noble  manhood  or  womanhood.  If  he  did,  he 
would  not  merit  the  approbation  of  God,  who  never  promises 
success  to  cowardice. 

A  faint-hearted  man  would  never  undertake  to  prepare  a 
dictionary,  or  a  history  of  the  United  States.  Only  the  most 
resolute  and  determined  spirit  would  take  up  such  a  burden. 
Here  is  ample  scope  for  courage  that  can  forego  pleasure  and 
personal  comfort,  endure  privation  and  wearisome  labor,  and 
conquer  opposition  of  every  kind. 

At  sixteen  years  of  age,  Samuel  Drew  was  a  wild,  reckless 
youth,  given  to  idleness,  orchard  robbing,  and  even  worse 
practices.  A  serious  accident  that  nearly  cost  him  his  life, 
together  with  the  sudden  death  of  his  brother,  checked  him  in 
his  mad  career.  He  had  lost  his  reputation  by  evil  conduct, 
and  education  by  avoiding  schools  ;  and  yet  he  resolved  to 
regain  one  and  acquire  the  other.  A  youth  of  less  courage 
would  have  yielded  to  despair,  declaring  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  surmount  the  difficulties  in  his  way.  But,  ris- 
ing in  the  strength  of  regenerated  manhood,  he  resolved  to 
become  a  true  man  and  scholar.  He  appeared  to  realize  that 
the  gist  of  the  matter  was  in  him,  and  to  resolve  that  it  should 
come  out. 

Yet  he  must  gain  a  livelihood  on  the  shoemaker's  bench, 
where  he  went  to  work  with  a  will.  Every  leisure  moment 
was  devoted  to  reading  and  study,  and  often  night  contrib- 
uted materially  to  this  end.  Referring  to  this  period,  twenty 
years  thereafter,  he  said,  "  The  more  I  read,  the  more  I  felt 
my  ignorance  ;  and  the  more  I  felt  my  ignorance,  the  more 
invincible  became  my  energy  to  surmount  it. 

"  Every  leisure  moment  was  employed  in  reading  one  thing 
or  another.  Having  to  support  myself  by  manual  labor,  my 


COUEAGE  AND  SELF-CONFIDENCE.  271 

time  for  reading  was  but  little  ;  and  to  overcome  this  disad- 
vantage my  usual  method  was  to  place  a  book  before  me 
while  at  meat,  and  at  every  repast  I  read  five  or  six  pages. 
Locke's  '  Essay  on  the  Understanding '  awakened  me  from 
my  stupor,  and  induced  me  to  form  a  resolution  to  abandon 
the  groveling  views  I  had  been  accustomed  to  maintain." 

Without  prolonging  his  story,  Drew  became  an  active 
parishioner  of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  and  a  local  preacher  before 
he  left  the  shoe  bench.  Subsequently  he  became  a  distin- 
guished author,  known  to  every  generation  since  his  day  as 
the  author  of  an  "  Essay  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immor- 
tality of  the  Soul."  His  fame  was  spread  world  wide.  Cour- 
age did  it. 

In  the  late  War  of  the  Rebellion,  one  of  our  great  war 
ships  —  the  Cumberland  —  was  attacked  by  the  Confederate 
ram  Virginia,  near  Norfolk,  Virginia.  The  guns  of  the  Cum- 
berland could  make  no  impression  upon  the  iron  monster 
called  the  "  Rebel  ram,"  yet  her  defenders  stood  at  their  guns 
bravely,  and  kept  their  colors  flying  until  the  noble  ship, 
riddled  and  rent  from  stem  to  stern,  sank  beneath  the  waves. 
But  "  she  went  down  with  her  colors  flying."  We  call  that 
loyalty,  patriotism. 

When  President  Lincoln  was  renominated  for  a  second 
term  of  office,  the  army  was  in  great  need  of  recruits.  He 
resolved  to  issue  a  call  for  five  hundred  thousand  men  ;  but 
leading  members  of  Congress  said,  "  It  will  endanger  your 
re-election  ; "  and  they  advised  him  to  withhold  the  order. 
But  he  persisted,  and  finally  went  personally  before  the  con- 
gressional military  committee,  where  a  similiar  attempt  was 
made  to  induce  him  to  withhold  the  order.  But  the  attempt 
only  evoked  a  higher  and  grander  expression  of  courage. 
Stretching  his  tall  form  to  its  full  height  he  replied,  with  the 
fire  of  indignation  flashing  in  his  eyes,  as  if  he  had  been  asked 
to  do  an  act  of  meanness  :  "  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  be 
re-elected,  but  it  is  necessary  for  the  soldiers  at  the  front  to  be 
reinforced  by  five  hundred  thousand  men,  and  I  shall  call  for 
them  ;  and  if  I  go  down  under  the  act,  I  will  go  down,  like  the 
Cumberland,  with  my  colors  flying."  That  was  courage  cul- 
minating in  the  highest  principle. 

It  was  in  the  terrible  battle  of  Atlanta  that  the  brave  and 
idolized  McPherson  fell.  The  news  of  his  death  sped  with  the 


272  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

speed  of  lightning  along  the  lines,  sending  a  pang  of  sorrow 
through  every  soldier's  heart.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  as  if 
despair  would  demoralize  the  whole  army,  until  Gen.  John  A. 
Logan,  on  whom  the  command  now  rested,  took  in  the  situa- 
tion, and,  on  his  furious  black  stallion,  dashed  down  the  lines, 
crying  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  as  he  waved  his  sword  in  the 
air,  "McPherson  and  revenge!  McPherson  and  revenge!" 
An  eyewitness  wrote  :  "  Never  shall  I  forget,— never  will  one 
of  us  who  survived  that  desperate  fight  forget,  to  our  dying 
day,—  the  grand  spectacle  presented  by  Logan,  as  he  rode  up 
and  down  in  front  of  the  line,  his  black  eyes  flashing  fire, 
his  long,  black  hair  streaming  in  the  wind,  bareheaded,  and 
his  service-worn  slouch  hat  swinging  in  his  bridle  hand,  and 
his  sword  flashing  in  the  other,  crying  out  in  stentorian  tones, 
*  Boys  !  McPherson  and  revenge  ! '  Why,  it  made  my  blood 
run  both  hot  and  cold,  and  moved  every  man  of  us  to  follow 
to  the  death  the  brave  and  magnificent  hero-ideal  of  a  soldier 
who  made  this  resistless  appeal  to  all  that  is  noble  in  a 
soldier's  heart,  and  this,  too,  when  the  very  air  was  alive  with 
whistling  bullets  and  howling  shell !  And  if  he  could  only 
have  been  painted  as  he  swept  up  and  down  the  line  on  a 
steed  as  full  of  fire  as  his  glorious  rider,  it  would  to-day  be  one 
of  the  finest  battle  pictures  of  the  war."  This  impromptu 
act  of  courage  was  even  more  inspiring  than  a  reinforcement 
of  ten  thousand  men,  and  converted  his  almost  despairing 
command  into  mighty  conquerers  ;  and  the  day  was  won. 
Such  a  deed  of  heroism  adds  luster  to  human  glory. 

Courage  is  so  noble  a  trait  that  men  respect  it  even  in  a 
pirate.  Pizarro  was  a  pirate  bent  upon  plundering  Peru,  no 
matter  what  perils  and  hardships  blocked  his  way.  At  Gallo, 
disease  and  hunger  drove  his  men  to  madness,  and  they 
demanded  that  the  enterprise  should  be  abandoned.  Just 
then  a  vessel  arrived  that  offered  to  take  them  back  to 
Panama.  But  Pizarro  spurned  the  offer,  and  with  his  sword 
drew  a  line  on  the  sand  from  east  to  west.  Then,  turning  his 
face  to  the  south,  he  said  to  his  brother  pirates  :- 

"Friends  and  comrades!  On  that  side  are  toil,  hunger, 
nakedness,  the  drenching  storm,  desertion,  and  death  ;  on  this 
side,  ease  and  pleasure.  Here  lies  Peru  with  its  riches ;  here 
Panama  with  its  poverty.  Choose  each  man  what  best  be- 
comes a  brave  Castilian.  For  my  part  I  go  to  the  south." 


COURAGE  AND  SELF-CONFIDENCE.  273 

Put  that  courage  into  a  saint  and  he  will  become  a  mission- 
ary like  Judson,  or  a  reformer  like  Luther,  or  a  martyr  like 
Latimer. 

When  Luther  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  most 
august  body  of  Romish  magnates  who  ever  convened  at 
Worms,  to  answer  the  charge  of  heresy,  friends  said,  "  It  will 
cost  you  your  life  ;  don't  go,  but  flee.'7  He  answered,  "  No  ;  I 
will  repair  thither,  though  I  should  find  there  thrice  as  many 
devils  as  there  are  tiles  upon  the  house  tops." 

On  his  way  to  the  stake,  Latimer  said  to  his  companion  in 
bonds,  Ridley,  "Be  of  good  comfort ;  we  shall  this  day  light 
such  a  candle  in  England,  by  God's  grace,  as  shall  never  be 
put  out." 

Higher  courage  this  than  that  of  the  battlefield,  where  the 
watchword  is  only  that  of  Napoleon,  "  Glory  !  "  Higher  even 
than  that  of  Wellington  and  Nelson,  whose  watchword  was 
"  Duty  ! "  for  his  was  duty  for  humanity  and  God. 

True  courage  is  both  tender  and  magnanimous.  A  braver 
man  than  Sir  Charles  Napier  never  carried  a  sword  or  fought 
a  battle.  Yet  he  declined  sporting  with  a  gun,  because  he 
could  not  bear  to  hurt  an  animal. 

General  Grant  had  no  fear  of  "  iron  ball  and  leaden  rain  "  ; 
but  when  Lee  surrendered,  and  the  Union  men  began  to 
salute  him  by  firing  cannon,  Grant  directed  the  firing  to 
cease,  saying,  "  It  will  wound  the  feelings  of  our  prisoners, 
who  have  become  our  countrymen  again." 

Faith  in  one's  self  and  one's  life  pursuit  is  indispensable, 
for  it  rallies  all  the  difficulties  to  endeavor.  He  who  thinks 
he  can,  can  ;  he  who  thinks  he  can't,  can't.  These  are  the 
two  classes  of  persons  we  meet  ;  one  successful,  the  other  a 
failure.  A  man  must  confide  in  his  own  ability  to  fulfill  his 
calling,  if  he  would  win.  He  need  not  indulge  in  egotism, 
or  be  over-confident ;  but  he  must  believe  that  he  can  do  what 
he  undertakes,  else  he  will  fail.  This  sort  of  faith  is  just  as 
indispensable  to  secular  life,  as  Christian  faith  is  to  spiritual 
life.  Without  the  latter,  "it  is  impossible  to  please  God"; 
without  the  former  it  is  impossible  to  please  ourselves.  No 
man  can  really  respect  himself,  unless  he  has  faith  in  himself 
and  his  chosen  pursuit.  He  needs  this  in  the  outset  in  order  to 
start  well  ;  and  he  needs  it  all  along  in  order  to  do  well. 

When   Edison  conceived  the  idea  of  the   phonograph,  he 


274  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

grew  elated  over  the  possibility.  Further  thought  and  study 
culminated  in  the  belief  that  he  was  able  to  produce  the  won- 
der. He  undertook  the  task  under  the  settled  conviction  that 
he  could  make  the  instrument,  and  that  conviction  never 
wavered,  though  his  progress  was  slow.  Year  after  year  he 
studied,  experimented,  and  labored,  sometimes  encouraged, 
sometimes  disappointed,  but  never  despairing.  It  can  be  done! 
Jean  do  it !  This  confidence  in  himself  to  achieve  did  not  suf- 
fer his  energies  to  flag,  nor  his  expectations  to  waver.  At  the 
end  of  seven  years,  his  phonograph  would  talk,  but  it  would 
not  talk  as  he  desired.  It  would  say  pecie  instead  of  specie. 
But  it  "  shall  say  specie"  he  resolved  ;  and  in  three  months 
more  it  spoke  the  word  plainly  and  loudly  as  he  wished. 
Faith  in  himself  conquered,  for  it  kept  his  courage  alive  and 
caused  his  faculties  to  do  their  best.  Without  it  there  would 
have  been  no  phonograph. 

Mr.  Edison's  phenomenal  success  with  his  electric  light  is 
known  the  world  over.  When  scientists,  editors,  and  scholars 
doubted,  his  faith  never  wavered.  He  was  confident  that 
electrical  science  was  in  its  infancy,  and  that  he  could  evolve 
from  its  hidden  resources  what  would  startle  the  world. 
Through  faith  he  wrought  mightily,  adding  patent  to  patent, 
until  more  than  a  thousand  separate  patents  were  involved  in 
the  production  of  his  electric  light.  We  now  put  electricity 
to  a  great  many  uses  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  Edison, 
though  we  are  only  beginning  to  know  its  priceless  value.  It 
performs  errands  for  us,  carrying  messages,  closing  bargains, 
and  making  business  hum  ;  it  puts  life  and  power  into  loco- 
motives and  sets  ponderous  machinery  in  motion  ;  it  runs 
cars,  lights  streets  and  houses,  rings  door  and  table  bells, 
writes  letters,  makes  fires,  and  even  cures  and  kills  people  ; 
for  we  take  it  as  a  medicine,  and  with  it  execute  criminals. 
What  more  will  be  done  with  it  remains  to  be  seen.  Edison 
assures  us  that  we  are  just  becoming  acquainted  with  it  as  a 
useful  agent,  so  that  we  wonder  what  next  its  world  of  mys- 
tery will  disclose  to  surprise  mankind. 

For  the  present  development  and  use  of  the  electric  light, 
we  are  more  indebted  to  Edison  than  to  any  other  inventor. 
His  faith  in  himself  and  electrical  science  has  wrough 
mightily.  An  editor  says  :  "  His  improvements  in  telegraphic 
apparatus,  and  in  the  working  of  the  telephone,  seem  almost 


COURAGE  AND  SELF-CONFIDENCE.  275 

to  have  exhausted  the  possibilities  of  electricity.  In  like 
manner  the  discovery  of  the  phonograph,  and  the  application 
of  its  principles  in  the  aerophone,  by  which  the  volume  of 
sound  is  so  amplified  and  intensified  as  to  be  made  audible  at 
a  distance  of  several  miles,  seem  to  have  stretched  the  laws 
of  sound  to  their  utmost  limit.  We  are  inclined  to  regard 
him  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world.  While  Huxley, 
Tyndall,  Spencer,  and  other  theorists  talk  and  speculate,  he 
quietly  produces  accomplished  facts,  and,  with  his  marvelous 
inventions,  is  pushing  the  whole  world  ahead  in  its  march  to 
the  highest  civilization,  making  life  more  and  more  enjoy- 
able." 

When  Edison  had  labored  two  years  in  his  own  laboratory, 
he  said,  "Two  years  of  experience  proves,  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  the  electric  light,  for  household  purposes,  can  be  produced 
and  sold,"  for  which  he  was  severely  criticised,  and  even 
ridiculed.  But  long  since  he  fulfilled  his  own  prophecy,  as 
the  increased  convenience  and  comfort  of  families  bear  faith- 
ful witness. 

Edison's  remarkable  achievements  in  electrical  science  are 
represented  by  the  excellent  illustration, — a  fine  tribute  of 
art  to  the  genius  and  spirit  of  the  great  inventor,  whose  per- 
severance, industry,  patience,  and  power  of  endurance,  are 
almost  without  a  parallel.  He  ordered  a  pile  of  chemical 
books  from  New  York,  London,  and  Paris.  "  In  six  weeks  he 
had  gone  through  the  books,"  writes  a  co-laborer,  "written  a 
volume  of  abstracts,  made  two  thousand  experiments  on  the 
formulas,  and  had  produced  a  solution,  the  only  one  in  the 
world  that  would  do  the  very  thing  he  wanted  done,  namely, 
record  over  two  hundred  words  a  minute  on  a  wire  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  long.  He  has  since  succeeded  in  record- 
ing thirty-one  hundred  words  in  a  minute.'' 

Charles  Goodyear  purchased  an  India  rubber  life-preserver 
as  a  curiosity.  He  was  told  that  rubber  would  be  of  great 
value  for  a  thousand  things,  if  cold  did  not  make  it  hard  as 
stone,  and  heat  reduce  it  to  liquid.  "  I  can  remedy  that,"  he 
said  to  himself,  after  turning  the  matter  over  in  his  mind  for 
a  time.  The  more  he  pondered,  the  more  confident  he  was 
that  he  could  do  it.  Experiment  after  experiment  failed. 
The  money  he  put  into  the  research  was  sunk.  His  last  dol- 
lar was  spent.  His  family  suffered  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 


276  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

His  best  efforts  were  baffled,  and  his  best  friends  forsook  him 
because  they  thought  he  was  partially  insane.  A  gentleman 
inquired  after  him,  and  he  was  told,  "  If  you  see  a  man  with 
an  India  rubber  cap,  an  India  rubber  coat,  India  rubber  shoes, 
and  an  India  rubber  purse  in  his  pocket,  with  not  a  cent  in  it,- 
that  is  Charles  Goodyear."  But  Goodyear  was  not  a  lunatic. 
It  was  faith  in  his  ability  to  do  that  caused  him  to  pursue  the 
idea  of  vulcanized  rubber  with  such  persistency.  For  five 
years  he  battled  with  obstacles  that  would  have  disheartened 
men  of  less  determination,  counting  poverty,  hardship,  and 
the  ridicule  of  friends  nothing,  if  he  could  only  accomplish  his 
purpose  ;  and  this  he  expected  to  do,  as  really  as  he  expected 
to  live.  Finally  his  efforts  were  crowned  with  success.  Faith 
did  it.  It  was  a  practicable  thing  ;  he  believed  in  it,  and  he 
believed  in  himself  also  ;  and  so  he  bent  his  noblest  efforts  to 
the  enterprise,  and  won. 

Columbus  believed  that  there  was  a  new  world  beyond 
the  untraversed  sea,  and  that  he  himself  was  able  to  find  it. 
Year  after  year  he  sought  in  vain  the  patronage  that  would 
make  his  project  possible.  Though  opposed,  thwarted,  ridi- 
culed, and  even  persecuted,  he  pressed  his  suit  over  and  over. 
Adverse  circumstances  seemed  to  strengthen  his  purpose,  and 
make  him  invincible.  In  the  darkest  hour  he  never  lost  heart. 
Faith  in  himself  and  his  great  enterprise  finally  triumphed. 

Franklin  believed  that  lightning  and  electricity  were  iden- 
tical. More  famous  scientific  men  than  himself  believed 
otherwise,  but  this  fact  did  not  modify  his  own  opinion.  His 
conviction  deepened  as  he  pondered  the  matter.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  prove  what  he  believed,  by  the  aid  of  a  kite.  He 
disclosed  his  purpose  only  to  his  son,  lest  he  should  be  made 
the  butt  of  ridicule.  But  he  succeeded.  Faith  in  himself  over- 
came obstacles,  adverse  opinions,  and  current  theories,  and  he 
won  immortal  fame.  The  same  has  been  true  of  great  states- 
men, explorers,  discoverers,  inventors,  and  the  world's  best 
workers  generally.  Faith  in  their  own  ability  and  purpose 
made  them  persistent,  and  finally  victorious.  Our  own  land 
is  a  fruitful  illustration  of  this  truth,  from  the  time  the  Pil- 
grims sought  freedom  to  worship  God  on  these  shores.  The 
eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews  is  a  good  record  of  facts.  By 
faith  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  warned  of  God  of  things  not  seen 
as  yet,  prepared  the  Mayflower  to  the  saving  of  their  house- 


COURAGE  AND  SELF-CONFIDENCE.  277 

holds,  and  set  sail  for  a  place  which  they  should  afterwards 
receive  for  an  inheritance.  By  faith  they  took  up  their  abode 
in  the  land  of  promise,  which  was  a  strange  country,  in- 
habited only  by  savages  and  wild  beasts,  and  here  they  laid 
the  foundations  of  this  great  republic.  By  faith  they  endured 
privations  and  hardships,  not  counting  their  lives  dear  unto 
themselves,  if  they  could  possess  a  country  of  their  own.  By 
faith  they  passed  through  the  Red  Sea  of  difficulty,  in  tilling 
the  soil,  establishing  a  government,  planting  churches  and 
schools,  until,  out  of  their  weakness  being  made  strong,  they 
waxed  valiant  and  mighty,  turning  to  flight  the  armies  of  the 
aliens.  By  faith  Washington  led  the  American  army  and 
achieved  independence,  whereby  he  became  known  as  the 
"Father  of  his  Country,"  securing  for  himself  and  his  pos- 
terity the  unexampled  thrift  of  a  free  nation.  By  faith  Lin- 
coln came  to  his  reign  in  a  time  of  great  darkness  and  peril, 
when  slavery  threatened  to  destroy  the  government ;  and  he 
broke  the  chains  of  oppression  and  saved  the  land  from  over- 
throw, whereby  he  became  known  as  the  "  Saviour  of  his 
Country.''  But  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  all  those,  who, 
through  faith,  have  builded  a  great  nation,  whose  material, 
intellectual,  and  moral  resources  are  without  parallel.  With- 
out faith  such  an  outcome  was  impossible ;  our  secular 
national  life  is  as  impossible  as  the  moral  without  it.  States- 
men, historians,  scientists,  inventors,  teachers,  merchants, 
and  artisans  must  believe  that  they  are  equal  to  any  task  be- 
fore them,  to  make  such  a  result  certain. 

Without  faith  in  men  and  means,  not  one  day  of  a  true  life 
can  be  lived.  "  I  have  no  faith  in  editors,"  says  a  faithless 
citizen,  as  he  takes  up  the  morning  paper  only  to  lay  it  down 
again,  for  he  cannot  believe  its  news.  "  I  have  no  faith  in 
cooks  ;  whole  families  have  been  poisoned  by  them,"  and  he 
cannot  eat  his  breakfast.  "I  have  no  faith  in  men,"  and  so 
he  declines  to  do  business  with  them,  lest  he  be  cheated.  "  I 
have  no  faith  in  engineers  ;  they  are  a  drunken  class,"  and  he 
refuses  to  take  the  train  for  the  city  lest  his  life  be  sacrificed 
by  a  reckless  engineer.  Before  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
it  is  proven  that  a  single  day  of  real  life  cannot  be  lived  with- 
out faith  in  men  and  enterprises. 

As  with  the  individual,  so  with  communities, —  difficulties 
develop  faith,  and  great  enterprises  follow. 


278  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

The  winter  of  1866-67  was  unusually  severe,  so  that,  on 
some  days,  it  was  impossible  to  run  a  ferry-boat  between 
Brooklyn  and  New  York.  On  many  days  merchants  were 
longer  in  going  from  their  homes  in  Brooklyn  to  their  desks 
in  New  York,  than  passengers  were  in  traveling  from  New 
York  to  Albany.  The  public  said  :  "  This  must  not  be  ;  we 
must  have  a  bridge  !  "  And  they  built  one,  although  fourteen 
years  were  required  for  the  stupendous  work. 

Ordinary  faith  would  stagger  before  such  an  enterprise  as 
the  Brooklyn  bridge ;  but  the  discoveries,  inventions,  experi- 
ences, and  progress  of  previous  ages  made  faith  that  was 
equal  to  the  occasion,  possible.  "  It  is  not  the  work  of  any 
one  man  or  any  one  age.  It  is  the  result  of  the  study,  of  the 
experience,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  many  men  of  many 
ages.  It  is  not  merely  a  creation,  but  a  growth.  In  no  pre- 
vious period  of  the  world's  history  could  this  bridge  have  been 
buiit."  A  hundred  years  ago  there  was  little  or  no  faith  in 
such  mammoth  enterprises. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

DAVID   STARR   JORDAN. 

ON    PURPOSE BIRTHPLACE    AND    PARENTAGE YOUTHFUL    CHARACTER- 
ISTICS  IN     SCHOOL LOVE      OF     NATURE AT     COLLEGE THE     TEACHER 

AND    INVESTIGATOR WITH    AGASSIZ    AT    PENIKESE PRESIDENT    OF    INDI- 
ANA UNIVERSITY ACCEPTS  THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  LELAND  STANFORD  JUNIOR 

UNIVERSITY IN    PRIVATE    LIFE IN    THE    CLASS    ROOM AN    IMPRESSIVE 

LECTURER HIS    LITERARY    WORK SENSE    OF    HUMOR AS    A    UNIVERSITY 

PRESIDENT VIEWS     ON     EDUCATION PERSONALITY -- SCIENTIFIC     WORK. 

SINGLENESS    OF    PURPOSE. 

"The  youth  gets  together  his  materials,"  says  Thoreau, 
"  to  build  a  bridge  to  the  moon,  or  perchance  a  palace  or  tem- 
ple on  the  earth,  and,  at  length,  the  middle- 
ageJ  man   concludes  to   build  a  woodshed 
with  them." 

Now,  vrhy  not  plan  for  a  woodshed  at  first, 
and  save  this  waste  of  time  and  materials  ? 

But  this  is  the  very  good  of  it.  The  gath- 
ering of  these  materials  will  strengthen  the 
youth.  It  may  be  the  means  of  saving  him 
from  idleness,  from  vice.  So  long  as  you 
are  at  work  on  your  bridge  to  the  moon,  you 
will  shun  the  saloon,  and  we  shall  not  see 
you  on  the  dry-goods  box  in  front  of  the  corner  grocery.  I 
know  many  a  man  who  in  early  life  planned  only  to  build  a 
woodshed,  but  who  found  later  that  he  had  the  strength  to 
build  a  temple,  if  he  only  had  the  materials.  Many  a  man 
the  world  calls  successful  would  give  all  life  has  brought  him 
could  he  make  up  for  the  disadvantages  of  his  lack  of  early 
training.  It  does  not  hurt  a  young  man  to  be  ambitious  in 
some  honorable  direction.  In  the  pure-minded  youth,  ambi- 
tion is  the  source  of  all  the  virtues.  Lack  of  ambition  means 
failure  from  the  start.  The  young  man  who  is  aiming  at 
nothing  and  who  cares  not  to  rise,  is  already  dead.  There  is 
no  hope  for  him.  Only  the  sexton  and  the  undertaker  can 
serve  his  purposes.. 


280  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

The  old  traveler,  Rafinesque,  tells  us  that  when  he  was  a 
boy,  he  read  the  voyages  of  Captain  Cook,  and  Pallas,  and 
Le  Vaillant,  and  his  soul  was  fired  with  the  desire  to  be  a 
great  traveler  like  them.  "And  so  I  became  such,"  he  adds 
shortly. 

If  you  say  to  yourself,  "I  will  be  a  naturalist,  a  traveler, 
a  historian,  a  statesman,  a  scholar  ;  ''  if  you  never  unsay  it  ; 
if  you  bend  all  your  powers  in  that  direction,  and  take  advan- 
tage of  all  those  aids  that  help  toward  your  ends,  and  reject 
all  that  do  not,  you  will  sometime  reach  your  goal.  The 
world  turns  aside  to  let  any  man  pass  who  knows  whither  he 
is  going. 


kAVID  STARR  JORDAN,  president  of  the  Leland  Stan- 
ford Junior  University,  was  born  at  Gainesville,  New 
York,  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  February,  1851.  His 
father  was  a  farmer  in  comfortable  circumstances,  who  cared 
a  great  deal  more  for  the  elder  poets  than  for  the  current 
agricultural  literature.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  ability 
and  force,  characterized  by  strength  of  will,  depth  of  feeling, 
and  pithiness  of  speech.  Children  resemble  their  parents  ; 
"  the  apple  does  not  fall  far  from  the  tree."  Dr.  Jordan  seems 
to  owe  his  rare  executive  ability  to  his  mother,  while  from  his 
father  he  inherited  his  fine  literary  sense.  He  grew  up  a  shy, 
serious  lad,  with  large  ambitions  and  a  taste  for  poetry.  He 
liked  to  wander  off  into  the  woods  by  himself,  where  his 
sharp  eyes  were  already  becoming  accustomed  to  the  fine 
print  of  nature.  The  instinct  for  generalizing  manifested 
itself  early  in  him,  if  we  are  to  believe  tradition.  It  is  said 
that  he  once  attempted  to  classify  the  Assyrian  kings  ;  but  as 
the  materials  at  hand  supplied  him  with  data  for  but  two 
kinds,  the  good  and  the  bad,  the  task  was  too  simple,  and  he 
gave  it  up. 

Reputations  are  easily  wrecked.  Young  Jordan  developed 
a  marked  distaste  for  the  routine  labors  of  the  farm,  and  was 
consequently  called  lazy  by  the  neighbors.  The  fact  that  he 
collected  butterflies  and  flowers  during  his  waking  hours,  and 
read  poetry,  did  not  modify  that  judgment.  Possibly  his 
father  was  blamed  for  allowing  the  boy  to  waste  his  time 


DAVID  STARE  JORDAN.  281 

picking  daisies.  At  any  rate  the  son  was  held  up  as  a  warn- 
ing to  other  boys.  Nothing  worse  could  be  said  of  a  farmers 
son  than  that  he  was  lazy. 

He  was  anything  but  lazy.  Master  Jordan  was  sent  to  the 
village  school,  where  he  had  to  get  his  daily  lessons,  and  after- 
ward to  the  academy  for  young  ladies  in  the  neighboring 
town  of  Warsaw,  there  being  no  secondary  school  for  boys 
convenient  to  his  home.  He  spent  his  spare  hours  in  the 
fields.  Thus  he  learned  French  and  Latin,  read  history,  and 
grew  intimate  with  the  best  American  and  English  poets  ; 
and  he  made  a  catalogue  of  the  plants  of  his  native  county. 
He  was  allowed  more  freedom  in  his  school  work  than  if  he 
had  been  put  through  the  routine  education  of  the  period  for 
boys.  In  later  years  he  comments  upon  the  value  of  such 
training.  "  We  know,"  he  says,  "  that  there  are  some  boys 
whose  natural  food  is  the  Greek  root.  There  are  others  whose 
dreams  expand  in  conic  sections,  and  whose  longings  for  the 
finite  or  infinite  always  follow  certain  paraboloid  or  ellipsoid 
curves.  There  are  some  to  whom  the  turgid  sentences  of 

Cicero  are  the  poetry  of  utterance But  there  are 

other  students  ....  to  whom  the  structure  of  the  oriole's 
nest  is  more  marvelous,  as  well  as  more  poetical,  than  the 
structure  of  an  ode  of  Horace.'' 

An  education  of  this  kind  was  the  best  one  possible  for  a 
naturalist,  however  bad  it  might  have  been  for  a  village 
schoolmaster.  Its  effect  was  seen  when,  in  1869,  he  entered 
Cornell  University  with  the  first  freshman  class.  The  youth 
of  eighteen  was  found  to  be  an  authority  on  the  habits  of  bees 
and  the  flora  of  Genesee  and  Wyoming  counties  •  and  also  on 
such  homely  subjects  as  hoof-rot  in  sheep.  He  had  already 
begun  to  teach  at  the  Warsaw  academy.  At  Cornell  he 
speedily  pushed  to  the  front.  He  was  appointed  an  instructor 
in  botany  in  his  junior  year.  In  his  senior  year  he  became 
president  of  the  Natural  History  Society,  which  had  a  mem- 
bership that  has  since  been  influential  in  scientific  circles. 

Mr.  Jordan  was  graduated  from  Cornell  in  1872  with  the 
degree  of  M.  S.  He  is  the  only  man  who  ever  received  the 
Master's  degree  from  that  university  upon  completion  of  an 
undergraduate  course.  It  may  be  added  that  he  shares  with 
Dr.  Andrew  D.  White  alone  the  distinction  of  having  had 
an  honorary  degree  from  the  same  university — that  of  LL.D., 


282  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

granted  in  1886.  Upon  his  graduation  from  Cornell  he 
was  called  to  Lombard  University,  Galesburg,  Illinois,  as 
professor  of  natural  history,  where  he  began  the  study  of 
the  fishes  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  the  Great  Lakes — a 
work  which  he  continued  during  the  many  years  of  his  resi- 
dence in  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Indiana.  His  summer 
vacations  he  spent  in  profitable  scientific  excursions  to  various 
lands.  He  identified  himself  with  the  training  school  of  Jean 
Louis  Agassiz  on  the  island  of  Penikese  when  it  was  opened, 
and  remained  a  friend  of  Agassiz  until  the  death  of  that 
great  scientist  in  1873.  In  1874  he  returned  to  Penikese  as 
lecturer  in  marine  botany.  In  1875  he  was  graduated  in  med- 
icine from  the  Indiana  Medical  College,  and  in  the  same  year 
became  professor  of  biology  at  Butler  University,  near  Indian- 
apolis. He  was  an  assistant  on  the  United  States  Fish  Com- 
mission from  1877  to  1891.  In  1879  he  became  professor  of 
zoology  at  the  Indiana  University,  a  position  which  he  held 
until  1885,  when  he  was  made  president  of  the  institution.  In 
1891  he  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Indiana  University  to 
take  up  his  life  work  as  president  of  the  Leland  Stanford 
Junior  University  in  California, 

In  private  and  in  public  life  Dr.  Jordan  is  a  man  of  the 
simplest  habits.  "  What  always  strikes  even  a  casual 
observer  in  Jordan,"  says  Professor  Anderson,  "is  that  he 
seldom  does  things  as  other  men  do  them.  If  it  cannot  always 
be  said  that  his  way  is  the  best,  his  unfailing  success  attests 
that  it  is  anyhow  the  best  for  him.  In  bearing,  phrase,  turn 
of  wit  and  simplicity  of  life  he  is  unique,  and  that  without 
the  slightest  affectation  of  originality.  This  was  true  of  him 
as  a  student.  He  was  probably  the  best  man  of  his  time  at 
college,  yet  he  was  rarely  seen  to  study.  He  paid  his  ex- 
penses in  one  way  and  another  by  his  own  labor,  yet  he  was  a 
man  of  leisure."  This  testimony  is  from  a  college  friend  and 
classmate.  "  Perhaps  Jordan  does  not  see  everything,"  he 
adds  ;  "  it  is  enough  for  him  to  see  what  is  vital.  Those  who 
have  time  may  dwell,  if  they  will,  in  the  skirts  and  suburbs 
of  things  ;  Jordan  strikes  for  the  center.  He  has  the  sense  of 
an  Indian  for  direction,  and  may  be  relied  upon  to  bring  his 
followers  out  of  the  woods  as  promptly  as  any  guide  who 
could  be  mentioned." 

In  the  classroom  and  laboratory  Dr.  Jordan  is  an  inspira- 


DAVID  STARR  JORDAN.  283 

tion  to  all  who  come  in  contact  with  him.  He  has  the  per- 
sonal magnetism  requisite  to  a  teacher,  to  begin  with  ;  and 
he  has  in  addition  that  rare  sense  of  adequacy  in  the  expres- 
sion of  his  thoughts  which  Franklin  so  well  knew  the  value 
of,  when  he  attributed  to  its  cultivation  a  great  part  of  his 
success  in  science  and  statesmanship.  One  of  Jordan's  most 
marked  characteristics  is  his  love  of  sincerity,  his  hatred  of 
shams,  hypocrisy,  pretense.  He  presents  what  he  knows  to 
be  true,  in  the  most  direct  language  of  which  he  is  capable. 
He  is  absolutely  frank  in  his  dealings  with  his  subject  before 
his  classes.  He  knows  what  he  is  trying  to  do. 

Dr.  Jordan  is  an  impressive  speaker  upon  the  lecture  plat- 
form. He  makes  use  of  none  of  the  elocutionary  devices,  but 
speaks  as  he  talks,  simply,  clearly,  sincerely,  as  one  man  to 
others.  He  is  strikingly  undramatic  ;  it  is  always  he  and 
none  other  that  is  speaking.  Where  another  man  would 
identify  himself  with  this  interest  or  that,  and  translate  his 
thought  into  physical  exemplifications  as  he  went  along,  in 
order  to  bear  in  upon  his  audience  the  truth  in  his  mind,  Dr. 
Jordan  retains  at  all  times  his  almost  prophetic  personality, 
and  is  the  more  effective  for  it.  He  uses  no  gestures,  scorns 
the  rhetorical  effects  of  climax,  speaks  clearly  in  a  pleasing 
voice,  and  convinces  because  of  his  own  belief  in  what  he  is 
saying.  His  illustrations  are  the  happiest  possible.  They 
illuminate  rather  than  ornament,  and  are  drawn  from  every 
source.  His  generalizations  are  brilliant  to  the  point  of 
epigram.  Not  the  least  attractive  feature  of  his  style  is  his 
humor.  Few  men  are  so  well  endowed  with  the  sense  of 
humor  as  he. 

As  a  writer,  Dr.  Jordan  is  a  man  of  distinct  attainments. 
The  same  qualities  that  mark  the  expression  of  his  thought 
upon  the  lecture  platform  are  shown  in  his  prose  style. 
Simplicity,  directness,  fervor,  wide  and  accurate  knowledge, 
imagination,  humor, —  in  short,  the  chief  literary  virtues,  and 
some  others, —  are  eminently  present  with  him  when  he  writes. 
He  exemplifies  in  a  striking  way  Herbert  Spencer's  idea  that 
economy  of  attention  is  the  first  requisite  of  a  good  style. 

His  keen  sense  of  humor  has  already  been  alluded  to,  but 
no  casual  allusion  will  express  the  place  that  the  humorous 
holds  in  his  life.  Lowell  somewhere  has  said  that  only  those 
who  knew  him  best  could  know  that  he  was  a  humorist  in  the 


284  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

morning  as  well  as  in  the  afternoon.  Jordan,  too,  is  a  humor- 
ist in  the  morning.  He  is  a  humorist  all  the  time.  Strangers 
are  sometimes  puzzled  to  know  what  to  think  of  him  when 
gravely  assenting  to  some  absurdity,  or  when,  with  a  straight 
face,  he  caps  a  pretentious  piece  of  foolishness  by  something 
obviously  so  foolish  that  even  the  one  addressed  has  to  stretch 
his  ears  to  credit  it.  A  case  in  point  is  the  famous  article 
upon  a  mythical  "  Sympsychograph,"  printed  (1896)  in  the 
Popular  Science  Monthly.  This  burlesque  purported  to  be  an 
account  of  experiments  in  "  mental  photography,''  whereby  an 
absent  cat  was  photographed  by  means  of  "thought  waves'' 
springing  from  her  mental  image  in  the  brain  of  the  "  Astral 
Camera  Club  of  Alcalde.''  So  many  readers  took  the  whim 
seriously  that  the  magazine  had  to  print  an  editorial  explain- 
ing the  fun. 

It  is  as  a  university  president  that  Dr.  Jordan  is  most 
widely  known  and  loved.  In  1885  he  was  made  president  of 
the  Indiana  State  University.  During  his  administration  of 
six  years  he  raised  that  institution  from  a  position  of  obscurity 
to  a  position  among  the  leading  western  colleges  ;  and  this  he 
did  in  spite  of  the  niggardly  appropriations  by  the  State  Legis- 
lature ;  in  spite,  too,  of  the  remoteness  of  the  seat  of  the 
university.  In  1891  he  entered  upon  the  presidency  of  Stan- 
ford University.  The  problem  here  was  as  difficult  as  any 
problem  that  a  university  president  has  had  to  face.  Not  only 
had  the  new  president  no  faculty,  no  traditions,  no  momentum 
of  scholarly  attainment  behind  him  ;  he  had  also  no  students 
to  educate.  He  had  nothing  to  begin  upon.  The  university 
was  to  be  created  out  of  hand.  But  he  had  the  great  faith 
that  overcomes,  and  brought  with  him  to  California  Stanford's 
first  faculty  of  thirty-eight  brilliant  young  men,  "  to  lecture  in 
marble  halls  to  empty  benches."  The  benches,  as  benches 
will  when  brilliant  men  lecture  to  them,  filled  themselves 
with  young  men  and  young  women  from  the  beginning,  and 
there  was  another  great  university  in  the  world.  The  success 
of  Stanford  University  dates  from  the  appointment  of  David 
Starr  Jordan  to  be  its  first  president. 

Dr.  Jordan  believes  that  the  end  of  education  is  power  — 
the  will  and  the  ability  to  be  useful  in  the  world.  Training 
and  inspiration  alone  will  justify  a  scheme  of  teaching.  If 
these  be  not  present,  if  cyclopedic  wisdom  be  substituted  for 


DAVID  STARK   JORDAN.  285 

them,  or  any  other  ideal  be  substituted  for  them,  the  educa- 
tional plan  fails  ;  for  a  man  who  is  merely  a  repository  of 
knowledge  is  worth  neither  more  nor  less  than  his  equivalent 
shelf-full  of  books  in  the  market-place.  He  is  not  strong1. 
He  is  not  an  educated  man.  He  is  an  absorbent.  He  is  a 
sponge.  He  is  a  repository  of  other  men's  ideas,  with  no 
ideas  of  his  own  to  give  in  exchange.  He  may  have  been 
instructed,  but  he  has  not  been  educated.  "  The  magnet 
attracts  iron,  to  be  sure,''  he  says,  "to  the  student  w^lio  has 
learned  the  fact  from  a  book  ;  but  the  fact  is  real  to  the  stu- 
dent who  has  himself  felt  it  pull.  It  is  more  than  this  —  it  is 
enchanting  to  the  student  who  has  discovered  the  fact  for 
himself.  To  read  a  statement  of  the  fact  gives  knowledge, 
more  or  less  complete,  as  the  book  is  accurate  or  the  memory 
retentive.  To  verify  the  fact  gives  training  ;  to  discover  it 
gives  inspiration.  Training  and  inspiration,  not  the  facts 
themselves,  are  the  justification  of  science-teaching.  Facts 
enough  we  can  gather  later  in  life,  when  we  are  too  old  to  be 
trained  or  inspired.  He  whose  knowledge  comes  from  author- 
ity, or  is  derived  from  books  alone,  has  no  notion  of  the  force 
of  an  idea  brought  first-hand  from  human  experience." 

Any  consideration  of  Dr.  Jordan's  educational  position 
must  necessarily  include  a  reference  to  the  "elective  system,'' 
for  no  educator  has  more  unequivocally  espoused  this  system 
than  he.  Men  are  born  different,  he  says  :  therefore  they 
require  individual  training,  rather  than  the  training  afforded 
by  a  curriculum  based  upon  averages.  "No  two  students 
require  exactly  the  same  line  of  work  in  order  that  their  time 
in  college  may  be  spent  to  the  best  advantage.  The  college 
student  is  the  best  judge  of  his  own  needs,  or,  at  any  rate, 
he  can  arrange  his  work  for  himself  better  than  it  can  be 
done  beforehand  by  any  committee  or  by  any  consensus  of 
educational  philosophers.  The  student  may  make  mistakes 
in  this,  as  he  may  elsewhere  in  much  more  important  things 
in  life  ;  but  here,  as  elsewhere,  he  must  bear  the  responsibility 
of  these  mistakes.  The  development  of  this  sense  of  responsi- 
bility is  one  of  the  most  effective  agencies  the  college  has  to 
promote  the  moral  culture  of  the  student.  It  is  better  for  the 
student  himself  that  he  should  sometimes  make  mistakes  than 
that  he  should  throughout  his  work  be  arbitrarily  directed  by 
others." 


236  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Physically  as  well  as  mentally  Dr.  Jordan  is  ''a  massive 
man,  as  imperturbable  as  a  mountain."  He  lives  upon  simple 
fare,  keeps  regular  hours,  and  turns  off  his  work  promptly. 
His  nerves  never  fail  him  ;  he  never  worries.  He  is  never  in 
a  hurry  for  fear  something  will  not  be  done.  Consequently 
he  can  do  four  men's  work  without  knowing  it.  The  only 
thing  that  ever  bothers  him  is  society  small  talk.  He  is  never 
happy  at  a  reception  or  a  swell  dinner,  with  its  chatter,  or  its 
smoking,  drinking,  and  speech-making.  He  plays  first  base 
on  the  faculty  baseball  team  by  way  of  recreation,  or  goes  off 
tramping  through  "fresh  woods  and  pastures  new"  in  quest 
of  unnamed  birds  and  fishes.  He  does  not  own  the  silk  hat 
of  the  traditional  college  president.  His  dignity  does  not 
depend  upon  the  clothes  he  wears.  He  is  a  part  of  the  Palo 
Alto  ranch,  where  professors  and  students  and  horses  and 
meadow  larks  and  humming  birds  grow  up  together,  each 
respecting  the  rights  of  the  other,  and  all  of  them  unafraid  ; 
the  ranch  of  the  finest  fellow-feeling  in  the  world,  where  the 
quail  and  the  robins  are  tamest,  because  there  is  no  one  there 
who  has  the  desire  to  throw  stones  at  them.  His  favorite 
quotation  is  the  saying  of  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  "  Die  Luft  der 
Freiheit  welit  (Freedom  is  in  the  air)."  Freedom  is  in  the  air 
at  Stanford  University. 

Dr.  Jordan's  contributions  to  the  literature  of  science  have 
been  numerous  and  important.  In  1877  he  published  "A 
Partial  Synopsis  of  the  Fishes  of  Upper  Georgia  ;  with  Sup- 
plementary Papers  on  the  Fishes  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
and  Indiana,"  consisting  of  papers  reprinted  from  the  Annals 
of  the  New  York  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  Volume  XI. 
In  1880  he  was  appointed  special  agent  of  the  United  States 
Census  Bureau  for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  into  the  marine 
industries  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  While  upon  this  duty,  with 
the'  help  of  Professor  Charles  H.  Gilbert,  he  made  the  first 
comprehensive  survey  ever  attempted  of  the  fresh-water  and 
marine  fishes  of  the  west  coast.  The  immediate  results  of 
this  labor  are  embodied  in  the  scattered  bulletins  of  the 
United  States  Fish  Commission,  while  the  economic  aspects 
are  discussed  in  the  "Fisheries"  section  of  the  Tenth  Census 
Report.  In  1882  appeared  the  "Synopsis  of  the  Fishes  of 
North  America,"  in  two  volumes,  comprising  nearly  twelve 
hundred  pages,  the  authorship  of  which  is  shared  with  Dr. 


DAVID  STARK   JORDAN.  ^  28? 

Gilbert.  An  earlier  work,  "The  Manual  of  the  Vertebrate 
Animals  of  the  Northern  United  States,  inclusive  of  Marine 
Species,"  has  gone  through  a  number  of  printings,  and  has 
grown  from  the  small  pocket  edition  of  1876  to  a  stout  octavo 
volume  of  nearly  four  hundred  pages.  It  attempts  to  give 
such  guidance  with  respect  to  the  classification  of  vertebrate 
animals  as  a  botanical  key  gives  with  respect  to  our  flora. 
"Science  Sketches,"  published  in  1888,  consists  of  a  number  of 
unconnected  sketches  and  addresses,  written  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctly with  a  view  to  the  popular  presentation  of  scientific 
thought.  It  was  of  these  papers  that  Professor  Anderson  said 
that  they  "are  marked  by  a  union  of  sound  knowledge,  with  a 
whimsical  humor  and  delicate  fancy  which  is  sufficiently  rare 
among  men,  whether  scientific  or  literary,  and  which  goes  far 
to  convince  readers  that  Jordan  might  have  attained  a  place 
in  literature  perhaps  as  distinguished  as  his  place  in  science." 
Another  popular  presentation  of  scientific  studies  is  outlined 
in  his  "Factors  in  Organic  Evolution,"  which  is  a  syllabus  to 
a  course  of  introductory  lectures.  It  was  printed  in  1894. 
"The  Fishes  of  Sinaloa"was  printed  in  1895.  In  1896  and 
1898  appeared  the  "Fishes  of  North  and  Middle  America,"  in 
three  volumes,  3136  pages,  done  in  collaboration  with  Dr. 
Barton  W.  Evermann,  ichthyologist  of  the  United  States 
Fish  Commission.  This  manual  is  the  most  complete  and 
authoritative  of  its  kind  that  has  yet  been  written. 

In  1896  Dr.  Jordan  was  sent  out  by  the  President  as  com- 
missioner in  charge  of  the  fur  seal  investigation  authorized 
by  Congress.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  regulations  formu- 
lated by  the  Paris  tribunal  of  arbitration  had  failed  to  accom- 
plish their  object,  there  still  remained  the  question  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  with  regard  to  pelagic 
sealing.  Dr.  Jordan  spent  a  season  in  Alaska  in  the  careful 
investigation  of  seal  life  on  the  islands,  and  the  results  of  the 
expedition  are  recorded  in  three  large  volumes,  "Fur  Seals  and 
Fur  Seal  Islands  of  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,"  1619  pages  in 
all,  with  a  supplementary  volume  of  plates.  The  work  was 
printed  by  the  Government  in  1898. 

"Footnotes  to  Evolution"  was  published  in  1898.  The 
book  comprises  twelve  popular  addresses  on  the  evolution  of 
life.  "  Animal  Life,"  a  modern  text-book  of  zoology,  is  by 
Dr.  Jordan  and  Dr.  Vernon  L.  Kellogg,  New  York,  1900.  In 


288  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  introduction  it  is  called  "  an  elementary  account  of 
ecology  ;  that  is,  of  the  relations  of  animals  to  their  surround- 
ings and  of  the  responsive  adapting  or  fitting  of  the  life  of 
animals  to  these  surroundings." 

Besides  his  writings  on  scientific  subjects.  Dr.  Jordan  has 
written  some  notable  papers  in  education  and  ethics.  Of 
these,  the  collection  called  "Care  and  Culture  of  Men"  was 
published  in  1896.  It  is  a  volume  made  up  of  some  eighteen 
addresses  relating  to  higher  education.  "  The  Story  of  the 
Innumerable  Company  "  (1896)  is  a  series  of  nine  papers  upon 
ethical,  religious,  and  historical  subjects.  "The  Strength  of 
Being  Clean"  (1900)  is  a  Red  Cross  address  upon  the  quest 
for  unearned  happiness.  "Imperial  Democracy  "  (1899)  is  an 
eloquent  repudiation  of  the  commercial  and  materialistic 
spirit,  so  far  as  American  politics  is  concerned. 

A  book  of  poems,  "  To  Barbara,  with  Other  Verses,"  was 
privately  printed  in  1897.  "  The  Book  of  Knight  and  Bar- 
bara "  (1899)  is  a  collection  of  tales  for  children. 

SINGLENESS   OF   PURPOSE. 

'RCHBISHOP  LEIGHTON  said,  "  To  him  that  knoweth 
not  the  port  to  which  he  is  bound,  no  wind  can  be 
favorable."  One  wind  is  about  as  good  for  him  as  an- 
other. 

He  may  be  well  equipped,  a  good  craft,  sails  set,  ballast 
right,  cargo  well  packed  ;  but  he  wants  somewhere  to  go,  a 
port  to  enter. 

All  his  activity  and  preparation  are  useless  without  a  pur- 
pose. A  ship  without  rudder,  chart,  or  compass,  on  a  track- 
less sea,  tossed  about  like  a  cockle-shell  by  wind  and  wave,  is 
an  apt  symbol  of  thousands  of  youths  who  undertake  to  cross 
the  ocean  of  life  without  a  definite  aim.  They  are  more  likely 
to  make  shipwreck  than  a  safe  harbor. 

By  singleness  of  purpose  we  mean  an  early  decision  to  fol- 
low a  certain  occupation  or  profession  as  a  life  work,  keeping 
that  object  constantly  in  view,  true  as  the  needle  to  the  North 
Pole,  and  pushing  for  it  through  sunshine  and  storm  to  the 
goal.  That  is  what  the  great  apostle  meant  when  he  said, 
"  This  one  thing  I  do."  -That  single  purpose  took  possession 
of  his  soul,  and  all  the  powers  of  his  nature  combined  and 
bent  to  its  accomplishment.  In  his  triumphant  declaration, 


PRESIDENT  DAVID   STARR   JORDAN. 


ASTOR, 


SINGLENESS  OF  PURPOSE.  291 

"  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize,"  is  not  only  a  daunt- 
less spirit,  but  also  the  lofty  aim  that  never  knows  defeat. 

Perhaps  the  wise  man  put  it  best  of  all,  when  he  said  to 
the  young  :  "  Let  thine  eyes  look  right  on,  and  let  thine  eye- 
lids look  straight  before  thee.  Ponder  the  path  of  thy  feet, 
and  let  all  thy  ways  be  established.  Turn  not  to  the  right 
hand  nor  to  the  left."  That  is  singleness  of  purpose. 

Seventy  years  ago  there  lived  a  boy  in  Farming-ton,  New 
Hampshire,  who  thought  more  of  a  book  and  school  than  he 
did  of  anything  else.  He  was  then  only  six  years  of  age. 
When  he  was  eight  years  old,  a  neighbor,  wife  of  Hon. 
Nehemiah  Eastman,  and  sister  of  Hon.  Levi  Woodbury,  see- 
ing him  pass  her  house,  called  him  in  and  gave  him  some 
clothes,  of  which  he  was  in  great  need.  At  the  same  time  she 
inquired  if  he  knew  how  to  read. 
"  Yes,  pretty  well,"  he  answered. 

"Come,  then,  to-morrow,  and  see  me  at  my  house,"  she 
continued.  She  knew  of  the  lad's  fondness  for  books,  and  her 
object  was  to  encourage  him. 

Early  the  next  morning,  little  Henry  Wilson  (for  that  was 
his  name)  presented  himself  before  the  good  lady,  when  she 
said  to  him  :  - 

"  I  had  intended  to  give  a  Testament  to  some  good  boy  who 
would  be  likely  to  make  a  proper  use  of  it.     You  tell  me  you 
can  read  ;  now,  take  this  book  and  let  me  hear  you." 
He  read  a  whole  chapter. 

'"Now  carry  the  book  home,"  she  added  ;  "read  it  entirely 
through,  and  you  shall  have  it." 

Seven  days  from  that  time,  he  called  again  at  Mrs.  East- 
man's house,  and  announced  that  he  had  read  the  book 
through. 

"  Why,  so  soon  ?  It  cannot  be  !"  Mrs.  Eastman  exclaimed  ; 
"  but  let  me  try  you." 

So  she  examined  him  until  fully  convinced  that  he  had  read 
the  Testament  through. 

"  The  book  is  yours  now,"  she  kindly  said  ;  and  this  was 
the  first  book  he  ever  owned. 

When  he  was  ten  years  old,  his  father,  who  was  a  poor  day- 
laborer,  and  worked  in  a  sawmill,  bound  him  by  indenture  to 
a  hard-working  farmer,  to  serve  him  on  his  farm  until  the  age 
of  twenty-one.  The  bargain  was  that  he  should  have  one 


292  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

month  schooling  each  year  in  winter,  but  none  in  summer, 
with  board  and  clothes,  and,  at  the  close  of  his  service, 
should  receive  six  sheep  and  a  yoke  of  oxen. 

He  proved  a  faithful  worker,  and  endeared  himself  to  his 
guardian  and  family. 

At  twenty-one,  he  received  his  six  sheep  and  yoke  of  oxen, 
and  sold  them  at  once  for  eighty-four  dollars.  This  was  a 
large  amount  for  one  who  had  never  possessed  so  much  as 
two  dollars,  and  who  had  never  spent  so  much  as  a  single 
dollar. 

But,  during  the  eleven  years  of  hard  service  on  the  farm, 
he  had  become  rich  in  manly  thought  and  aims.  Every 
moment  of  leisure  and  many  hours  at  night,  when  he  ought  to 
have  been  in  bed,  he  devoted  to  reading  and  study.  Mrs. 
Eastman  and  Judge  Whitehouse  loaned  him  books  from  their 
ample  libraries. 

At  twenty-one,  he  had  read  nearly  a  thousand  volumes, 
including  all  the  numbers  of  the  North  Amenican  Review  pub- 
lished at  that  time.  These  books  embraced  the  leading  works 
of  British  and  American  statesmen  and  historians,  together 
with  the  works  of  such  writers  as  Irving,  Cooper,  and  Scott. 
His  strong  desire  for  learning,  as  well  as  his  love  of  country, 
were  strengthened  by  this  course  of  reading  ;  so  he  resolved  to 
remove  to  Natick,  Massachusetts,  where  he  could  earn  much 
more  in  making  brogans,  and,  at  the  same  time  enjoy  greater 
facilities  for  mental  impovement. 

In  twenty  years  from  the  time  he  began  to  make  brogans 
in  Natick,  he  became  United  States  senator,  taking  the  seat 
vacated  by  Hon.  Edward  Everett.  In  less  than  forty  years 
from  the  time  he  became  the  "  Natick  cobbler,"  he  was  vice- 
president  of  the  United  States. 

His  single  aim  made  it  possible  for  him  to  surmount  the 
difficulties  and  endure  the  privations  that  crowded  between 
•  these  two  extremes. 

When  a  southern  member  of  the  United  States  Senate 
called  northern  workingmen  "  mud-sills,"  Mr.  Wilson  rose  in 
his  seat,  with  the  fire  of  indignation  flashing  in  his  eyes,  and 
repelled  the  charge,  saying  :  — 

"Poverty  cast  her  dark  and  chilling  shadow  over  the  home 
of  my  childhood  and  want  was  there  sometimes,  an  unbidden 
guest.  At  the  age  of  ten  years,  to  aid  him  who  gave  me 


SINGLENESS  OF  PURPOSE.  293 

being  in  keeping  the  gaunt  specter  from  the  hearth  of  the 
mother  who  bore  me,  I  left  the  home  of  my  boyhood,  and 
went  to  earn  my  bread  by  daily  labor.'' 

It  was  such  a  fearless,  withering  rebuke  of  Southern  aris- 
tocracy, that  despised  honest  toil,  as  to  fairly  make  it  stagger. 

Such  men  as  Wilson,  under  the  control  of  a  lofty  aim  from 
boyhood,  have  made  our  country  what  it  is  —  its  commerce, 
manufactures,  mechanic  arts,  liberty,  learning,  government, 
and  Christian  institutions. 

As  the  burning-glass  focalizes  the  rays  of  the  sun  upon 
a  single  point,  increasing  the  heat  a  hundredfold,  so  single- 
ness of  purpose  concentrates  the  mighty  native  powers  of 
these  men  upon  the  nation  to  push  it  forward  in  the  path  to 
glory. 

It  is  the  absence  of  this  magical  quality  that  leaves  thou- 
sands of  youth  to  waste  their  lives  in  changing  from  one  occu- 
pation to  another,  bringing  nothing  to  pass,  and  accomplish- 
ing nothing  for  their  country  or  race. 

Some  of  them  try  to  do  too  little  ;  others,  too  much. 

The  latter  class  have  "too  many  irons  in  the  fire,"  and  so 
they  spoil  all.  We  know  that  Dr.  Adam  Clark  claimed  that 
a  resolute  man  cannot  have  too  many  irons  in  the  fire.  He 
said,  "Keep  them  all  agoing,  poker,  tongs,  and  all.'7 

But  there  is  the  trouble.  Not  one  in  a  thousand  can  "  keep 
them  all  agoing  ''  ;  they  have  neither  tact  nor  wisdom  enough 
for  that.  Trying  to  take  care  of  too  many  irons,  they  burn 
the  whole. 

"The  master  of  one  trade  will  support  a  wife  and  seven 
children,  and  the  master  of  seven  will  not  support  himself." 

Even  Napoleon,  who  exclaimed  when  told  that  the  Alps 

were  in  the  way  of  his  armies,  "  Then  there  shall  be  no  Alps  ! " 

and  built  the  Simplon  Road  over  almost  inaccessible  heights, 

-  even  he  had  too  many  irons  in  the  fire  at  Waterloo,  and, 

in  consequence,  lost  all. 

The  men  who  look  into  everything  are  the  ones  who  see 
into  nothing.  Let  them  look  into  one  thing  until  they  look  it 
through,  and  they  will  finally  see  into  everything. 

Another  New  Hampshire  boy  was  bent  on  teaching  school. 
He  began  to  teach  in  his  native  town  at  fifteen  years  of  age. 
By  the  best  improvement  of  his  time,  he  was  qualified  to 
teach  at  that  early  age  in  that  locality.  He  resolved  to  make 


294  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

it  his  life  pursuit,  but  his  father  opposed  him  in  this  decision, 
and  would  grant  him  no  aid. 

But  this  noble  purpose  held  the  son's  soul  so  firmly  within 
its  power  that  obstacles  and  opposition  only  intensified  his 
aim.  He  packed  up  his  few  effects,  and  started  on  foot  for 
Boston.  He  began  to  sweep  and  chore  at  Bryant  &  Stratton's 
Commercial  College  to  pay  his  way,  for  he  had  only  eighteen 
cents  in  his  pocket  when  he  reached  the  city.  At  the  same 
time,  he  pursued  his  studies  with  more  earnestness  than  ever. 
Within  a  few  months  he  was  promoted  from  janitor  to 
teacher ;  and,  in  ten  years  more,  he  owned  the  institution  at 
the  head  of  which  he  has  been  for  twenty  years. 

There  is  no  grander  spectacle  than  that  of  a  youth  gird- 
ing his  loins  for  the  battle  of  life,  his  sharp  eye  upon  the  flam- 
ing goal  in  the  distance,  his  soul  on  fire  with  enthusiasm  for 
victory,  and  all  barriers  crumbling  beneath  his  feet. 

These  are  the  few  who  were  not  born  to  die.  They  live  for 
one  noble  object,  and  so  they  live  for  all. 

Agassiz  was  so  consecrated  to  the  one  great  purpose  of  his 
life  that  he  said  to  a  lyceum  committee  who  proposed  to  pay 
him  three  hundred  dollars  each  for  a  course  of  six  lectures,  "  I 
cannot  afford  to  lecture  for  money."  Something  higher  and 
nobler  engrossed  his  soul  —  success  in  his  life  work.  He  lived 
for  that,  and  so  made  all  knowledge  and  science  grander. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JAMES    CARDINAL,   GIBBONS. 

HIS    CONCEPTION    OF   SUCCESS THE    OFFICE   OF    CARDINAL HIS    BIRTH- 
PLACE — -THE  CARDINAL'S  CATHEDRAL  —  EARLY  TRAINING  —  FIRST  PRIESTLY 

LABORS MADE   BISHOP ATTENDS    THE     (ECUMENICAL     COUNCIL    OF   1869  — 

AT      RICHMOND  --  ARCHBISHOP       AT       FORTY-THREE  --  CHARACTERISTICS  

HABITS THIRD     PLENARY    COUNCIL     OF     BALTIMORE THE    CATHOLIC    UNI- 
VERSITY   CREATED     CARDINAL A    WELL-ROUNDED     CHARACTER  —  HOME 

SURROUNDINGS  —  IN    PUBLIC    LIFE.       DUTY. 


My  idea  of  success  differs  somewhat  from  that  received 
generally,  when  regarded  from  the  mere  human,  realistic, 

or  utilitarian  standpoint.  Success,  from  a 
Christian  standpoint,  consists  more  in  the 
supernatural  perfection  of  intellect  and  will, 
than  in  the  attainment  of  mere  material 
advantages.  The  success  of  man  must  be 
measured  not  only  by  the  brief  span  of  life 
which  measures  his  earthly  existence,  but 
it  must  reach  into  the  life  beyond  the  grave. 

y"^kV\  Success  which  has  only  time  and  a  transitory 

^•yli          existence  as  its  object  is,  according  to  the 

Christian's  idea,  only  secondary. 
True  success  is  attained  by  the  conscientious  discharge  of 
duty,  and  by  firm   adherence  to  principle.      The  man  who 
keeps  his  destiny  before  his  eyes,  and  who  sacrifices  neither 
duty  nor  principle,  will  be  a  success. 


'HE  position  of  a  bishop  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
is  one  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  accompanied  by 
no  little  difficulty.  The  bishops  are  the  rulers  of  the 
Church,  each  one  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  the 
entire  body,  as  the  governors  of  provinces  to  the  nation,  with 
the  superadded  dignity,  that  they  share  in  the  universal  gov- 


296  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ernment  of  the  Church  and  have  each  a  voice  in  her  councils. 
The  miter  means  increased  honor,  but  it  also  means  an 
increase  of  care  and  solicitude.  The  bishop  has  to  deal  with 
his  superiors  at  Rome,  with  his  equals  in  the  hierarchy,  and 
with  his  inferiors,  the  priests  and  people  of  his  diocese.  He 
has,  also,  to  uphold  the  honor  of  the  Church  before  the  public 
at  large,  and,  in  a  country  like  this,  where  so  many  critical 
eyes  are  upon  him,  where  a  fierce  light  beats  around  his 
throne,  he  requires  more  than  the  ordinary  amount  of  cau- 
tion. All  this  is  still  more  true  of  a  caji^inal,  one  who  has 
reached  the  highest  dignity  in  the  power  of  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff  to  bestow.  The  cardinal  is  a  prince,  he  enters  into 
relations  with  crowned  heads,  he  becomes  ipso  facto  interna- 
tional, and,  as  one  of  the  papal  electors,  and  himself  a  possible 
candidate  for  the  papacy,  he  draws  the  eyes  of  the  world  to 
himself. 

Twice  in  the  history  of  the  American  Church,  one  of  its 
prelates  was  raised  to  the  purple,  the  late  Cardinal  McCloskey, 
Archbishop  of  New  York,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  His 
Eminence  James  Gibbons,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore.  The  out- 
lines of  the  life  here  drawn  will  show  in  what  manner  Cardi- 
nal Gibbons  prepared  himself  for  the  honors  that  awaited 
him,  and  how  he  has  borne  them. 

Baltimore  has  been  the  home  of  Cardinal  Gibbons  during 
the  greater  part  of  his  life.  There  are  few,  if  any,  of  whom 
it  may  be  said  what  is  a  unique  fact  in  the  life  of  our  Ameri- 
can cardinal.  He  was  baptized,  ordained,  consecrated,  and 
he  received  the  cardinal's  birretta  in  the  same  church,  the 
one  which  is  now  his  cathedral,  and  where,  according  to  all 
probability  his  obsequies  will  be  held,  and  in  which  his  re- 
mains will  lie  beside  those  of  most  of  his  illustrious  predeces- 
sors. The  Cardinal  is  thus  completely  identified  with  his 
cathedral,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest  edifices  in  his  native 
Baltimore,  and  one  of  the  oldest  Catholic  churches  north  of 
that  portion  of  the  United  States  which  once  formed  part  of 
the  Spanish  and  French  dominions.  The  corner  stone  of  this 
venerable  edifice  was  laid  by  Archbishop  Carroll,  but  it  was 
not  dedicated  until  1818,  by  Archbishop  Marechal,  the  second 
successor  of  Carroll.  It  has  witnessed  the  growth  of  the 
Catholic  church  in  the  United  States,  and  three  national  and 
a  number  of  provincial  councils  have  been  held  within  its 


JAMES  CARDINAL   GIBBONS.  297 

walls,  wherein,  at  one  time  or  another,  the  voice  of  the  most 
illustrious  bishops  of  the  church  has  been  heard.  Sixty-seven 
years  ago  an  infant  was  held  over  the  baptismal  font  in  this 
sacred  edifice,  who,  in  after  years,  was  to  be  seated  on  its 
archiepiscopal  throne.  This  was  James  Gibbons,  born  on 
July  23, 1834.  His  early  years  were  spent  in  Ireland,  the  land 
of  his  ancestors,  and  there  he  received  confirmation  from  a 
man  whose  name  and  deeds  will  long  be  remembered  in  the 
Irish  Church,  the  great  John  Mac  Hale,  Archbishop  of  Tuam. 

In  1853,  James  Gibbons  returned  to  the  country  of  his  birth, 
and  took  up  his  abode  in  the  far  South,  in  beautiful  New 
Orleans.  His  sojourn  in  Louisiana,  the  land  of  sunshine  and 
flowers,  was  brief,  for,  feeling  the  call  to  the  priesthood,  he 
placed  himself  under  the  care  of  the  Sulpitian  Fathers,  to 
whom  the  cardinal  has  ever  remained  sincerely  attached. 
He  graduated  at  their  college  of  St.  Charles  near  Ellicott  City 
in  1857,  and  proceeded  thence  to  the  higher  studies  in  St. 
Mary's  Seminary,  at  Baltimore. 

The  learned  Kenrick  was,  at  that  time,  Archbishop  of 
Baltimore,  and  the  imposition  of  his  hands  made  James 
Gibbons  a  priest  in  the  cathedral  on  June  30,  1861.  The 
country  was  then  passing  through  the  crisis  of  the  Civil  War, 
but  the  young  priest  had  a  mission  of  peace  to  fulfill,  to  which 
he  has  ever  remained  faithful ;  the  tocsin  of  war  was  not  for 
him. 

At  the  junction  of  Broadway  and  Bank  street,  a  splendid 
Gothic  edifice  commands  to-day  our  admiration.  This  is  St. 
Patrick's.  It  is  only  a  few  years  since  it  was  dedicated  upon 
the  site  of  another  church,  one  of  Baltimore's  landmarks,  old 
St.  Patrick's,  older  than  the  cathedral  and  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  memory  of  its  first  pastor,  that  type  of  mon- 
archical France,  the  Abbe  Moranville,  and  with  Father  James 
Dolan,  who  has  left  a  monument  in  the  hearts  of  those  who 
knew  him.  It  was  to  the  latter,  that  the  Rev.  James  Gibbons 
was  appointed  assistant,  old  St.  Patrick's  becoming  thus  the 
first  scene  of  his  priestly  labors.  His  activity  at  St.  Patrick's 
was  brief,  for  he  was  soon  appointed  pastor  of  St.  Bridget's, 
Canton,  having  under  his  care  the  Catholics  of  Locust  Point, 
and  the  garrison  at  Fort  McHenry.  In  this  position  he 
remained  until  1865.  In  the  meantime  a  change  had  taken 
place  in  Baltimore,  for  the  venerated  Kenrick  had  died  two 


298  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

days  after  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  and  the  following  year, 
the  Right  Rev.  Martin  John  Spalding,  Bishop  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  had  succeeded  to  the  archiepiscopal  See  of  Balti- 
more. It  did  not  take  Archbishop  Spalding  long  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  merits  of  the  unassuming  young  priest 
who  was  filling  the  arduous  duties  of  his  pastorate,  in  an 
obscure  suburb  of  Baltimore,  and,  in  1865,  the  prelate  took 
him  to  the  cathedral,  and  appointed  him  Chancellor  of  the 
diocese.  The  following  year  was  an  important  one  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  America,  and  it  afforded  Father 
Gibbons  an  excellent  opportunity  to  bring  his  talents  into 
action,  thus  raising  him  still  higher  upon  the  candlestick. 
On  October  7,  18GG,  the  Second  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore 
was  convened  by  the  Archbishop,  and  the  Rev.  James  Gibbons 
was  one  of  its  chancellors.  Little  did  he  dream  then,  that  he 
would  preside  at  the  next  one,  as  successor  in  the  See  of 
Baltimore.  The  young  priest  was  thus  brought  into  contact 
with  the  entire  American  Church,  for  there  were  present  seven 
archbishops,  thirty-eight  bishops,  three  mitered  abbots,  and 
more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  theologians, —  a  larger 
synodical  body  than  had  met  anywhere  in  the  Church,  since 
the  Council  of  Trent,  and  yet  small,  when  compared  to  the 
Third  Plenary  Council,  over  which  Archbishop  Gibbons  was 
to  preside.  Among  the  distinguished  persons  who  witnessed 
its  closing  ceremonies,  was  Andrew  Johnson,  president  of  the 
United  States. 

Two  years  later,  Rev.  James  Gibbons  was  made  bishop,  at 
the  early  age  of  thirty-four.  In  March,  18G8,  a  bull  of  Pope 
Pius  IX.  erected  the  state  of  North  Carolina  into  a  Vicariate 
Apostolic.  This  territory,  from  a  human  standpoint,  was 
most  uninviting  to  a  bishop,  but  it  afforded  a  magnificent  field 
for  the  exercise  of  zealous  labor.  The  entire  district  con- 
tained only  three  Catholic  Churches,  two  or  three  priests,  and 
about  one  thousand  Catholics.  It  was  over  this  portion  of  the 
vineyard  that  Father  Gibbons  was  appointed  Vicar  Apostolic, 
in  August,  1868.  Archbishop  Spalding,  his  friend  and  patron, 
consecrated  him  Bishop  of  Adramytum,  the  title  he  bore, 
until  he  was  promoted  to  the  See  of  Richmond.  The  conse- 
cration took  place  in  the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore,  and  Bishop 
Gibbons  entered  his  vicariate  soon  after,  on  All  Saints'  Day. 
The  new  prelate  did  not  allow  the  grass  to  grow  under  his 


JAMES  CARDINAL   GIBBONS.  299 

feet,  nor  did  he  eat  the  bread  of  idleness,  for,  in  a  short  time, 
he  had  built  six  churches,  and  prepared  and  ordained  a  num- 
ber of  priests.  He  began  his  labors,  by  opening  a  school 
which  he  personally  conducted,  and,  traveling  over  the  state, 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  every  adult  Catholic  in  his 
vicariate.  Neglecting  no  opportunity  of  doing  good,  he  would 
preach  at  all  times,  and  everywhere,  and  I  have  heard  the 
Cardinal  relate  how  he  preached  in  a  Protestant  Church, 
from  a  Protestant  pulpit,  to  a  Protestant  congregation,  that 
had  been  summoned  together  by  a  Protestant  bell.  Seeing 
how  little  the  Catholic  Church  was  known  and  understood, 
he  determined  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  it  by  means  of 
the  press.  "  The  Faith  of  our  Fathers,"  a  brief  exposition  of 
Catholic  doctrine  soon  established  his  reputation  as  an  author, 
as  well  by  the  solidity  of  the  matter  it  contained,  as  by  the 
controversy  it  evoked.  It  has  gone  through  many  editions, 
and  it  has  been  translated  into  a  number  of  languages.  We 
may  say,  that  no  Catholic  book  published  in  this  country  has 
met  with  such  success. 

Shortly  after  his  appointment  as  Vicar  Apostolic  of  North 
Carolina,  one  of  those  opportunities  was  presented  to  Bishop 
Gibbons,  such  as  come  into  the  life  of  few  Catholic  bishops. 
Since  the  Council  of  Trent,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
entire  Church  had  never  been  convened  in  an  oecumenical 
council,  until  in  1869,  that  of  the  Vatican  met  at  Rome. 
Bishop  Gibbons,  in  company  with  Archbishop  Spalding,  at- 
tended its  sessions.  There  he  had  an  opportunity,  not  only  of 
frequently  meeting  the  great  Pius  IX.,  but  of  coming  into 
contact  with  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  hierarchy 
throughout  the  world.  There  was  Dupanloup,  Bishop  of 
Orleans,  Von  Ketteler  of  Mayence,  Deschamps  of  Malines, 
Manning  of  Westminster,  Pecci,  the  future  Leo  XIII.,  and  a 
host  of  others,  while  that  clever  diplomatist  and  statesman, 
Antonelli,  was  still  at  the  head  of  affairs  at  Rome.  But  the 
council  was  of  short  duration,  for  the  thunders  of  Victor 
Emmanuel's  artillery  were  soon  heard  approaching  the 
Eternal  City,  and  the  Fathers  of  the  Council,  among  them 
Bishop  Gibbons,  returned  home,  the  council  being  suspended. 

Bishop  Gibbons  had  been  four  years  presiding  over  the 
Church  of  North  Carolina,  when  the  death  of  Bishop  McGill 
left  the  See  of  Richmond  vacant.  The  Vicar  Apostolic  of 


300  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

North  Carolina  was  promoted  to  it  on  July  30,  1872,  the  same 
day  on  which  the  Bishop  of  New«ark,  James  Roosevelt  Bailey, 
was  appointed  to  succeed  the  late  Archbishop  Spalding,  who 
had  died  the  preceding  February.  When  Bishop  Bailey  re- 
ceived the  pallium  from  Archbishop  Wood  of  Philadelphia, 
the  new  Bishop  of  Richmond  was  present  in  the  sanctuary  of 
the  Cathedral  of  Baltimore. 

Bishop  Gibbons,  at  the  head  of  the  diocese  of  Richmond, 
true  to  his  antecedents,  continued  to  walk  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  zealous  predecessor,  and,  under  his  influence,  the  Church 
in  Virginia  received  a  fresh  impulse.  New  churches  were 
built,  while  parochial  schools,  and  institutions  of  charity 
sprang  up  on  all  sides. 

He  had  labored  nearly  five  years  in  Richmond,  when  the 
declining  health  of  Archbishop  Bailey  rendered  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  coadjutor  necessary.  The  Bishop  of  Richmond 
was  named  to  this  office  with  the  title  of  Bishop  of  Jinopolis 
in  July,  1877.  The  archbishop  died  the  following  October, 
and  the  coadjutor  bishop  succeeded  him.  Thus  was  James 
Gibbons,  at  the  age  of  forty-three,  archbishop  of  the  first  See 
in  the  United  States,  and  seated  on  the  episcopal  throne  in 
the  cathedral  that  had  witnessed  his  baptism,  his  ordination, 
and  his  consecration.  He  found  the  diocese  of  Baltimore  in 
a  flourishing  condition,  owing  to  the  zealous  labors  of  his  pred- 
ecessors and  their  efficient  co-workers,  but  he  has  doubled 
the  talents  confided  to  his  care.  In  the  silence  of  his  solemn 
cathedral,  when  in  the  lengthening  shades  of  evening,  he 
kneels  before  the  altar,  at  that  hour  when  memory  loves  to 
linger  on  the  past,  how  many  scenes  must  return  to  the 
Cardinal's  mind  !  Of  all  the  old  familiar  faces  of  his  early 
priesthood  that  flit  before  his  memory,  few  are  left.  Kenrick 
and  Spalding  are  sleeping  beneath  the  high  altar ;  Dubreuil, 
the  venerable  president  of  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  is  resting 
under  the  old  chapel  of  his  former  abode,  not  many  squares 
away  ;  McColgan,  Dolan,  McManus,  Gately,  Foley,  and  many 
more  have  all  left  for  their  eternal  home  ;  another  Foley  wears 
the  miter  in  a  distant  state,  and  the  Cardinal  finds  himself 
almost  the  senior  priest  in  his  diocese. 

And  how  many  things  have  happened  in  these  twenty-four 
years  !  Churches  that  did  not  then  exist,  are  now  in  a 
flourishing  condition  ;  the  younger,  and  larger  portion  of  the 


JAMES  CARDINAL   GIBBONS.  301 

clergy  is  almost  entirely  the  creation  of  the  Cardinal,  whose 
paternal  government  of  his  diocese  and  whose  prudent  and 
peace-loving  disposition  have  made  him  respected,  admired, 
and  beloved  by  all  classes  of  the  community.  Often  have 
those  outside  of  the  Catholic  Church  spoken  in  the  highest 
terms  of  Cardinal  Gibbons,  for  he  has  known  how  to  draw 
hearts  to  himself,  without  surrendering  one  iota  of  principle, 
as  his  sermons  and  public  utterances  testify.  Even  those 
who  may  differ  from  his  opinions,  have  the  greatest  respect 
for  his  judgment,  and  he  has  enjoyed  the  esteem  and  con- 
fidence of  the  greatest  men  in  the  land. 

In  company,  the  Cardinal  is  unassuming,  like  all  men  of  a 
truly  great  soul,  and  he  knows  how  to  descend  to  the  level  of 
the  humblest  as  well  as  to  rise  to  the  elevation  of  the  loftiest. 
His  conversation  is  of  the  widest  range,  nor  does  he  permit  it 
to  lag.  While  alien  to  every  species  of  levity,  he  knows  how 
to  appreciate  and  enjoy  wit  and  repartee.  Yet,  in  general,  he 
is  of  a  serious  bent  of  mind,  and  he  seems  naturally  to  incline 
towards -subjects  more  or  less  useful.  Whenever  the  Cardinal 
invites  the  priests  to  walk  with  him,  as  he  has  occasionally 
invited  a  great  number,  the  conversation  has  spontaneously 
drifted  to  religion,  social  economy,  literature,  and  kindred 
subjects,  and  the  same  tendency  on  his  part  is  noticed  in  a 
general  conversation. 

The  Cardinal  is  a  great  and  habitual  walker.  Twice  a 
day,  morning  and  evening,  the  Cardinal  indulges  in  a  walk, 
and  he  can  outwalk  the  youngest.  The  figure  of  Cardinal 
Gibbons  on  the  aristocratic  Charles,  or  the  busy  Baltimore 
street,  is  a  familiar  one  to  every  Baltimorian,  and  for  all  he  has 
a  graceful  bow,  or  a  kindly  nod,  not  disdaining  to  exchange 
an  occasional  word  with  some  old  woman,  or  little  newsboy. 
The  Cardinal  is  of  the  utmost  regularity  of  habits,  rising  and 
retiring  at  the  same  hours,  and  having  a  fixed  time  for  every 
detail  of  work,  devotion,  or  recreation.  His  is  a  busy  life,  for 
he  is  in  communication  with  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  let- 
ters pour  in  upon  him  from  all  sides,  yet  he  has  found  time  to 
devote  his  leisure  moments  to  writing,  and,  within  these  last 
few  years,  he  has  given  to  the  world  "  Our  Christian  Herit- 
age," and  "The  Ambassador  of  Christ,"  the  latter  being  an 
admirable  book  for  the  clergy. 

This  glimpse  of  what  might  be  named  the  inner  life  of  the 


302  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Cardinal  causes  us  to  turn  aside  for  a  moment  from  the  con- 
sideration of  that  which  is  more  known  to  the  public  at  large. 
Besides  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  more  or  less  similar  to 
those  of  every  diocese,  we  find  in  the  record  of  the  diocese  of 
Baltimore,  and  in  the  life  of  Cardinal  Gibbons  certain  great 
facts  that  have  given  him  a  place  in  history,  and  a  niche  in 
the  temple  of  fame.  To  these  belong  pre-eminently  the  Third 
Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Catholic  University. 

In  1883,  Archbishop  Gibbons  went  to  Rome,  together  with 
the  other  archbishops  of  the  country,  and  the  preliminary 
arrangements  were  made  for  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of 
Baltimore.  This  was  a  great  event  in  the  history  of  the 
American  Church.  Archbishop  Gibbons  was  appointed  Apos- 
tolic delegate,  and,  under  his  presidency,  the  council  met  at 
Baltimore  in  November,  1884.  It  was  now  eighteen  years 
since  that  other  council  in  which  the  Reverend  James  Gib- 
bons, then  a  young  priest,  had  taken  part  under  Archbishop 
Spalding.  Many  of  the  fathers  of  that  body  passed  away, 
and  others  among  them,  Archbishop  Gibbons  himself,  had 
taken  their  place.  A  comparison  of  the  numbers  of  those 
who  assisted  at  both  councils  will  give  an  idea  of  the  growth 
of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  during  the  period 
which  had  just  elapsed.  There  were  present  at  the  Second 
Plenary  Council,  seven  archbishops,  thirty-eight  bishops,  three 
mitered  abbots,  and  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  priests.  At 
the  Third  Plenary  Council,  the  number  of  archbishops  had 
been  doubled,  and  that  of  the  bishops  was  fifty-seven,  besides 
four  administrators  of  sees,  and  one  prefect  apostolic.  There 
were  six  mitered  abbots,  ten  monsignori,  thirty-one  superiors 
of  religious  orders,  eleven  presidents  of  seminaries,  and 
eighty-eight  theologians.  It  was  indeed  an  imposing  sight 
when,  on  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the  council,  the  procession 
marched  to  the  cathedral,  the  bishops  in  miter  and  cope,  and 
the  rest  of  the  clergy,  regular  and  secular,  in  their  respective 
habits.  The  effect  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  upon  the 
Church  in  America  has  been  immense,  and  the  Catholic 
religion  received  a  fresh  impulse.  The  Holy  See  showed  its 
appreciation  of  the  services  which  Archbishop  Gibbons  had 
rendered,  by  appointing  him  cardinal  the  following  year. 
The  venerable  Archbishop  Kenrick  of  St.  Louis,  whose  brother 


JAMES  CARDINAL   GIBSONS.  303 

had  ordained  Archbishop  Gibbons,  bestowed  upon  the  new 
cardinal  the  first  insignia  of  his  dignity  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Baltimore. 

Two  years  later,  His  Eminence  went  to  Rome,  to  receive 
the  cardinal's  hat  from  the  hands  of  His  Holiness.  At  that 
time  the  question  of  proscribing  in  ecclesiastical  circles  the 
organization  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  was  mooted.  Certain 
prelates  beheld  in  them  a  danger  to  the  Church,  and  felt 
inclined  to  class  them  with  forbidden  secret  societies.  The 
Cardinal  did  not  share  this  opinion,  and  it  is  due  to  his  strenu- 
ous efforts  in  their  behalf,  during  his  sojourn  in  Rome,  that 
the  threatened  condemnation  was  averted. 

It  will  be  remembered  with  what  enthusiasm  the  people  of 
Baltimore  received  the  Cardinal,  on  his  return  home.  Multi- 
tudes lined  the  streets  from  his  residence  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  station  where  he  arrived,  and  all  the  Catholic 
churches  sent  large  delegations  to  meet  him.  The  cathedral 
was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  when  the  red-robed  Prince 
of  the  Church  gave  to  the  assembled  multitudes  his  blessing 
from  his  episcopal  throne. 

One  of  the  great  and  lasting  results  of  the  Third  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore,  and  which  will  long  remain  as  its 
enduring  monument,  is  the  Catholic  University  of  America. 
The  gift  of  $300,000  made  by  Miss  Mary  Gwendoline  Caldwell 
to  the  Council,  rendered  the  beginning  of  the  university  pos- 
sible. No  time  was  lost  in  the  preliminaries,  and,  four  years 
after  the  Council,  on  May  24, 1888,  the  corner  stone  of  the  new 
university  was  laid  in  the  outskirts  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  by 
His  Eminence,  the  Cardinal.  The  following  year,  on  Novem- 
ber 13,  the  Cardinal  dedicated  the  Divinity  building,  and  the 
Catholic  University  of  America  was  thus  launched  forth, 
under  favorable  auspices,  and  the  chancellorship  of  the  Car- 
dinal. The  diocese  of  Baltimore  celebrated  about  the  same 
time  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  its  existence,  and,  to 
commemorate  the  event,  the  first  congress  of  Catholic  laymen 
was  held  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  A  few  years  later,  Cardi- 
nal Gibbons  celebrated  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his 
episcopal  consecration  amid  a  splendid  gathering  of  prelates, 
priests,  and  people  who  had  come  from  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, to  do  honor  to  His  Eminence.  The  Pope  himself  sent  a 
testimonial  of  his  regard,  which  was  presented  to  the  Cardinal 


304  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

by  Dr.  Hooker  of  the  American  College,  who  had  been  deputed 
for  the  purpose  by  His  Holiness. 

The  life  of  Cardinal  Gibbons  has  been  an  eminently  suc- 
cessful  one   from  every   standpoint.     Always  priestly,   and 
filled  with  the  sacerdotal  spirit,  his  private  life  is  open  to  the 
severest  criticism,  and  he  may  well  be  held  up  to  his  clergy 
as  a  model,  for  he  has  taught  them  by  his  example,  as  well 
as  by  his  word.     He  is  always  present  at  their  annual  retreats, 
going  through  the  exercises  like  the  youngest  priest,  and 
listening  with  the  greatest  attention  to  the  conferences.     He 
always  closes  the  retreat  himself,  delivering  his  yearly  admo- 
nitions.    He  is  seldom  or  never  absent  from  their  theological 
conferences,  and  a  letter  to  the  diocesan  chancery  is  sure  of 
an  immediate  reply.     There  is  no  red  tape   necessary  to  be 
admitted  to  the  presence  of  His  Eminence,  for  his  manners 
are  simplicity  itself,  and  he  is  truly  a  democratic  American 
citizen.     His  dwelling,  his  room,  all  denote  the  simplicity  of 
his  character,  and  one  will  seek  in  vain  at  his  residence  for 
that  luxury  which   so  frequently  marks  the  houses   of  the 
great.     Besides  some  good  old  paintings  on  the  walls,  there  is 
little  that  will  command  attention  in  the  Cardinal's  residence, 
if  we  except  the  large  library,  and  that  most  valuable  collec- 
tion of  archives.     Laymen  and   strangers  generally  are  re- 
ceived by  the  Cardinal  in  his  parlor,  but  his  own  priests,  who 
know  his  hours,  have  to  go  through  no  other  formality  than 
that  of  knocking  at  his  door. 

In  his  public  life,  the  Cardinal  has  been  no  less  successful, 
and  he  has  steadily  risen  from  honor  to  honor,  without  a  cloud 
to  darken  the  horizon  of  his  fame.  He  has  been  able  to  avoid 
those  conflicts  that  come  into  the  lives  of  some  men,  and  he 
has  made  himself  respected  by  his  peaceable  disposition, 
without  sacrificing  a  principle,  or  compromising  his  dignity. 
Obedient  to  the  teachings  of  his  Divine  Master,  he  has  known 
how  to  practice  forbearance,  and  pardon  faults,  and,  if  any- 
thing is  absent  from  the  Cardinal's  disposition,  it  is  a  revenge- 
ful temper. 

His  caution  and  prudence  are  well  known,  and,  like  many 
great  men,  he  is  fond  of  taking  counsel,  even  in  such  matters 
as  the  composition  of  his  works.  Though  a  true  ecclesiastic, 
he  knows  how  to  appreciate  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  utilize 
whatever  of  good  there  is  in  it.  His  sermons  are  character- 


CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 


u*C 


ASTCP,  LENOX  AND 
FOUNDATIONS 


DUTY.  30? 

ized  by  those  happy  thoughts,  and  bright  flashes  that  render 
the  words  of  a  speaker  so  agreeable  and  impressive.  In  a 
word,  one  does  not  make  the  acquaintance  of  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons/without a  feeling  of  satisfaction,  that  one  has  learned  to 
know  a  great  and  good  man,  who  deserves  the  honors  it  has 
pleased  Providence  to  bestow  upon  him. 

Looking  back  over  the  years  of  his  episcopate,  it  must, 
indeed,  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  the  Cardinal  to  contemplate 
the  progress  made  by  the  Church,  since  the  Third  Plenary 
Council,  and  the  share  he  has  had  in  the  work. 

DUTY. 

F  all  the  watchwords  of  life,  duty  is  the  highest  and 
best.  He  who  sincerely  adopts  it  lives  a  true  life  ;  he 
is  really  the  successful  one.  It  pertains  to  all  parts 
and  relations  of  life.  There  is  no  moment,  place,  or 

condition,  where   its   claims   are  not   imperative.      The  poet 

states  it  well,— 

"  I  slept,  and  dreamed  that  life  was  Beauty ; 
I  woke,  and  found  that  life  was  Duty." 

A  thousand  years  after  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius  had 
buried  Pompeii  beneath  its  burning  lava,  explorers  laid  bare 
the  ruins  of  the  ill-fated  city.  There  the  unfortunate  inhabit- 
ants were  found  just  where  they  were  overtaken  by  the  stream 
of  fire.  Some  were  discovered  in  lofty  attics,  and  some  in 
deep  cellars,  whither  they  had  fled  before  the  approaching 
desolation.  Others  were  found  in  the  streets,  through  which 
they  were  fleeing  in  wild  despair  when  the  tide  of  molten 
death  overwhelmed  them.  But  the  Roman  sentinel  was  found 
standing  at  his  post,  his  skeleton  hand  still  grasping  the  hilt 
of  his  sword,  his  attitude  that  of  a  faithful  officer.  He  was 
placed  there  on  duty,  and  death  met  him  at  his  post, —  the 
fearless  sentinel  that  he  was.  Not  even  the  bursting  of  a 
volcano,  with  its  deluge  of  fire  descending  upon  him,  could 
drive  him  from  his  post,  or  disturb  his  self-control.  It  was  a 
sense  of  duty  that  kept  him  true,  an  example  of  fidelity  to 
a  sacred  trust ;  and  to-day  his  helmet,  lance,  and  breastplate 
are  preserved  in  Naples  as  a  tribute  to  his  memory. 

Mary  Lyon,  founder  of  Mount  Holyoke  Female  Seminary, 


308  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

used  to  say  to  her  pupils  :  "  Go  where  duty  calls.  Take  hold, 
if  necessary,  where  no  one  else  will."  Duty,  as  a  watchword 
and  inspiration,  she  kept  before  them  constantly.  Personal 
obligation,  instead  of  personal  emolument  or  fame,  she  be- 
sought them  to  remember.  At  length  a  contagious  and  fatal 
disease  broke  out  in  the  seminary,  and  the  first  victim  was 
lying  at  the  door  of  death.  Pupils  were  filled  with  alarm, 
many  hastening  to  pack  their  trunks  and  leave  for  home.  A 
scene  of  confusion  and  dismay  followed.  Miss  Lyon,  with 
surprising  self-possession  and  serenity,  called  the  pupils 
together  to  allay  their  fears,  and  impart  lessons  such  as  the 
occasion  suggested  to  her  mind.  "  Shall  we  fear  what  God 
is  about  to  do  ?"  she  said.  "  There  is  nothing  in  the  universe 
that  I  fear,  but  that  I  shall  not  know  all  my  duty,  or  fail  to 
do  it."  On  the  following  day  the  dreaded  malady  prostrated 
her,  and,  in  a  single  week,  she  passed  to  the  spirit  land. 
Her  last  lesson  was  on  duty,  and  her  last  act  was  meeting  its 
demand. 

Unlike  Napoleon  or  Alexander,  Nelson's  watchword  was 
duty.  He  never  fought  for  fame.  His  ambition  was  subject 
to  personal  obligation.  "  England  this  day  expects  each  man 
to  do  his  duty,"  were  the  words  emblazoned  upon  his  colors  in 
the  battle  of  Trafalgar.  If  each  man  did  his  duty,  the  victory 
would  be  complete  ;  if  each  fought  for  fame,  the  battle  would 
be  lost.  Duty  is  so  much  higher  than  glory,  and  so  much 
more  inspiring,  that  victories  hang  upon  it.  At  this  last  and 
crowning  conflict  at  Trafalgar,  he  was  mortally  wounded,  but 
lived  to  know  that  his  triumph  was  complete,  and  expired, 
saying,  "  Thank  God,  I  have  done  my  duty." 

Of  the  same  type  was  Wellington,  who  once  said  to  a 
friend  :  "  There  is  little  or  nothing  in  this  life  worth  living 
for  ;  but  we  can  all  of  us  go  straight  forward  and  do  our 
duty."  Whether  serving  at  home  in  his  family,  or  serving 
his  country  on  the  field,  one  high,  noble  purpose  inspired  him, 
-  duty.  He  did  not  ask,  Will  this  course  win  fame  ?  Will 
this  battle  add  to  my  earthly  glory  ?  But  always,  What 
is  duty  ?  He  did  what  duty  commanded,  and  followed 
where  it  led.  It  was  his  firm  adherence  to  what  he  thought 
was  right,  that  brought  down  upon  him  the  violence  of  a  mob 
in  the  streets  of  London,  assaulting  his  person  and  attacking 
his  house,  when  his  wife  lay  dead  therein. 


DUTY.  309 

When  Sidney,  the  immortal  English  patriot,  was  told  that 
he  could  save  his  life  by  denying  his  own  handwriting,  and 
thus  tell  a  falsehood,  he  replied,  "  When  God  has  brought  me 
into  a  dilemma,  in  which  I  must  assert  a  lie  or  lose  my  life, 
he  gives  me  a  clear  indication  of  my  duty,  which  is  to  prefer 
death  to  falsehood."  A  higher  sense  of  duty,  or  personal 
respect  for  it,  is  not  found  recorded.  It  hallows  human  life 
by  making  death  a  secondary  consideration. 

While  I  am  now  writing,  the  news  comes  that  a  fearful 
conflagration  has  licked  up  five  million  dollars  in  the  heart  of 
Boston  within  a  few  hours.  The  heroic  firemen  found  them- 
selves engaged  in  an  equal  contest  with  the  fiery  demon,  and 
yet  they  staked  their  lives  on  the  issue,  and  four  brave  fel- 
lows went  down  beneath  crumbling  walls  in  their  efforts  to 
conquer.  They  perished  in  the  discharge  of  duty. 

The  foregoing  facts,  better  than  argument,  show  both  the 
nature  and  place  of  duty  in  the  work  of  life.  We  see  it  in 
practical  operation,  always  timely,  honorable,  and  attractive. 
It  cannot  be  discounted  or  even  smirched.  It  stands  out  in 
bold  relief,  supported  by  a  clear  conscience  and  strong  will. 
It  demands  recognition,  and  gets  it. 

Duty  is  something  that  must  be  done  without  regard  to 
discomfort,  sacrifice,  or  death  ;  and  it  must  be  done  in  secret, 
as  well  as  in  public. 

The  doer  is  not  a  "  creature  of  circumstances'' ;  he  is  master 
of  circumstances.  The  power  of  a  trained  conscience  and 
invincible  will  makes  him  superior  to  all  surroundings,  and 
the  discharge  of  duty  becomes  at  once  inevitable  and  easy. 

Luther  was  warned  against  appearing  before  one  Duke 
George,  because  he  was  his  bitter  enemy,  but  he  replied,  "  I 
will  go  if  it  rains  Duke  Georges  all  the  while,  for  duty  calls." 

"  I  am  ready  not  only  to  be  bound,  but  to  die  at  Jerusalem," 
replied  Paul  to  weeping  companions  who  besought  him  not  to 
risk  his  life  in  that  wicked  city.  Duty  was  paramount  to  all 
things  else  ;  it  was  second  to  nothing  on  earth. 

In  the  daily  affairs  of  life,  whether  the  most  important  or 
the  least,  duty  should  command.  Youth  must  come  under  its 
control  as  well  as  age.  The  earlier  its  demands  are  honored 
in  the  home,  social  circle,  shop,  school,  or  college,  the  easier 
will  be  its  service,  and  the  larger  satisfaction  will  it  yield. 
Obedience  to  the  behests  of  duty,  and  the  ruling  desire  to  be 


310  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

useful,  are  cardinal  elements  of  success.  It  is  a  trumpet  call 
that  duty  sounds,  at  which  all  the  nobler  attributes  of  man- 
hood spring  into  life. 

Smiles  says,  "  Duty  is  the  end  and  aim  of  the  highest  life ; 
it  alone  is  true  ; "  and  George  Herbert  says,  "  The  conscious- 
ness of  duty  performed  '  gives  us  music  at  midnight.' 

Closely  allied  with  duty  is  the  choice  of  permanent  values. 
It  is  a  waste  of  time  to  seek  a  good  thing  that  will  last  only  a 
day  or  a  year.  A  transient  blessing  may  be  desirable  in  itself, 
but  if  a  permanent  one  can  be  secured  by  like  effort  in  its 
stead,  it  is  a  very  unwise  use  of  time  to  try  for  the  former 
instead  of  the  latter.  We  ought  to  measure  good  things  by 
the  length  of  time  they  will  be  good.  What  will  help  us  far 
away  in  manhood,  as  well  as  now,  is  surely  more  desirable 
than  what  will  help  us  only  now.  Its  real  worth  must  be  alto- 
gether greater.  Four  years  in  college  may  be  of  some  service 
to  a  young  man  who  means  to  be  a  trader  or  manufacturer, 
but  if  the  same  four  years  in  actual  business  will  be  a  better 
preparation  for  his  life  work,  the  latter  is  worth  more  than 
the  former  to  him,  and  he  ought  to  choose  it. 

Education  is  a  good  thing  for  anyone,  for  it  lasts  through 
life,  and  even  serves  manhood  better  than  it  does  boyhood. 
Hence  it  is  of  the  highest  value,  —  valuable  for  what  it  is 
to-day,  more  valuable  for  what  it  is  to-morrow,  and  most  val- 
uable for  what  it  is  through  life.  Permanent  values  are 
always  far  more  desirable  than  transient  ones  ;  and  in  seek- 
ing them  there  is  higher  discipline  and  more  character. 

Robert  Bloomfield  was  a  poor  boy,  but  he  kept  his  eye  on 
manhood.  He  was  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker  when  he  was 
quite  young,  but  he  expected  to  enjoy  something  better  than 
that  when  he  became  a  man.  He  wanted  an  education  ;  it 
was  the  dream  of  his  early  life,  but  if  he  acquired  it,  his  own 
persistent  efforts  must  do  it.  Reading  might  lead  to  it ;  he 
would  try  it.  His  leisure  moments  became  his  most  valuable 
time,  a  book  being  his  constant  companion.  One  was  placed 
on  a  frame  beside  his  work- bench,  that  he  might  read  a  sen- 
tence now  and  then  when  he  could  look  away  from  his  work 
for  a  moment.  Evenings  until  late  at  night,  and  early  in  the 
morning  before  going  to  his  daily  task,  reading  was  his  pas- 
time. Here  was  all  the  seminary  and  college  he  could  ever 
enjoy.  He  must  make  the  most  of  his  spare  hours  now,  or  he 


DUTY.  311 

could  never  realize  the  fulfillment  of  his  hopes  in  manhood. 
He  was  after  what  was  not  only  a  good  thing  now,  but  some- 
thing that  would  be  vastly  better  for  his  mature  life.  Thus 
animated  by  a  lofty  aim,  he  applied  himself  to  self-improve- 
ment year  after  year,  and  at  forty  years  of  age  he  was  a 
famous  scholar.  The  fulfillment  of  his  hopes  was  realized, 
and  his  soul  was  satisfied,  for  he  had  secured  what  would  be 
to  him  the  richest  boon  through  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
Before  his  death  he  ranked  among  the  most  learned  men  of 
his  day. 

Robert  Bloomfield  sought  and  found  what  was  good  at  the 
start,  and  what  continued  to  be  good  to  the  end  of  his  life. 
Such  should  be  the  aim  of  every  youth  —  choosing  things  per- 
manent rather  than  those  of  transient  value.  Herein  lies  the 
great  worth  of  honesty,  industry,  benevolence,  punctuality, 
and  kindred  virtues  :  time  does  not  limit  their  practical  use, 
for  they  are  just  as  practical  and  valuable  in  age  as  they  are 
in  youth.  It  is  not  so  with  wealth.  Riches  take  to  them- 
selves wings  and  fly  away.  They  often  vanish  when  men 
least  expect  it,  and  even  if  they  remain,  they  may  prove  a 
snare  and  a  curse.  And  the  same  is  true  of  honor  and  fame  ; 
they  are  uncertain  possessions.  Unlike  honesty,  and  the 
train  of  virtues  mentioned,  they  may  sadly  disappoint  us. 
Honesty  is  never  disappointing,  and  it  always  stays  where  it 
is  really  wanted.  Its  market  value  is  never  fluctuating  ;  it  is 
always  at  par,  or  above  —  never  below.  We  can  say  of  it  as 
the  apostle  did  of  charity,  "it  never  faileth."  If  we  could 
say  the  same  of  money  and  fame,  their  values  would  be 
vastly  augmented.  But  we  cannot,  and  so  their  real  worth  is 
materially  impaired. 

Stephen  Girard  placed  the  highest  value  upon  wealth. 
Neither  learning  nor  a  "good  name"  were  of  much  account 
to  him  in  comparison  with  money.  All  things  were  appraised 
according  to  their  fitness  to  produce  riches.  That  which 
would  yield  the  most  dollars  in  the  shortest  time  was  the 
most  valuable  to  him.  Wealth  poured  into  his  coffers,  of 
course,  under  this  regime.  Fortune  was  piled  upon  fortune. 
The  more  he  got,  the  more  he  wanted.  The  passion  for  get- 
ting increased  to  a  mania.  The  use  of  money  was  scarcely 
thought  of  —  only  its  possession  ;  it  was  valued  for  its  own 
sake.  And,  after  a  long  life  of.  (Jru.dpjery,  with  none  of  that 


312  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

peace  and  sweetness  that  should  have  been  infused  into  it,  he 
was  forced  to  quit  this  world  without  a  till  in  his  coffin,  or  a 
pocket  in  his  shroud.  It  must  have  been  a  sore  disappoint- 
ment to  leave  these  earthly  conveniences  on  this  side  of  the 
grave,  but  such  is  the  way  with  acquisitions  that  do  not  last. 
The  folly  of  choosing  the  transient  instead  of  the  permanent 
is  finally  manifest. 

Youth  is  the  period  of  discipline  ;  and  discipline,  true  and 
thorough,  is  a  blessing  that  lasts  beyond  this  life.  Whether 
it  be  an  education  that  is  sought,  or  a  trade,  or  an  art,  disci- 
pline is  the  blessing  that  should  result  —  discipline  of  the 
threefold  nature,  physical,  mental,  and  moral.  This  pays 
well  for  the  most  self-sacrificing  and  persistent  effort  in  any 
and  every  pursuit ;  nobler  manhood  and  womanhood  is  surer 
to  be.  It  is  this  thought  and  aim  that  should  be  uppermost, 
whether  a  person  be  engaged  in  manual  labor,  reading,  study, 
or  other  necessary  effort  ;  discipline  should  be  the  one  grand 
acquisition  sought,  because,  like  the  charity  of  inspiration,  it 
will  last  forever.  "  Charity  never  faileth  ;  but  whether  there 
be  prophecies,  they  shall  fail ;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they 
shall  cease ;  whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish 
away." 

Horace  Greeley  possessed  so  many  attributes  of  the  suc- 
cessful man  that  frequent  reference  to  him  is  indispensable. 
Few  men  illustrate  the  subject  in  hand  so  well  as  he.  From 
his  boyhood,  he  had  an  eye  upon  permanent  values.  All 
through  his  life  that  which  was  of  general  utility  for  the 
longest  time  won  his  support,  whether  it  was  a  book,  utensil, 
machine,  coat,  daily  paper,  or  a  virtue.  He  was  a  stalwart 
foe  to  pretentious  display,  the  spirit  of  caste,  fashion,  and 
the  undue  deference  paid  to  wealth  and  position.  These  were 
transitory  things,  and,  therefore,  comparatively  valueless. 

He  once  wrote  of  the  man  who  has  run  the  race  of  life  : 
"Ask  not  whether  he  has  or  has  not  been  successful,  accord- 
ing to  the  vulgar  standard  of  success.  What  matters  it  now 
whether  the  multitude  has  dragged  his  chariot,  rending  the 
air  with  idolizing  acclamations,  or  howled  like  wolves  on  his 
track,  as  he  fled  by  night  from  the  fury  of  those  he  had  wasted 
his  vigor  to  serve  ?  What  avails  it  that  broad  lands  have 
rewarded  his  toils,  or  that  all  has,  at  the  last  moment  been 
stricken  from  his  grasp  ?  Ask  not  whether  he  brings  into 


DUTY.  313 

retirement  the  wealth  of  the  Indies,  or  the  poverty  of  the 
bankrupt,  whether  his  couch  be  of  down  or  of  rushes,  his 
dwelling  a  hut  or  a  mansion.  He  has  lived  to  little  purpose, 
indeed,  if  he  has  not  long  since  realized  that  wealth  and 
renown  are  not  the  true  ends  of  exertion,  nor  their  absence  the 
conclusive  proof  of  ill  fortune.  Whoever  seeks  to  know  if  his 
career  has  been  prosperous  and  brightening  from  its  outset  to 
its  close,  if  the  evening  of  his  days  shall  be  genial  and  bliss- 
ful, should  ask  not  for  broad  acres,  nor  towering  edifices,  nor 
laden  coffers.  Perverted  old  age  may  grasp  these  with  the 
unyielding  clutch  of  insanity,  but  they  add  to  his  cares  and 
anxieties,  not  to  his  enjoyments.  Ask,  rather,  Has  he  mas- 
tered and  harmonized  his  erring  passions  ?  Has  he  lived  a 
true  life  ? " 

These  words  indicate  the  trend  of  the  writer's  life, —  to  per- 
manent values.  That  he  may  have  carried  his  views  to  an 
extreme  will  not  be  denied.  He  might  have  selected  a  hand- 
some coat  instead  of  a  homely  one,  when  he  chose  the  most 
durable  ;  his  manners  might  have  been  simple,  sincere,  and 
polite,  without  being  awkward  or  odd.  There  is  a  permanent 
value  with  grace,  as  there  is  a  transient  value  with  it.  The 
first  should  be  sought  and  found. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


EDWARD    EVERETT    HALE.  *. 

ON  "WHAT  CAREER"  -PART  IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  CELEBRA- 
TION   IN    BOSTON DIVISIONS    OF    HIS    CAREER  —  AS    A    JOURNALIST AS    A 

CHRISTIAN     MINISTER SOCIAL     REFORMER PUBLICIST     AND     PATRIOT 

CHARACTER    OF    HIS    WRITINGS AS    AN    EDUCATOR ANTIQUARIAN HIS 

VIEWS   AS    TO   THE   PURPOSES    OF   LIFE HIS    UPLIFTING   PERSONALITY.      NOT 

ABOVE    ONE'S    BUSINESS. 

vlt  is  better  to  do  one  thing  well  than  two  things  by  halves  ; 
better  to  learn  one  thing  thoroughly  than  to  get  a  smattering 

of  two ;   better  to  stick  to  one  duty  till  it  is 
finished  than  to  make  two  beginnings. 

When  the  occupation  is  chosen,  and  pre- 
pared for,  consecrate  yourself  to  it  that  its 
work  shall  be  well  done.  "Be  ye  perfect, 
even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  Heaven  is 
perfect."  That  is  the  rule.  Whatever  you 
do,  do  that  work  well.  Do  it  as  a  leader 
does  it,  and,  above  all,  do  not  blow  your  own 
trumpets  ;  nor,  which  is  the  same  thing,  ask 
other  people  to  blow  them.  No  trumpeter 
ever  rose  to  be  a  general.  If  the  power  to  lead  is  in  you, 
other  men  will  follow.  If  it  is  not  in  you,  nothing  will  make 
them  follow.  It  is  for  you  to  find  the  eternal  law  of  the 
universe  and  to  put  yourself  in  harmony  with  that  law. 

It  is  not  simply  the  training  of  the  voice  to  speak  ;  it  is  not 
simply  training  the  eye  to  see  ;  far  less  is  it  the  training  of 
the  fingers  to  this  service  or  that  toil.  It  is  that  we  may 
come  unto  a  perfect  man,  trained  in  faith,  hope,  and  love,— 
in  faith  to  look  above  the  world  ;  in  hope  to  look  beyond 
time  ;  in  love  to  look  outside  the  lesser  life  into  that  com- 
munion in  which  we  are  one  with  all  God's  children,  one  even 
with  himself.  ^—^ 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  315 

'HE  twentieth  century  began  in  the  city  of  Boston,  Mass., 
with  a  ceremony  so  profoundly  religious,  and  so  en- 
tirely  democratic  and  popular,  that  a  much-traveled, 
critical,  sober-minded  Harvard  University  professor 
who  carefully  studied  it  as  a  social  phenomenon  of  a  unique 
kind  afterward  described  it  as  the  most  impressive  religious 
ceremony  he  ever  had  witnessed  —  one  that  had  renewed  his 
faith  in  religion  and  democracy. 

The  man  who  conceived  the  idea  of  Boston  in  1900  doing 
what  was  done  in  Boston  in  1700,  who  set  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury Club  at  work  arranging  for  the  service  at  the  State 
House,  who  afterward  was  selected  inevitably  to  be  the 
priestly  celebrant  of  the  midnight  worship,  who  stood  on  the 
balcony  of  the  ancient  building  designed  by  Bulfinch  and 
with  stentorian  voice  in  prayer  and  by  reading  of  the  Nine- 
tieth Psalm  led  the  devotions  of  the  several  thousand  inhabit- 
ants of  .the  city  who  filled  the  streets  near  the  State  House 
and  then  overflowed  on  the  historic  Common,  was  none  other 
than  Edward  Everett  Hale,  now  in  his  eightieth  year,  Boston's 
leading  citizen  for  many  years,  and  one  of  the  greatest —  some 
would  say,  the  greatest, —  of  living  Americans. 

Two  facts  immediately  arrest  the  attention  of  one  who  at- 
tempts to  draw  a  pen-picture  of  Dr.  Hale.  First,  the  length 
of  his  service  to  mankind  and  the  breadth  of  his  sympathy 
and  activity  ;  second,  the  individuality  of  his  methods  and 
words.  The  mold  in  which  he  was  cast  was  broken  at  his 
birth.  No  one  like  him,  or  even  faintly  resembling  him,  ap- 
pears among  the  Bostoiiians  or  New  Englanders  of  this  gen- 
eration, or  did  in  the  one  which  immediately  followed  his 
own. 

His  career  as  a  journalist  began  ere  he  graduated  from 
Harvard  College  in  1839,  being  then  only  seventeen  years  old. 
His  career  as  a  minister  began  in  1842;  the  time  between  this 
and  1846,  when  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the 
Unity,  Worcester,  Mass.,  being  spent  as  a  ministerial  free- 
lance. His  career  as  a  learner  and  teacher  in  charitable  and 
philanthropic  activity  began  about  the  same  time,  when  he 
was  elected  to  serve  on  Worcester's  Board  of  Overseers  of 
the  Poor.  His  career  as  a  publicist  began  with  fighting 
against  the  institution  of  human  slavery,  when  in  1845  he 
wrote  and  published  a  pamphlet  on  "  Emigration  to  Texas  "  ; 


316  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

and  this  was  followed  by  acts  and  writings  which  entitled 
him  to  be  called  one  of  the  builders  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Kansas  as  a  mother  of  men  and  women  who  love  liberty  and 
literacy.  His  career  as  a  man  of  letters  began  with  contribu- 
tions to  the  Rosary  in  1848,  and  has  not  ceased.  His  career 
as  an  educator  began  as  a  teacher  of  Latin  in  the  Boston 
Latin  School  during  1839-41,  and  since  then  he  has  held  many 
responsible  advisory,  administrative  positions,  such  as  over- 
seer at  Harvard,  as  trustee  of  Antioch  College,  as  councilor 
of  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle,  etc.  Ob- 
viously, a  life  so  varied  in  its  avocations,  and  so  long  in  its 
tenure,  as  this,  must  have  been  an  exceptional  one. 

To  describe  adequately  the  spirit  underlying  all  this  variety 
and  range  of  activity,  and  the  individual  methods  of  thought 
and  action  which  have  stamped  Dr.  Hale's  career,  is  no  easy 
task.  Even  as  his  exterior  is  so  unlike  that  of  any  other  man, 
so  are  his  methods.  But  the  motives  that  have  governed  him 
lie  open  to  the  gaze  of  all  ;  and  few  men  have  so  fully  re- 
vealed  their  philosophy  of  life  as  Dr.  Hale  has  in  his  writ- 
ings. 

Consider  first  his  place  and  his  service  as  a  journalist,— 
one  who  has  lost  money  by  the  profession  rather  than  one 
who  has  made  money  at  the  business  of  newspaper  making  ; 
one,  too,  who  has  conceived  of  his  several  journals  as  prisms 
for  the   refraction   of  light   or  torches  for  the   warning  of 
mariners,  and  not  as  mirrors  with  a  plane  surface.     Samuel 
Bowles  the  second,  greatest  by  far  of  the  three  editors  of  that 
name  who  have  made  the  Springfield  Republican  so  influen- 
tial a  journal,  once  said  to  Mr.  Frank  Sanborn,  that  at  that 
time  "they  had  only  one  good  journalist  in  all  Boston,  and 
they  were  spoiling  him  in  the  pulpit  ! "    He  referred  to  Dr. 
Hale.     Dr.  Hale  says  of  himself  that  he  was  cradled  in  the 
sheets  of  the  daily  newspaper-- the  Advertiser--  which  his 
father  owned  and  edited,  and  it  is  a  statement  that  is  essen- 
tially if  not  literally  true.     Had  he  been  content  to  live  the 
wearing,  drudging  life  of  a  journalist,  he  might  have  become 
the  rival  of  Greeley  as  the  molder  of  Northern  opinion.     For 
he  has  had  three  indispensable  qualities  of  all  great  journal- 
ists,— a  nervous,  colloquial  English  style,  full  of  life  and  the 
human  quality  ;  a  scent  for  news  ;  and  a  clean-cut,  tenacious 
memory  which  has  stored  away  the  impressions  of  a  vigilant 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  317 

eye  and  a  sensitive  ear,  so  that  what  he  once  said  of  Walt 
Whitman  has  been  pre-eminently  true  of  him  :  "  What  he  has 
once  seen,  he  has  seen  forever." 

But  this  drudgery  of  journalism  Dr.  Hale  was  not  willing 
to  endure  ;  so  he  turned  to  the  pulpit  and  the  pastorate.  Nev- 
ertheless, in  conjunction  with  the  pastorate,  he  has  seldom 
been  without  an  organ  of  his  own,  or  a  journal  in  which  he 
could  write  as  he  pleased.  To-day  he  has  his  own  depart- 
ment in  the  weekly  organ  of  the  Unitarian  denomination, 
and  he  is  still  sponsor  for  the  Lend  a  Hand  Record,  a  monthly 
record  of  philanthropic  deeds  and  plans.  His  most  preten- 
tious and  the  longest-lived  journal  was  Old  and  New,  a  high- 
grade  religious  and  literary  monthly,  which  finally  was 
merged  with  Scribner's  Monthly,  For  the  first  year  of  its 
life,  he  was  co-editor  with  Mr.  Edwin  D.  Mead  in  producing 
the  Neiu  England  Magazine. 

Dr.  Hale,  in  commenting  on  his  career  as  a  journalist,  has 
testified  to  his  indebtedness,  as  a  man  of  many  other  modes 
of  activity,  to  the  training  which  journalism  gives  a  man  by 
teaching  him  to  observe,  to  describe  accurately  what  he 
observes  and  that  promptly.  In  short,  he  holds  that  precision 
and  range  of  sight  foster  insight.  Swiftness  and  accuracy  in 
forming  and  expressing  opinion  save  time,  lessen  friction, 
and  enhance  authority.  Dr.  Hale's  rules  for  writing  are 
these  : — 

1.  Know  what  you  want  to  say. 

2.  Say  it. 

3.  Use  your  own  language. 

4.  Leave  out  all  fine  passages. 

5.  A  short  word  is  better  than  a  long  one. 

6.  The  fewer  words,  other  things  being  equal,  the  better. 

7.  Cut  it  to  pieces. 

Such  rules  are  eloquent  of  practical  experience  as  an  editor. 

Dr.  Hale's  career  as  a  Christian  minister  —  he  refuses  to  be 
called  a  "clergyman"  —  began  with  his  licensure,  in  1845. 
Then,  in  184G,  he  went  to  Worcester,  and  in  1856  he  returned 
to  his  native  city,  Boston  ;  and  not  until  1900  did  he  give  up 
the  pastorate  of  the  South  Congregational  (Unitarian)  Church 
or  cease  preaching  weekly.  Of  this  church  he  still  is  pastor 
emeritus,  and  in  its  peculiarly  family-like  life  his  spirit  is 
influential. 


318  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

As  a  Unitarian  theologian,  he  ranks  below  Channing  or 
Hedge.  In  so  far  as  he  has  been  a  theologian,  it  has  been  as  a 
teacher  of  the  theology  of  the  heart,  and  not  as  a  speculative 
thinker.  As  a  liberal  polemicist,  he  is  not  to  be  mentioned 
with  Theodore  Parker  for  power.  In  range  and  accuracy  of 
biblical  scholarship,  many  of  his  sect  have  surpassed  him. 
His  sermons  from  week  to  week  have  not  averaged  high  as 
specimens  of  the  art  of  homiletical  structure  as  taught  in  the 
divinity  schools,  too  often  being  discursive  and  formless.  Yet 
there  are  so  many  of  them  in  print  that  it  is  clear  that  there 
often  has  been  a  popular  demand  for  their  wider  circulation, 
and  occasionally  they  are  so  nearly  ideal  in  method  and  style 
that  one  is  constrained  to  believe  that  had  Dr.  Hale  concen- 
trated his  powers  on  his  pulpit  ministrations  he  might  have 
become  one  of  the  great  preachers  of  the  time. 

This  much  must  be  said  of  all  his  sermons,  however  :  They 
always  have  been  in  language  of  the  day  and  understandable 
of  all  men.  His  themes  also  have  been  contemporaneous. 
God  manifesting  himself  in  America  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury has  interested  Dr.  Hale  more  than  the  Jehovah  of  the 
Jews  or  the  God  of  the  schoolmen  of  the  Middle  Ages.  His 
gospel  has  not  been  "  a  theologic  gospel  of  hay  or  wood,"  and 
he  has  always  avoided  the  "  parsonic  cadence." 

The  explanation  of  Dr.  Hale's  abiding  influence  in  his  own 
church  and  denomination,  and  with  the  Christian  public,  is  to 
be  found  in  his  "  continuous  disclosure  of  a  beautiful  spirit  " 
-to  apply  to  him  a  saying  which  Mr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie 
used  in  describing  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott's  influence  in  Plymouth 
Church,  Brooklyn.  From  the  first  day  he  entered  a  pulpit  to 
this  hour,  he  has  cared  infinitely  more  for  the  kingdom  of 
God  than  for  the  Church  universal  or  local.  His  people  have 
been  taught  to  be  charitable  in  spirit  and  deed,  and,  so  far  as 
possible,  wise  in  their  methods  of  doing  good  ;  and  no  good 
cause,  civic,  educational,  or  philanthropic,  whether  national 
or  local  in  scope,  has  failed  to  receive  suggestive,  intelligent 
discussion  in  his  pulpit,  and  in  the  church's  classes  and  con- 
ferences. To  him  have  come  for  succor  countless  unfortu- 
nates and  needy  folk,  who  never  have  found  him  too  busy  to 
give  counsel  and  practical  aid.  Hence,  for  many  years  he  has 
been  pastor  at  large  for  the  city  of  Boston,  having  other  men's 
burdens  imposed  upon  him,  to  be  sure,  and  occasionally  being 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  319 

victimized  by  frauds  in  whose  honesty  he  had  Christlike  faith, 
but  never  losing  faith  in  humanity  or  ceasing  to  be  fatherly, 
brotherly,  and  beneficent  because  occasionally  cheated.  He 
has  been  Boston's  St.  Christopher. 

As  exponent  of  a  social  conception  or  type  of  Christianity, 
Dr.  Hale  is  to  this  country  what  Maurice,  Kingsley,  and  the 
English  pioneers  of  this  school  of  thought  were  to  Great 
Britain.  From  the  first,  he  has  stood  four-square  for  such  a 
conception  of  the  Church  as  makes  it  a  leaven  of  the  civic 
lump,  or  the  salt  that  preserves  society.  This  doctrine  he  has 
preached  with  voice  and  pen  in  sermons,  editorials,  and  books 
for  more  than  half  a  century  ;  and  the  precise  limits  of  his 
influence  is  beyond  compute.  But  it  has  been  constant  and 
far-reaching. 

To  attempt  to  chronicle  merely,  let  alone  describe,  the  part 
played  by  Dr.  Hale  as  a  social  reformer  and  as  an  altruist,  if 
to  be  amazed  at  the  prescience,  the  range,  and  the  indefatiga- 
bility  of  the  man.  Just  as  no  person  deserving  pity  has  been 
turned  away  from  his  door,  so  no  reform  movement  has 
appealed  in  vain  to  him  for  aid.  The  negro  as  a  slave,  and 
the  negro  as  a  f  reedman,  the  Indian  as  he  was  before  the  days 
of  the  annual  Mohonk  conference,  and  as  he  is  now,  and 
immigrants  from  Europe  of  all  nationalities,  have  had  a 
champion  in  Dr.  Hale.  Civil  service  reform,  prison  reform, 
the  Law  and  Order  League,  know  him  as  an  advocate. 
Charity  administration,  whether  on  the  old  individualistic 
basis,  or  as  at  present  organized,  has  counted  him  an  alert 
and  influential  promoter.  By  first  writing  his  story,  "Ten 
Times  One  Is  Ten,"  and  thus  leading  up  to  the,  organizing  of 
the  King's  Daughters  and  the  Lend-a-Hand  Clubs,  and  then 
by  writing  the  story,  "  In  His  Name,"  Dr.  Hale  did  more  than 
any  other  man  to  enlist  the  youth  of  the  country  in  altruistic 
service,  and  in  a  healthy,  objective  type  of  religious  activity, 
his  motto  for  them  being  — 

Look  up,  and  not  down  ; 
Look  forward,  and  not  back  : 
Look  out,  and  not  in  : 
Lend  a  hand. 

Previously,  the  type  had  been  too  subjective. 

Last  in  point  of  time,  but  not  least  in  importance,  of  the 


320  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

reforms  championed  by  Dr.  Hale  has  been  the  project  of  an 
international  arbitration  tribunal,  or  permanent  judiciary  for 
international  disputes.  As  he  scans  the  outcome  of  The 
Hague  Convention  of  1899,  and  notes  its  provision  for  the 
creation  of  a  court  of  this  kind,  it  must  be  a  matter  of  much 
pride  to  him  that  as  long  ago  as  1889  he  preached  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  before  high  officials  of  state,  a  sermon  in  which  he 
outlined  a  plan  very  similar  to  that  adopted  at  The  Hague. 
Year  after  year  he  has  urged  this  at  the  Mohonk  conferences 
and  elsewhere. 

Since  1889,  Dr.  Hale  has  repeatedly  called  on  the  nations  to 
act  speedily  and  sensibly  in  the  matter ;  and  now,  of  course, 
his  prayer  is  that  he  may  survive  to  see  the  court  adjudicate 
upon  at  least  one  case.  Two  years  ago,  when  public  senti- 
ment seemed  apathetic,  he  went  up  and  down  the  Eastern 
and  Middle  states  for  weeks,  sometimes  speaking  every  day 
in  the  week,  to  rouse  America  to  do  her  part  at  The  Hague. 
He  has  been  the  greatest  inspirer  among  us,  since  Charles 
Sumner,  of  the  spirit  which  demands  peace  on  earth  and  the 
better  organization  of  the  world. 

As  a  publicist  and  patriot,  Dr.  Hale  did  invaluable  work 
preceding  the  Civil  War  as  an  agitator  against  slavery,  al- 
though he  never  was  an  extremist  like  William  Lloyd  Garri- 
son and  Wendell  Phillips.  During  the  war,  by  such  poems  as 
"Take  the  Loan"  and  "Put  It  Through,"  he  spurred  the 
Northern  public  on  to  do  its  duty.  By  urging  recruiting 
among  his  own  church  members  and  by  setting  the  entire 
membership  of  his  church  at  work  in  all  sorts  of  schemes  for 
bettering  the  lot  of  the  Northern  troops,  he  made  the  South 
Congregational  Church  a  very  live  cell  — to  quote  his  own 
figure  of  speech —  in  the  national  cellular  tissue.  As  director 
of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  as  official  of  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission, he  found  ample  play  for  his  organizing  power  and 
skill.  But  these  activities  were  comparatively  restricted  and 
local  in  their  range.  It  was  as  the  writer  for  the  Atlantic  of 
articles  full  of  hope  and  sane  optimism  that  Dr.  Hale's  influ- 
ence at  this  time  was  widest.  In  this  periodical  appeared  in 
1863,  his  masterpiece,  "A  Man  Without  a  Country,"  which, 
besides  preaching  its  sermon,  demonstrated  that  America  had 
a  short-story  writer  of  the  first  rank  ;  and  this  at  a  time  long 
before  the  examole  of  the  French  in  this  form  of  literature 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  321 

had  been  taken  as  a  model  by  us,  and  so  cleverly  imitated  or 
improved,  as  it  has  been  by  not  a  few  of  our  authors.  Curi- 
ously, the  year  which  saw  the  war  with  Spain  over  Cuba  open 
was  the  year  of  the  largest  sale  of  this  book  of  Dr.  Hale's. 

The  son  of  a  Whig,  a  Free  Soiler  in  youth,  Dr.  Hale  early 
took  his  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party,  and  has 
never  left  it,  preferring  like  his  life-long  friend,  Hon.  George 
Frisbie  Hoar.  United  States  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  to 
do  his  reform  work  as  a  partisan  inside  the  breast-works, 
rather  than  outside  with  the  enemy.  As  a  clergyman,  he  has 
not  been  as  prone  as  some  of  his  contemporaries  to  prescribe 
courses  of  action  for  civil  authorities.  While  he  has  ever 
stoutly  maintained  that  in  no  other  country  in  Christendom 
do  Church  and  State  so  depend  upon  the  service  of  substan- 
tially the  same  men — "The  State's  men  being  really  the 
Church's  men,  and  the  Church's  men  really  State's  men,"  to 
quote  his  own  words  --he  also  has  an  unusually  keen  percep- 
tion, for  one  of  his  calling,  of  the  practical  aspects  of  civic 
administration  and  party  politics,  and  how  far  and  how  rapidly 
it  is  possible  to  make  the  ideal  the  real  in  a  democracy. 
Hence  he  never  has  been  a  clerical  scold,  or  a  maligner  of 
public  officials. 

His  attitude  may  be  illustrated  by  his  course  since  the  war 
with  Spain  broke  out  in  1898.  As  one  conversant  with  Spanish 
history  and  character  to  a  degree  not  common  among  Ameri- 
cans, having  early  in  life  turned  his  attention  to  Spanish  and 
Latin  American  history,  he  might  have  been  pardoned  if  in 
the  pulpit  and  press  he  had  prescribed  for  his  countrymen  a 
suitable  course  of  action  toward  Spain.  Other  men  with  far 
less  knowledge  would  have  rushed  to  the  front  with  their 
opinions.  But  Dr.  Hale  said  or  wrote  nothing;  and  shortly 
after  the  war  began  he  told  his  congregation  that  he  would 
not  preach  about  the  war  until  he  thought  he  knew  more 
about  it  than  the  Government  did.  He  has  since  said  that  he 
thought  the  responsible  officials  in  Washington,  in  possession 
of  all  the  facts,  were  far  likelier  to  be  right  in  their  judgments 
than  men,  like  himself,  with  a  limited  horizon  and  incom- 
plete data  in  possession  on  which  to  base  an  opinion.  We 
may  be  sure  that  this  is  not  inconsistent  in  Dr.  Hale's  mind, 
with  his  well-known  declaration  :  "  The  People  is  sovereign 
here  ;  the  People  is  the  fountain  of  honor  here  ;  the  President 


322  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

/ 

is  the  servant  of  the  people."  As  an  individual  citizen,  Dr. 
Hale  believes  in  national  expansion,  and  he  is  not  fearful  of  a 
radical  change  in  national  ideals  or  temperament  because  of 
our  acquisition  of  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  Guam,  and  the  Philip- 
pines. He  indorses  every  step  the  administration  has  taken. 

As  a  man  of  letters,  Dr.  Hale  will  live  longest  by  a  few  of 
his  short  stories,  such  as  "  My  Double  and  How  He  Undid 
Me,"  "The  Man  Without  a  Country,"  and  "Skeleton  in  the 
Closet "  ;  by  such  fragments  of  autobiography  as  his  "A  New 
England  Boyhood,"  which  is  valuable  as  a  record  of  New 
England  life  at  the  time,  as  well  as  for  its  revelation  of  per- 
sonality ;  and  by  his  reminiscent  essays,  in  which  he  has 
given  us  vivid  pen  pictures  of  men  whom  he  has  known,  like 
Emerson  and  Lowell.  Though  he  has  written  much  on  his- 
tory,—  American  and  Spanish, —  enough  to  show  what  he 
might  have  done  if  he  had  devoted  all  his  time  to  such  literary 
creative  work,  and  though  it  has  been  his  favorite  avocation, 
the  result  is  not  a  product  destined  to  long  life.  His  verse 
lacks  the  perfection  of  form  of  great  verse.  But  a  few  of  his 
ballads  and  hymns  will  always  find  place  in  American  an- 
thologies and  hymnals.  Some  of  his  occasional  verse  read  at 
Harvard  alumni  dinners  has  deeply  stirred  those  who  have 
heard  it,  but  it  does  not  inevitably  so  move  one  who  reads  it. 
Dr.  Hale's  fertility  as  an  author  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  the  catalogue  of  Harvard  University  has  more  than 
one  hundred  and  thirty  titles  of  books  and  pamphlets  listed. 
His  next  book  will  be  "  Memoirs  and  Memories  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,"  which  prior  to  publication  in  book  form  will 
appear  in  the  monthly  issues  of  the  Outlook. 

The  larger  part  of  Dr.  Hale's  writings  is  didactic  in  pur- 
pose, though  in  the  guise  of  fiction,  the  drama,  narrative, 
poetry  ;  and  it  bears  upon  every  conceivable  aspect  of  con- 
temporary life.  Theology,  literature,  philanthropy,  politics, 
pass  in  survey,  and  are  transformed  by  his  imagination  and 
common  sense  into  homely  speech  especially  welcome  to  men 
and  women  altruistically  inclined.  He  is  never  dull  or  com- 
monplace, always  suggestive  and  practical,  frequently  pene- 
trating and  conclusive. 

As  a  formal  critic  of  literature,  Dr.  Hale  did  enough  earlier 
in  his  career  to  show  that  he  might  have  won  fame  in  this 
sphere  had  he  chosen  to  follow  it.  In  this  as  in  everything 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  323 

else  he  did  lie  was  unconventional,  thoroughly  American  in 
point  of  view,  and  always  approaching  the  author  and  book 
sympathetically,  hut  candidly  as  well.  His  early  review  of 
Whitman's  "  Leaves  of  Grass  "  is  one  full  of  insight  and  just 
praise. 

As  an  educator,  Dr.  Hale's  service  has  been  to  lend  a  hand 
to  every  scheme  that  has  been  devised  to  lessen  illiteracy  and 
popularize  learning  in  the  United  States.  Whether  as  over- 
seer of  Harvard  —  his  alma  mater  —  or  as  councilor  of  the 
Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle,  or  as  trustee  of 
Antioch  College,  or  as  friend  of  Hampton  Institute  and  Tuske- 
gee,  his  endeavor  has  been  to  make  the  humblest  American 
eligible  as  a  citizen  of  the  republic  of  letters  ;  or,  to  quote 
his  own  words  :  "  Any  full  view  of  the  right  of  all  God's  chil- 
dren refuses  to  limit  to  any  '  upper  class '  the  delights  of  sci- 
ence, the  full  range  of  literature,  and  all  which  we  call  liberal 

education The  whole    drift  of  new   life,    which 

opens  up  to  everybody  all  literature,  science,  and  art,  means 
that  every  one  shall  have  the  nobler  enjoyment,  the  higher - 
yes,  the  infinite  —  range."  He  never  has  overvalued  the 
mechanism  of  education,  and  the  culture  of  college  life  above 
its  utilitarian,  specializing  tendencies  and  resources.  He  has 
insisted  in  season  and  out  of  season  that  education  and  not 
instruction  is  the  prime  object  of  school  and  colleges. 

In  his  educational,  as  in  his  political  and  ecclesiastical 
ideals,  Dr.  Hale  has  been  a  thorough  democrat.  His  constant 
attitude,  as  a  man  of  culture  and  letters,  toward  the  masses 
has  been  this  :  "  We  are  blood  of  their  blood,  bone  of  their 
bone.  Their  life  is  our  life  ;  their  success  is  our  victory.  As 
they  step  forward  and  upward  with  the  weight  which  they 
are  carrying,  philosophy  is  more  wise,  and  literature  is  more 
vital."  Our  sole  reason  for  being  a  nation,  in  his  view,  is  that 
each  man  may  serve  others,  social  standing  depending  upon 
the  measure  of  such  social  service  rendered  by  the  individual. 
"Whosoever  would  be  chief est  among  you  shall  be  servant 
of  all,"  is  his  motto  for  America,  his  explanation  of  its  unique 
mission  to  mankind. 

No  survey  of  Dr.  Hale's  career  would  be  complete  without 
some  reference  to  his  place  as  an  orator.  Whether  as  lecturer 
before  lyceums,  historical  societies,  Chautauqua  assemblies, 
or  bodies  of  college  students  and  school  pupils,  or  as  formal 


324  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

orator  on  state  occasions,  or  as  after-dinner  speaker,  Dr.  Hale 
has  always  been  popular  —  not  because  of  his  graces  of  oratory 
which  his  uncle,  Edward  Everett,  had  to  a  superlative  degree, 
but  because  of  his  wit,  his  common  sense,  his  fathomless 
stores  of  reminiscence,  his  facility  in  conveying  his  thoughts 
in  speech  understood  of  common  men,  his  optimism,  and  not 
infrequently  his  overwhelming  eloquence,  especially  when 
deeply  stirred  and  when  expounding  Americanism.  His  voice 
and  figure  are  like  110  other  man's, —  the  voice  being  deep  and 
muffled,  the  body  angular  and  massive,  the  countenance 
benign,  yet  rugged. 

As  an  antiquarian,  versed  in  the  beginnings  of  history  on 
the  American  continent,  in  the  settlement  and  development 
of  Boston  and  New  England,  Dr.  Hale  has  had  a  peculiarly 
useful  career  as  investigator  and  popularizer  of  historical 
information.  In  this  work  his  large  native  endowment  of 
imagination  has  served  him  well,  enabling  him  to  put  flesh 
on  the  bones  of  fact,  and  thus  to  make  his  writings  on  themes 
usually  dry  and  sapless,  so  juicy  and  vital  that  he  enjoys  the 
conspicuous  honor  of  being  an  antiquarian  who  is  read. 

Admirable  as  has  been  Dr.  Hale's  career  as  a  journalist, 
clergyman,  philanthropist,  author,  and  educator,  it  is  as 
''professor  of  America ''  to  his  generation,  that  he  has  done 
his  best  and  most  unique  work.  By  birth,  of  best  New  Eng- 
land stock  ;  having,  as  a  boy,  the  historic  Common  as  a  play- 
ground ;  early  made  aware  by  conversation  in  his  father's 
home  of  the  inner  meaning  of  the  burning  issues  of  the  hour, 
and  privileged  to  hear  history  and  politics  discussed  by  men 
like  Daniel  Webster,  Edward  Everett,  and  other  Whig  leaders 
who  were  making  history  and  shaping  politics  ;  in  youth  an 
ardent  conspirator  for  the  triumph  of  liberty  in  Kansas, —  his 
whole  career,  whether  you  consider  the  influence  of  heredity 
or  environment,  or  his  free  choices  of  friends  and  pursuits, 
has  made  him  an  American  sui  generis,  and  has  fitted  him  to 
do  for  the  American  public  what  he  conceived  his  "  professor 
of  American  "  as  doing  in  a  college  —  namely,  showing  men 
that  there  "  is  such  a  reality  as  American  thought,  that  there 
are  certain  principles  which  belong  to  the  American  Govern- 
ment, that  there  are  certain  feelings  which  are  experienced 
by  none  but  an  American." 

It  will  always  be  Dr.  Hale's  chief  glory  as  a  patriot  that 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  325 

in  his  many  sermons,  addresses,  editorials,  pamphlets,  and 
conversations  with  uninformed  Europeans  and  cynical  Amer- 
icans he  has  uttered  again  and  again  such  sentiments  as 
these  :  — 

Our  government  is  ourselves  united. 

Democracy  is  a  system  in  which  the  people  rules  itself, 
and  commands  its  servants. 

With  us,  administration  is  not  government. 

When  you  intrust  government  to  everybody,  everybody 
makes  his  suggestion.  The  man  who  knows  where  the  shoe 
pinches  makes  the  last  and  instructs  the  workmen. 

Our  president  is  not  a  king  ;  our  people  is  not  a  third 
estate  ;  our  churches  are  not  hierarchies  ;  our  aristocracy  is 
not  hereditary. 

Feudal  institutions  die  within  fifteen  minutes  after  the 
immigrant  lands  in  America. 

In  the  feudal  or  European  systems,  no  man  may  do  any- 
thing unless  he  is  permitted.  In  the  democratic  or  American 
system,  he  may  do  anything  unless  he  is  forbidden. 

Whenever  or  wherever  Dr.  Hale  has  heard  contrary  senti- 
ments expressed,  he  has  not  failed  to  rebuke  them,  or  to 
assert  the  truth  as  he  has  seen  it.  He  was  in  this  mood  at 
Harvard  Commencement  in  1899,  when  he  felt  constrained  to 
remind  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  orator  of  the  day,  who  had 
imputed  selfish,  grasping  motives  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  in  dealing  with  Cuba  and  Spain's  other  former 
possessions,  that  all  that  the  President  had  done  he  had  done 
at  the  popular  behest,  the  people  and  not  he,  being  master,  he 
being  not  "  a  Julius  or  Augustus,  to  rule  the  nation,  but  a 
Metullus  or  Scipio,  to  be  ruled  by  the  nation." 

For  Americans  who  deny  the  right  or  the  expediency  of 
manhood  suffrage,  or  for  men  of  letters  who  are  snobs  and 
mere  doctrinaires,  Dr.  Hale  has  had  but  little  patience  and 
much  contempt.  To  those,  like  Carlyle,  who  have  scoffed  at 
universal  manhood  suffrage,  he  has  replied  :  "  Universal  suf- 
frage has  never  pretended  in  America  to  secure  the  perfect  or 
ideal  way.  But  it  does  pretend  to  gain  the  peaceful  way  - 
simply  you  secure  peace.  It  therefore  gives  you  the  chance 
to  govern  yourselves.  No  Jack  Cade,  no  barricades,  no  coup 
d'etat"  To  dilettante  scholars  and  doctrinaires  and  pedants, 
Dr.  Hale  has  said  :  "  You  are  to  consort  with  men  and  women  ; 
to  ask  while  you  answer;  to  learn  while  you  lead."  "The 
great  mistakes  in  our  government  have  all  been  the  mistakes 


326  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

of  theorists.  The  great  successes  have  been  wrought  when 
the  people  took  their  own  affairs  in  hand  and  pushed  them 
through." 

Dr.  Hale's  appreciation  and  understanding  of  the  West  is 
illustrated  by  his  important  service  in  providing  ways  and 
means  for  the  colonization  of  Kansas  in  1852-61  with  anti- 
slavery  settlers.  How  he  and  his  associates  did  this  he  has 
told  us  in  his  history  of  the  New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Com- 
pany. Contemplating  the  resources  —  material  and  moral  - 
of  the  Kansas  of  to-day,  Dr.  Hale  does  not  regret  that  he 
labored  so  arduously  for  a  free  Kansas  in  his  early  manhood. 

It  is  an  open  question  whether  Dr.  Hale  of  to  day  is  not 
better  appreciated,  as  a  typical  American,  in  the  West  than 
he  is  in  a  New  England  which,  with  its  large  Celtic  and  ever- 
increasing  Latin  and  Slavic  population,  is  far  less  American 
in  opinion,  on  many  matters  which,  during  the  last  half  of  the 
seventeenth,  all  of  the  eighteenth,  and  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  centuries  were  deemed  as  essential  to  American- 
ism, than  are  the  Southern  states  or  the  states  of  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  and  beyond. 

It  has  been  a  fundamental  tenet  of  Dr.  Hale's  conscious 
philosophy  of  life  that  in  Church  and  State  all  should  partici- 
pate in  discussion  and  action  ;  and  he  never  has  deemed  him- 
self so  near  his  ideal  as  when  he  has  induced  others  to  think 
and  act,  and  to  assume  responsibility.  Hence,  much  that  may 
have  seemed  like  negligence  or  unloading  of  administrative 
responsibility  on  others,  on  his  part  has  been  a  deliberate 
purpose  to  strengthen  the  characters  of  those  who  needed  to 
be  made  to  face  problems  without  him  to  lean  upon. 

If  need  be,  Dr.  Hale  can  deal  with  the  details  of  adminis- 
tration in  a  way  so  masterly  as  to  make  his  subordinates  and 
helpers  open  their  eyes  with  wonder.  But  usually  he  prefers 
to  deal  with  affairs  in  the  large, —  his  chief  function  being  to 
overcome  inertia  and  get  the  masses  under  way  in  the  right 
direction.  Men  who  can  overcome  the  inertia  of  humanity 
should  not  be  judged  hypercritically. 

No  one  could  have  lived  so  long,  so  busy,  and  so  arduous  a 
life  as  Dr.  Hale  has  lived  unless  he  had  inherited  a  good  con- 
stitution, and  unless  he  had  cared  for  it.  His  habits  of  life 
have  been  regular,  his  ideals  of  living  simple,  his  sleep  fre- 
quent, long,  and  deep.  His  characteristic  change  of  pursuit 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  327 

from  hour  to  hour  has  prevented  ennui  or  ossification,  and 
also  has  aided  to  maintain  vitality,  just  as  it  did  in  Mr.  Glad- 
stone's case.  Early  learning  from  his  mother  "to  get  along 
as  well  as  one  could  each  day,"  he  never  has  borrowed  trouble 
or  crossed  bridges  until  he  came  to  them.  Good  health  and 
popular  favor  have  induced  serenity  of  spirit,  and  thus  pro- 
longed life. 

So  it  comes  to  pass  that  Dr.  Hale  is  the  youngest-spirited 
old  man  to-day  in  Boston  —  one  to  whom,  to  quote  a  young 
Unitarian  minister,  the  younger  men  can  turn  with  more  cer- 
tainty of  awakening  delight  in  and  response  to  new  discover- 
ies of  truth,  new  methods  of  work,  new  points  of  view,  than 
to  any  other  man  of  their  denomination,  however  young  or 
progressive.  Much  of  Dr.  Bale's  characteristic  openness  of 
mind,  breeziness  of  manner,  and  youth  in  old  age  has  been 
due  to  his  delight  in  nature,  his  open-air  life,  his  zest  for 
geology,  botany,  or  what  not,  so  long  as  it  is  God's  world  he 
is  learning  about.  Some  of  it,  too,  has  been  due  to  his  peren- 
nial love  for  children  and  youth,  a  large  proportion  of  his 
books  having  been  written  especially  for  them.  Nothing 
comes  nearer  his  heart  than  the  Old  South  work  for  educating 
Boston's  youth  in  knowledge  of  American  history. 

Full  of  humor,  craving  human  contact,  eager  to  get  and 
and  equally  willing  to  impart  knowledge  of  every  kind,  loyal 
unto  death  to  those  whom  he  respects  and  loves,  ever  seeking 
opportunities  for  doing  good,  proud  of  his  inheritance  as  a 
child  of  God,  strenuous  in  endeavor  to  induce  other  men  to  be 
equally  proud,  an  American  by  conviction  as  well  as  by  birth 
and  training, —  Dr.  Hale  stands  apart  to-day  in  a  niche  by 
himself,  unapproached,  unaccompanied,  by  any  other  man  of 
letters  or  affairs  in  the  nation. 

After  such  a  survey  of  so  varied  and  influential  a  life  as 
Dr.  Hale's,  the  question  inevitably  arises,  What  is  the  secret 
of  it  all  ? 

Belief  in  God  as  a  Father  and  man  as  a  brother,  would 
seem  to  answer  the  question  best.  Very  unlike  the  Puritan 
in  many  ways, —  for  instance,  in  his  theology,  and  in  his  love 
of  play  and  of  nature, —  nevertheless,  at  bottom  Dr.  Hale  is 
a  Puritan,  because  he  is  dominated  so  completely  by  his  cer- 
titude of  God's  reality,  nearness,  and  good  intent,  and  by  his 
exalted  conception  of  his  privilege  to  share  jointly  with  God 


328  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

in  ushering  in  the  Kingdom.  This  is  the  key  to  the  man's  life 
on  its  God  ward  side  :  — 

"  The  plowing  of  the  Lord  is  deep, 

On  ocean  or  on  land  ; 
His  furrows  cross  the  mountain  steep, 
They  cross  the  sea-washed  land. 

"  Wise  men  and  prophets  know  not  how, 

But  work  their  Master's  will ; 
The  kings  and  nations  drag  the  plow, 
His  purpose  to  fulfill." 

As  author  of  this  verse,  it  is  apparent  that  Dr.  Hale  has  a 
vivid  conception  of  God  as  shaping  man's  destiny. 

Does  he  discourse  on  "  Democracy  and  a  Liberal  Educa- 
tion," Dr.  Hale's  last  words  are  that  the  duty  of  the  educated 
man  in  a  democracy  is  to  live,  learn,  teach  with  God,  for 
man.  Does  he  describe  "The  Education  of  a  Prince,''  he  in- 
sists that  "  Work  is  labor  inspirited  by  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
that  while  man's  labor  on  earth  may  cease,  yet  as  a  fellow 
workman  with  God  he  shall  live  forever.  Does  he  eulogize 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  he  points  out  how  inevitably  the  feudal 
concepts  as  well  as  feudal  institutions  perished  in  a  company 
of  men  who  knew  that  they  lived  together  for  the  greater 
glory  of  God.  He  imagines  one  of  these  men  waking  in  the 
morning  with  a  divine  feeling  that  "  this  world  is  to  be  a 
better  world  to-night,  because  I  am  in  it  ;  this  world  is  to  be 
more  God's  world  because  I  am  in  it  ;  God's  kingdom  is 
to  come  to-day  because  I  am  in  it."  In  which  is  a  bit 
of  unconscious  autobiography.  No  better  statement  of  Dr. 
Hale's  philosophy  of  life  can  be  found.  God  is  ever  conceived 
by  him  as  his  ally,  and  he,  God's.  "  God  of  heaven  be  with  us, 
as  thou  wert  with  the  fathers,"  he  prays  in  one  of  his  stirring 
addresses ;  and  not  waiting  God's  affirmative  answer,  he  adds : 
"  God  of  heaven,  we  will  be  with  thee,  as  the  fathers  were." 

In  fact,  Dr.  Hale's  consistent  optimism,  as  he  says,  is 
rooted  in  this  idea  of  partnership  between  God  and  man. 
"  Not  till  man  comes  up  to  some  comprehension  that  God  has 
sent  him  here  on  an  infinite  business  ;  that  he  and  the  Author 
of  this  world  are  at  one  in  this  affair  of  managing  it,"  says 
Dr.  Hale,  does  a  man  "  with  any  courage  or  success  take  the 


EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE.  329 

business  of  managing  his  life  and  the  world's  life  into  his  own 
hands." 

Confident  that  he  has  had  God  for  an  ally,  and  believing 
with  equal  certitude  that  all  men  are  his  brethren,  it  has  been 
natural  for  Dr.  Hale  to  put  himself  at  the  service  of  the  weak 
and  the  unfortunate,  and  those  needing  comradeship  in  life's 
struggle,  and  to  be  a  thoroughgoing  democrat  in  Church, 
State,  and  School.  Solely  in  the  capacity  of  adviser,  he  has 
done  service  for  humanity  sufficient  to  win  immortality  had 
he  done  nothing  else.  Studying  this  portion  of  his  life's  re- 
cord, one  recalls  what  Erasmus  said  of  Sir  Thomas  More  : 
"  He  has  been  patron  saint  to  all  poor  devils." 

Kindliness,  hatred  of  injustice,  sympathy  for  the  unfor- 
tunate, were  Dr.  Hale's  striking  characteristics  as  a  boy,  and 
he  has  never  altered. 

Democracy  to  him  has  not  been  a  fruit  of  the  Christian 
faith  :  it  is  the  Christian  faith,  on  the  manward  side  of  it. 
Fundamentally  a  man  of  heart,  Dr.  Hale  will  live  longest  in 
the  memories  of  his  contemporaries  and  immediate  survivors 
as  a  good,  gentle,  kindly  man,  withal  virile  and  aggressive. 
Strength  of  will,  sometimes  bordering  on  obstinacy,  he  has 
not  lacked.  Openness,  acuteness,  and  flexibility  of  mind, 
and  brilliancy  and  fertility  of  imagination,  he  has  displayed 
lavishly.  But  Will,  Reason,  and  Imagination  have  been  the 
obedient  servants  of  his  emotions,  and  those  emotions  benef- 
icent in  purpose.  He  painted  his  own  portrait  unerringly 
when  he  wrote  :  — 

"  Not  mine  to  mount  to  courts  where  seraphs  sing, 
Or  glad  archangels  soar  on  outstretched  wing ; 
Not  mine  in  unison  with  celestial  choirs 
To  sound  heaven's  trump,  or  strike  the  gentler  wires ; 
Not  mine  to  stand  enrolled  at  crystal  gates, 
Where  Michael  thunders  or  where  Uriel  waits. 

But  lesser  worlds  a  Father's  kindness  know ; 
Be  mine  some  simple  service  here  below, — 
To  weep  with  those  who  weep,  their  joys  to  share, 
Their  pain  to  solace,  or  their  burdens  bear  ; 
Some  widow  in  her  agony  to  meet ; 
Some  exile  in  his  new-found  home  to  greet ; 
To  serve  some  child  of  thine,  and  so  serve  thee,— 
Lo,  here  am  I !     To  such  a  work  send  me." 


330  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Like  Fronde  he  has  defined  "Right  as  the  sacrifice  of  self 
to  good,''  and  "  Wrong  as  the  sacrifice  of  self  to  self."  As  an 
American  and  as  a  Christian,  his  rule  of  life  has  been,  "  Non 
ministrari,  sed  ministrare." 

NOT   ABOVE   ONE'S   BUSINESS. 

LL  necessary  occupations  are  honorable.  No  disgrace 
can  reasonably  attach  to  them,  except  where  the  men 
or  women  who  follow  them  are  disgraceful.  The  truest 
dignity  will  crown  the  faithful  in  the  humblest  employment. 
They  are  entitled  to  a  creditable  passport  into  the  best  circles. 

And  yet  this  commonly  accepted  view  of  necessary  pur- 
suits is  strangely  overlooked  in  practice.  Many  people  con- 
sider certain  useful  callings  menial  and  degrading.  Where 
they  admit  the  necessity  of  such  labors,  they  still  regard  them 
as  ignoble. 

Young  people  often  catch  this  spirit.  The  store  and  learned 
professions  attract  them  more  than  the  shop  and  farm.  The 
desire  among  boys  to  exchange  country  for  city  life  arises,  in 
a  great  measure,  from  this  distorted  view  of  manual  labor. 
It  is  not  popular  to  work  on  a  farm  or  in  a  shop.  It  is  more 
genteel  to  handle  the  yardstick  than  hoe  or  shovel.  They 
will  rank  higher  as  ministers,  doctors,  or  lawyers,  than  they 
will  as  mechanics  or  farmers. 

Such  are  their  false  opinions,  and  they  sacrifice  everything 
to  this  delusion.  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  youth  who  begin  life 
on  this  line  make  a  deplorable  failure.  Doctor  Johnson  well 
said,  "  He  that  feels  his  business  is  below  him,  will  surely  fall 
below  it." 

We  risk  nothing  in  saying  that  successful  men,  in  all  occu- 
pations, are  the  men  who  never  feel  above  their  business. 
Whatever  their  employment  is,  they  consider  that  their  occu- 
pation challenges  respect.  Illustrations  of  this  statement 
abound  in  the  business  world. 

The  Boston  millionaire  and  philanthropist,  Amos  Law- 
rence, employed  a  clerk,  in  his  early  business  life,  who  was 
quite  conceited.  One  day  Mr.  Lawrence  asked  him  to  take  a 
package  for  a  lady  customer  to  her  residence  ;  but  he  declined, 
on  the  ground  that  the  act  would  compromise  his  dignity. 
His  employer  rebuked  him  in  the  most  cutting  way,  by  taking 
the  bundle  himself  to  the  lady's  home. 


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THE  UFW  YORK 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ASTOR,  LENOX  AND 


NOT  ABOVE  ONE'S  BUSINESS.  333 

It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  a  young  man  so  ignorant  of 
what  true  manhood  is,  can  be  profited  by  either  rebuke  or 
counsel.  Conveying  the  package  did  not  compromise  the  dig- 
nity of  Mr.  Lawrence,  but  magnified  it  essentially.  It  showed 
that  there  was  nothing  of  the  fop  or  dude  about  him,  charac- 
ters that  are  justly  despised  by  the  thoughtful  everywhere. 

One  day  Mr.  Lawrence  was  riding  along  Tremont  street, 
where  he  overtook  an  engine  company  responding  to  an  alarm 
of  fire.  It  was  before  the  day  of  steam  fire  engines,  and 
before  horses  were  kept  and  trained  to  draw  engines  ;  and  the 
men  were  tugging  away  with  all  their  might  to  reach  the  con- 
flagration as  quickly  as  possible.  Stopping  his  horse,  he  said 
to  the  firemen  :  - 

"  I  would  get  out  and  assist  you  if  I  were  able  ;  but  if  you 
will  fasten  your  engine  to  my  carriage,  I  can  help  you  along 
in  that  way." 

The  great  merchant  did  not  feel  above  hauling  an  engine 
to  a  fire  ;  and  he  was  all  the  more  repected  because  he  did  not. 

When  the  celebrated  Samuel  Drew  was  becoming  famous 
as  an  author,  though  still  in  poverty,  he  was  carrying  in  his 
winter's  coal  without  the  least  idea  that  it  was  beneath  his 
position.  A  neighbor  said  to  him  :— 

"  Drew,  that  work  compromises  your  dignity  as  an  author." 

Drew's  reply  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  memory  of  every 
aspirant  for  real  honors  :  — 

"  The  man  who  is  ashamed  to  carry  in  his  own  coal, 
deserves  to  sit  all  winter  by  an  empty  grate." 

It  was  this  spirit  that  enabled  him  to  achieve  remarkable 
success. 

Peter  the  Great  laid  aside  the  robes  of  royalty,  and  entered 
the  East  India  dockyard  at  Amsterdam,  in  disguise,  to  learn 
the  art  of  shipbuilding.  He  took  his  place  among  the  work- 
men, and  became,  in  all  respects,  one  of  them  ;  even  wearing 
the  same  kind  of  dress,  eating  the  same  sort  of  food,  and 
inhabiting  equally  humble  lodgings.  He  possessed  a  strong 
desire  to  benefit  his  own  countrymen  by  making  them  more 
familiar  with  the  shipbuilding  business,  and  he  believed  that 
the  best  way  of  accomplishing  his  purpose  was  to  learn  the  art 
himself.  It  never  occurred  to  him  that  royalty  would  be  com- 
promised by  the  occupation  of  a  ship  carpenter,  nor  did  he 
care.  He  did  not  feel  above  doing  anything  that  would  prove 


334  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

a  lasting  good  to  his  country.    He  deserved  to  be  called  "  Peter 
the  Great." 

Washington  was  a  man  of  this  class.  When  his  army  was 
in  winter  quarters  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  and  were 
straitened  for  provisions,  he  directed  a  hungry  soldier  to  go 
to  his  own  table  for  a  square  meal.  "  I  am  on  guard  and 
can't,"  replied  the  soldier.  Immediately  Washington  took  his 
place  and  acted  as  sentinel,  while  the  half-starved  soldier 
regaled  himself  at  his  commander's  table.  At  another  time, 
when  several  divisions  of  the  army  were  engaged  in  con- 
structing works  of  defense  from  Wallabout  Bay  to  Red  Hook, 
one  of  the  parties,  under  the  supervision  of  a  subaltern  officer, 
had  a  large  timber  to  raise.  While  engaged  in  raising  it, 
the  officer  doing  nothing  but  shout,  "  Now,  boys,  right  up, 
he-e-a-v-e,"  etc.,  a  man  rode  up  on  horseback.  "  Why  do  you 
not  help?"  he  inquired.  The  officer  indignantly  replied,  "I 
help  !  Why,  sir,  I  '11  have  you  know  that  I  am  a  corporal ! " 
The  gentleman  sprang  from  his  horse,  laid  hold  of  the  timber 
with  the  men,  and  very  soon  it  was  in  the  required  place. 
Then  turning  to  the  corporal,  he  said:  "Mr.  Corporal,  my 
name  is  George  Washington .  As  soon  as  you  have  completed 
this  work,  meet  me  at  your  commander's  quarters."  There 
was  no  room  in  the  army  for  a  man  who  found  so  much  dig- 
nity in  a  corporal  as  to  make  him  feel  above  lifting  a  timber. 
He  was  dismissed. 

A  pompous  young  merchant  of  Philadelphia  purchased  his 
dinner  at  the  market  one  day,  and  gave  a  shilling  to  a  seedy- 
looking  man  standing  by  to  carry  it  to  his  house.  He  was 
somewhat  mortified,  however,  to  learn  afterward  that  it  was 
the  celebrated  millionaire  Girard,  who  played  the  role  of  a 
servant  for  him.  Girard  meant  to  show  the  young  sprout 
what  a  fool  he  was,  and  cure  him  of  his  folly,  if  possible. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  last  incident,  a  young  man 
purchased  a  bag  of  coffee  of  Girard,  who  was  always  careful 
about  whom  he  trusted.  The  buyer  wheeled  the  bag  to  his 
place  of  business,  and  when  he  came  for  more  Girard  offered 
to  trus.,  him  to  any  amount.  The  offer  was  accepted  ;  the  two 
men  became  firm  friends,  and  the  young  trader  amassed  a 
fortune  in  time. 

Benjamin  Franklin  wheeled  his  paper  from  the  warehouse 
to  his  printing  office,  when  he  set  up  business  in  Philadelphia ; 


NOT  ABOVE  ONE'S  BUSINESS.  335 

Daniel  Safford,  one  of  the  wealthy,  noble,  honored  business 
men  of  Boston,  carried  home  on  his  back  the  iron  which  he 
bought  when  he  commenced  the  blacksmith's  business  in  that 
city  ;  a  New  York  millionaire  earned  his  first  dollar  as  a  hod 
carrier  in  the  city  of  Troy,  and  he  never  became  so  proud  as 
to  despise  a  hod. 

In  our  day,  many  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning  intro- 
duce industrial  occupation,  at  least  for  exercise.  We  think 
that  the  first  institution  to  adopt  this  method  was  Mount 
Holyoke  Female  Seminary.  Its  founder,  Mary  Lyon,  aimed 
to  acccomplish  three  things  by  requiring  the  domestic  work 
of  the  institution  to  be  done  by  the  students  ;  namely,  health, 
learning  how  to  do  the  work,  and  cultivating  just  views  of  the 
dignity  of  labor.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  arrangement  has 
accomplished  much  to  make  all  necessary  labor  honorable,  and 
to  eradicate  that  narrow-minded  disposition  to  feel  above  one's 
business.  Any  culture  of  the  young  embracing  this  noble 
purpose  deserves  well  of  the  public. 

We  do  not  affirm  that  all  persons  who  do  not  feel  above 
their  business  will  be  successful,  but  that  this  spirit  does 
characterize  nearly  all  successful  men.  Success  does  not 
appear  to  wait  on  the  man  who  is  too  proud  to  wait  on 
himself. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


LEWIS   WALLACE. 


A    CONFESSION HIS     DISTINGUISHED    CAREER  —  ANCESTRY INCIDENT 

IN     CAREER     OF      HIS      FATHER EARLY      PRANKS AMBITIONS PAINTING 

UNDER    LIMITATIONS HIS    FIRST    LITERARY    WORK READS    LAW IN    THE 

MEXICAN    WAR LAWYER MILITARY    CAREER    RENEWED CIVIL    WAR 

LITERARY    CAREER METHODS    OF    WORK.        HOW    TO    USE    YOURSELF. 


I  cannot  say  I  was  a  model  boy.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  as 
I  grew  up  and  my  love  of  adventure  and  of  mischief  asserted 

itself,  I  became  a  terror  to  the  community, 
and  my  activity  did  not  cease  with  the  day- 
light. " 

Very  fortunate  for  me  I  was  a  passionate 
reader,  and  my  father  had  a  good  library, 
which  I  read  with  the  eagerness  of  an  om- 
niverous  boy,  though,  of  course,  I  had  my 
favorites,  of  which  a  prime  one  was  "Plu- 
tarch's Lives.*'  When  I  went  away,  which  I 
often  did  for  two  or  three  weeks  at  a  time, 
with  a  dog  and  gun,  on  excursions,  during 
which  I  lived  with  the  farmers,  who  all  knew  me,  a  volume 
of  "  Plutarch"  was  apt  to  be  my  other  companion. 

This  course  of  life  was  inconsistent  with  a  regular  educa- 
tion. At  ten,  however,  I  made  a  scholastic  experiment,  but  it 
was  not  successful.  My  elder  brother  was  already  entered  at 
Wabash  College,  and  it  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  to  join  him.  So  I  joined  him  by  running  away  ; 
but  the  studies  naturally  demanded  both  more  maturity  of 
mind  and  previous  preparation  than  an  idle  boy  of  ten  could 
possess,  and  at  the  end  of  three  months,  I  terminated  my 
academic  career  by  running  away  again  and  resuming  my 
nomadic  life. 

Of  course  this  could  not  last  forever,  loath  as  I  might  be 
to  have  it  come  to  an  end.  When  I  was  sixteen,  my  father 
called  a  halt  and  a  conference.  He  showed  me  the  twelve 
years'  school  bills  that  he  had  paid  for  me,  while  I  had  not 


LEWIS  WALLACE.  337 

had  a  year's  schooling  in  all,  and  said  that  he  had  done  his 
duty  in  providing  for  me  these  advantages,  by  which  I  had 
not  profited,  and  that  now  it  was  time  to  make  provision  for 
myself.  This  was  the  beginning  of  whatever  success  I  may 
have  achieved. 


'HERE  is  no  American  career  that  is  more  remarkable 
and  interesting  than  that  of  Gen.  Lew.  Wallace.  To 
"T'  have  served  in  the  Mexican  war ;  to  have  been  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  generals  of  the  Civil  War,  with 
whose  military  services  those  of  few  indeed  of  the  survivors 
of  the  war  can  be  put  in  competition  ;  to  have  been  intrusted 
with  an  important  diplomatic  mission,  and  to  have  taken  it 
so  much  more  seriously  than  the  usual  American  amateur  in 
diplomacy  as  to  have  won  not  merely  the  approbation  of  his 
own  government,  but  the  special  and  complete  confidence 
of  the  sovereign  to  whom  he  was  accredited  ;  and  finally  to 
have  become  one  of  the  most  distinguished  authors  of  his 
time,  is  to  round  out  a  career  positively  unique  in  American 
history,  if  not  in  any  history. 

General  Wallace  was  born  in  Brookville,  Franklin  County, 
Indiana,  April  10,  1827,  of  a  family  that  was  originally  settled 
in  Virginia.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  it  comprised  four 
brothers,  of  whom  one  died  in  the  hulks, —  the  British  prison 
ships  of  New  York  harbor, —  two  were  killed  in  battle,  and  the 
fourth,  his  great-grandfather,  settled  after  the  war  in  Penn- 
sylvania. His  grandfather  went  to  Cincinnati  shortly  after  it 
had  been  founded  and  established  there  the  first  newspaper  of 
the  place,  the  Liberty  Hall  Gazette,  which  afterwards  became 
the  Cincinnati  Gazette  and  is  now  the  Commercial  Gazette. 
His  father  had  a  boyish  inclination  for  the  military  profes- 
sion, and  in  order  to  gratify  it,  his  grandfather  made  ap- 
plication for  an  appointment  to  West  Point,  and  invoked  for 
it  the  powerful  influence  of  Gen.  William  Henry  Harrison. 
General  Harrison  had  made  a  like  application,  as  it  turned 
out,  on  behalf  of  his  own  son  for  the  same  district,  but  hear- 
ing that  there  was  another  worthy  aspirant,  he  withdrew  his 
own  application,  leaving  the  field  clear  for  young  Wallace. 
That  was  an  obligation  which,  as  you  may  suppose,  neither 
the  father  nor  his  descendants  were  likely  to  forget.  When 


338  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

General  Harrison's  grandson  Benjamin  established  himself 
two  generations  afterwards  as  a  lawyer  in  Indianapolis,  the 
result  of  it  was  a  warm  friendship  between  the  Wallaces  and 
the  Harrisons. 

The  elder  Wallace  in  this  way  got  his  appointment  as  a 
cadet,  went  through  his  time  with  credit,  and  after  his  gradua- 
tion served  for  some  years  at  the  academy  as  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics.  The  drawbacks  of  the  army  as  a 
profession  in  time  of  peace  had  impressed  themselves  upon 
him,  and  he  removed  to  Brookville,  and  there  read  law  in  the 
office  of  his  father-in-law  that  was  to  be.  After  his  admission 
to  the  bar  he  combined  law  and  politics,  was  twice  elected 
lieutenant-governor  of  Indiana,  and  once  governor,  and  his 
election  took  the  family  to  Indianapolis,  and  later  to  Craw- 
fordsville. 

It  was  through  David  Wallace,  governor  of  Indiana  in 
1837,  and  member  of  Congress  in  1840,  that  one  of  the  most 
beneficent  discoveries  that  has  blessed  mankind  was  to 
take  definite  shape  and  direction.  For  years  that  idea  had 
been  struggling  through  the  mists  and  darkness  of  human 
thought  for  recognition.  Its  promoter  had  pleaded  in  vain 
with  Congress  for  an  appropriation  to  give  his  discovery 
standing  room.  For  months  he  had  appeared  before  the  con- 
gressional committee  on  commerce,  begging  for  an  appropria- 
tion with  which  to  make  an  experiment.  He  had  then  gone  to 
Europe  with  the  hope  of  securing  substantial  aid,  but  utterly 
failed.  For  three  years  that  discovery,  whose  monetary  value 
now  amounts  to  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  went  beg- 
ging through  the  halls  of  Congress.  Time  after  time  it  was 
presented  and  ignored.  Politicians  were  not  foolhardy  enough 
to  peril  their  political  fortunes  for  the  wild  dreams  of  an 
enthusiast.  The  early  months  of  1843  were  rapidly  taking 
wing,  and  the  sessional  goal  would  soon  be  reached,  when  the 
committee  vote  was  finally  taken.  The  roll  call  went  down 
the  list,  every  Whig  voting  for  the  appropriation  and  every 
Democrat  against  it ;  and  when  the  bottom  of  the  alphabet 
was  nearly  reached,  the  vote  was  a  tie,  with  one  more  vote  to 
be  cast.  And  when  David  Wallace  decided  the  tie  by  casting 
his  vote  for  the  appropriation  of  $30,000  which  enabled  Pro- 
fessor Morse  to  make  successful  experiment  of  his  electro- 
magnetic telegraph  from  Baltimore  to  Washington,  then  was 


LEWIS  WALLACE.  339 

the  historic  moment  of  the  century  ;  then  the  scene  for  the 
painter.  Governor  Wallace  decided  the  fate  of  the  appropria- 
tion, and  his  own  fate  also,  for  he  was  defeated  that  fall  for 
re-election  because  of  his  action  on  this  measure.  The  reward 
of  the  martyr  is  the  appreciation  of  the  future. 

On  the  third  of  December,  1833,  twelve  young  men  re- 
sponded to  the  roll  call  of  Professor  Mills  in  an  unpretentious 
building  at  Crawfordsville,  Ind.  It  was  the  humble  beginning 
of  Wabash  College.  The  next  September  a  young  man  who 
was  to  become  in  after  years  an  able  member  of  the  Indiana 
bar,  enrolled  himself  as  a  student.  He  was  a  son  of  Governor 
Wallace.  His  brother  Lew,  a  lad  of  ten  years,  was  left  at 
home  in  Covington,  but  his  heart  was  with  his  brother  in 
the  new  college  home  thirty  miles  away.  It  is  entertain- 
ingly related  by  the  ex-president  of  the  college  that  the 
boy's  uncle,  Judge  Taft,  was  holding  court  in  Covington  at 
that  time,  and  that  as  he  was  proceeding  on  his  circuit  to 
Crawfordsville,  he  was  suddenly  hailed  by  the  younger 
brother  from  the  woods  and  informed  that  he  was  going  to 
join  his  brother  at  the  college.  "He,  moreover,  invited  the 
judge  to  wheel  his  horse  up  to  the  fence  that  he  might  mount 
behind  him.  Without  notifying  the  family  at  home,  he  in 
this  mode  joined  his  brother.  His  '  mount '  that  morning  in 
the  outskirts  of  Covington,  leading  to  Mexico,  Donelson, 
Shiloh,  Constantinople,  and  the  palaces  of  '  Ben  Hur '  and  the 
'  Prince  of  India,'  needs  no  description.  It  was  the  beginning 
of  a  series  of  distinguished  successes." 

Young  Wallace  wanted,  among  other  things,  to  be  a 
soldier,  a  writer,  and  a  painter,  and  made  essays  in  these 
two  latter  directions  before  he  was  sixteen.  Truth  is,  he  had 
always  been  sketching  as  well  as  scribbling,  and  perhaps  had 
a  talent  for  art,  though  it  was  not  a  talent  easy  to  cultivate  in 
that  time  and  place.  After  he  had  done  what  he  could,  with- 
out instruction,  in  black  and  white,  he  aspired  to  color,  and 
confided  his  aspirations  to  the  one  professional  artist  that  In- 
dianapolis then  possessed.  His  name  was  Cox.  This  artist 
gave  the  young  aspirant  some  pigments,  but  they  were  dry, 
and  he  must  have  oils.  Luckily  there  was  a  person  ill  at  his 
father's  house,  and  the  doctor  had  prescribed  castor  oil.  He 
forthwith  confiscated  the  medicine  in  the  interest  of  art  and 
pursued  his  work.  It  was  a  portrait  of  Black  Hawk,  the  In- 


340  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

dian  chief  —  a  hideous  old  ruffian,  with  very  strongly  marked 
features  and  only  one  eye,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  make  a 
portrait  of  him  that  would  not  be  recognizable.  When  the 
abstraction  of  the  oil  was  discovered  and  traced  to  the 
embryo  painter,  in  answer  to  his  mothers  inquiry  what  he 
had  done  with  it,  the  work  of  art  in  which  the  medicine  was 
incorporated  was  produced,  and  she,  at  least,  thought  it  a  suc- 
cess. 

At  this  time  Lew  Wallace  had  also  completed  a  literary 
work.  It  was  a  novel  —  "  The  Man  at  Arms  ;  a  Tale  of  the 
Tenth  Century."  The  manuscript  of  this  tale  was  left  at 
home  when  he  went  to  the  Mexican  war,  and  has  not  since 
been  discovered. 

As  there  was  no  immediate  career  in  Indiana,  nor  even  an 
immediate  livelihood  for  an  artist  or  a  novelist,  and  as  his 
necessities  were  immediate,  the  future  author  of  "  Ben  Hur  " 
cast  about  for  a  humbler  and  more  gainful  trade.  He  had 
acquired  a  good  handwriting  and  so  applied  for  work  as  a 
copyist  to  the  clerk  of  the  county.  With  the  first  eleven  dol- 
lars so  acquired,  he  bought  a  gun. 

Meanwhile,  he  had  become  somewhat  sobered  with  time, 
and  though  he  had  not  relinquished  the  military  ambition, 
which  there  did  not  seem  any  way  of  gratifying,  he  read  law 
with  his  father,  and  was  in  a  way  to  establish  himself  as  a 
practitioner  when  the  news  came  of  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mexican  war.  He  at  once  set  to  work  to  organize  a  company, 
succeeded  within  a  short  time,  and  the  captaincy  was  offered 
to  him  in  spite  of  his  boyishness  and  inexperience.  He  de- 
clined it,  however,  and  accepted  the  second  lieutenancy.  The 
company  was  ordered  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and 
on  account  of  the  indifference  of  his  superior  officers,  its  dis- 
cipline devolved  entirely  upon  the  second  lieutenant.  He 
maintained  it,  and  became  unpopular,  accordingly,  as  every 
disciplinarian  must  become  at  first  with  volunteers.  Perhaps 
the  most  important  result  of  his  experience  in  Mexico,  was 
that  it  gave  him  the  notion  of  writing  "The  Fair  God,"  or 
rather  of  giving  it  form,  for  he  had  begun  the  story  at  home 
when  he  was  seventeen. 

After  the  Mexican  war,  Lieutenant  Wallace  resumed  the 
practice  of  law,  and  honorably  represented  his  county  in  the 
state  Senate  ;  but  his  chief  amusement  was  a  military  com- 


LEWIS  WALLACE.  341 

pany  which  he  organized  and  commanded.  This  organiza- 
tion was  so  thoroughly  perfected  in  military  tactics  that  its 
members  readily  obtained  commissions  when  the  call  for 
troops  came  in  1861.  He  had  been  honored  by  Governor  Mor- 
ton with  the  appointment  of  adjutant-general  of  the  state, 
which  ho  resigned  to  become  the  leading  and  organizing 
spirit  of  tho  famous  Eleventh  Indiana  regiment,  a  regiment 
which  its  commanding  officer  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  his 
intense  individuality  that  it  was  known  to  the  close  of  the 
war  as  the  Wallace  regiment.  He  had  successfully  led  the 
center  at  the  storming  of  Fort  Donelson  ;  had  commanded 
the  third  division  of  the  army  of  the  Tennessee  at  Shiloh  ; 
had  held  Jubal  Early  at  bay  at  Monocacy,  July  9,  1864,  and 
saved  Washington  from  inevitable  capture.  He  had  been 
vice-president  of  the  militar.y  tribunal  which  tried  the  Lin- 
coln conspirators  ;  president  of  the  commission  which  tried 
Henry  Wirtz  ;  and  his  name  was  in  glorious  association  with 
Reynolds  and  Can  by. 

After  the  duties  of  the  military  tribunals  were  over,  Gen- 
eral Wallace  returned  to  Crawfordsville.  His  passionate  love 
of  military  matters  was  his  inspiration  during  the  years  of 
the  war  :  ''  everything  went  but  that  ;"  he  thought  of  noth- 
ing else,  did  nothing  else,  cared  for  nothing  else.  He  was 
satisfied  with  politics  to  have  served  four  years  as  state  sena- 
tor. A  politician,  he  thought,  amounted  to  this  and  no  more, 
"one  vote  on  the  roll  call."  Accordingly,  he  resumed  the 
practice  of  laT.v.  He  loved  the  profession,  but  it  had  a  purely 
commercial  value  —  bread  and  butter.  It  worried  him  and  he 
was  not  at  his  best.  Other  chords  were  yet  to  be  touched. 

His  busiest  hour;;  v  :re  associated  v/ith  his  father's  library. 
It  was  thore  the  lire  commenced  to  burn  which  is  burning 
brightly  yet.  His  father  never  ragarded  with  favor  his  artis- 
tic tastes,  art,  painting,  and  sculpture.  Literature  may  not 
have  been  on  the  "prohibhod  L'st."  Before  going  to  Mexico 
he  had  broken  ground  on  "  The  U'air  God,"  with  its  fascinat- 
ing pictures  of  Cortex  and!  his  conquest.  About  a  third  of  it 
was  written  when  ho  \vont  to  Mexico.  Almost  thirty  years 
had  elapsed  from  tac  timo  of  its  commencement  to  its  publi- 
cation in  1874.  Througn  Whitelaw  Reid  he  obtained  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  James  R.  Osgood  &  Co.,  of  Boston.  The 
manuscript  was  submitted  and  accepted.  He  was  now  on  the 


342  LEADERS   OF 

royal  highway--  the  prophecy  of  his  own  "  Ben  Hur  "  and  his 
victory  in  the  lists  at  Antioch.  "The  race  was  on,  and  the 
soul  of  the  racer  was  in  it."  Its  success  was  immediate.  Har- 
vard college  purchased  several  copies  for  its  library,  hut  a 
hundred  would  not  have  supplied  the  demand. 

There  are  certain  interesting  events  which  are  dividing 
lines  in  people's  lives.  About  1850  a  certain  lady  was  merely 
known  as  the  wife  of  Professor  Calvin  E.  Stowe  of  Walnut 
Hills,  Ohio.  The  following  year,  a  serial  story  --"  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin"  -appeared  in  a  Washington  paper  and  she 
was  afterwards  known  as  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe.  "  Ben 
Hur  "  was  a  pivotal  point  in  General  Wallace's  life  —  an  event 
which  invests  his  life  with  the  charm  of  a  marked  individu- 
ality. It  has  been  "  Ben  Hur''  since  1880. 

"Authentic"  accounts  of  the  inspiration  of  "Ben  Hur" 
have  appeared  in  the  papers  galore.  One  was  that  it  came 
from  a  conversation  with  Ingersoll  on  a  railroad  train,  and 
that  General  Wallace  is  said  to  have  written  "  Ben  Hur''  as 
his  reply  to  Ingersoll.  His  own  account  of  it  is  better  —  that 
it  came  from  that  verse  in  Matthew,  "Now,  when  Jesus  was 
born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea,  in  the  days  of  Herod,  the 
king,  behold  there  came  wise  men  from  the  East  to  worship 
Him."  Its  imagery  greatly  excited  his  imagination.  He 
commenced' the  book  in  1875,  with  the  intention  of  making  it 
a  serial  for  a  magazine.  From  books  of  travel  and  travelers 
and  a  large  German  chart  or  map,  he  thoroughly  posted  him- 
self of  the  physical  features  of  the  country  ;  its  hills,  its 
water,  its  vegetation.  His  hardest  work,  he  said,  was  to  find 
a  hero.  Christ  must  always  be  coming,  but  not  till  the  last. 
His  own  belief  in  Christ's  divinity  was  strengthened  on  every 
page,  though  he  commenced  the  book  with  no  particular 
religious  impression.  The  last  chapter  was  written  in  a  vile 
old  chamber  in  a  fort  at  Santa  Fe  —  "a  gloomy  den  ''  -  while 
he  was  territorial  governor.  The  book  was  completed  in  1880 
and  as  a  whole  was  written  more  carefully  than  "  The  Fair 
God."  Its  first  reception  by  the  public  was  not  flattering. 
No  other  book  has  so  familiarized  the  people  with  the  Holy 
Land.  It  is  remarkable  that  he  did  not  visit  Palestine  till 
several  years  after  its  publication.  While  minister  to  Con- 
stantinople he  visited  the  Holy  Land,  as  the  guest  of  the  sul- 
tan, which  gave  him  access  everywhere.  He  could  discover 


LEWIS   WALLACE.  343 

no  mistakes.  There  was  even  the  great  white  stone  men- 
tioned in  the  healing  of  the  lepers  ;  and  also  the  stone  on 
Mount  Olivet,  where  Ben  Hur  had  rested.  Everything  was 
confirmed  to  a  marked  degree.  The  part  of  "  Ben  Hur" 
which  most  interested  the  author  was  the  interview  between 
Ben  Hur  and  the  two  friends  to  whom  he  described  his 
experience  in  following  Christ.  That  confirmed  his  belief  in 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  Most  of  the  book  was  written  at  night, 
or  under  the  famous  beech  tree  in  the  grove,  "  where  he 
whipped  obstinate  ideas  into  comely  expression."  But  Ben  Hur 
was  always  with  him.  Tirza's  little  song,  "Wait  Not,"  was 
written  on  a  belated  train  from  Indianapolis  to  Crawfords- 
ville.  In  thirteen  years  six  hundred  thousand  copies  had 
*been  sold.  In  his  library  is  a  case  for  "Ben  Hur"  volumes 
alone,  from  different  publishing  houses  all  over  the  world. 
But  the  one  which  specially  delighted  him  was  the  publica- 
tion of  "Ben  Hur"  by  a  Louisville  house  in  raised  characters 
for  the  blind. 

About  a  year  after  the  publication  of  "  Ben  Hur  "  General 
Wallace  was  appointed  minister  to  Turkey  by  President  Gar- 
field.  As  he  was  taking  leave  of  the  president  at  the  White 
House,  Garfield  alluded  to  the  pleasure  the  book  had  given 
him,  and  asked,  even  insisted,  that  he  write  another,  whose 
scenes  and  incidents  were  to  be  associated  with  Constanti- 
nople. He  said  that  the  duties  of  the  office  would  give  ample 
time  for  such  a  work.  The  world  already  knows  the  pleasure 
it  has  received  from  the  suggestion  which  is  more  likely  to 
have  been  original  with  General  Wallace  than  President  Gar- 
field.  After  spending  over  four  years  in  studying  the  people, 
the  country,  and  its  history,  he  returned  richly  laden  with 
materials  for  his  new  work.  Naturally  Mrs.  Wallace  was  his 
only  confidante  of  the  plot  and  incidents  of  the  story.  She  is 
one  of  America's  most  gifted  women.  It  is  said  that  she  was 
the  only  person  who  saw  the  manuscript,  and  the  only  one  the 
author  consulted.  Six  years  were  spent  in  actual  work.  Dur- 
ing that  time  he  studied  astrology  at  the  congressional  library 
in  Washington,  and  consulted  and  studied  more  than  fifty 
volumes  before  taking  up  his  pen.  The  reader  wonders  at  the 
painstaking  researches  of  the  author.  He  says  it  is  authentic 
in  almost  every  particular  but  the  hero.  No  more  interesting 
historical  novel  has  been  written,  and  no  more  fascinating 


344  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

epoch  described  than  the  period  of  the  rupture  between  the 
Greek  and  Latin  churches.  It  made  its  appearance  in  1893, 
and  in  four  months  one  hundred  thousand  copies  had  been 
sold. 

The  methods,  style,  and  reading  of  a  prominent  man  of 
letters  must  always  be  subjects  of  absorbing  interest.  Gen- 
eral Wallace  worked  by  schedule  time  at  his  literary  work  ; 
nine  in  the  morning  till  noon  ;  half  past  one  to  four  in  the 
afternoon  ;  then  a  walk  or  a  ride  on  his  horse.  If  the  for- 
mer, it  was  generally  up  Wabash  avenue,  which  is  often 
pleasantly  alluded  to  as  the  "general's  walk"  to  this  day. 
He  finished  as  he  proceeded  with  his  plot.  The  first  thing 
every  morning  the  work  of  the  preceding  day  was  care- 
fully gone  over,  and  thoroughly  revised,  and  accepted  if  it 
suited  him.  He  used  the  knife  unsparingly,  and  if  neces- 
sary used  all  the  time  allotted  to  that  day  in  revision  and  cor- 
rection. Then  the  new  work  began.  He  would  average  about 
five  hundred  words  a  day,  but  sometimes  that  would  be  cut 
to  fifty  or  one  hundred  if  the  scrutiny  of  the  work  of  the  day 
before  was  unusually  severe.  The  work  was  always  blocked 
out  in  advance,  and  his  general  plan  was  to  be  working  up  to 
some  certain  fixed  point  ahead  of  him,  like  the  climax  of  a 
chapter.  But  it  was  his  unalterable  custom  never  to  make 
any  advance,  unless  all  was  finished  up  to  that  particular 
place.  If  he  was  not  satisfied  with  what  had  been  done,  to 
use  his  own  words,  "I  stay  there  until  I  whip  it  and  make  it 
suit  me." 

His  style  is  very  natural  and  easy,  as  those  readers  who 
have  heard  him  talk  —  speak  from  the  platform  —  can  testify. 
One  habit  is  very  unique  and  original-- the  frequent  placing 
of  the  verb  before  the  noun  as  in  the  preface  of  "The  Boy- 
hood of  Christ."  The  ink  is  in  his  blood,  and  he  mixes  and 
applies  his  colors  with  the  taste  of  the  artist  that  he  is.  The 
finest  tribute  any  artist  can  receive  is  the  spontaneous  tribute 
of  his  works,  and  no  one  ever  received  that  in  more  ample 
measure  than  the  author  of  "  Ben  Hur." 

He  has  always  been  a  great  reader  on  all  subjects,  and  there 
has  been  method  in  it  all ;  he  looks  to  general  reading  and 
especially  to  the  works  of  good  authors,  for  ready  command 
of  language  as  well  as  style  and  ease.  Aside  from  the  read- 
ing for  technical  preparation  of  his  books,  his  favorite  authors 


LEWIS  WALLACE.  345 

have  been,  in  prose  and  fiction,  Kingsley,  Bulwer,  Scott, 
Cervantes,  Macaulay,  Irving,  Goldsmith,  and  occasionally 
Thackeray  ;  in  poetry,  Homer,  Shakespeare,  Dante,  Milton, 
Tennyson,  and  Longfellow.  Within  these  lines,  about  all  his 
standard  reading  has  been  done. 

As  to  the  characters  he  has  created,  he  does  not  know  that 
he  prefers  one  to  another,  but  he  says,  "There  are  certain 
characters  that  get  hold  of  you.  You  see  them.  They  have 
individuality.  You  can  see  the  color  of  their  hair,  and  their 
eyes,  and  you  hear  their  voices.  In  '  Ben  Hur,'  Simonides, 
Belthazer,  and  Ben  Hur  were  great  favorites." 

Twenty-five  years  ago  the  town  of  Crawfordsville,  so  dear 
to  those  who  lived  there,  was  even  then  a  Mecca  for  literary 
pilgrims.  It  was  the  home  of  the  Wallaces,  Maurice  Thomp- 
son and  Miss  Krout,  all  noted  in  the  literary  field.  Of  these 
Mrs.  Wallace  had  already  attained  fame  in  frequent  contribu- 
tions to  the  New  York  Tribune  and  Harper's  Magazine.  Her 
later  works  have  been  "The  Land  of  the  Pueblos,"  "The 
Storied  Sea,"  and  "The  Repose  in  Egypt."  She  is  a  lady  of 
rare  literary  judgment,  an  expert  in  proof  reading,  and  in 
perfect  harmony  of  literary  taste  with  her  husband.  He  is 
his  own  severest  critic.  When  he  has  cast  and  recast  his 
manuscript  many  times,  it  is  then  turned  over  to  Mrs.  Wal- 
lace. The  "Patter  of  Little  Feet,"  which  was  published  in 
Harper's  Magazine  in  1889,  made  her  famous  at  once,  and 
every  little  while  the  papers  have  urgent  call  for  another  look 
at  it.  It  is  one  of  the  gems  of  American  literature  :  — 

"  Up  with  the  sun  at  morning, 

Away  to  the  garden  he  hies 
To  see  if  the  sleepy  blossoms 

Have  begun  to  open  their  eyes ; 
Running  a  race  with  the  wind, 

His  step  as  light  and  fleet, 
Under  my  window  I  hear 

The  patter  of  little  feet. 

"  Anon  to  the  brook  he  wanders, 
In  swift  and  noiseless  flight, 
Splashing  the  sparkling  ripples 
Like  a  fairy  water  sprite  ; 


346  LEADERS  OF  HEN. 

No  sand  under  fabled  river 

Has  gleams  like  his  golden  hair, 
No  pearly  seashell  is  fairer 

Than  his  slender  ankles  bare  ; 
Nor  the  rosiest  stem  of  coral 

That  blushes  in  ocean's  bed, 
Is  sweet  as  the  flush  that  follows 

Our  darling's  airy  tread. 

«•  From  a  broad  window  my  neighbor 

Looks  down  on  our  little  cot 
And  watches  the  '  poor  man's  blessing 

I  cannot  envy  his  lot. 
He  has  pictures  ;  books,  and  music, 

Bright  fountains  and  noble  trees  ; 
Flowers  that  bloom  in  vases 

And  birds  from  beyond  the  seas  ; 
But  never  does  childish  laughter 

His  homeward  footstep  greet - 
His  stately  halls  ne'er  echo 

To  the  tread  of  innocent  feet. 

«'  This  child  is  our  '  speaking  picture,' 

A  birdling  that  chatters  and  sings  ; 
Sometimes  a  sleeping  cherub 

(Our  other  one  has  wings), 
His  heart  is  a  charmed  casket 

Full  of  all  that's  cunning  and  sweet, 
And  no  harp  strings  hold  such  music 

As  follows  his  twinkling  feet. 

«'  When  the  glory  of  sunset  opens 

The  highway  by  angels  trod, 
And  seems  to  unbar  the  city 

Whose  builder  and  maker  is  God  ; 
Close  by  the  crystal  portal, 

I  see  by  the  gates  of  pearl 
The  eyes  of  the  other  angel  — 

A  twin-born  little  girl. 

"  And  I  ask  to  be  taught  and  directed 

To  guide  his  footsteps  aright, 
So  that  I  be  accounted  worthy 
To  walk  in  sandals  of  light ; 


LEWIS   WALLACE.  34? 

And  hear  amid  songs  of  welcome 

From  messengers  trusty  and  fleet, 
On  the  starry  floor  of  heaven 

The  patter  of  little  feet." 

There,  in  the  large  grove  on  East  Wabash  avenue,  is  the 
home  of  General  Wallace,  a  large,  two-story  frame  house, 
and  destined  to  be  famous  as  the  place  where  "Ben  Hur" 
and  "The  Prince  of  India"  were  written.  A  little  farther 
away  in  the  grove  is  the  library,  which  is  one  the  most 
unique  and  complete  buildings  of  its  kind  ever  attempted. 
It  is  on  the  border  of  an  artificial  lake,  fed  by  a  self-flowing 
artesian  well.  A  few  feet  from  the  front  porch  of  the  house 
is  the  large  beech  tree,  under  which  many  chapters  of 
"BenHur"  were  written.  "  Do  not  imagine,"  says  General 
Wallace,  "  I  wrote  every  day.  Although  it  was  my  great 
desire  to  do  so,  I  was  a  breadwinner  and  had  duties  to 
attend  to.  There  were  days  when  Ben  Hur  would  call  to  me, 
and  with  persistence  ;  on  other  days  some  other  character 
would  do  the  same,  and  at  such  times  I  was  powerless  to  do 
aught  but  obey,  and  was  forced  to  fly  from  court  and  client. 
Many  of  the  scenes  of  the  books  were  blocked  out  in  my 
journeys  to  and  from  my  office.  The  greater  part  of  the  work 
was  done  at  home  beneath  an  old  beech  tree  near  my  house. 
I  have  a  peculiar  affection  for  that  tree.  How  often,  when  its 
thick  branches  have  protected  me  with  their  cooling  shadows, 
has  it  been  the  only  witness  to  my  mental  struggles  ;  and 
how  often,  too,  has  it  maintained  a  great  dignity  when  it 
might  have  laughed  at  my  discomfiture.  The  soft  twittering 
of  birds,  the  hum  of  bees,  the  lowing  of  the  kine,  all  made 
the  spot  dear  to  me." 

It  is  not  always  true  that  men  do  not  gain  by  addition  late 
in  life.  General  Wallace's  whole  career  is  proof  that  we  do 
not  always  lose  something  that  is  good  as  we  grow  older.  He 
was  sixty-six  years  old  when  he  handed  to  his  publishers  the 
finished  manuscript  of  "  The  Prince  of  India,"  and  it  is  quite 
likely  that  he  will  again  send  a  flash  of  glory  up  the  Western 
sky  to  catch  the  gaze  of  an  admiring  world. 

He  has  never  paraded  before  the  country  as  a  man  with  a 
grievance.  He  kept  himself  above  the  scheming  plans  and 
jealousies  which  were  often  the  sole  capital  of  many  military 


348  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

aspirants  in  the  early  days  of  the  war.  None  could  impeach 
the  purity  of  his  motives,  and  it  was,  indeed,  an  honor  that 
might  excite  the  envy  of  anyone,  that  it  was  President  Lin- 
coln's own  wish  that  he  be  appointed  commander  of  the 
Eighth  corps,  and  in  charge  of  the  middle  department.  When 
Bragg's  detachment  threatened  Cincinnati  he  threw  aside  his 
rank  to  accept  service  in  its  defense,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
John  Morgan's  invasion  of  Indiana.  He  had  in  him  the  stuff 
of  a  patriot. 

In  his  seventy-fifth  year  he  is  one  of  the  few  surviving 
prominent  characters  of  the  war  period, —  always  of  striking 
military  bearing,—  always  a  picturesque  figure  on  the  streets. 
In  the  fading  twilight  these  old  heroes  of  the  war  are  muster- 
ing for  their  last  long  march.  Their  old  commander  and 
many  of  their  comrades  are  already  in  line,  and  under  ban- 
ners which  never  yet  waved  to  mortal  eye  ;  under  the  order 
of  a  new  chief  marshal,  whose  trumpet  has  never  sounded 
retreat,  they  are  moving  from  our  loving  sight  to  the  eternal 
camping  ground  beyond.  All  honor  to  the  defenders  of  the 
Union  !  Loving  benisons  on  the  memory  of  these  translated 
children  of  the  Republic! 

HOW   TO   USE   YOURSELF. 

OW  thyself  '  was  the  wise  counsel  of  an  ancient 
philosopher.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  know  your- 
self in  order  to  know  how  to  use  yourself.  You  can- 
not use  what  you  do  not  have.  You  cannot  use  five  talents  if 
you  do  not  have  but  one  or  two ;  you  cannot  be  wise  if  you 
are  otherwise  ;  you  cannot  exercise  sound  judgment  if  you  do 
not  possess  it ;  you  cannot  make  a  successful  merchant  or 
minister  if  you  have  no  qualifications  for  those  positions. 
Make  the  most  of  such  material  as  you  have,  and  the  best 
results  will  follow.  Hence,  self-acquaintance  is  indispensable 
to  the  proper  use  of  yourself. 

Some  young  people  may  lack  certain  qualities  which  they 
can  cultivate,  but  they  must  know  what  they  are.  Observa- 
tion may  be  deficient ;  love  of  work  languish  ;  patience  and 
perseverance  may  be  wanting,  and  other  qualities  may  be 
weak  and  inefficient  :  but  they  can  be  improved,  when  a 
person  knows  what  it  is  that  he  must  improve.  He  must 
know  himself  in  order  to  undertake  intelligently  self-improve- 


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ASTOK,  LENOX  AND 


HOW   TO    USE   YOURSELF.  351 

ment.     Whether  to  use  check  or  spur,  and  when  or  where,  is 
indispensable  knowledge. 

When  Hugh  Miller  was  seventeen  years  of  age,  his  two 
uncles,  who  had  been  his  guardians  since  his  father  died,  sug- 
gested to  him  that  he  was  old  enough  to  choose  a  life  pursuit. 
They  wanted  him  to  be  educated  for  one  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions ;  they  were  not  particular  which.  But  he  protested 
against  their  plan,  claiming  that  he  had  no  fitness  for  any  of 
them  ;  that  he  would  make  a  failure  as  physician,  lawyer,  or 
clergyman.  His  views  on  the  subject  were  so  emphatic  that 
his  uncles  acquiesced  in  his  choosing  an  occupation,  but  they 
were  somewhat  confounded  when  he  consented  to  become 
the  apprentice  of  a  stone  mason.  But  the  boy  knew  himself 
better  than  his  uncles  knew  him.  They  had  regarded  his  fond- 
ness of  nature,  and  his  frequent  excursions  over  the  country 
in  search  of  minerals,  rather  as  boyish  freaks  instead  of  indi- 
cations of  a  "  natural  bent."  They  had,  indeed,  thought  that 
he  possessed  more  than  ordinary  talents  ;  and,  for  this  reason, 
no  doubt,  desired  that  h.e  might  choose  one  of  the  learned 
professions. 

Young  Miller  knew  that  he  loved  nature  with  a  passionate 
love  ;  that  he  enjoyed  himself  more  when  traversing  the  hills 
and  valleys  to  increase  his  knowledge  of  her  treasures  than 
he  did  anywhere  else.  He  delighted  in  caves  and  quarries. 
With  hammer  in  hand,  he  found  more  real  enjoyment  among 
crags  and  rocks  than  the  average  bright  boy  finds  in  astron- 
omy or  Latin  grammar.  He  knew  that  a  quarry  would  be 
more  than  a  college  to  him,  and  that  he  could  sit  at  the  feet 
of  nature  to  learn  with  more  faith  than  he  could  sit  at  the  feet 
of  a  professor,  so  that  it  was  not  blind  reasoning  that  made 
him  a  stone  mason  ;  it  was  the  call  of  a  soul  for  knowledge 
in  that  line.  He  might  never  have  been  known  beyond  his 
own  immediate  circle  had  he  become  a  lawyer,  doctor,  or  rec- 
tor. He  certainly  would  not  have  been  favorably  situated  to 
develop  into  a  great  geologist.  He  devoted  himself  to  that 
pursuit  which  appealed  to  the  strongest  and  best  elements  of 
his  being.  He  was  fitted  for  it.  He  could  make  the  most  of 
it  possible,  and  it  could  make  the  most  of  him  possible.  He 
became  the  world-renowned  geologist  because  he  selected  a 
pursuit  for  which  nature  had  fitted  him. 

One  of  the  best  artists  of  New  England  was  educated  for 


352  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  medical  profession  against  his  own  taste  and  judgment. 
From  a  child  he  manifested  a  strong  love  for  art,  and  was 
drawing  and  painting  every  chance  he  could  get.  His  father 
witnessed  his  precocity  in  this  direction,  and  was  annoyed 
rather  than  pleased  hy  it.  He  was  determined  to  make  a 
doctor  of  him.  so  that  tact  and  talent  in  another  line  was  not 
acceptable. 

"  Artists  can  hardly  keep  soul  and  body  together,"  he  said  ; 
"  and  my  son  must  pursue  a  more  lucrative  and  substantial 
business."  So  he  was  educated  for  a  physician. 

"  I  have  no  taste  for  the  profession,  and  no  talent  for  it/' 
said  the  son  ;  "  but  I  yield  to  my  father's  strong  desire.  I 
know  that  I  possess  both  taste  and  talent  for  art,  and  could 
distinguish  myself  therein,  but  my  father  orders  otherwise." 

He  entered  the  medical  profession  ;  but  his  heart  was  not 
in  it.  He  felt  continually  that  he  was  out  of  his  place,  —  that 
he  was  engaged  in  a  pursuit  for  which  nature  did  not  intend 
him.  He  was  dissatisfied  and  unhappy,  of  course.  His  pro- 
fession was  a  burden  to  carry  ;  and  the  time  came  when  he 
resolved  to  lay  it  down  and  take  up  art,  which  was  so  con- 
genial to  his  nature.  He  knew  himself  better  than  his  father 
did,  as  the  sequel  proved.  He  was  not  a  born  physician,  but 
he  was  a  born  artist ;  and,  knowing  that  fact,  he  knew  how 
to  use  himself  to  the  best  advantage. 

John  Bright  was  a  remarkable  illustration  of  our  theme. 
He  was  a  good  scholar,  fond  of  books,  and  yet  he  had  an  eye 
to  business.  Having  completed  his  education,  he  entered 
upon  a  business  career  with  his  father.  At  the  same  time,  he 
gratified  his  love  of  learning  by  improving  leisure  time  in 
reading.  He  was  passionately  fond  of  poetry,  and  it  com- 
manded a  good  share  of  his  spare  moments.  In  school,  he 
belonged  to  a  debating  society,  in  which  he  developed  finely 
as  a  speaker.  He  did  not  undervalue  these  sources  of  intel- 
lectual and  popular  strength  after  he  became  a  business  man. 
He  became  an  expert  in  the  study  of  poetry  and  English  liter- 
ature ;  he  spoke  in  public,  also,  and  became  a  famous  orator. 
In  this  way  he  advanced  constantly,  and  became  a  leader  in 
the  British  Parliament.  A  correct  knowledge  of  himself  led 
him  to  self-improvement  on  lines  that  assured  his  renown  as 
a  statesman. 

The  builder  of  the  great  auditorium  in  Chicago   that  will 


HOW  TO   USE   YOURSELF.  353 

hold  twelve  thousand  people,  received  the  contract  when  he 
was  only  twenty-six  years  of  age.  With  a  fractional  part  of 
the  experience  of  many  architects  who  applied  for  the  con- 
tract, he  became  the  successful  applicant.  He  must  have 
known  just  how  to  use  himself,  or  he  could  not  have  been  the 
fortunate  one.  Such  a  young  man  must  possess  an  amount 
of  self-reliance  and  self-knowledge  as  well  as  tact  and  push, 
that  is  seldom  found  in  one  soul. 

The  Eiffel  tower  was  a  leading  object  of  interest  during 
the  World's  Exposition  in  Paris,  in  1889.  It  is  more  than  a 
thousand  feet  high, —  a  gem  of  art  that  could  not  have  been 
created  in  a  former  age.  The  knowledge,  faith,  tact,  and 
indomitable  perseverance  necessary  to  produce  it  was  not 
found  in  any  one  or  two  men,  until  Eiffel,  the  builder,  and 
Lanvestre,  the  architect,  came  upon  the  stage.  The  latter 
was  but  forty- two  years  of  age  when  he  designed  the  tower, 
but  his  signal  application,  push,  and  ability  had  placed  him 
among  the  first  architects  of  France,  at  that  early  age.  Eiffel, 
the  builder,  possesses  similar  qualities,  though  having  enjoyed 
higher  culture.  The  two  men  were  fitted  to  accomplish  such 
a  work  together.  Indeed,  two  such  men  anywhere  are  bound 
to  succeed  with  any  enterprise. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

RUSSELL   HERMAN    CONWELL. 

HOW     TO     SUCCEED HIS     BOYHOOD EARLY     ORATORICAL     EFFORTS  - 

STRUGGLES    FOR    AN    EDUCATION THE    CALL    TO    ARMS YALE    COLLEGE  — 

JOURNALISTIC    EXPERIENCES ADMITTED    TO    THE    BAR ENTERS    THE    MIN- 
ISTRY   HIS      FIRST      CHURCH WORK      IN      PHILADELPHIA  --  THE      TEMPLE 

COLLEGE CHARACTERISTICS.       MINDING    LITTLE    THINGS. 

Wise  men  have  told  us  that  the  way  for  men  to  prosper,  in 
all  that  is  worthy  of  human  effort,  is  in  the  full  exercise  of 

their  own  talents  to  the  hest  advantage. 
Underlying  this  is  indeed  a  large  truth. 
Unless  a  man  avails  himself  of  the  oppor- 
tunities which  come  to  him  in  life,  he  may 
expect  no  success.  With  the  vigor  of  a  per- 
sonal will  a  man  may  make  the  walls  of 
adamant  to  fall  down  before  him,  and  ac- 
complish what  seems  to  us,  as  we  look  at  it 
from  a  distance,  to  be  an  actual  miracle. 

Every  man  is  largely  the  architect  of  his 
own  fortune  —  not  the  creature  of  circum- 
stances—  for  he  may  make  the  circumstances  if  he  devote 
himself  to  the  ways  that  all  prosperous  business  men  under- 
stand, which  are  the  methods  that  usually  succeed.  But  the 
methods  that  succeed  are  always  those  that  work  in  accord- 
ance with  the  great  plan  of  God  in  the  universe.  He  who 
wishes  to  be  a  successful  man  must  use  not  only  his  own  will, 
not  only  his  own  perseverance,  not  only,  strict  economy,  but 
he  must  avail  himself  of  God's  wisdom  ;  he  must  work  in  line 
with  God's  laws. 

Study  the  open  doors,  and  your  personal  fitness  for  enter- 
ing them —  your  education,  your  aptness,  your  opportunities. 
Don't  forget  that  much  of  success  depends  upon  doing  well 
the  little  things  of  life. 


EUSSELL  HERMAN  CONWELL.  355 

|S\USSELL  H.  CONWELL,  the  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Tem- 
IS^     pie,  Philadelphia,  the    largest    institutional   church   in 

\9)  the  world,  and  the  president  of  the  Temple  College  and 
of  the  Samaritan  Hospital,  was  born  among  the  Berk- 
shires  in  Western  Massachusetts,  February  15,  1843.  Nature 
gave  him  the  physique  and  many  of  the  qualities  of  the 
mountaineer.  Physical  endurance  of  hardships  was  a  neces- 
sity from  the  beginning.  The  conditions  of  life  were  stern  ; 
only  by  great  exertions  and  the  strictest  economy  could  a  bare 
living  be  gotten  from  the  hillside  farm.  At  three  years  he 
went  steadily  to  school  two  miles  away.  But  aside  from  the 
qualities  that  the  struggle  for  existence  gave  him,  very  early 
he  showed  marked  ability  along  the  lines  that  have  since 
made  him  famous. 

Some  of  the  old  villagers  of  his  native  town  of  South 
Worthington  tell  a  tale  of  the  boy  of  nine  exhibiting  a  Spirit- 
ualistic seance  in  the  village  church.  The  wave  of  Spiritual- 
ism that  swept  over  the  country  fifty  years  ago  took  a  very 
strong  hold  on  the  attention  of  those  people. 

He  entered  with  great  interest  into  the  debating  society  of 
the  village.  His  attempts  at  oratory  were  prepared  and  re- 
hearsed in  season  and  out  of  season.  He  himself  tells  an 
amusing  incident  of  the  rehearsal  of  one  of  these  bursts  of 
eloquence  as  he  was  driving  down  the  mountain  road,  taking 
a  load  of  maple  sugar  to  the  town  of  Huntington.  The  old 
horse  listened  patiently  to  the  lad's  oration  until  unhappily 
for  the  orator  his  oration  became  so  effective  that  when  he 
exclaimed,  *'  Woe  !  woe  unto  you,  all  ye  children  of  men !"  the 
old  horse  took  him  at  his  word  and  "  whoaed  "  so  suddenly  as 
to  pitch  the  young  orator  on  his  head  in  the  muddy  road,  A 
broken  crown  cooled  his  ardor,  but  only  for  a  time,  for  since 
that  day  he  has  preached  continuously  before ,  the  largest 
church  congregation  in  America  ;  and  as  a  prince  of  lectur- 
ers addressed  a  greater  number  of  people  than  any  other  liv- 
ing man. 

His  father  was  an  abolitionist,  their  mountain  farm  being 
one  of  the  stations  on  the  underground  railway  to  Canada. 
The  boy  entered  very  deeply  into  the  political  feeling  of  the 
time  and  though  under  age,  responded  with  his  whole  self  to 
the  first  call  to  free  the  slaves. 

Fond  of  music  always,  he  was  the  village  musician,  great 


356  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

joy  coming  to  his  household  when  by  the  greatest  sacrifice  an 
Estey  organ  was  purchased  for  him.     By  teaching  in  the  dis- 
trict schools  he  worked  his  way  through  Wilbraham  Academy, 
preparing  for  Yale.     A  strong,    tall,    awkward,  overgrown, 
poorly  dressed,  country  boy --he,  with  his  younger  brother, 
entered  Yale.     Here  his  knowledge  of  music  enabled  him  to 
support  himself.     The  two  boys  lived  in  the  simplest  fashion, 
and  prepared  their  own  food  of  the  plainest,  most  economical 
kind.     The  boys,  sensitive  to  their  extreme  poverty,  withdrew 
from  the   social  life  of  the   college.     Before  the  degree  was 
won  the  first   call   to   arms   came.      The  boy  saw   his   duty 
clearly.     He  returned  to  his  hills  in  1862,  gathered  around  him 
from  young  men   and   from  those  many  years  his  senior,  a 
military  company,  which  when  formed,  chose  him  as  its  cap- 
tain.    An  old  man,  one  of  the  company,  told  the  story  to  the 
writer  a  summer  or  two  ago.     He  told  how  Mr.  Conwell,  a 
youth  of  seventeen,  made  patriotic   speeches  until  all  were 
fired  with  enthusiasm  to  go,  and  to  go  with  him  as  leader. 
The  boy  was  thought  too  young  to  be  appointed  a  captain,  but 
captain  he  must  be,  some  of  the  company  going  to  the  gov- 
ernor and  pleading  that  the  lad  who  had  always  led  them 
might  be  their  leader  still.     The  governor  yielded  to  their 
petition  and  the  boy  was  made  captain.      Mr.    Conwell  in 
one  of  his  lyceum  lectures  tells  the  story  of  the  sword  which 
was  presented  to  him  by  the   citizens  of  his  native  town,  and 
which  a  faithful  boy  died  to  save  from  the  enemy.     He  be- 
came finally  a  lieutenant    colonel,   being  in   the   battles  of 
Kingston,   Goldsboro,    Newport,  Lone   Mountain,   Kennesaw 
Mountain,  and  Franklin. 

He  had  entered  Yale  with  the  intention  of  graduating  at 
law.  The  war  did  not  turn  him  aside.  All  the  spare  hours, 
in  tent  or  in  field,  were  spent  in  reading  law  or  in  other  study. 
Some  small  volumes  of  poetry,  given  him  by  one  of  his 
soldiers,  remain,  dated  1863,  which  were  carried  in  his  knap- 
sack. Mrs.  Browning's  poems  seem  incongruous  with  the 
stern  realities  of  war,  but  serve  to  show  us  how  the  man  was 
keeping  steadily  before  him  the  end  to  be  attained.  A  pur- 
pose once  formed  by  him  is  steadily  kept  in  sight  in  spite  of  all 
obstacles  or  delays.  After  the  war  he  graduated  at  the  Albany 
University  Law  School  and  started  a  daily  paper  in  Minne- 
apolis, Minn,  He  soon  went  wholly  into  journalism,  serving 


RUSSELL  HERMAN  CON  WELL.  357 

under  Horace  Greeley  on  the  New  York  Tribune.  He  was 
sent  abroad  as  traveling  correspondent,  writing  letters  for  the 
Tribune  and  the  Boston  Traveller  from  Europe  and  Asia. 
During  this  journey  encircling  the  world  he  traveled  for  a 
time  with  Bayard  Taylor.  The  friendship  thus  established  led 
him,  when  the  news  came  years  after  of  the  death  of  Taylor, 
to  organize  the  great  memorial  meeting  in  Tremont  Temple, 
to  which  Mr.  Longfellow,  not  being  well  enough  to  attend, 
sent,  at  Mr.  Conwell's  request,  his  exquisite  memorial  poem  :— 

"  Dead  he  lay  among  his  books  1 
The  peace  of  God  was  in  his  looks." 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Minneapolis,  where  he 
founded  the  first  daily  paper  in  that  city,  and  built  up  a  suc- 
cessful practice,  also  establishing  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  that  city.  In  Yale,  like  many  other  students 
before  and  since,  he  went  through  all  the  throes  of  infidelity, 
going  into  the  war  an  avowed  atheist,  coming  out  of  its  stern 
realities  a  professing  Christian.  In  Saint  Paul  he  united  with 
the  Baptist  church,  and  began  aggressive  church  work  at 
Minneapolis.  In  connection  with  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  he  established  a  noonday  prayer  meeting  for 
business  men,  the  meetings  being  held  at  first  in  his  law  office. 

In  a  long  illness  owing  to  the  breaking  out  of  army  wounds 
he  lost  all  the  property  he  had  acquired,  and  drifted  back  to 
Boston.  Here  he  opened  his  law  office  and  identified  himself 
with  Tremont  Temple  church. 

In  a  short  time  the  leader  was  again  at  the  front.  He 
organized  the  Young  Men's  Congress  and  led  political  cam- 
paigns. His  Bible  class  increased  until  it  enrolled  six  hun- 
dred members.  Through  these  years  Mr.  Conwell  was  also 
on  the  platform  as  a  temperance  lecturer.  His  famous  lec- 
ture, "Acres  of  Diamonds,"  was  first  given  in  1871,  and  that 
single  lecture  of  his  list  has  been  given  twenty-eight  hundred 
times  to  the  profit  of  benevolent  works  of  over  a  half  million 
of  dollars. 

Through  years  the  conviction  had  been  growing  upon  him 
that  he  ought  to  enter  the  ministry.  At  last,  in  1879,  while 
still  continuing  his  practice  of  law  he  entered  the  Newton 
Theological  Seminary.  Before  this  time  he  took  the  little 
church  at  Lexington,  about  to  be  abandoned,  rebuilt  it,  and 


358  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

afterwards  left  it  a  strong  church.  On  the  completion  of  his 
course,  at  forty  years  of  age,  he  was  called  to  Philadelphia, 
where  his  great  life  work  began.  He  first  began  his  labors 
in  a  small,  unfinished  church  in  a  quiet,  uptown  neighbor- 
hood. Less  than  a  hundred  people  were  in  actual  attend- 
ance. Twenty-seven  gathered  to  give  him  a  call.  His  strong 
personality,  his  sympathy  in,  and  understanding  of,  the 
lives  of  each  one  of  this  company  bound  them  to  him  at 
once,  and  made  them  desire  that  others  should  know  him. 
His  straightforward  talks  from  the  pulpit,  filled  with  homely 
illustrations,  graced  by  his  inborn  oratory,  lacking  many  of 
the  accepted  traditional  forms  that  people  had  been  trained 
to  expect,  at  first  rather  startled  conservative  Philadelphians. 
First  led  by  curiosity,  often  in  a  spirit  of  antagonism,  the 
people  flocked  to  listen  till,  conquered  by  the  strength  of  the 
preacher,  they  stayed  to  help.  Very  soon  the  little  church, 
that  only  seated  five  hundred  people,  was  crowded  to  its  doors, 
not  by  the  idle  follower  of  a  sensation,  but  with  strong  men 
and  women,  who  were  there  to  stay,  to  share  in  the  labors  of 
the  leader  they  had  learned  to  love.  Ever  accessible  to  all, 
ever  ready  to  go  to  the  sick,  ever  among  the  poor  in  those 
early  years,  before  the  greater  cares  came  necessitating  the 
laying  of  some  of  these  details  upon  others,  he  organized  his 
forces  into  associations  of  various  kinds,  all  with  some  definite 
work  to  do.  The  value  of  the  social  intercourse  was  fully 
appreciated.  Numerous  suppers,  receptions,  socials  were 
held ;  at  each  and  all  the  leader  had  a  word  for  each  worker. 
Soon  the  limits  of  the  small  building  were  reached,  then 
what  was  to  be  done  ?  The  church  had  been  finished.  All 
the  expense  of  its  furnishing  had  been  paid,  but  there  still 
remained  a  mortgage  upon  the  building.  When  Mr.  Conwell 
proposed  that  a  larger  building  must  be  built  men  looked 
grave,  but  so  great  was  the  confidence  in  the  leader,  so  sure 
was  he  of  ultimate  success,  that  he  carried  all  with  him.  Then 
came  the  days  of  sacrifice  not  unshared  by  the  leader.  Last 
year's  gown  was  made  to  do,  the  lad  walked  to  his  work,  the 
poor  washerwoman  put  away  the  tenth  of  her  income,  often 
more.  Every  honorable  and  consistent  Christian  means  of 
raising  money  was  resorted  to.  Soon  the  necessary  amount 
to  make  the  first  payment  on  a  lot  that  was  purchasable  on 
Broad  street  was  obtained,  and  the  new  enterprise  was  begun. 


RUSSELL  HERMAN  CONWELL.  359 

Never  was  there  a  happier  people  ;  not  even  when  the  task  was 
completed,  was  there  such  joy  as  in  the  years  of  sacrificing 
together. 

Some  time  before  leaving  the  old  building  a  bright,  ambi- 
tious young  man,  thrown  early  by  the  death  of  his  father  upon 
his  own  resources,  came  to  Mr.  Conwell  and  asked  him  how 
he  could  obtain  a  college  education  and  still  support  the 
mother  and  some  younger  brothers  dependent  upon  him. 
This  led  to  the  expression  of  an  idea  that  had  long  been  dor- 
mant in  Mr.  ConwelFs  mind,  the  offering  of  an  opportunity  to 
all  who  would  be  otherwise  deprived  of  it,  of  obtaining  an 
education  by  evening  study.  He  told  the  young  man  that  if 
he  would  gather  together  three  or  four  more  he  would  himself 
instruct  them.  Soon  the  demand  was  too  great.  Extra  teach- 
ers had  to  be  employed,  and  an  evening  school  was  started  in 
the  Sunday  school  rooms.  It  had  been  decided  to  call  the 
new  building  The  Temple,  so  the  new  school  was  called  The 
Temple  College.  After  The  Temple  was  completed,  The  Tem- 
ple College,  which,  in  the  meantime,  had  become  a  chartered 
institution,  and  a  little  later  had  received  the  right  to  confer 
all  the  usual  college  degrees,  continued  for  a  time  to  occupy 
the  old  church  building  in  the  evening,  though  the  building 
had  been  sold  to  another  congregation.  While  The  Temple 
was  building,  and  after  its  completion,  much  speculation  was 
caused  by  two  doors  opening  apparently  from  the  gallery 
into  outer  space.  The  church  did  not  own  the  lots  adjoining. 
Xo  one  could  surmise  what  these  doors  could  possibly  be  for. 
The  leader  kept  discreetly  silent,  no  one  shared  his  secret  but 
the  architect.  The  great  Temple,  seating  three  thousand 
people,  was  finished,  built  out  of  the  loving  sacrifices  of  a 
faithful  people  ;  no  great  gifts,  but  many  that  represented  rare 
heroism.  The  Temple  was  finished  in  the  year  of  the  pastor's 
fiftieth  birthday,  known  to  the  church  as  its  "  golden  year." 
All  the  floating  indebtedness  caused  by  finishing  and  furnish- 
ing was  wiped  out.  About  this  time  the  people  learned  what 
the  doors  leading  out  into  empty  space  were  for.  The  Temple 
College  had  outgrown  its  first  home,  and  had  moved  into 
private  houses  near  The  Temple,  and  prospering  Despite  its 
hampered  condition,  must  have  better  and  larger  quarters. 
Land  was  secured  on  Philadelphia's  largest  street  south  of 
The  Temple.  A  building  similar  in  style  to  The  Temple. was 


360  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

built.  Bridges  sprang  from  the  mysterious  doors,  and  the  two 
buildings  were  connected,  and  the  college  building  was  used 
for  the  Sunday  school  on  Sunday  ;  yet  the  college  had  ceased 
to  have  any  organic  connection  with  the  church,  except  that 
here  as  ever  the  people  worked  with  their  loved  leader  and 
helped  by  their  gifts  to  make  the  new  building  possible. 

Soon  another  cry  of  need  reached  the  leader.  A  small 
hospital  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city,  situated  among 
many  large  manufacturing  interests  where  accidents  were 
occurring  daily,  was  abandoned  for  lack  of  funds.  Mr.  Con- 
well  hesitated  to  lay  another  burden  upon  the  church,  but 
called  a  few  together  who  could  best  counsel  in  the  matter 
and  they  agreed  under  his  leadership  to  assume  this  work 
which  became  known  as  the  Samaritan  Hospital.  While 
never  legally  connected  with  it,  The  Temple  has  always  been 
closely  associated  with  all  that  concerns  the  hospital  and  has 
given  largely  to  its  support.  Then  followed  the  Philadelphia 
Orphan's  Home  Society,  and  the  opening  of  Conwell  Academy 
at  his  old  home  in  Massachusetts. 

Through  all  these  years,  in  order  to  give  more  largely  to 
philanthropy,  Mr.  Conwell  has  lectured  over  two  hundred 
nights  a  year,  adding  new  lectures  from  time  to  time.  Oc- 
casionally on  the  train,  away  from  libraries  and  all  facilities, 
he  has  dictated  whole  books. 

His  faith  in  his  call  to  a  mighty  work  was  not  without  rea- 
son. The  new  Temple  was  as  crowded  as  the  former  church 
had  been  and  through  the  ten  years  since  The  Temple  was 
opened  the  interest  has  not  altered.  Sunday  after  Sunday  it  is 
crowded  to  the  doors,  so  many  people  from  a  distance  fail- 
ing to  get  in  that  visitors'  tickets  have  been  used  for  ten 
years.  With  scarcely  an  hour  in  all  the  weeks  for  quiet  study, 
those  that  know  him  most  intimately  marvel  most  as  to  when 
his  sermon  is  prepared.  He  simply  catches  a  thought  from 
the  prattle  of  a  child,  from  the  conversation  of  strangers, 
from  the  words  of  those  around  him,  then  works  it  out  in 
the  midst  of  all  the  cares.  A  few  brief  memoranda,  the  only 
signs  of  the  work  that  has  been  done,  are  jotted  down  as  he 
plans  and  executes  many  other  things.  Yet  when  the  Sab- 
bath comes  the  strong  man  stands  in  his  place,  and  unfolds  a 
living  theme  to  the  people  which  they  see  they  need  to  con- 
sider, Illustration  after  illustration,  forcible,  unusual,  yet 


RUSSELL  HERMAN  CONWELL.  361 

fitting  is  given  ;  the  lesson  is  driven  home  ;  men  and  women 
go  out  helped  and  inspired.  They  could  not  tell  you  perhaps 
whether  the  sermon  was  a  great  one  or  not.  There  is  no 
involved  rhetoric ;  no  elegant,  careful,  eesthetic  selection  of 
words  ;  no  confusing  theological  reasoning.  All  is  as  simple 
as  the  preaching  of  the  Great  Teacher.  The  hymns  are  sung 
with  fervor;  the  Scripture  is  read  with  understanding;  the 
prayer  leads  erring  men  and  women  to  the  feet  of  God  with 
humble  petitions  for  what  they  individually  need,  and  when 
the  benediction  is  pronounced  men  and  women  turn  and 
greet  each  other  in  love  and  friendship  because  they  have 
been  led  into  a  realization  of  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

In  these  busy  years  when  the  details  of  the  work  have 
grown  multitudinous  much  of  the  executive  work  must  be 
given  to  others.  But  the  leader  is  unchanged,  his  interest  is 
unchanged.  The  church  numbers  now  over  three  thousand 
members,  still  each  one  can  go  to  Mr.  Conwell  freely  when  he 
can  render  any  service. 

The  college  has  over  twenty-five  hundred  regular  students 
besides  several  thousand  more  in  attendance  on  public  lec- 
tures, with  over  fifty  professors  ;  yet  President  Conwell  directs 
all  its  interests  constantly ;  plans  for  further  development  ; 
opens  its  chapel  always  when  in  the  city  ;  is  the  final  court 
of  appeal  for  both  students  and  faculty. 

The  hospital  treats  over  twelve  hundred  cases  every  month. 
Here,  too,  he  is  the  leader,  presiding  at  the  meetings  of  its 
trustees,  directing  its  policy,  striving  ever  to  make  it  an  ideal 
Christian  home  for  the  sick  and  the  wounded. 

All  these  enterprises  cannot  be  carried  on  without  very 
heavy  financial  burdens.  Particularly  is  this  true  of  the  col- 
lege. Neither  the  church  nor  the  college  has  ever  had  large 
financial  aid  from  any  one  individual.  The  burden  often 
presses  very  heavily,  yet  Mr.  Conwell  never  falters.  His  faith 
in  the  ultimate  success  of  his  work  never  wavers.  He  be- 
lieves he  was  called  of  God  to  do  this  work  and  that  in  his 
own  time  God  will  crown  these  labors  with  success. 

He  has  been  a  pioneer  in  much  of  his  work  and  has  had  to 
meet  all  the  opposition  that  such  a  position  brings.  The  full 
value  of  his  labors  will  not  be  realized,  perhaps,  in  the  days 
of  this  generation.  We  say  sometimes  men  lived  too  soon, 
before  their  generation,  Too  soon  for  personal  e.ase  and  com- 


3G2  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

fort  but  not  too  soon  to  set  in  motion  great  tides  that  trans- 
form the  world. 

In  Matthew  Arnold's  beautiful  lines  on  Rugby  Chapel, 
descriptive  of  his  father,  is  expressed  more  forcibly  than  any 
words  of  the  writer  could  hope  to  do,  a  picture  of  the  man  of 
whom  we  here  speak :- 

"  If  in  the  paths  of  the  world, 
Stones  might  have  wounded  thy  feet, 
Toil  or  dejection  have  tried 
Thy  spirit,  of  that  we  see 
Nothing  —  to  us  thou  wast  still 
Cheerful  and  helpful  and  firm, 
Therefore  to  thee  it  was  given 
Many  to  save  with  thyself ; 
And,  at  the  end  of  thy  day, 
O  faithful  shepherd  !  to  come, 
Bringing  thy  sheep  in  thy  hand." 

Never  was  man  more  patient  with  the  faults  of  others.  He 
can  always  afford  to  abide  his  time.  Absolutely  faithful  in 
friendship,  loath  ever  to  believe  evil  of  people,  ready  to  save 
them  from  themselves  when  they  do  evil,  forgiving-  readily 
those  who  sin  against  him,  never  willingly  making  an  enemy, 
extending  an  ever  ready  sympathy  to  those  that  need  it ; 
with  a  firm  faith  in  his  own  calling  and  a  steadfast  belief 
that  God  is  directing  the  affairs  of  men,  he  goes  on  to  greater 
and  greater  usefulness  as  the  years  go  by. 

The  secret  of  Mr.  Con  well's  success  is  found,  as  it  generally 
is  in  great  men,  in  persistent,  enthusiastic,  hard  work.  His 
latest  biographer,  the  Rev.  Albert  H.  Smith,  in  his  most 
excellent  book  speaks  of  Mr.  Conwell  as  a  "  great  genius," 
and  Mr.  Robert  J.  Burdette,  who  wrote  a  much  larger  biogra- 
phy of  Mr.  Con  well's  life,  speaks  of  him  as  "a  man  we  must 
mention  in  the  singular."  But  Mr.  Con  well's  books,  addresses, 
sermons,  editorials,  plans,  and  institutions  show  behind  them 
a  man  with  a  mighty  will  curbed  by  patient  good  sense  :  with 
a  towering  temper  never  beyond  the  completest  control  ;  with 
a  burning  love  for  humanity,  which  nevertheless  discrimi- 
nates amid  the  multitude  who  appeal  to  him  for  help  ;  with  an 
uncompromising  adherence  to  duty  which  closely  considers 
the  best  way  to  do  one's  duty  ;  with  a  willingness  to  remain 


COLONEL   CONWELL  IN   CAP  AND   GOWN. 


THE 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ABTOB,  LENOX  AND 
FOUNDATIONS 


MINDING  LITTLE  THINGS.  365 

poor,  but  also  showing  a  clear  judgment  in  giving  away  his 
great  earnings  ;  with  a  friendship  which  once  given  is  never 
modified  or  recalled  even  when  the  friend  has  become  an 
open  enemy  ;  with  a  mind  for  most  comprehensive  plans  and 
yet  able  to  study  and  execute  carefully  the  most  numerous 
and  minute  details,  he  furnishes  to  the  youth  of  America  a 
most  practical  example  of  what  a  man  may  accomplish  who 
consecrates  himself  wholly  to  God  and  humanity. 

MINDING    LITTLE    THINGS. 

things  are  the  aggregate  of  littles  ;  great  results 
proceed  from  little  causes.  Human  life  is  a  succession 
of  unimportant  events  ;  only  here  and  there  one  can  be 
called  great  in  itself.  A  crushing  sorrow,  the  loss  of  a  for- 
tune, physical  and  mental  suffering,  are  the  exceptions  and 
not  the  rule  of  life.  Experiences  so  small  as  scarcely  to  leave 
a  trace  behind,  are  the  rule,  producing,  in  the  consummation, 
a  life  that  is  noble  or  ignoble,  useful  or  useless,  an  honor  or  a 
disgrace. 

Success,  in  all  departments  of  human  effort,  is  won  by 
attention  to  little  things.  The  details  of  all  kinds  of  business 
demand  the  closest  attention.  The  pennies  must  be  saved  as 
well  as  the  dollars.  Indeed,  it  is  the  hundred  pennies  that 
make  the  dollar.  So  in  literary  pursuits  ;  careful  regard  to 
details,  such  as  correct  pronunciation  and  spelling,  good  read- 
ing, meaning  of  words,  dotting  i's  and  "  minding  p's  and  q's  " 
generally,  make  up  what  we  call  an  education.  Only  littles 
are  found  in  the  way  to  learning,  and  many  of  them  are  a 
small  sort  of  drudgery  ;  but  all  of  them  must  be  taken  up  and 
carried  along,  if  we  would  "  make  our  lives  sublime."  Miss 
Alcott's  literary  heroes  and  heroines  were  ''little  men  and 


women.' 


"  He  who  despiseth  little  things  shall  perish  by  little  and 
little."  Nevertheless,  youth  of  both  sexes  are  apt  to  disregard 
this  divine  counsel.  Like  the  man  in  the  parable  who  hid  his 
one  talent  because  it  was  so  small,  they  want  and  expect 
larger  things.  They  may  not  ask  for  ten  talents,  but  they 
despise  one.  It  is  too  insignificant  to  command  their  interest 
or  admiration.  Greater  things  or  nothing. 

It  is  right  here  that  many  young  people  make  a  fatal  mis- 
take, not  believing  or  seeing  that  with  this  little  they  may 


366  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

gain  another  little,  and  still  another,  and  so  on,  up,  up,  up,  to 
the  great.  They  commit  themselves  to  failure  at  the  outset. 

A  clerk  in  New  York  city  was  wont  to  take  down  the 
shutters  at  precisely  six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  While  he 
was  taking  them  down,  rain  or  shine,  an  old  gentleman  passed 
by  on  his  way  to  his  place  of  business.  The  latter  smiled 
so  benignantly  upon  the  former,  that  a  hearty  and  familiar 
"  Good  morning,"  became  natural  to  both.  Month  after 
month  this  mutual  greeting  continued,  until  one  morning  the 
old  gentleman  was  missed,  and  he  never  appeared  again. 
He  was  dead. 

Not  long  thereafter  the  enterprising  and  faithful  clerk  was 
waited  upon  by  the  administrator  of  the  old  man's  estate  and 
informed  that  the  latter's  store  and  stock  of  goods  were  willed 
to  him.  Attracted  by  the  youth's  promptness  and  fidelity,  he 
inquired  into  his  character  and  circumstances,  and  was  satis- 
fied that  he  could  leave  that  property  to  no  one  so  likely  to 
make  good  use  of  it  as  the  clerk  who  took  down  the  shutters 
at  just  six  o'clock,  summer  and  winter. 

Through  this  legacy  the  clerk  was  introduced  into  a  profit- 
able business  at  once,  and  became  one  of  the  most  wealthy, 
benevolent,  and  respected  merchants  of  the  city. 

A  banker  in  the  city  of  Paris,  France,  said  to  a  boy  who 
entered  the  bank  :  — 

"  What  now,  my  son  ?  " 

"  Want  a  boy  here  ?"  was  the  answer. 

"  Not  just  now,"  the  banker  replied,  engaging  in  further 
conversation  with  the  lad,  whose  appearance  favorably  im- 
pressed him. 

When  the  boy  went  out,  the  eyes  of  the  banker  followed 
him  into  the  street,  where  he  saw  him  stoop  to  pick  up  a  pin 
and  fasten  it  to  the  collar  of  his  coat.  That  act  revealed  to 
the  banker  a  quality  indispensable  to  a  successful  financier  ; 
and  he  called  the  boy  back,  gave  him  a  position,  and  in 
process  of  time,  he  became  the  most  distinguished  banker  in 
Paris  —  Laffitte. 

A  young  man  responded  to  the  advertisement  of  a  New 
York  merchant  for  a  clerk.  After  politely  introducing  him- 
self, the  merchant  engaged  him  in  conversation  as  a  test. 
Finally,  he  offered  him  a  cigar,  which  the  young  man 
declined,  saying  :  - 


MINDING  LITTLE  THINGS.  307 

"  I  never  use  tobacco  in  any  form  whatever." 

"Won't  you  take  a  glass  of  wine,  then  ?"  the  merchant 
continued. 

"  I  never  use  intoxicating  drinks  under  any  circumstances," 
the  young  man  answered. 

"Nor  I,"  the  merchant  responded,  "and  you  are  just  the 
young  man  I  want.'' 

He  had  the  key  to  the  applicant's  character  now,  and  he 
wanted  no  further  recommendation. 

"  Very  little  things  to  make  so  much  account  of,''  some 
one  will  say.  Yes,  they  are  little  things  ;  but  all  the  more 
significant  for  that.  "  Straws  show  which  way  the  wind 
blows.''  We  say  of  the  man  who  plans  for  the  half-cent,  he 
is  avaricious  ;  of  the  youth  who  is  rude  in  the  company  of 
females,  he  is  ill-bred  ;  and  of  the  letter  writer  who  spells 
words  incorrectly,  his  education  is  defective  —  all  little  things 
but  all  revelations. 

"Little  causes  produce  great  results."  A  gnat  choked 
Pope  Adrian,  and  his  death  occasioned  very  important 
changes  in  Europe  and  America.  A  bloody  war  between 
France  and  England  was  occasioned  by  a  quarrel  between 
two  boy  princes.  "  The  Grasshopper -War"  in  the  early  settle- 
ment of  our  country,  was  a  conflict  between  two  Indian  tribes. 
An  Indian  squaw,  with  her  little  son,  visited  a  friend  in 
another  tribe.  Her  boy  caught  a  grasshopper,  and  the  boy  of 
her  friend  wanted  it.  The  boys  quarreled  ;  then  the  mothers 
took  sides,  and  then  the  fathers  and  finally  the  two  tribes 
waged  a  war  which  nearly  destroyed  one  of  them.  Several 
centuries  ago,  some  soldiers  of  Modena  carried  away  a  bucket 
from  a  public  well  in  Bologna,  and  it  occasioned  a  protracted 
war  in  which  the  king  of  Sardinia  was  taken  prisoner  and 
confined  twenty-two  years  in  prison,  where  he  died. 

The  first  hint  which  Newton  received  leading  to  his  most 
important  optical  discoveries,  was  derived  from  a  child's  soap 
bubbles.  The  waving  of  a  shirt  before  the  fire  suggested  to 
Stephen  Montgolfier  the  idea  of  a  balloon.  Galileo  observed 
the  oscillations  of  a  lamp  in  the  metropolitan  temple  of  Pisa, 
and  it  suggested  to  him  the  most  correct  method  of  measur- 
ing time.  The  art  of  printing  was  suggested  by  a  man  cut- 
ting letters  on  the  bark  of  a  tree,  and  impressing  them  on 
paper.  The  telescope  was  the  outcome  of  a  boy's  amusement 


368  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

with  two  glasses  in  his  father's  shop,  where  spectacles  were 
made,  varying  the  distance  between  them,  and  observing  the 
effect.  A  spark  of  fire  falling  upon  some  chemicals  led  to 
the  invention  of  gunpowder.  Goodyear  neglected  his  skillet 
until  it  was  red  hot,  and  the  accident  guided  him  to  the  man- 
ufacture of  vulcanized  rubber.  Brunei  learned  how  to  tunnel 
the  Thames  by  observing  a  tiny  ship-worm  perforate  timber 
with  its  armed  head. 

"  Little  foxes  destroy  the  vines."  Little  sins  sap  the  foun- 
dation of  principle,  and  lead  to  greater  sins.  Cheating  to 
the  amount  of  one  cent  violates  the  divine  law  as  much  as 
swindling  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  dollars.  The  wrong 
does  not  lie  in  the  amount  involved.  The  stealing  of  a  pin 
violates  the  law  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  as  really  as  the  tak- 
ing of  a  dollar.  "  He  who  is  unjust  in  the  least,  is  unjust  in 
much ; "  that  is,  he  acts  upon  the  same  principle  that  he  would 
in  perpetrating  far  greater  sins.  Indeed,  he  who  does  wrong 
for  a  small  gain  may  incur  the  highest  criminality,  since  he 
yields  to  the  smallest  temptation,  thereby  showing  a  readier 
disposition  to  sin. 

Smiles  says,  "As  the  daylight  can  be  seen  through  very 
small  holes,  so  little  things  will  illustrate  a  person's  character. 
Indeed,  character  consists  in  little  acts,  well  and  honorably 
performed." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


SILAS   WEIR   MITCHELL. 


OBSERVATIONS  ABOUT  SUCCESSFUL  CAREERS  —  BIRTHPLACE  AND  EDUCA- 
TION  AT  HOME THE  DOCTOR HIS  STUDY AS  A  CONVERSATIONALIST 

BRIC-A-BRAC THE    AUTHOR FONDNESS     FOR     HIS    NATIVE    CITY HIS 

LITERARY    CAREER LITERARY    METHODS.       PERILS    OF    SUCCESS. 

I  am  very  far  from  conceding  that  the  vehement  energy 
with  which  we  do  our  work  is  due  altogether  to  greed.  We 

probably  idle  less  and  play  less  than  any 
other  race,  and  the  absence  of  national  hab- 
its of  sport  leaves  the  man  of  business  with 
no  inducement  to  abandon  that  unceasing 
labor  in  which  at  last  he  finds  his  sole 
pleasure.  He  does  not  idle,  or  shoot,  or 
fish,  or  play  any  game  but  euchre.  Busi- 
ness absorbs  him  utterly,  and  at  last  he 
finds  neither  time  nor  desire  for  books.  The 
newspaper  is  his  sole  literature  ;  he  has  never 
had  time  to  acquire  a  taste  for  any  reading 
save  his  ledger.  Honest  friendship  for  books  comes  with 
youth  or,  as  a  rule,  not  at  all.  At  last  his  hour  of  peril  ar- 
rives. Then  you  may  separate  him  from  business,  but  you 
will  find  that  to  divorce  his  thoughts  from  it  is  impossible. 
The  fiend  of  work  he  raised  no  man  can  lay.  As  to  foreign 
travel,  it  wearies  him.  He  has  not  the  culture  which  makes 
it  available  or  pleasant,  and  is  now  without  resources.  What 
then  to  advise  I  have  asked  myself  countless  times.  Let  him 
at  least  look  to  it  that  his  boys  go  not  the  same  evil  road. 

The  best  business  men  are  apt  to  think  that  their  own  suc- 
cessful careers  represent  the  lives  their  children  ought  to  fol- 
low, and  that  the  four  years  of  college  spoil  a  lad  for  business. 
In  reality  these  years,  be  they  idle  or  filled  with  work,  give 
young  men  the  custom  of  play,  and  surround  them  with  an 
atmosphere  of  culture,  which  leaves  them  with  bountiful 
resources  for  hours  of  leisure,  while  they  insure  to  them  in 


370  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

these  years  of  growth,  wholesome,  unworried  freedom  from 
such  business  pressure  as  the  successful  parent  is  so  apt  to 
put  on  too  youthful  shoulders. 


ILAS  WEIR  MITCHELL,  physician,  scientist,  and  man 
of  letters,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  February  15,  1829. 
He  was  graduated  from  the  Jefferson  Medical  College 
in  1850,  and  not  only  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  physi- 
cians, but  has  made  a  distinguished  name  for  himself  in  the 
field  of  literature  as  well. 

If  you  pull  the  door  bell  under  the  marble  portico  at  1524 
Walnut  street,  Philadelphia,  in  the  evening,  and  find  Dr. 
Mitchell  at  home,  ten  to  one  you  will  find  him  at  leisure.  It 
is  a  characteristic  of  his  to  do  more  work  in  a  day  than  most 
of  his  generation,  and  yet  to  remain  unhurried,  receptive,  and 
eager  to  laugh  at  the  last  good  story. 

You  have  noticed  as  you  paused  on  the  steps  that  the  house 
is  of  red  brick  above  the  first  white  marble  story  ;  that  it  is 
roomy  and  stately,  and  that  it  stands  in  a  comfortable  row, 
once  nearly  uniform,  whose  complexion  has  changed  with  the 
taste  of  passing  occupants.  Inside,  there  is  fulfillment  of  the 
promised  size  and  ease,  and  when  you  enter  the  study  at  the 
rear  and  to  the  left,  there  is  invitation  in  every  Chippendale 
chair,  every  overflowing  and  bookish  corner,  to  tarry,  rest, 
and  enjoy. 

A  man's  character  is  expressed  in  his  clothes,  and  surely 
the  room  which  he  likes  best,  works  in,  inhabits  most,  is  but 
an  outer  garment  which  tells  a  fuller  tale  than  his  personal 
apparel,  because  it  has  more  to  tell.  Dr.  Mitchell's  entire 
house  is  an  index  of  himself  and  of  that  other  self  whose  pres- 
ence transforms  it  from  a  house  to  a  home.  Each  room  shows 
evidence  of  some  characteristic  taste  or  pursuit,  and  none 
more  so  than  the  second-story  library,  where  the  exquisite 
Delft  ware  stands,  a  passion  only  abated  with  the  scarcity  of 
its  object. 

But  the  essentials  of  the  man  are  to  be  seen  in  the  study, 
and  it  is  here  that  our  impertinent  inquiry  must  run  him  to 
earth.  Perhaps  he  is  seated  by  the  smoldering  wood  fire. 


SILAS   WEIE  MITCHELL.  371 

book  in  hand,  enjoying  the  tranquil  luxury  of  an  after-dinner 
cigar.  If  so,  you  are  in  luck,  for  such  is  the  season  of  anec- 
dote, criticism,  poetry,  and  reminiscence.  His  head  is  one  to 
strike  you,  even  in  a  circle  of  the  elect.  It  somehow  fulfills 
your  ideal  of  a  marked  man.  When  Haydon  had  a  great 
composition  to  paint,  he  sought  his  friends  for  sitters.  He 
would  have  given  Dr.  Mitchell  some  central  place  as  a  figure 
denoting  courage  with  urbanity,  knowledge  with  sympathy, 
firmness  with  geniality.  There  is  the  touch  of  the  artist  in 
dress  and  poise,  the  keenness  of  the  man  of  science  in  the 
piercing,  half-shut  eye.  His  talk  is  flowing,  natural,  delight- 
ful. It  glances  easily  from  letters  to  those  deep  experiences 
of  medicine  which  so  often  give  Dr.  Mitchell's  literature  an 
authoritative  ring  unusual  in  fiction.  The  masterful  neurol- 
ogist is  artfully  seen,  or  concealed,  in  the  realistic  senile 
decay  of  John  Wynne  ;  in  the  hysteria  of  Octopia  ;  the  insan- 
ity of  Philetus  Richmond  ;  and  the  scientist  lurks  in  the 
author's  conversation.  Another  familiar  topic  is  war,  with 
its  examples  of  fear  and  courage,  the  surgical  feats,  its  acts  of 
self-giving  bravery.  This  is  no  passing  fad,  but  a  lifelong 
study  whence  flows  the  objective  power  of  the  battle  of  Ger- 
mantown,  as  described  in  "  Hugh  Wynne,"  the  splendid  scenes 
in  the  trenches  before  Yorktown,  and  the  battle  pictures  in 
"Roland  Blake." 

And  if  these  are  some  of  the  things  Dr.  Mitchell  loves  to 
talk  about,  here  in  his  favorite  room  there  is  plentiful  evi- 
dence that  his  speech  is  but  a  reflex  of  his  tastes.  Against 
the  bookcase  to  the  right  hang  conspicuously  the  swords 
that  the  doctor's  three  brothers  carried  during  the  Civil  War. 
Pendent  from  these  are  a  belt  and  holster  pistol  taken  by 
Captain  Robert  Mitchell  from  a  Confederate  officer  on  the 
field  of  Antietam  ;  and,  as  a  fitting  climax  for  such  tokens  of 
the  rebellion,  above  the  corps-badges  is  the  bronze  life-mask 
of  Lincoln.  Beside  it,  on  top  of  the  bookcase,  repose  those 
hands  of  Lincoln  which  Mr.  Stedman  has  immortalized  in  one 
of  his  most  enduring  poems.  The  swords  are  endeared  to 
their  possessor  by  many  memoried  associations,  and  they 
appear  in  several  of  his  books,  notably  "  Characteristics  "  and 
"When  all  the  Woods  are  Green."  To  witness  further  his 
reverence  for  Lincoln  you  may  turn  over  the  portfolios  of 
precious  manuscripts  and  find  a  specimen  or  two  of  the  great 


372  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

president's  historical  correspondence.  There  is  another  sword 
with  a  record  hanging  beside  those  described.  It  is  smaller 
and  more  delicate,  and  bears  the  label,  "  Bought  at  the  sale  of 
the  effects  of  Joseph  Bonaparte.  This  sword  belonged  to 
Louis  Napoleon  when  he  was  a  child."  There  are,  too,  some 
exquisite  weapons  of  the  Orient  chased  and  ornamented  with 
filigree  silver  grouped  upon  the  old  English  mantel  clock  ; 
while  close  by  to  right  and  left  are  photographs  old  and 
faded  now,  but  breathing  the  spirit  of  the  sixties,  which 
represent  the  brothers  to  whom  belonged  the  swords. 

Thus  does  one  of  Dr.  Mitchell's  traits  betray  itself  in  his 
habitual  surroundings  ;  but  the  controlling  impulse  of  his 
career  is  none  the  less  conspicuous.  There  are  everywhere 
evidences  that  his  experiences  of  war  were  gained  in  the  pro- 
fession where  he  now  stands  first.  As  we  shall  see,  his  liter- 
ary tastes  pervade  every  corner  of  the  room  ;  but  that  it  is 
also  the  study  of  a  physician  proud  of  his  calling  you  are 
never  permitted  to  forget.  Above  the  bookcases  on  each  side 
of  the  fireplace  hang  portraits  of  two  of  the  masters  of  medi- 
cine ;  to  the  left,  Hunter,  to  the  right,  Harvey.  These  are 
admirable  copies  done  in  the  full  spirit  of  the  originals  by  Mrs. 
Anna  Lea  Merritt.  They  are  large,  dark,  and  impressive, 
giving  the  fine  chamber,  with  its  dull  red  hangings  and  quiet 
tone,  a  singular  charm  and  a  subdued  dignity  suggestive  in 
many  ways  of  work  and  of  ease. 

Other  remembrances  of  doctors  are  autograph  letters 
framed  between  glass  ;  one  from  Hunter  to  Edward  Jenner  ; 
and  one  from  Jenner  to  Mr.  Monroe  when  the  latter  was 
American  Minister  to  England  in  1806.  These  unique  treas- 
ures are  highly  prized  by  Dr.  Mitchell  for  their  own  sake  ;  but 
the  last  mentioned  bears  an  added  value  in  having  been  pre- 
sented by  a  famous  fellow  practitioner,  Sir  James  Paget. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  there  is  a  singular  draw- 
ing by  Bertram  Richardson,  which  shows  the  Harvey  vault  as 
it  looked  when  opened  in  1880.  In  the  foreground  are  two 
ancient  sarcophagi,  and  beyond  these,  two  coffins  on  a  shelf, 
the  nearer  one  containing  the  remains  of  Harvey. 

Scattered  about  are  not  a  few  witnesses  of  a  doctor's  daily 
routine,  which  call  us  from  the  past  to  the  busy  present.  Here 
are  the  engagements  pinned  to  the  lambrequin  on  the  mantel 
—  a  curious  habit  of  Dr.  Mitchell's,  which  no  mechanical 


SILAS   WEIR  MITCHELL.  373 

device  may  supersede  ;  here  are  the  signs  of  an  active,  profes- 
sional, and  public  life,  and  of  cares  which  go  to  fill  up  a  varied 
career  of  endless  occupation,  of  work  enjoyed  and  of  intel- 
lectual play  which. most  men  would  call  labor. 

Besides  the  mask  of  Lincoln  there  are  three  others  in  the 
room.  A  life-mask  of  Beethoven's  strong  features  hangs 
against  one  end  of  the  bookshelves.  The  half-smiling  face 
of  Garrick  stands  on  top  of  the  case.  This  is  the  famous 
mask  once  owned  by  Mrs.  Siddons  and  presented  to  her  by 
Fanny  Kemble,  from  whom  it  came,  through  her  daughters, 
to  Dr.  Mitchell.  Across  the  room,  in  a  lighter  corner,  pre- 
served like  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  is  the  life-mask  of  Keats. 
This  is  better  known  now  than  when  it  was  given  to  the  doc- 
tor by  William  W.  Story,  in  Rome,  in  1891  ;  but  it  dominates 
this  room  as  its  presiding  genius  ;  and  rightly,  too,  for  of  the 
doctors  who  were  also  poets  Keats  stands  first.  As  an  indica- 
tion of  Dr.  Mitchell's  reverence  for  the  genius  thus  perpetu- 
ated, I  recollect  how  he  bore  a  certain  lady  on  his  arm  through 
a  thronging  reception  down  the  crowded  stairway,  and  brought 
her  before  this  sad  and  beautiful  face.  Below  it  shine  the 
brasses  of  Byron's  gondola  with  the  Byron  arms,  the  coronet, 
and  the  motto,  Crede  Byron. 

To  his  choice  little  group  of  masks  the  doctor  has  added, 
since  his  return  from  abroad,  a  remarkable  wrork  of  art  with 
kindred  effects.  It  is  a  marble  face  reproduced  with  Japanese 
fidelity  from  the  recumbent  statue  of  Guidarello  Guidarelli 
erected  on  his  tomb  at  Ravenna.  This  Guidarelli  was  a 
knight  who  flourished  and  died  about  1502,  and  some  skilled 
artist  of  his  day  has  carved  him  in  effigy  as  he  lay  in  armor 
ready  for  burial.  The  visor  is  raised  and  the  knightly  face, 
wan  and  shrunken  in  death,  has  slipped  from  its  poise  and 
turns  a  trifle  aside.  The  drawn  eyelids  and  the  lashes  are 
rendered  with  a  tender  truthfulness,  and  the  tone  of  the  mar- 
ble itself,  touched  as  it  is  by  some  ashen  tints,  lends  a  griev- 
ous reality  to  the  strong  face  with  its  mingled  expressions  of 
life's  battles  and  death's  repose.  We  shall  hear  more  of  this 
treasure-trove,  for  it  has  inspired  in  its  possessor  a  poem  of 
singular  felicity. 

And  this  brings  us  naturally  from  the  doctor  to  the  author. 
Indeed,  there  are  abundant  evidences  present  of  a  literary 
man's  varied  occupations.  Here  are  books  made  precious  by 


374  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  rarest  autographs  —  Burns's  copy  of  Pope  inscribed  "  Rob- 
ert Burns,  Poet,"  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  "Tasso";  and  near 
these  are  rows,  which  serve  as  the  fighting  corps  of  an  active 
man  of  letters.  On  this  shelf  by  the  window  there  are  exam- 
ples of  the  doctor's  own  books,  among  which  is  the  green 
buckram  cover  of  the  unfamiliar  single  volume  of  "  Hugh 
Wynne  "  in  the  English  edition.  Near  by  is  a  portrait  in  the 
low  tones  fit  for  black-and-white  reproduction  of  that  aggres- 
sive lady,  Aunt  Gainor  Wynne.  This  is  Mr.  Howard  Pyle's 
notion  of  her,  and  that  it  acceptably  fills  the  author's  ideal  is 
betokened  by  its  central  place.  On  a  lower  shelf  of  another 
bookcase  the  author  has  set  together  many  of  the  books  which 
went  to  the  making  of  "Hugh  Wynne"  and  other  stories  of 
the  war.  More  than  a  glance  would  be  necessary  to  master 
even  their  titles  ;  but  a  few  of  these  will  stand  for  all.  Here 
are  Keith's  "Provincial  Councillors  of  Pennsylvania,"  1733-76; 
Watson's  "Annals,"  "The  Knightly  Soldier,"  by  Trumbull ; 
John  Fiske's  "Critical  Period  of  American  History,"  "The 
True  George  Washington,"  by  Paul  Leicester  Ford  ;  "  The 
Cannoneer,"  by  Buell ;  McMaster's  history,  and  numberless 
diaries,  some  of  them  rare  and  precious. 

Books  there  are  of  medicine,  art,  and  verse  in  abundance, 
with  prints  and  periodicals  wherever  the  eye  wanders  ;  and 
on  the  mantel  a  row  of  photographs  rich  in  literary  associa- 
tions. Among  these  you  will  notice  once  or  twice  the  vigor 
and  sweetness  of  the  face  of  Bishop  Brooks  in  token  of  an 
early  attachment  which  strengthened  as  it  endured. 

There  is  no  literary  question  in  which  Dr.  Mitchell  is  not 
interested  ;  no  literary  germ  which  he  does  not  heed  and  lend 
his  fostering  sympathy.  The  Saturday  evenings  when  one 
goes  informally  and  takes  his  chosen  friends  always  produce 
some  new  faces,  which  brighten  in  the  light  reflected  by  the 
doctor's  personality.  He  is  eager  to  know  the  best  and  the 
newest  that  intellectual  life  produces,  and  his  opportunities 
place  him  at  the  meeting  of  the  ways  whither  every  man  of 
distinction  who  visits  the  Quaker  City  addresses  his  steps. 
But  fellowship  with  those  who  have  "arrived"  is  no  bar  to 
comradeship  with  those  who  are  on  the  way,  and  hence  the 
influence  of  the  author  at  home  whom  we  are  describing  is  a 
distinct  element  in  the  advancement  of  the  city  he  has  done 
so  much  to  honor  and  to  interpret. 


SILAS   WEIR  MITCHELL.  375 

As  you  enter  the  study  on  a  bright  spring  morning  and 
look  out  upon  the  garden  beyond,  through  the  tall  windows 
reaching  to  the  floor,  you  will  mark  one  of  the  elements  in 
Dr.  Mitchell's  life  which  make  him  at  once  a  successful  doctor 
and  a  creative  artist.  The  crocus  beds,  in  the  limited  area  of 
a  city  plot,  stand  for  Nature  at  large.  He  draws  from  the 
great  mother  all  his  higher  qualities,  and  it  is  his  wise  choice 
to  live  with  her,  unhurried  by  duties,  six  months  of  each  year. 
In  these  seasons  his  books  grow  ;  '•'  Hugh  Wynne  "  during  the 
summer  of  '95  ;  "  Francois  "  a  year  later,  and  the  summer 
following,  a  handful  of  poems. 

In  the  winter  season  the  latchstring  is  out  and  Dr.  Mitch- 
ell is  at  home. 

Dr.  Wier  Mitchell,  among  the  varied  interests  of  a  most 
active  life,  has  always  had  a  great  fondness  for  the  history 
and  traditions  of  his  native  state  and  city.  His  life  reaches 
back  to  a  period  when  the  remains  of  a  few  colonial  ways  sur- 
vived, and  when  many  people  were  living  whose  conversation 
could  reveal  still  more.  But  he  has  gone  far  beyond  anything 
that  could  be  furnished  from  this  source,  and  has  made  a 
most  exhaustive  study  of  the  records  and  authorities.  And 
one  result  of  his  researches  is  "  Hugh  Wynne,  Free  Quaker," 
published  in  two  neat  volumes  by  the  Century  Company. 
Novel  readers  are  familiar  with  Dr.  Mitchell's  other  books  — 
"  Hepzibah  Guinness,"  "  Roland  Blake,"  "  Far  in  the  Forest," 
"In  War  Time,"  and  "Characteristics."  In  some  respects 
''Hugh  Wynne"  is  more  ambitious  than  the  others.  It  is  a 
very  important  historical  novel  of  permanent  value,  and  treats 
with  great  completeness  colonial  life  and  manners  in  Phila- 
delphia at  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  It  will  be  a  revelation 
to  most  people  who  suppose  that  those  times  were  colorless 
and  dull. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  man  can  follow  two  professions  and 
be  successful  in  both,  especially  if  one  of  them  is  literature. 
It  not  infrequently  happens  that  a  man  may  be  a  very  good 
doctor  or  lawyer  and  produce  literature  of  an  ordinary  kind. 
But  that  a  man  should  be  a  real  genius  in  literature,  and  at 
the  same  time  stand  high  in  medicine  or  law,  seems  almost 
superhuman.  Daniel  Webster  came  very  near  fulfilling  these 
conditions.  That  he  was  an  unusually  able  and  successful 
lawyer  and  a  statesman  of  remarka,ble  merit  is,  of  course, 


376  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

unquestioned,  and  in  his  great  speeches  there  is  a  touch  of 
genuine  literary  genius.  When  we  leave  him  and  turn  to  the 
speeches  of  Clay  or  Calhoun,  the  other  members  of  the  great 
triumvirate,  we  miss  this  touch,  an  indescribable  something 
which  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  define.  They  are  able, 
talented,  powerful,  but  the  divine  spark  which  occasionally 
glints  and  flashes  in  Webster  is  not  there. 

It  seems  to  be  reserved  for  America  to  produce  men  of  this 
double  power ;  and  the  thought  should  be  taken  to  heart  by 
those  who  carp  at  our  climate  and  physical  degeneracy,  and 
maintain  that  we  cannot  live  and  increase  by  our  own 
productiveness,  unless  assisted  by  shiploads  of  European 
outcasts.  The  double  power  means  a  deep-seated  physical 
vitality  and  nervous  force.  It  was  Carlyle  who,  after  meeting 
the  iionlike  Webster  in  England,  said  that  he  had  often  heard 
of  American  physical  degeneracy,  but  had  never  before  seen 
such  a  magnificent  specimen  of  it.  Dr.  Holmes  was  another 
instance,  not  perhaps  remarkable  in  his  profession,  but  a  hard 
worker  and  much  respected  in  it,  and  with  an  undoubted 
literary  genius  which  no  one  would  think  of  disputing. 

In  Dr.  Mitchell  we  have  a  modified  form  of  this  double 
type.  It  cannot  be  said  that  he  has  genius  ;  but  he  has  very 
strong  talent,  and  he  stands  far  higher  in  his  profession  than 
Dr.  Holmes.  Though  more  than  seventy  years  old  he  comes 
down  every  morning  to  find  his  front  office  crowded  with 
patients,  and  he  practices  his  profession  with  the  same 
thoroughness,  zeal,  and  earnestness  which  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  built  up  his  great  reputation.  A  tall  man  with  a 
colossal  head  and  a  most  impressive  face,  a  lover  of  nature, 
addicted  all  his  life  to  field  sports,  fishing,  and  camping  in 
the  wilderness,  a  believer  in  muscle  and  out  of  doors  as  a  cure 
for  disease  and  a  stay  for  the  moral  faculties,  he  is  the 
embodiment  of  the  wholesome  and  vigorous  side  of  life. 

Long  before  he  wrote  novels  he  had  given  the  public  sev- 
eral medical  books,  the  result  of  his  investigations  and  large 
experience  in  nervous  diseases.  He  was  connected  during 
the  Civil  War  with  the  first  hospital  established  for  giving 
special  study  and  treatment  to  the  cases  where  nervous  injury 
had  resulted  from  wounds.  His  book,  "  Injuries  of  Nerves," 
was  the  outcome  of  this  experience,  and  he  still  follows  up  the 
history  of  the  soldiers  who  went  from  that  hospital,  to  record 


SILAS  WEIR  MITCHELL.  377 

every  detail  of  their  subsequent  condition.  Other  books, 
"  Doctor  and  Patient,"  "  Wear  and  Tear,"  "  Gunshot  Wounds," 
and  "  Fat  and  Blood,"  have  become  classics  in  his  profession ; 
and  they  are  all  written  in  a  delightful  style  which  makes 
them  very  interesting  reading  for  the  layman.  "  Doctor  and 
Patient "  seems  to  be  particularly  intended  for  laymen,  and 
is  likely  to  be  very  profitable  to  those  who  suffer  from  the 
strain  and  unnatural  way  of  living  of  the  times. 

There  are  few  doctors  in  the  country  who  have  so  many 
grateful  patients,  men  and  women  who  have  been  raised  from 
chronic  invalidism  to  robust  activity,  and  who  never  weary  of 
describing  the  traits  of  the  man,  who  they  say  is  their  friend 
as  well  as  their  physician,  and  who  has  charmed  them  with 
the  broad  accomplishment  of  his  mind  and  character.  His 
methods  are  ingenious,  original,  and  bold,  he  makes  use  of 
every  means  and  facility  that  can  be  devised,  and  has  a  corps 
of  assistants,  nurses,  and  masseurs  to  carry  out  his  intentions. 
Patients  come  to  him  from  every  part  of  the  country  ;  he  is 
continually  called  away  to  Baltimore,  New  York,  and  other 
cities  ;  and  has  received  distinguished  honors  from  foreign 
universities.  One  would  suppose  that  this  was  enough  to 
consume  all  his  time  and  energy,  even  with  his  rapid  methods 
of  work  and  careful  husbanding  of  hours.  But  there  are 
some  natures  which  cannot  be  kept  within  bounds.  His  novel 
and  verse  writing  began  as  an  amusement  to  pass  away  spare 
time  on  his  summer  vacations,  and  he  probably  did  not  expect 
to  meet  with  very  much  success  in  it ;  but  literature  has  now 
for  a  long  time  been  an  important  part  of  his  career,  and, 
judging  by  the  number  of  editions  some  of  his  books  pass 
through,  a  source  of  not  a  little  profit. 

His  poems,  which  have  appeared  in  various  forms  in  past 
years,  are  now  collected  in  one  good-sized  volume.  They  are 
all  interesting  and  worth  reading,  although  they  cannot  be 
called  powerful.  Some  of  his  dramas  are  distinctly  good. 
Among  his  lyrical  pieces  several  may  be  mentioned  as  out  of 
the  common, — "  When  the  Cumberland  Went  Down,"  "Cer- 
vantes," and  the  "Wreck  of  the  Emmeline."  They  are  here 
given  in  the  reverse  order  of  merit.  In  the  "Wreck  of  the 
Emmeline  "  he  seems  to  get  beyond  his  usual  self  ;  this  poem 
would  compare  very  favorably  with  some  of  the  best  that 
have  appeared  since  the  Civil  War. 


378  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

His  best  novel,  "  Far  in  the  Forest,"  has  never  met  with  as 
much  success  as  the  others,  and  the  most  probable  explana- 
tion is  that  the  title  injured  it.  Its  christening  was  certainly 
most  unfortunate.  People  naturally  supposed  that  it  must  be 
a  boys'  book,  or  a  mere  story  of  adventure  or  wild  life.  But 
in  dramatic  force,  directness,  and  strong  simplicity,  it  far 
exceeds  all  his  others.  In  fact,  it  seems  to  have  been  written 
by  a  different  person.  Even  the  style  is  totally  different.  It 
may  be  that  in  his  other  novels  he  has  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously felt  his  way  to  the  line  of  least  resistance,  which 
enables  him  to  give  a  story  full  of  detail  and  circumstance 
without  feeling  himself  bound  by  the  severest  rules  of  art. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  that  sort  of  thing  done  nowadays,  and 
it  would  be  well  if  the  trained  literary  critics  would  investi- 
gate its  general  effects  on  the  literature  of  the  age. 

The  admirers  of  Dr.  Mitchell  would,  probably,  all  prefer  to 
have  had  him  guide  himself  always  by  the  old,  severe,  classic 
rules.  But  perhaps  he  is  the  best  judge  of  his  own  mission  ; 
and  he  has  certainly  forged  out  a  style  and  manner  of  his 
own,  full  of  incident  and  intellectual  force.  In  any  event,  he 
has  not  gone  into  the  new  method  so  far  as  some  who,  by 
adopting  a  tone  which  is  easy  of  accomplishment  and  accept- 
able to  the  public,  cease  to  develop  their  originality  and  inde- 
pendence, and  become  mere  adapters.  These  adapters  will,  of 
course,  reply  :  Wait  and  see.  The  majority  are  the  best 
judges,  and  in  the  end  the  only  judges.  The  method  of  novel 
writing  has  changed.  We  cannot  forever  follow  the  old  ideals 
of  art.  That  type  can  in  any  event  be  reached  only  by  a  great 
genius,  and  in  it  only  a  genius  can  produce  a  work  which  will 
be  popular. 

This  doctrine  has  certainly  become  the  prevailing  one  in 
America.  We  have  been  flooded  with  it  for  twenty  years, 
and  it  is  associated  with  the  Germanizing  of  our  colleges  and 
the  change  in  methods  of  education.  But  the  standard  of 
art,  the  test  of  correct  performance,  has  never  changed  since 
the  days  of  Homer,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  we  Americans  of 
this  age  can  change  it.  To  suppose  that  we  can  is  not  a  whit 
different  from  the  delusion  of  the  silver  party,  that  by  the  free 
coinage  of  the  white  metal  we  could  compel  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  to  accept  it  against  their  will  as  the  equivalent  of  gold. 

There  is  no  reason  for  a  change. ,   The  old  test  can  be  used 


DK.   S.  WEIR  MITCHELL. 


.       . 

ARY 


ASTOP,  LENOX  AND 


PERILS  OF  SUCCESS.  381 

for  an  infinite  variety  of  purposes,  for  every  circumstance  that 
can  arise  and  for  every  age  and  condition  that  the  future  has 
in  store.  Thackeray,  Dickens,  and  Scott  found  it  as  well 
suited  to  the  life  of  their  times  as  Homer  for  his  environment 
two  thousand  years  before. 

The  writers  of  France  and  England  still  accept  it.  Their 
second  and  third  rate  writers,  men  of  mere  talent  without 
genius,  live  up  to  it  to  the  extent  of  their  powers,  and  their 
work  is  the  better  for  it,  and  far  superior  to  our  work  of  the 
same  class.  Even  in  the  United  States  it  continually  outsells 
our  own. 

PERILS    OP   SUCCESS. 

N  the  military  family  of  Washington  was  one,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  Revolution,  whose  great  ability,  courage,  and 
social  qualities  commanded  universal  praise.  He  had  no 
peer  in  the  service  of  the  court  and  the  camp.  Washing- 
ton, himself,  regarded  his  rich  endowments  of  mind  and  per- 
son as  the  assurance  of  the  highest  and  most  valuable  service 
to  his  oppressed  and  distracted  country.  But  when,  at  the 
height  of  his  success  in  public  life,  Aaron  Burr  allowed  his 
baser  passions  to  usurp  the  place  of  patriotism  and  purity,  he 
died,  "not  as  Adams,  and  Jefferson,  and  Washington  sank 
into  the  grave,  amidst  the  tears  and  prayers  of  a  great  nation, 
but  in  shame,  solitude,  and  gloom,  this  profligate,  whose  ambi- 
tion it  was  to  tread  the  fairest  flowers  into  the  dust,  passed 
away  to  the  bar  of  a  just  God." 

A  successful  merchant  of  New  York  city  retired  from 
business  at  forty-five  years  of  age,  rich,  honored,  and  sat- 
isfied. It  is  a  mistake  for  men  of  forty-five  to  dream  and 
plan  for  relief  from  business  thereafter.  To  desire  ease,  with 
nothing  to  do,  at  that  age,  when  the  physical  and  mental 
powers  are  in  their  prime,  is  a  mistaken  view  of  one's  life 
work.  However  successful  a  person  has  been  up  to  that  time, 
there  is  real  peril  in  the  idea  that  a  fortune  and  a  good  char- 
acter at  forty-five  entitles  one  to  retire  from  business  and  live 
at  ease.  It  proved  so  in  the  case  of  the  wealthy  New  York 
merchant.  After  the  care  and  labor  of  establishing  a  princely 
home  on  the  Hudson  were  exhausted,  and  he  had  nothing  to 
do,  a  few  months  sufficed  to  tell  upon  his  constitution.  He 
began  to  tire  of  the  monotony,  his  health  became  impaired, 
sleepless  nights  made  him  miserable,  and  finally  he  became  a 


382  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

confirmed  invalid,  whom  physicians  tried  in  vain  to  restore. 
His  wealth  yielded  him  no  happiness,  his  beautiful  home  lost 
its  attractions,  and  he  would  have  parted  with  the  last  dollar 
of  his  riches  could  he  have  been  transferred  to  his  counting- 
room,  with  all'its  care,  perplexities,  and  hard  work.  He  died 
before  his  fiftieth  birthday,  an  illustration,  in  his  untimely 
death,  of  the  perils  of  success.  Had  he  been  less  prosperous, 
so  that  he  felt  the  necessity  of  continuing  in  business,  indus- 
trious, enterprising,  and  tireless,  until  the  winters  of  three- 
score years  and  ten  had  frosted  his  head,  he  might  have 
enjoyed  an  old  age  that  is  a  crown  of  glory. 

There   are  more   men  and  women  who   are   demoralized 
by  success  on  certain  lines  than  are  made  more  manly  and 
womanly  by  it.     The  command  of  human  praise,  the  ability  to 
shine  as  a  "  bright,  particular  star,"  the  worshipful  attention 
of  their  fellow  men  that   falls  to  their  lot,  drift  them  away 
from  their  surroundings,  until,  upon  a  tempestuous  sea,  with- 
out chart  or  compass,  they  sink  into  unknown  depths.    Robert 
Walpole   remarked,  "It  is  fortunate  that  few  men  can  be 
prime   ministers,  because  it   is  fortunate  that  few  men  can 
know  the  abandoned  profligacy  of  the  human  mind."    How- 
ever much  exaggeration  there  was  in  the  sentiment  expressed, 
it   certainly  contains  the    unquestioned  truth   that  peculiar 
perils  lurk  in  the  paths  of  those  who  share  high  honors,  great 
power,  and  overflowing  wealth.     Wealth  hoarded,  honor  used 
to  inflate  pride,  and  learning  acquired  for  a  name  only,  are 
mistaken  notions  of  success,  that  make  it  the  occasion  of  dis- 
grace and  failure.     One  of  the  most  successful  members  of 
the  New  York  bar,  a  score  of  years  ago,  allowed  his  own  life 
to  illustrate  our  theme.     He  was  talented,  eloquent,  and  mag- 
netic on  the  rostrum  and  in  the  parlor.    His  practice  increased 
beyond  his  most  sanguine  expectations.     On  account  of  his 
abundant  gifts,  demands  were  made  upon  him  outside  of  the 
legal  profession,  and  he  was  brought  largely  thereby  into 
public  life.     Money  poured  into  his  lap,  his  acquaintance  and 
counsel  were  sought  by  the  wealthiest  class,  and  he  shared 
general   confidence    because    he  was   a  man  of    moral  and 
Christian  principles.     Few  men  of  any  profession  were  ever 
so  successful  as  he  at  the  time  of  his  marriage.     He  married 
a  society  woman,  who  introduced  him  into  a  social  life  alto- 
gether new  to  him.     Heavy  drafts  upon  his  time  and  purse 


PERILS  OF  SUCCESS.  383 

multiplied  in  this  new  relation  as  the  years  rolled  on.  The 
enjoyment  of  his  wife,  and  the  bewilderment  of  social 
splendor,  blinded  him  to  the  inevitable  issue  of  affairs,  until 
pecuniary  embarrassment  stared  him  in  the  face.  In  this 
hour  of  temptation,  the  unlawful  appropriation  of  trust  funds 
to  relieve  his  condition  brought  him  into  disgrace,  and  made 
his  life  a  failure.  But  for  his  success  at  the  bar,  in  social 
and  political  life,  his  career  might  have  rounded  into  one  of 
the  noblest  and  best  on  record. 

Stephen  Girard  devoted  his  life  to  the  acquisition  of 
wealth,  and  he  was  eminently  successful  in  that  line.  He 
left  his  home  in  France,  at  ten  years  of  age,  and  sailed  as 
cabin  boy  to  the  West  Indies.  Thence  he  proceeded  to  New 
York,  where  he  began  to  trade  in  small  wares,  in  a  small  way, 
and  from  that  time  he  became  a  marked  example  of  the  prac- 
tical wisdom  of  a  man  whose  ruling  passion  is  to  be  rich. 
Sometimes  he  traded  in  the  city  in  whatever  merchandise 
promised  him  even  the  smallest  profit,  sometimes  he  com- 
manded a  ship  upon  a  voyage  to  a  distant  country  in  the  in- 
terest of  gain.  Then  a  trip  of  hundreds  of  miles  on  land  to 
add  ta  his  accumulating  wealth  enlisted  his  utmost  energy. 
There  was  no  sort  of  merchandise  that  he  refused  to  handle, 
no  sort  of  labor  that  he  declined  to  perform,  and  no  hardship 
that  he  would  not  undergo  for  money.  As  if  some  magical 
power  invested  his  head  and  hands  with  a  charm,  every  en- 
terprise that  he  undertook  added  largely  and  rapidly  to  his 
wealth.  His  touch,  like  that  of  the  mythical  Midas,  turned 
everything  into  gold.  Yet  his  success  only  fed  a  base  love  of 
money  that  belittled  his  manhood,  shriveled  his  soul,  and  sent 
him  out  of  the  world  a  worshiper  of  gold,  his  life  a  failure. 

Success  in  reforms  often  brings  reformers  into  great  tribu- 
lation. So  long  as  they  do  not  multiply  achievements  to  any 
extent  they  are  tolerated,  but  when  they  show  themselves  to 
be  a  power,  the  opposition  is  aroused,  and  hardships  and 
perils  multiply.  This  was  eminently  true  of  Luther.  Born 
to  an  inheritance  of  poverty,  the  son  of  a  poor  miner,  he  was 
compelled  to  sing  from  house  to  house  in  order  to  obtain 
money  to  pay  for  his  schooling.  It  was  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  convent  at  Erfurth  that  opened  his  eyes  to 
behold  the  truth,  and  started  him  out  upon  a  mission  that 
moved  the  world.  He  said  :  "God  ordered  that  I  should  be- 


384  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

come  a  monk,  that,  being  taught  by  experience,  I  might  take 
up  my  pen  against  the  pope."  It  was  David  attacking  Goliath 
of  Gath  ;  and  from  that  time  the  perils  of  his  success  began. 
So  long  as  he  was  the  harmless  son  of  a  poor  miner,  he  at- 
tracted little  attention,  and  pushed  onward  and  upward  with- 
out opposition.  For  a  poor  peasant  boy  to  advance  as  Luther 
did  was  a  signal  success,  and  it  was  this  that  created  his 
perils.  The  young  monk  at  Erfurth  was  proving  that  he  was 
a  power,  and  as  such  he  must  be  antagonized.  He  must  be 
gagged ;  he  must  be  banished  ;  he  must  be  killed,  if  neces- 
sary !  He  must  be  silenced  here  and  now.  There  was  no 
alternative,  and  persecution  did  its  worst.  It  was  in  this  sea 
of  perils,  confronting  the  emperor,  princes,  and  nobles,  and 
dignitaries  of  the  Church,  in  the  city  of  Worms,  that  he  ap- 
peared to  realize  that  success  had  brought  him  to  the  verge  of 
his  grave.  When  ordered  to  retract  the  doctrines  he  had  pro- 
claimed or  forfeit  his  life,  he  answered,  as  the  Christian  hero 
will  :  "Unless  I  shall  be  refuted  and  convinced  by  testimonies 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  by  public,  clear,  and  evident  argu- 
ments and  reasons,  I  cannot  and  will  not  retract  anything, 
since  I  believe  neither  the  pope  nor  the  councils  alone,  and 
since  it  is  neither  safe  nor  advisable  to  do  anything  against 
the  conscience.  Here  I  stand.  I  cannot  otherwise  ;  God  help 
me  !  Amen."  His  faith  saved  him  from  death.  Enemies 
dared  not  kill  such  a  servant  of  God. 

It  is  the  same  with  other  reforms.  The  anti-slavery  cause 
was  tolerated  until  it  became  a  conflict.  When  it  grew  to 
strength,  and  attracted  public  attention  as  an  organized 
agency  to  destroy  slavery,  then  its  troubles  began.  Success 
up  to  a  certain  point,  when  the  enemy  declared,  "  thus  far, 
but  no  farther."  Then  perils  multiplied,  anathemas,  per- 
secutions, mobs,  assaults,  and  death,  until  the  anti-slavery 
reformer  actually  took  his  life  into  his  hands  to  plead  for 
liberty. 

The  secret  of  growth  is  to  do  to-day  what  we  could  not 
have  done  yesterday.  It  requires  no  striving,  or  extra  effort, 
to  do  to-morrow  what  we  can  do  to-day  as  well  as  not.  The 
effort  of  doing  something  greater  and  better  is  necessary  :  for 
this  keeps  the  faculties  at  their  highest  tension,  in  which 
there  is  growth.  It  is  in  this  way  that  a  youth  acquires  cul- 
ture, and  eventually  becomes  learned  ;  in  this  way  the  artisan 


PERILS  OF  SUCCESS.  385 

becomes  an  expert,  and  contributes  to  the  skilled  labor  of  the 
world  ;  in  this  way,  too,  the  artist  becomes  able  to  execute 
the  most  difficult  music,  or  transfer  his  beau  ideal  to  the  can- 
vas. It  is  the  effort  to  improve  or  excel,  taxing  the  powers 
more  and  more,  that  develops  manhood  and  womanhood, 
mentally  and  morally. 

When  Edison  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  sold  papers  on 
the  trains  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  his  home  and  head- 
quarters being  at  Port  Huron,  Michigan.  A  boy  by  the  name 
of  James  A.  Clancy  was  his  partner  in  the  business.  Their 
homes  were  a  mile  apart,  and  it  became  quite  indispensable 
for  them  to  have  some  speedy  way  of  corresponding  with 
each  other.  Edison  proposed  a  telegraph.  So  they  purchased 
a  quantity  of  stovepipe  wire  and  put  up  the  line,  trees  serv- 
ing them  for  poles.  An  operator  in  the  place  taught  them  the 
telegraphic  alphabet,  and  how  to  use  it.  Here  was  Edison's 
initiation  into  the  mysteries  of  electrical  science.  If  he  had 
been  content  with  that  short-line  telegraph,  and  the  good  he 
derived  from  it,  the  world  would  never  have  heard  of  his 
phonograph.  But  he  was  not  content.  That  smattering  of 
knowledge  stimulated  his  inventive  genius,  so  that  he  has 
been  acting  upon  the  principle  ever  since  of  doing  to-morrow 
what  was  not  possible  to-day.  His  growth  has  been  phenom- 
enal because  his  method  of  reducing  the  principle  in  question 
to  practice  has  been  phenomenal.  He  is  still  advancing  on 
this  line,  and  is  doing  to-day  what  he  could  not  have  done 
yesterday.  Hence,  one  invention  follows  another  naturally, 
as  he  expects  it  will  so  long  as  his  inventive  powers  are 
stretched  to  their  utmost  tension  for  greater  acquisitions. 
Between  his  one-mile  telegraph  in  18G1,  and  his  present  posi- 
tion as  "The  Wizard  of  Menlo  Park,"'  there  are  personal 
struggles,  studies,  and  masterly  efforts  beyond  computation. 

The  mere  money-maker  may  grow  in  shrewdness  and 
worldly  wisdom,  but  his  manhood  does  not  enlarge  and 
become  ennobling.  His  mind  must  grasp  higher  themes, 
that  will  tax  something  more  than  his  avaricious  nature,  to 
secure  real  growth.  He  may  become  rich  as  Croesus,  but  a 
miser  has  no  real  manhood  ;  he  is  a  small  specimen  of 
humanity.  If,  while  acquiring  a  fortune,  he  allows  himself 
to  acquire  knowledge  by  dint  of  perseverance,  and  become 
personally  and  deeply  interested  in  philanthropic  enterprises, 


386  LEADERS  OF  MEN, 

his  whole  man  feels  the  force  of  his  efforts.  The  higher  and 
nobler  themes  of  thought  and  study  make  his  mental  and 
moral  growth  inevitable. 

Many  farmers  do  not  grow  in  manly  character  as  they 
advance  in  years.  They  till  the  soil  as  their  fathers  did  before 
them,  content  to  plant,  sow,  and  reap  as  the  seasons  come 
and  go,  without  improvement  of  themselves  or  their  farms. 
But  it  is  not  so  with  all.  Agricultural  science  taxes  their 
mental  powers.  They  study  the  nature  of  the  soils,  the  meth- 
ods of  improving  crops  and  stock,  and  the  many  other  sci- 
entific subjects  that  are  involved  in  successful  agriculture. 
They  grow  constantly  in  intelligence  and  manly  qualities. 
Higher  thoughts  lift  them  out  of  the  old  humdrum  life  of 
their  grandfathers,  and  they  dwell  in  a  new  sphere  of  labor, 
in  which  social  and  intellectual  growth  is  certain.  Taxing 
the  mind  is  the  secret  of  making  farming  a  real  discipline. 

Of  two  young  men  or  women,  of  equal  ability  and  like  cir- 
cumstances, one  may  attend  divine  worship  on  the  Sabbath 
constantly,  and  the  other  may  not  attend  at  all.  The  former 
becomes  far  more  intelligent  than  the  latter.  His  intellect  is 
more  active  and  sharper,  so  that  the  difference  is  apparent  to 
every  observer.  The  explanation  is  that  the  mind  of  the  first 
has  been  taxed  in  the  house  of  God  by  the  discussion  of  higher 
and  grander  themes.  He  has  been  prompted  to  think  and 
reflect  on  a  higher  plane,  while  the  other  has  groveled  in  that 
lower  life  that  characterizes  those  who  neglect  public  worship. 
Not  one  subject  of  thought  was  high  enough,  or  noble  enough, 
to  lift  him  above  his  surroundings.  David  said  :  "I  know 
more  than  the  ancients,  because  I  have  kept  Thy  precepts," 
and  David  was  right.  Every  person  who  is  obedient  to  God, 
not  only  knows  more  than  he  who  is  not,  other  things  being 
equal,  but  he  has  acquired  a  mental  power  by  grasping 
greater  themes,  to  which  the  disobedient  is  a  stranger.  Of 
two  children,  alike  in  natural  endowments  and  in  opportuni- 
ties, the  obedient  one  knows  more  than  the  disobedient.  He 
practices  all  the  higher  qualities  that  obedience  involves,  and, 
therefore,  he  knows  all  about  them,  while  the  other  knows 
absolutely  nothing  of  them.  To  know  honesty,  a  man  must 
be  honest,  just  as  to  know  astronomy  he  must  master  it.  So 
with  the  good  life  :  the  effort  for  it  stimulates  both  intellect 
and  soul  by  the  necessity  of  studying  and  comprehending  the 
highest  themes. 


PERILS  OF  SUCCESS.  387 

These  facts  show  why  the  dude  never  grows  except  in  van- 
ity,—  his  passion  for  dress  furnishes  food  for  little  else.  His 
thoughts  do  not  rise  above  his  personal  appearance,  his  mind 
grasps  only  belittling  themes.  So  with  the  girl  who  lives  only 
in  a  world  of  pleasure  and  apparel, —  she  grows  vain,  but  she 
does  not  grow  brighter  and  better.  She  never  can  grow  men- 
tally and  morally  on  this  low  plane  of  life.  We  learn,  also, 
why  the  constant  reader  of  dime  novels,  and  other  trashy  lit- 
erature, knows  no  more  at  forty  or  fifty  years  of  age  than  at 
fifteen.  He  has  had  nothing  uplifting  to  think  about,  so  that 
mental  and  moral  growth  was  impossible.  The  mind  was 
made  to  think  with  ;  and,  in  order  to  grow,  it  must  have 
something  worth  thinking  about. 

The  most  eminent  example  of  our  theme,  in  our  day,  is 
that  of  Dwight  L.  Moody,  the  evangelist.  A  wide-awake 
boy,  poor  and  naughty,  causing  his  good  Christian  mother 
great  anxiety,  he  possessed,  nevertheless,  decision,  firmness, 
self-reliance,  and  indomitable  force  of  character.  Just  the 
boy  to  go  to  ruin  under  certain  circumstances  !  Just  the  boy 
to  make  a  John  Knox  or  Whitefield  under  other  circum- 
stances !  "Uncle  Samuel  Holton,"  boot  and  shoe  dealer  of 
Boston,  knowing  how  headstrong  and  unmanageable  he  was, 
advised  his  mother  to  "  keep  him  at  home  in  Northfield  ;  such 
a  boy  will  be  ruined  in  three  months  in  Boston." 

But  young  Moody's  ardor  was  not  dampened  by  his  uncle's 
opinion.  At  sixteen,  he  packed  up  his  clothes  and  left  North- 
field  for  Boston.  "Uncle  Holton "  was  somewhat  dum- 
founded  by  his  presence,  but,  speedily  taking  in  the  situation, 
he  said  :  "  Dwight,  I  will  give  you  a  place  in  my  store  on  these 
conditions  :  you  shall  board  where  I  wish  to  have  you ;  you 
shall  go  to  meeting  with  me  every  Sabbath  ;  and  you  shall 
join  the  Sabbath  school." 

Dwight  accepted  the  conditions,  and  went  to  work  with  a 
will.  His  tact,  energy,  intelligence,  and  remarkable  effi- 
ciency, soon  made  him  an  indispensable  helper  in  the  store  ; 
and  his  brightness,  punctuality,  and  constancy  at  church  and 
Sabbath  school,  drew  the  attention  of  both  pastor  and  teacher. 
He  was  converted  to  Christ,  and  united  with  the  church  ;  and 
now  he  must  work  for  his  new  Master  in  the  church,  as  he  did 
for  the  old  one  in  the  store,  with  all  his  might.  He  was  on  fire 
for  Christ,  and  therefore  irrepressible.  He  spoke  and  prayed 


388  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

in  meeting,  mutilating  the  King's  English  shockingly,  and 
grammar  suffered  martyrdom  at  his  hands  with  every  effort. 
Pastor  and  people  hung  their  heads, —  the  young  Christian 
hero  was  too  rough  on  the  refinement  of  Boston.  But  he  must 
work  for  the  Lord  or  be  unhappy,  and  seeing  a  field  in  Chi- 
cago for  his  powers,  thither  he  went.  He  became  salesman  in 
a  large  boot  and  shoe  house  of  that  city,  and  stepped  to  the 
front  at  once  in  the  business.  Other  salesmen  complained  that 
he  got  most  of  the  customers.  "  Gets  them  fairly,"  replied  his 
employer.  He  joined  Plymouth  Church,  and  at  once  rented 
four  pews  and  filled  them  the  next  Sabbath  with  young  men 
from  the  street,  showing  as  much  tact  in  drumming  up  recruits 
for  the  Lord  as  he  did  in  bringing  customers  to  the  warehouse. 
He  offered  to  teach  a  class  in  the  Sabbath  school.  "  Gather  a 
class  from  the  streets,  and  you  may  teach  them,''  replied  the 
superintendent.  The  next  Sabbath  he  had  a  class  of  "  street 
Arabs,"  numbering  eighteen,  some  of  them  hatless  and  shoe- 
less. Within  a  few  weeks  he  had  a  mission  school  of  his  own, 
where  two  hundred  drinking  and  gambling  hells  flourished 
around  it.  He  quit  business  and  devoted  his  whole  time  to 
Christian  work.  Soon  he  had  a  church,  and  becajne  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  Onward  and  upward  he  continued, 
until  he  addressed  more  people  at  any  one  time,  and  at  all 
times,  than  any  other  preacher  on  earth,  brought  more  sinners 
to  Christ  than  any  other  pastor  or  evangelist  who  ever  lived, 
and  became  known  as  the  model  expository  preacher  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  at  whose  feet  the  graduates  of  theologi- 
cal seminaries  gladly  sat  to  learn  how  to  preach. 

What  is  the  secret  of  such  a  life  ?  In  business,  he  worked 
with  all  his  might,  and  prospered.  He  kept  his  physical  and 
mental  powers  on  the  stretch  all  the  time,  so  that  he  grew  and 
stood  at  the  head  of  salesmen.  In  like  manner,  he  kept  his 
moral  and  spiritual  powers  on  the  stretch  constantly,  growing 
surprisingly  in  mental  and  moral  power.  This  taxing  all  his 
powers  to  the  utmost,  year  after  year,  produced  a  life  almost 
without  a  parallel. 

Many  youth  and  adults  make  a  fatal  mistake  by  thinking 
that  the  way  to  grow  morally,  and  become  strong  in  princi- 
ple, is  to  have  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  vicious  side 
of  life.  They  must  know  from  personal  observation  what  its 
sins  and  pitfalls  are.  They  must  peer  into  that  land  of  dark- 


PERILS  OF  SUCCESS.  389 

ness.  This  has  often  proved  a  fatal  delusion.  It  is  necessary 
to  know  only  the  way  to  honor  and  usefulness  in  order  to  get 
there.  To  know  the  opposite  is  no  help  at  all.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  learn  the  way  to  perdition  in  order  to  reach  heaven. 
A  passenger  said  to  the  pilot  on  a  Mississippi  steamer,  "  How 
long  have  you  been  a  pilot  on  these  waters  ? "  The  old  man 
answered,  "  Twenty-five  years,  and  I  came  up  and  down 
many  times  before  I  was  pilot."  "  Then,''  said  the  passenger, 
'•  I  should  think  you  must  know  every  rock  and  sandbank  on 
the  river."  The  pilot  smiled  at  the  man's  simplicity,  and 
replied,  "  Oh,  no  I  don't  !  But  I  know  where  the  deep  water 
is  ;  that  is  what  we  want, —  to  know  the  safe  path  and  keep 
to  it." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

CHARLES   WILLIAM   ELIOT. 

ON    HAPPINESS-- TWO    ESTIMATES    OF    PRESIDENT    ELIOT HIS    CONTEM- 
PORARIES  AN    EARLY    APPRECIATION    OF      HIS    ADMINISTRATIVE    ABILITIES 

-AS    A    TEACHER    IN      HARVARD  CHOSEN     PRESIDENT      OF      HARVARD A 

PERIOD  OF    RECONSTRUCTION THE    ELECTIVE    SYSTEM SOME    FACTS    AND 

FIGURES HIS     EDUCATIONAL     PHILOSOPHY AT     HEART     A     DEMOCRAT  - 

AS    AN    ESSAYIST HIS    INFLUENCE    WITH    STUDENTS A    RELIGIOUS  MAN- 
AS AN  ADMINISTRATOR CHARACTERISTICS.      THE  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE. 


Earthly  happiness  is  not  dependent  upon  the  amount  of 
one's  possessions  or  the  nature  of  one's  employment.  Enjoy- 
ment and  satisfaction  are  accessible  to  poor 
and  rich,  to  humble  and  high  alike,  if  only 
they  cultivate  the  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
faculties  through  which*  the  natural  joys  are 
won.  Any  man  may  win  them  who,  by  his 
daily  labor,  can  earn  a  wholesome  living  for 
himself  and  his  family.  A  poorer  population 
may  easily  be  happier  than  a  richer,  if  it  be 
of  sounder  health  and  morality. 

Neither  generations  of  privileged  an- 
cestors, nor  large  inherited  possessions,  are 
necessary  to  the  making  of  a  lady  or  gentleman.  What  is 
necessary  ?  In  the  first  place,  natural  gifts.  The  gentleman 
is  born  in  a  democracy,  no  less  than  in  a  monarchy.  In  other 
words  he  is  a  person  of  fine  bodily  and  spiritual  qualities, 
mostly  innate.  Secondly,  he  must  have,  through  elementary 
education,  early  access  to  books,  and  therefore  to  great 
thoughts  and  high  examples.  Thirdly,  he  must  be  early 
brought  into  contact  with  some  refined  and  noble  person  - 
father,  mother,  teacher,  pastor,  employer,  or  friend.  These 
are  the  only  conditions  in  peaceful  times. 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  391 

PEAKIXG  at  the  Harvard  Commencement  dinner  in 
J901,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  then  vice-president  of  the 
United  States  and  now  its  president,  a  graduate  of 
Harvard,  said  that  perhaps  the  most  distinctive  fea- 
ture of  '.he  work  done  at  Harvard  University  by  its  presi- 
dent, Charles  William  Eliot,  was  the  way  in  which  he  has 
made  it  thoroughly  national  and  thoroughly  democratic  in 
character. 

The  president  of  Yale  University,  Arthur  T.  Hadley,  at  a 
dinner  of  Harvard  graduates  in  1900,  said:  ''I  wish  to  pro- 
pose to  you  the  health  of  President  Eliot,  who,  by  his  work, 
his  example,  his  thought,  and  his  fearlessness,  has  given 
every  educational  institution  the  right  to  claim  him." 

In  these  cordial  words  of  President  Hadley,  the  estimate 
of  President  Eliot  as  an  educator,  commonly  held  by  his  co- 
laborers  in  the  noble  teaching  profession,  is  voiced.  Obviously, 
a  man  so  highly  esteemed  by  men  so  eminent  as  President 
Roosevelt  and  President  Hadley  should  be  understood  and 
appreciated  by  all  men.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  prob- 
ably few  men  of  equal  length  of  public  service  and  grade  of 
character  in  the  nation  so  misunderstood  or  underrated  by 
the  public,  as  the  veteran  but  virile  president. 

He  has  lived  long  enough,  however,  to  see  the  theory  of 
education,  which  he  has  championed  at  Harvard,  triumph, 
and  to  have  it  conceded  by  those  competent  to  judge,  that 
probably  no  other  person  in  the  history  of  American  educa- 
tion, save  Horace  Mann,  has  so  deeply  stamped  his  ideals  on 
our  scheme  of  popular  education.  Like  Mann,  he  has  had  to 
fight  to  win  ;  and  he  has  had  to  fight  against  much  the  same 
conservative  forces.  During  the  struggle  he  has  known 

"  Many  a  grim  and  haggard  day  - 
Many  a  night  of  starless  skies." 

Mann's  statue  stands  side  by  side  with  Daniel  Webster's  in 
front  of  the  state  capitol  of  Massachusetts  to-day.  Possibly 
the  time  will  come  when  Eliot's  and  Hoars  will  find  a  like 
place  of  distinction.  At  any  rate,  it  is  worth  noting  that  the 
old  commonwealth  keeps  producing,  generation  after  gener- 
ation, publicists  like  AVebster  and  Hoar  and  educators  like 
Mann  and  Eliot. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  by  laying  the  foundations  of  the  Uni- 


392  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

versity  of  Virginia  ;  John  Witherspooii,  of  Princeton,  by  his 
brilliant  playing  of  the  dual  role  of  college  executive  and 
patriot ;  Eliphalet  ISTott,  of  Union,  Francis  Wayland,  of 
Brown,  Mark  Hopkins,  of  Williams,  by  their  inspiring  per- 
sonal influence  on  young  men  ;  James  McCosh,  by  his  success 
in  building  up  the  resources  of  Princeton  through  impressing 
men  of  wealth  with  their  duties  as  stewards  ;  and  Henry  Bar- 
nard, by  his  pioneer  work  as  journalist,  for  the  profession, 
have  all  played  conspicuous  parts  in  the  history  of  American 
education.  But  Horace  Mann  and  Charles  William  Eliot, — 
the  one  by  his  influence  on  primary  and  secondary  schools, 
and  the  other  by  his  influence  on  the  universities,  colleges, 
and  secondary  schools  of  the  country, —  have  a  sum  total  of 
achievement  credited  to  them  which  rightly  puts  them  in  a 
class  by  themselves,  the  class  of  constructive  educators. 

Since  he  was  inaugurated  president  of  Harvard  University 
in  October,  1869,  then  only  thirty-five  years  old,  Mr.  Eliot  has 
seen  a  generation  of  public  men  pass  away.  So  that  to-day 
he  speaks  with  the  authority  of  age  as  well  as  that  of  station. 
Of  the  Corporation  and  the  Faculty  of  Harvard  in  1869  he  is 
the  only  survivor.  Of  New  England  representatives  in  the 
United  States  Congress  when  he  entered  upon  his  responsible 
career,  Senator  Hoar,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Senator  Hale,  of 
Maine,  are  the  best  known  survivors.  Of  the  great  group  of 
New  England  authors  then  regnant,  only  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  and  T.  W.  Higginson  remain.  Of 
notable  educators,  the  distrust  and  condemnation  of  some  of 
whom  he  was  early  made  to  know  because  of  his  spirit  of 
innovation  and  reconstruction,  Theodore  Woolsey  and  Noah 
Porter,  of  Yale,  Julius  H.  Seelye,  of  Amherst,  Mark  Hopkins, 
of  Williams,  Frederick  A.  P.  Barnard,  of  Columbia,  and 
James  McCosh,  of  Princeton,  have  died  ;  and  Daniel  C.  Gil- 
man,  of  Johns  Hopkins,  Andrew  D.  White,  of  Cornell,  and 
Charles  K.  Adams,  of  Wisconsin,  have  retired.  The  only  col- 
lege or  university  executives  in  the  country  with  a  national 
reputation  whose  terms  of  office  approach  his  in  length  are 
James  B.  Angell,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  Cyrus 
Northrop,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota.  He  is  the  Nestor 
of  American  educators. 

In  venturing  to  appraise  such  a  career  as  President  Eliot  s 
one  realizes  at  the  outset  that  it  has  been  long  enough  and 


CHAELES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  393 

constant  enough  in  its  aim  to  provide  sufficient  data  for  an 
appraisal.  Vigorous  in  health  and  ambitious  for  further  serv- 
ice as  the  man  still  is,  and  fruitful  and  effective  as  he  bids  fair 
to  be  for  many  years  to  come,  he  will  not  alter  in  essential 
attributes  of  character.  He  may  reveal  to  the  many  some  of 
those  elements  of  his  character  hitherto  seen  only  by  the  few. 
But  the  flower  and  the  fruit  will  be  but  the  certain  product  of 
roots  that  long  ago  struck  deep  in  rich  soil,  and  of  a  trunk 
and  branches  that  long  since  were  clearly  defined  against  the 
sky. 

It  is  a  useless,  but  none  the  less  tempting,  venture  of  the 
imagination  to  try  to  conceive  what  would  have  been  the 
state  of  religion  in  the  United  States  —  and  in  New  England 
especially --had  Phillips  Brooks  not  failed  as  a  school  teacher 
and  then  entered  the  ministry  of  the  church  to  play  the  part 
of  a  liberal  prophet.  It  is  equally  tempting  and  futile  to 
imagine  how  different  the  history  of  Harvard  University  and 
of  the  higher  education  of  the  United  States  might  have  been 
had  Charles  William  Eliot  accepted  an  offer  of  a  salary  (large 
for  the  times  and  for  one  so  young)  of  $5,000  a  year  as  treas- 
urer of  a  large  cotton  manufacturing  establishment  in  Lowell, 
Mass.,  offered  to  him  shortly  after  his  graduation  from  Har- 
vard in  1853.  Thus  early  in  his  life  had  wise  men  detected  in 
him  latent  capacities  as  an  administrator.  But  the  youth  had 
ancestors  and  kinsfolk  who  were  friends  of  and  exponents  of 
learning,  as  well  as  ancestors  who  were  successful  merchants. 
Several  of  them  had  been  clergymen  ;  not  a  few  had  been 
donors  to  Harvard  ;  all  of  them  had  been  lovers  of  the  human- 
ities. His  father,  Hon.  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  had  been  the  patron 
of  fine  music  in  Boston,  and  a  friend  of  the  discharged  pris- 
oner when  discharged  prisoners  had  fewer  friends  than  they 
have  to-day.  Both  his  uncle,  after  whom  he  was  named,  and 
his  father  had  studied  theology  ;  and  his  only  living  son,  Rev. 
Samuel  A.  Eliot,  president  of  the  American  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation, well  maintains  the  family  tradition  and  spirit  to-day. 
Service  of  humanity  through  the  ministry  of  a  learned  pro- 
fession, therefore,  was  an  ideal  present  in  the  home  in  which 
the  youth  was  simply,  piously,  and  nobly  reared.  Hence  it  is 
not  altogether  surprising  that  he  chose  the  profession  of  edu- 
cator and  not  the  calling  of  treasurer  of  a  cotton  mill. 

From  1854  to  1858  he  served  as  tutor  in  mathematics  at 


394  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Harvard  while  studying  advanced  chemistry  with  Prof.  J.  P. 
Cooke.  From  18,58  to  1863  he  was  assistant  professor  of  math- 
ematics and  chemistry  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School, 
Harvard.  During  1863-65  he  was  in  Europe  studying  chemis- 
try and  investigating  the  educational  methods  of  the  European 
schools.  From  1865  to  1869,  when  he  was  called  to  Harvard 
as  president,  he  was  professor  of  analytical  chemistry  in  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 

It  was  while  busy  teaching  chemistry, —  and  busy,  also, 
with  speculations  as  to  how  the  new  scientific  thought  was  to 
modify  and  transform,  perchance,  educational  ideals  and 
methods, —  that  Professor  Eliot  found  himself,  in  1868,  com- 
pelled, as  an  alumnus,  to  face  the  problem  of  the  future  of 
Harvard.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Hill,  D.D.,  the  president,  had 
resigned. 

The  honor  of  presiding  over  the  destinies  of  Harvard  even 
in  those  days,  when  the  educator's  rank  in  the  community 
was  not  as  high  as  it  is  now,  was  not  one  to  go  a-begging. 
Tradition  called  for  a  safe,  reputable  clergyman,  such  as  Pres- 
idents Walker  or  Hill,  or  a  man  of  eminence  in  public  life  such 
as  Presidents  Everett  and  Quincy,  had  been.  The  idea  of  choos- 
ing a  youth  of  thirty-five,  a  scientist  (then  a  term  suspected 
somewhat  even  by  liberals),  who  was  untried  as  an  adminis- 
trator, shocked  the  conservatives.  Early  in  the  campaign 
champions  of  Professor  Eliot  had  appeared.  He  had  powerful 
backing  of  various  sorts.  He  had  written  for  the  At  hut  tic 
Monthly  articles  on  the  New  Education  which  had  disclosed 
to  the  public  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  best  thought 
on  education  in  European  circles,  while  his  candor  in  point- 
ing out  defects  in  American  education  revealed  a  quality  of 
mind  not  very  common  in  the  country  at  the  time  or  now, 
and  to  be  revealed  by  him  many  times  afterward  in  his 
speeches  and  writings. 

In  view  of  the  choice  that  was  made,  and  in  view  of  the 
fame  which  John  Fiske  won  later  in  his  life,  it  is  worth  while 
to  go  back  to  one  of  his  earliest  communications  to  The 
Nation,  written  in  1868,  when  he  was  a  graduate  student  at 
Harvard,  in  which  unsigned  editorial  on  the  situation  at  Har- 
vard he  warned  those  responsible  for  the  choice  of  president 
against  selecting  either  a  Philistine,  a  Tory,  a  Radical,  or  a 
Sectarian. 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  395 

Decision  of  the  matter  rested,  in  the  first  instance,  with 
the  Corporation, —  six  men,  all  advanced  in  years,  and  there- 
fore inclined  to  be  conservative.  They  chose  young  Professor 
Eliot.  The  Board  of  Overseers,  made  up  of  thirty  of  the 
alumni,  refused  to  ratify  the  choice.  The  Corporation  refused 
to  recede,  and  again  named  Mr.  Eliot.  Then  the  Board  of 
Overseers  capitulated,  but  not  gracefully,  and  at  the  next 
Commencement  dinner  the  young  president  had  a  cool  recep- 
tion. 

No  sooner  was  he  elected  —  in  May,  1869  —  and  inaugurated 
-in  October  —  than  the  work  of  construction  and  co-ordina- 
tion at  Harvard  began.  For  it  is  as  a  constructor, —  not,  as  is 
popularly  supposed,  as  an  iconoclast  and  destroyer, —  that 
President  Eliot  rightly  says  he  cares  to  be  (and  surely  will  be) 
remembered.  Departments  of  the  university,  like  the  Medical 
School,  independent  of  the  university  in  matters  too  vital  to 
be  tolerated  longer,  were  soon  brought  into  proper  relations  to 
the  governing  body.  The  Law  School  was  revitalized,  and  a 
dean  —  Prof.  C.  C.  Langdell  —  chosen,  who,  in  due  time,  radi- 
cally altered  its  mode  of  teaching  and  studying  law,  and  who 
has  lived  to  see  the  school  take  first  rank.  Later,  the  Divinity 
School  was  approached  in  the  constructive  spirit,  and  trans- 
formed from  a  sectarian  training  school  for  the  clergy  of  the 
Unitarian  denomination,  to  a  school  of  theology,  where  repre- 
sentatives of  many  sects  both  teach  and  study.  Its  standards 
of  admission  were  raised  ;  its  degrees  were  made  honorable, 
because  representative  of  proven  scholarship  ;  and  its  status 
as  a  part  of  the  university  was  bettered  generally. 

So  far  from  being  content  to  know  only  the  life  of  the  col- 
lege proper,  and  to  preside  over  its  faculty  meetings,  the  new 
president  was  prompt  in  assuming  the  right  to  preside  over 
the  faculty  meetings  of  the  various  professional  schools,  and 
at  once  asserted  prerogatives  never  claimed  before.  It  was 
not  presumption  ;  it  was  only  common  sense.  He  was  presi- 
dent of  Harvard  University,  not  president  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, and  president  and  unifying  factor  in  the  university  he 
would  be. 

Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  then  on  the  Faculty  of  the 
Medical  School,  in  a  letter  to  Motley,  the  historian,  described 
the  sensation  which  this  attitude  of  the  new  president  made 
at  the  time.  He  wrote,  in  1871  :  — 


396  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"Our  new  president  has  turned  the  whole  university  over 
like  a  flapjack.  There  never  was  such  a  bouleversement  as 

that  in  our  Medical  Faculty It  is  so  curious  to  see 

a  young  man  like  Eliot,  with  an  organizing  brain,  a  firm  will, 
a  grave,  calm,  dignified  presence,  taking  the  ribbons  of  our 
classical  coach-and-six,  feeling  the  horses'  mouths,  putting  a 
check  on  this  one's  capers,  and  touching  that  one  with  a  lash, 
turning  up  everywhere  in  every  faculty  (I  belong  to  three),  on 
every  public  occasion,  at  every  dinner  orne,  and  taking  it  all 
as  naturally  as  if  he  had  been  born  president." 

In  an  earlier  letter  to  Motley,  Holmes  wrote  :  - 

"  I  cannot  help  being  amused  at  some  of  the  scenes  we  have 
in  our  Medical  Faculty  -  -  this  cool,  grave  young  man  propos- 
ing, in  the  calmest  way,  to  turn  everything  topsy-turvy. 

"  '  How  is  it,  I  should  like  to  ask,'  said  one  of  our  number 
the  other  evening,  '  that  this  faculty  has  gone  on  for  eighty 
years  managing  its  own  affairs,  and  doing  it  well --how  is  it 
that  we  have  been  going  on  so  well  in  the  same  orderly  path 
for  eighty  years,  and  now,  within  three  or  four  months,  it  is 
proposed  to  change  all  our  modes  of  carrying  on  the  school  ; 
it  seems  very  extraordinary,  and  I  should  like  to  know  how  it 
happens  ? ' 

"  'I  can  answer  Dr.-  -'s  question  very  easily,'  said  the 
bland,  grave  young  man  ;  'there  is  a  new  president.'  The 
tranquil  assurance  of  this  answer  had  an  effect  such  as  I 
hardly  ever  knew  produced  by  the  most  eloquent  sentences  I 
ever  heard." 

Another  story  of  the  period  comes  from  the  law  department ; 
one  of  the  professors — also  a  prominent  public  official,  it  is 
said  —  having  exclaimed  as  the  new  president  entered  his 
room  in  the  Law  School  :  "  Well,  I  declare  !  the  president  of 
Harvard  College  in  Dane  Hall  !  This  is  a  new  sight !  " 

It  is  commonly  supposed  that  because  President  Eliot  has 
championed  the  elective  system  at  Harvard,  and  has  seen  its 
triumph  there,  and  has  lived  to  see  it  accepted  by  institutions 
which  for  long  condemned  the  system  and  him  as  well  for 
championing  it,  that  therefore  he  was  the  originator  of  the 
system.  This  is  a  misconception.  The  elective  principle  was 
rooted  at  Harvard  as  early  as  1825.  He  found,  to  quote  his  own 
words  on  the  matter,  "  a  tolerably  broad  elective  system 
already  under  way,"  when  he  became  president.  The  scien- 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  397 

tific  discoveries  of  the  era  and  the  expansion  of  the  field  of 
knowledge  had,  as  President  Eliot  has  pointed  out,  simply 
made  it  impossible  for  a  college  to  include  in  its  required 
studies  all  of  the  old  and  new  subjects.  Human  limitations 
as  to  time  and  energy  made  some  choice  of  studies  by  the 
student  inevitable.  Hence,  it  was  a  practical  problem  of 
administrative  detail,  not  a  new  theory,  which  the  j^oung 
president  faced  and  worked  out  patiently.  His  immediate 
predecessors  as  president  had  not  believed  in  the  new  system, 
and  had  lessened  rather  than  increased  its  range.  He 
believed  in  the  principle,  and  he  knew  a  fact  when  he  saw  it. 
Recognition  of  facts  may  almost  be  said  to  be  his  dominant 
intellectual  characteristic.  Dr.  William  T.  Harris  aptly  de- 
scribes him  as  "  one  who  holds  with  an  iron  grasp  the  facts 
of  his  time." 

"Do  you  know  the  qualities  you  will  need  most  out  there 
at  Harvard  ?"  President  Eliot  was  asked  by  George  S.  Hil- 
lard,  a  well-known  Boston  man-of-letters,  shortly  after  his 
election.  The  president  mentioned  industry  and  courage. 
"No,"' replied  Mr.  Hillard,  "what  you  will  need  is  patience 
—  patience  —  patience."  The  assent  of  three  boards  of  offi- 
cials has  had  to  be  won  for  the  successive  steps  which  now 
make  the  principle  of  individual  election  of  studies  regnant. 
The  Faculty,  the  Board  of  Overseers,  the  Corporation,  are 
neither  of  them  groups  of  men  to  be  coerced,  but  rather  con- 
vinced by  arguments  or  by  facts.  Nor  would  President  Eliot 
have  it  otherwise.  For,  contrary  again  to  the  popular  impres- 
sion, he  is  not  a  dictator,  but  a  persuader  ;  not  a  despot,  but  a 
loyal  executor  of  the  majority's  will  after  it  has  been  decreed 
by  debate  and  a  vote  in  the  academic  legislature.  "A  uni- 
versity is  the  last  place  in  the  world  for  a  dictator ;  learning 
is  always  republican,"  he  says. 

What  has  been  accomplished  at  Harvard  to  a  very  large 
extent  through  his  superior  vision,  steady  will,  and  inspiring 
optimism  may  best  be  learned  in  brief  compass  from  the 
accompanying  statistics.  Faithful,  intelligent  co-operation 
of  his  colleagues  on  the  faculty  and  the  official  boards,  and 
generous  giving  by  the  alumni,  account  for  much  of  it,  to  be 
sure.  But  his  has  been  the  largest  personal  contribution.  A 
recent  president  of  the  United  States  was  wittily  described 
by  the  late  Senator  Ingalls  as  "splendidly  equipped  and 


398  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

magnificently  disqualified  for  executive  functions."  Equip- 
ment, physical  and  mental,  and  moral  qualifications  have 
been  finely  blended  in  President  Eliot. 

No  one  would  think  of  disputing  Professor  Dunbar's  state- 
ment, made  in  1894,  when  President  Eliot  and  the  university 
celebrated  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his  inauguration  as 
president,  that  no  name,  after  the  founder  of  the  university, 
John  Harvard,  "  is  yet  engraved  so  deeply  on  this  enduring 
monument  as  that  of  Charles  William  Eliot."  Professor  Charles 
Eliot  Norton,  on  the  same  occasion,  said  that  the  enlargement 
of  Harvard's  "resources,  the  elevation  of  her  standards,  the 
extension  of  her  courses  of  instruction,  the  deepening  of  her 
sense  of  relation  to  the  life  of  the  nation  and  the  strengthen- 
ing of  that  relation,  have  all  been  in  accord  with  the  general 
progress  of  the  country ;  and  that  they  have  been  so  is  due, 
more  than  to  any  other  single  agency,  to  the  character  of  the 
man  who,  during  this  period,  has  been  at  her  head."  It  is 
interesting  to  find  Professor  Norton  and  President  Roosevelt 
agreeing  on  the  work  which  Professor  Eliot  has  done  in  mak- 
ing the  ties  between  the  nation  and  the  university  more  vital. 
They  differ  on  so  many  matters  that  agreement  on  this  point 
is  the  more  significant. 

The  following  statistics  show  the  growth  of  Harvard  dur- 
ing President  Eliot's  administration  :  — 

1868-69.  1901-02. 

Seniors, 110  346 

Juniors, 132  412 

Sophomores,        .....  159  533 

Freshmen,           .....  128  551 

Special  students,          ....  141 

Graduate  School,         ....  312 

Divinity  School,           ....  19  37 

Law  School, 138  628 

Medical  School,           ....  308  506 

Scientific  School,         ....  41  549 

Bussey  Institution,      ....  13  32 

Dental  School,              ....  105 

Summer-course  stude'nts,      .          .          .  982 

Total,  1,048  5,134 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  399 

1868-69.  1901-02. 

Invested  funds,            ....  $8,390,542  $13,119,538 

Income, 212,388  697,575 

Teachers, 63  483 

Buildings, 23  54 

Volumes  in  college  libraries,       .          .  168,000  387,097 

The  fundamental  principles  in  education  for  which  Presi- 
dent Eliot  has  stood  are  easily  determined,  if  one  will  read  his 
annual  reports  as  president  and  his  collection  of  addresses  on 
educational  topics  brought  together  in  his  volume,  "  Educa- 
tional Reforms,"  published  in  1898.  The  true  end  of  educa- 
tion he  conceives  to  be  to  secure  "  effective  power  in  action," 
action  of  the  diverse  faculties  of  man,  physical,  mental,  and 
spiritual.  "  The  power  of  observation,  the  inductive  faculty, 
the  sober  imagination,  the  sincere  and  proportionate  judg- 
ment,"— these  were  what  in  his  inaugural  he  prophesied  that 
the  universities  and  colleges  of  the  country  would  gain  from 
the  scientific  method  ;  and  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  better 
single  phrase  describing  his  own  type  of  mind.  "Observa- 
tion "  is  a  word  used  as  often  as  any  other  in  his  vocabulary. 

His  ideal  for  the  university  has  been  that  it  should  teach, 
serve  as  a  storehouse  for  knowledge  by  its  libraries,  muse- 
ums, etc.,  and  that  it  should  provide  opportunity  for  original 
research  ;  and  among  the  many  subjects  which  it  should  teach 
he  has  always  emphasized  "  virtue,  duty,  piety,  and  right- 
eousness." His  associates  have  found  him  the  champion  of 
liberty  of  thought  and  speech  and  action.  The  professors 
have  learned  that  the  candor  with  which  the  president  speaks 
his  mind  may  be  imitated  by  them  in  opposing  his  policies,  or 
in  opposing  one  another's  views,  and  this  without  impairing  in 
the  least  their  standing  in  the  university  or  the  tenure  of 
their  place. 

For  the  student,  whether  in  the  university  or  in  the  sec- 
ondary schools,  he  has  pleaded  for  and  secured  to  a  large 
degree,  that  "  every  child  without  special  favor"  should  "  get 
at  the  right  subject  at  the  right  age,  and  pursue  it  just  as  far 
and  as  fast  as  he  is  able."  An  individualist  by  temperament 
and  by  conviction,  he  has  stoutly  championed  individualism 
in  education,  holding  that  "  uniformity  is  the  curse  of  Ameri- 
can schools,"  that  '•'  selection  of  studies  for  the  individual, 
instruction  addressed  to  the  individual,  irregular  promotion, 


400  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

grading  by  natural  capacity  and  rapidity  of  attainment/'  is 
the  educational  ideal.  And  to-day  a  properly  equipped  student 
entering  Harvard,  following  this  theory  of  education,  may 
finish  the  course  and  receive  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  three 
years, —  another  Harvard  precedent  which  other  institutions 
sooner  or  later  will  follow. 

As  a  citizen  and  patriot,  President  Eliot  is  "  a  democratic 
aristocrat "  as  one  of  his  closest  friends  has  described  him. 
He  is,  with  more  or  less  truth,  said  to  be  "more  interested  in 
man  than  in  men.''  Like  F.  W.  Robertson  he  can  say,  "  My 
tastes  are  with  the  aristocrat "  ;  but  he  could  not  add  with 
Robertson,  "my  principles  are  with  the  mob/'  President 
Eliot  does  not  believe  in  the  mob  :  he  believes  in  experts, 
coming  out  from  the  people,  representing  the  people,  guiding 
the  people,  standing  for  the  people,  and  being  respected  by 
them.  In  his  inaugural  he  denounced  as  "preposterous  and 
criminal,"  and  as  constituting  a  national  danger,  the  notion 
that  our  lawgivers,  diplomats,  the  commanding  officers  of  our 
navy  and  army,  can  be  developed  instantly  out  of  the  ordi- 
nary American  citizen.  He  loses  no  opportunity  to  ridicule 
the  "Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity"  dogma  born  of  the 
French  Revolution.  He  prefers  "  Freedom,  Unity,  and  Broth- 
erhood," as  an  American  watchword.  He  denies  that  all 
men  are  created  equal  ;  but  he  labors  indefatigably  to  give 
"accessibility  of  appropriate  opportunity"  to  all  men  to 
become  all  that  they  can  become. 

But  at  heart  he  is  a  democrat.  He  believes  in  the  Ameri- 
can republic  and  that  it  will  endure.  He  believes  "that 
democracy  is  tough,  tougher  than  any  other  form  of  govern- 
ment which  has  yet  existed,  because  it  is  founded  on  the  best 
side  of  human  nature."  Here  crops  out  the  persistent,  funda- 
mental optimism  of  the  man,  which  has  its  basis  in  his  faith 
in  humanity  as  such,  no  opportunity  being  lost  by  him  to 
attack  what  he  believes  to  be  a  pernicious  heresy,  namely, 
the  doctrine  of  innate  human  depravity.  He  believes  there 
are  "more  real  nobles"  in  our  American  democracy  than  in 
the  aristocracy  of  any  other  land ;  and  his  definition  of  the 
American  aristocracy  is  suggestive  :  "the  aristocracy  which 
in  peace  stands  firmest  for  the  public  honor  and  renown,  and  in 
war  rides  first  into  the  murderous  thickets."  His  main  plea 
for  the  enrichment  of  the  courses  of  the  secondary  schools  has 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  401 

been  that  the  poor  man's  boy  may  have  as  good  a  chance  as 
the  rich  man's  son  ere  he  begins  to  labor.  He  served  notice 
in  his  inaugural  that  Harvard  would  welcome  rich  and  poor 
alike,  and  he  has  been  loyal  to  his  pledge.  President  Roose- 
velt says  that  he  has  democratized  the  institution. 

As  a  public  speaker  and  debater,  President  Eliot  is  rated 
very  high  by  those  who  can  appreciate  precision,  dignity, 
rationality.  Man  and  mode  harmonize.  He  recalls  Pater's 
description  of  Cornelius  Fronto,  the  tutor  in  the  family  of 
Marius  the  Epicurean.  '•'  The  higher  claim  of  his  style  was 
rightly  understood  to  be  in  gravity  and  self-command,"  it  is 
said  of  Fronto.  So  of  Eliot.  Amiel's  tribute  to  Naville  also 
comes  to  mind.  There  is  the  same  ct  art  of  premeditated  and 
self-controlled  eloquence,"  the  same  "complete  command  of 
the  resources  of  his  own  nature,  and  adequate  and  masterly 
expression  of  self."  It  is  power  through  repose  ;  and  power 
in  repose. 

For  the  masses  his  method  would  be  unpopular.  Passion  is 
sternly  repressed.  The  stream  of  lava  runs  on,  black,  cool 
on  the  surface,  with  only  a  glint  now  and  then  telling  of  the 
fire  beneath.  There  are  very  few  gestures,  and  those  calm 
and  restrained.  The  voice  is  steady,  varies  little  in  tone,  has 
few  modulations  reflecting  interior  moods.  There  is  seldom 
any  formal  salutatory  or  peroration.  There  is  always  a  cumu- 
lative effect,  but  it  is  the  effect  of  a  steady  marshaling  of  facts 
and  argument ;  it  is  an  effect  due  to  clarity,  cogency,  sincer- 
ity, the  absence  of  all  claptrap  and  fustian,  all  flattery,  and 
all  appeal  to  the  sentimental.  The  attitude  of  the  man  implies 
profound  self-respect,  and  an  equally  deep  sense  of  obligation 
to  be  equal  to  the  opportunity  of  convincing  men  and  women. 
The  tone  and  method  are  conversational  rather  than  declama- 
tory. The  motive  is  conviction  rather  than  persuasion  ;  or  if 
persuasion,  persuasion  going  hand  in  hand  with  conviction. 
He  has  studiously  avoided  what  he  has  described  as  ''the 
fatal  habit  of  prolonged,  unpremeditated  eloquence."  One 
sitting  down  to  listen  to  him  speak  is  "  safe  against  specious 
rhetoric  and  imaginative  oratory  '  -  to  quote  another  of  his 
sayings,  which  throws  a  side  light  on  his  ideals  of  eloquence. 

To  a  generation  of  New  Englanders  led  to  believe  that  in 
Edward  Everett,  Rufus  Choate,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Charles 
Sumner,  and  Wendell  Phillips,  the  art  of  oratory  reached  per- 


402  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

fection  of  method,  because  of  grace  of  expression,  wealth  of 
literary  and  historical  allusion,  and  passion  unrestrained  as 
with  Simmer  and  Phillips,  the  type  of  eloquence  of  which 
President  Eliot  is  a  great  exemplar  must  have  seemed  very 
strange  at  first.  That  he  has  lived  long  enough  to  see  his  type 
triumph,  whether  temporarily  or  permanently,  need  not  be 
said  now.  Joseph  Choate  dare  not  deal  with  judges  or  juries 
as  did  Rufus  Choate.  Rhetoric  and  imagination  and  dogma- 
tism are  at  a  discount  now  at  the  bar,  in  the  pulpit,  on  the 
hustings,  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  Time  flies.  Facts  are 
worth  more  than  theories.  A  spirit  of  tolerance  discounts 
invective  and  distrusts  dogmatism. 

Bagehot  says  of  Gibbon's  pompous,  marching  style  of  writ- 
ing English,  that  it  was  a  style  in  which  truth  could  not  be 
told.  Seldom  has  there  been  an  English  prose  style  less  pomp- 
ous and  more  veracious  than  the  prose  of  President  Eliot. 
The  veracity,  the  Roman  directness  of  method,  the  sweep  and 
precision  of  his  mental  operations,  are  all  revealed  in  his 
modes  of  expression,  whether  spoken  or  written.  Everything 
extraneous  is  excluded.  Figures  of  speech  are  infrequent  ; 
and  when  they  are  used  they  are  homely,  not  ornate.  Horace 
Walpole's  criticism  of  Samuel  Johnson,  "  He  illustrates  till  he 
fatigues,  and  continues  to  prove  after  he  has  convinced,"  does 
not  lie  at  President  Eliot's  door.  First  of  all,  there  is  a  state- 
ment of  facts  or  conditions  as  they  exist,  the  report  of  an  eye 
trained  to  see,  an  ear  trained  to  hear,  a  judgment  trained  to 
compare.  This  lucid  statement  of  facts  often  is  deemed  suffi- 
cient to  carry  its  own  argument  ;  but  if  generalizations  are 
forthcoming,  they  are  so  framed  as  to  reveal  the  judicial 
quality  of  the  mind  of  the  man.  Perspicuity,  cogency,  candor, 
naturalness,  are  invariable  qualities  of  President  Eliot's  prose. 

His  two  volumes  of  essays,  "  Educational  Reforms,"  and 
"American  Contributions  to  Civilization,"  are  collections  of 
addresses  delivered  from  time  to  time  on  academic  occasions, 
or  are  articles  contributed  to  the  leading  American  month- 
lies. He  has  written  no  formal,  elaborate  study  of  the  prob- 
lem of  education  or  of  democracy's  social  problems.  No  elabo- 
rate biography  of  a  friend  or  a  colleague  has  he  found  time  to 
write  ;  but  there  are  intimations  that  a  life  of  his  gifted  son, 
the  landscape  architect,  who  died  a  few  years  ago,  will  be 
forthcoming  from  him  soon. 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  403 

Such  literary  work  as  has  been  done  by  him  is  prophetic 
of  better  work  to  follow,  in  days  of  more  leisure.  He  is  a 
master  of  precise,  dignified,  sententious  English, —  English 
like  Huxley's  in  the  qualities  of  scientific  exposition,  lucidity, 
emphasis  on  the  end  in  view,  and  relative  disregard  of  the 
method  employed  ;  but  unlike  Huxley's  in  its  aversion  to 
brilliant  phrases,  and  in  its  lack  of  vivacity. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  prose  of  President  Eliot  is  pre- 
eminently sententious  ;  that  in  the  writing  of  epitaphs,  or 
ascriptions  of  praise  for  the  living  such  as  accompany  his 
conferring  of  degrees  at  Harvard  each  Commencement,  or  in 
the  phrasing  of  inscriptions  on  public  buildings,  such  as  those 
he  wrote  for  the  Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago  in  1893,  he 
is  at  his  best.  It  is  true  that  he  is  sententious  often.  A  col- 
lection of  very  admirable  sayings,  equal  to  some  of  Benjamin 
Franklin's  best,  might  be  culled  from  his  speeches.  He 
seldom  if  ever  lets  feeling  allow  him  to  soar.  Rhetoric  for 
rhetoric's  sake  is  alien  to  him.  It  probably  seems  to  most 
of  those  who  have  heard  him  or  read  him  that  he  writes 
or  speaks  mainly,  if  not  solely,  for  practicable,  serviceable 
ends.  But  one  errs  who  limits  him  to  mastery  of  the  sentence 
alone,  or  who  denies  him  sweep  of  expression  sufficient  to 
create  perfect  larger  units  of  thought. 

It  is  no  chance  happening,  but  rather  a  very  natural  and 
also  a  significant  phenomenon,  that  Huxley,  Tyndall,  Henry 
Drummond,  John  Fiske,  and  Charles  W.  Eliot,  all  popular 
expositors  of  scientific  methods  and  conclusions  in  the  realms 
of  science,  philosophy,  religion,  and  education,  should  have 
perfected  such  an  understandable,  pellucid  English  style. 

In  his  relations  to  the  student  community,  President  Eliot 
has  been  quite  unlike  the  typical  college  president  of  the  era 
preceding  his  own.  Mark  Hopkins'  methods  and  his  methods 
are  antithetical.  Comparatively  few  men  during  his  presi- 
dency have  left  Harvard  who  could  say  that  he  had,  sensibly, 
directly  affected  their  code  of  belief  or  standard  of  living. 
He  has  seemed  to  stand  aloof.  At  the  start  he  abandoned  the 
in  loco  par entis  conception  of  government  for  the  university, 
and  for  himself  as  head  of  it.  Personal  knowledge  of  the 
men,  personal  interest  in  individuals  while  undergraduates, 
such  knowledge  as  Hopkins  of  old  had,  or  such  acquaintance 
with  or  influence  over  students  as  Tucker,  of  Dartmouth,  now 


404  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

has,  he  has  never  coveted,  or,  if  coveted,  lie  has  never  found 
time  or  energy  to  win.  But  it  is  not  safe  to  impute  this  atti- 
tude to  lack  of  solicitude  for  the  men,  or  the  failure  to  realize 
how  potent  his  personal  touch  might  be.  In  the  first  place,  it 
is  a  physical  impossibility  for  a  university  president  to  do  at 
all  what  the  president  of  a  small  college  may  do  with  more  or 
less  success.  That  President  Eliot  has  often  revealed  deep, 
self-sacrificing  sympathy  for  members  of  the  university 
circle  —  teachers  and  students  -  -  who  have  been  in  sorrow, 
despair,  or  want,  is  no  secret  in  Cambridge  ;  and  his  zeal  in 
caring  for  Harvard  graduates  who  seek  and  deserve  places  of 
influence  is  well  known.  But  he  came  to  Harvard  to  be  a 
statesman,  not  a  father  confessor ;  or,  as  another  has  put  it, 
he  has  been  the  "  Foreign  Secretary  rather  than  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior." 

His  direct  spiritual  and  ethical  influence  on  the  students 
consequently  has  been  less  than  it  might  have  been  had  the 
task  of  constructive  institutional  reform  been  less.  But 
indirectly  his  influence  has  been  marked.  First,  by  preserv- 
ing the  life  of  the  university  so  that  it  should  make  for  liberty 
of  thought,  speech,  and  conduct,  for  individual  choice  of 
studies  and  friends.  Second,  by  his  close  touch  with  professors, 
who  have  passed  on  to  the  student  body  the  tone  and  opinions 
revealed  by  him  in  the  debate  of  the  faculty  meeting  or  in 
the  conversation  of  the  closest  conference.  Third,  by  his 
influence  in  reconstructing  the  religious  ministrations  provided 
by  the  university  for  the  students,  changes  making  for  reality, 
reverence,  and  catholicity  of  spirit.  Fourth,  by  his  personal 
example  as  a  man  of  honor,  sobriety,  and  piety,  whose  very 
carriage  implies  self-respect  and  elevation  of  mind,  and 
whose  constant  attendance  on  religious  exercises  reveals  the 
high  estimate  he  puts  on  daily  communion  with  the  Infinite. 

For,  contrary  to  the  impressions  of  not  a  few  people,  some 
of  whom  may  still  go  so  far  as  to  call  him  an  infidel,  President 
Eliot  is  a  profoundly  religious  man.  He  was  born  and  reared 
a  Unitarian,  and  still  is  one  by  preference.  By  conviction  he 
is  an  Independent,  preferring  naturally  a  polity  of  church 
government  which  gives  a  maximum  of  independence  of 
belief  and  action  to  the  individual.  As  a  man  —  but  not  as 
an  official  of  Harvard --he  will  vigorously  champion  his  own 
views  on  doctrine  and  polity  if  need  be.  But  as  an  official  he 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT.  405 

stands  for  absolute  freedom  of  thought,  and  for  variety  of 
worship  in  the  college  chapel  or  in  Brooks  House. 

He  recognized  in  his  inaugural  that  the  method  of  faith 
was  different  from  the  method  of  natural  science  ;  and  while 
his  scientific  mode  of  thought  has  kept  him  from  credulity,  his 
faith  has  kept  him  from  irreverence  or  that  atrophy  of  the 
spiritual  powers  not  unknown  to  some  scientists.  He  con- 
ceives of  God  as  a  God  of  Love,  and  that  the  exaltation  of  the 
idea  of  God  is  the  noblest  service  one  can  render  humanity; 
of  evil  as  an  unfathomable  mystery  to  be  sure,  but  less  influ- 
ential and  permanent  than  the  Good  as  a  factor  in  human 
existence.  Prayer  he  describes  as  "the  transcendent  effort  of 
human  intelligence "  ;  and  to  him  Phillips  Brooks  was  great- 
est as  a  pray-er,  not  as  a  preacher.  Poetry,  of  which  he  is 
very  fond,  "  has  its  culmination  in  a  hymn  of  praise."  The 
Gospels  contain  for  him  a  satisfactory  rule  of  a  happy  life 
and  disclose  the  principles  of  all  modern  democracy  ;  and 
preaching  the  Gospel  is,  to  him,  the  highest  calling  known  to 
men.  Revelation  he  holds  to  be  constant  and  progressive, 
"fluent  like  creation,"  and  for  the  "deposit  theory  of  truth" 
he  has  no  respect. 

The  church  he  deems  a  permanent  organ  of  society's  best 
life,  "  worshiping  together  being  a  permanent  instinct  of 
men."  For  the  life  that  now  is,  asceticism,  as  a  rule  of  con- 
duct, has  no  support  from  him, —  temperance,  not  total  absti- 
nence, being  his  rule  and  practice.  The  greatest  joy  in  life, 
after  the  domestic  affections,  he  deems  to  be  "  the  doing  of 
something  and  doing  it  well."  As  for  the  life  to  come  in 
another  world  his  outlook  is  cheerful,  one  "framed  in  full 
harmony  with  the  beauty  of  the  visible  universe,  and  with 
the  sweetness  of  domestic  affections  and  joys."  This  repeated 
exaltation  of  the  domestic  joys  by  him  is  but  the  reflection  of 
a  life  singularly  beautiful  as  son,  husband,  parent,  and  grand- 
parent. Toleration  in  matters  of  religion,  President  Eliot 
believes,  "is  the  best  fruit  of  all  the  struggles,  labors,  and 
sorrows  of  the  civilized  nations  during  the  last  four  cen- 
turies." 

Such,  in  his  own  words,  or  in  paraphrases  of  the  same, 
are  some  of  the  views  on  fundamental  religious  themes  of 
the  man,  of  whom  President  Tucker  of  Dartmouth  has  said, 
"President  Eliot  is  the  most  religious  man  among  us." 


406  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

On  the  ethical  side  his  pre-eminence  is  quite  as  great.  He 
is  'a  humanized  Puritan,  but  none  the  less  a  Puritan  at  bottom. 
Men  who  know  him  best  put  his  moral  passion  as  his  chief 
quality.  "Truth  and  right  are  above  utility  in  all  realms 
of  thought  and  action,''  said  he  in  his  inaugural.  "With 
nations,  as  with  individuals,  nothing  but  moral  supremacy  is 
immutable  and  forever  beneficent/'  said  he  at  the  inaugura- 
tion of  President  Oilman  of  Johns  Hopkins,  in  1876.  The  last 
and  most  essential  element  of  all  worthy  educators  he  defines 
as  "the  steady  inculcation  of  those  supreme  ideals  through 
which  the  human  race  is  uplifted  and  ennobled  —  the  ideals  of 
beauty,  honor,  duty,  and  love.'' 

Addressing  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  of  New  York  city, 
in  1890,  he  described  the  service  which  a  university  may  ren- 
der to  the  higher  commercial  and  industrial  activity  of  the 
state  ;  and  he  utilized  the  opportunity  to  plead  for  adequate 
support  of  universities  by  merchants.  But  he  closed  by  rising 
above  the  utilitarian  plane  to  a  higher  one,  and  he  went  on  to 
show  that  while  popular  comfort,  ease,  and  wealth  are  doubt- 
less promoted  by  universities,  "  their  true  and  sufficient  ends 
are  knowledge  and  righteousness." 

It  has  been  this  ever-present  idealism,  along  with  keen- 
ness for  facts,  sagacity,  prudence,  "  liking  for  administrative 
details,"  to  quote  his  own  words  about  himself,  which  has 
given  him  his  present  weight  of  authority.  His  profound 
Puritan  sense  of  duty,  his  passion  for  truth,  his  fairness  in 
weighing  conflicting  personal  and  institutional  claims,  his 
success  as  a  peacemaker,  his  terrible  but  sublime  candor,  his 
unflinching  courage  in  facing  issues  and  men,  his  abounding 
rational  optimism,  and  his  humane  instincts  have  won  for 
him  the  profound  respect  of  those  who  have  known  him  long- 
est and  seen  him  most. 

"  Nobody's  name  lives  in  this  world --to  be  blessed  —  that 
has  not  been  associated  with  some  kind  of  human  emanci- 
pation, physical,  mental,  or  moral,"  said  President  Eliot, 
in  a  debate  a  few  years  ago.  "  In  a  democracy  it  is  import- 
ant to  discriminate  influence  from  authority.  Rulers  or  mag- 
istrates may  or  may  not  be  persons  of  influence  ;  but  many 
persons  of  influence  never  become  rulers,  magistrates,  or 
representatives  in  parliaments  or  legislatures,"  he  wrote  in 
his  striking  essay  on  "Five  American  Contributions  to  Civi- 


PRESIDENT  ELIOT  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY, 


THE  SECRET  OF  A   HAPPY  LIFE.  409 

lization."  President  Eliot's  name  will  live  as  an  American 
emancipator  of  the  individual  man  from  the  tyranny  of  uni- 
formity in  education,  and  from  the  rule  of  sectarianism  in 
religion  and  in  the  teaching  of  theology.  His  authority  has 
been  limited  to  Harvard,  and  has  not  been  absolute  there. 
But  his  influence  has  been  national,  affecting  not  only  the 
educational  but  the  social  and  political  fabric,  aiding  in 
bringing  in  civil  service  and  tariff  reform,  rationalizing  tem- 
perance agitation  and  education  ;  and  now,  through  his  recent 
election  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  public  on  the  tri- 
partite body  which  is  to  arbitrate  on  disputes  between  capital 
and  labor,  he  is  about  to  be  powerful  in  bringing  in  an  era  of 
industrial  peace.  Any  list  of  the  six  men  in  this  country 
to-day  most  influential  in  shaping  its  opinion  on  fundamental 
questions  from  which  the  name  of  Charles  William  Eliot  is 
omitted  will  be  imperfect. 

"  Though  he  's  not  judged,  yet 
He  's  the  same  as  judged  ; 
So  do  the  facts  abound  and  superabouiid." 

THE    SECRET   OF   A   HAPPY    LIFE. 

NOTT,  the  venerable  president  of  Union  College,  once 
took  a  newly  married  pair  aside  and  said  :  "  I  want  to 
give  you  this  advice,  my  children,- —  don't  try  to  be 
happy.  Happiness  is  a  shy  nymph,  and  if  you  chase  her  you 
will  never  catch  her.  But  just  go  on  quietly  and  do  your 
duty,  and  she  will  come  to  you."  These  few  plain  words  con- 
tain more  real  wisdom  than  years  of  moralizings.  or  whole 
volumes  of  metaphysical  vagaries.  It  is  a  great  truth,  often 
forgotten,  and  still  oftener  unheeded,  that  those  who  make 
happiness  a  pursuit,  generally  have  a  fruitless  chase. 

Madame  Recamier,  one  of  the  most  fascinating  queens  of 
French  society,  with  every  surrounding  seemingly  favorable 
to  the  highest  earthly  happiness,  from  the  calm,  still  depths 
of  her  heart  wrote  to  her  niece  :  "  I  am  here  in  the  center  of 
fetes,  princesses,  illuminations,  spectacles.  Two  of  my  win- 
dows face  the  ballroom,  the  other  two  the  theater.  Amidst 
this  clatter  I  am  in  perfect  solitude.  I  sit  and  muse  on  the 
shore  of  the  ocean.  I  go  over  all  the  sad  and  joyous  circum- 


LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

stances  of  my  life.  I  hope  that  you  will  be  happier  than  I 
have  been.'* 

Lord  Chesterfield,  whose  courtly  manners  and  varied 
accomplishments  made  him  a  particular  favorite  in  the  high- 
est society  of  his  day,  after  a  life  of  pleasure  thus  sums  up 
the  results:  "  I  have  run  the  silly  rounds  of  pleasure,  and  have 
done  with  them  all.  I  have  enjoyed  all  the  pleasures  of  the 
world  ;  I  appraise  them  at  their  real  worth,  which  is,  in  truth, 
very  low.  Those  who  have  only  seen  their  outsides,  always 
overrate  them ;  but  I  have  been  behind  the  scenes.  When  I 
reflect  on  what  I  have  seen,  what  I  have  heard,  and  what  I 
have  done,  I  can  hardly  persuade  myself  that  all  that  frivo- 
lous hurry  and  bustle  of  pleasure  in  the  world  had  any 
reality  ;  but  I  look  upon  all  that  is  past  as  one  of  those 
romantic  dreams  which  opium  commonly  occasions  :  and  I 
do  by  no  means  desire  to  repeat  the  nauseous  dose." 

A  man  in  great  depression  of  spirits  once  consulted  a 
London  physician  as  to  how  he  could  regain  his  health  and 
cheerfulness.  Matthews,  the  noted  comedian,  was  then 
convulsing  great  crowds  by  his  wit  and  drollery,  and  the 
physician  advised  his  melancholy  patient  to  go  to  hear  him. 
"Ah,"  said  the  gloomy  man,  "  I  am  Matthews."  And  so, 
while  he  was  amusing  thousands  by  his  apparent  gayety  and 
overflow  of  spirits,  his  own  heart  was  suffering  from  the  can- 
ker of  despair. 

After  the  death  of  a  powerful  caliph  of  a  Spanish  province, 
a  paper  in  his  handwriting  wras  found,  in  which  were  these 
words:  "  Fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  I  became  caliph.  I 
have  possessed  riches,  honors,  pleasures,  friends, —  in  short, 
everything  that  man  can  desire  in  this  world.  I  have  reckoned 
up  the  days  in  which  I  could  say  I  was  really  happy,  and  they 
amount  to  fourteen." 

Madame  de  Pompadour,  who  possessed  such  boundless 
influence  over  the  king  of  France,  and  for  a  time  swayed  the 
destinies  of  that  country,  thus  discloses  her  misery  even  in 
the  plenitude  of  her  power,  and  at  the  full  height  of  her 
dazzling  career:  "What  a  situation  is  that  of  the  great! 
They  only  live  in  the  future,  and  are  only  happy  in  hope. 
There  is  no  peace  in  ambition  ;  it  is  always  gloomy,  and  often 
unreasonably  so.  The  kindness  of  the  king,  the  regards  of 
the  courtiers,  the  attachment  of  my  domestics,  and  the 


THE  SECRET  OF  A   HAPPY  LIFE.  411 

fidelity  of  a  large  number  of  friends,  make  me  happy  no 
longer."  Then,  after  stating  that  she  is  weary  of,  and  cannot 
endure,  her  magnificent  furniture  and  residences,  she  adds  : 
"  In  a  word,  I  do  not  live  ;  I  am  dead  before  my  time.  I  have 
no  interest  in  the  world.  Everything  conspires  to  embitter 
my  life."  The  remorse  of  an  outraged  conscience  could  not 
be  assuaged  by  any  display  of  worldly  splendor. 

On  the  monument  of  a  once  powerful  pope  is  engraved,  by 
his  order,  these  words  :  "  Here  lies  Adrian  VI.,  who  was 
never  so  unhappy  in  any  period  of  his  life,  as  that  in  which 
he  was  a  prince." 

Edmund  Burke,  after  attaining  the  most  exalted  position 
as  an  orator  and  statesman,  said  that  he  would  not  give  one 
peck  of  refuse  wheat  for  all  that  is  called  fame  in  this  world. 
Byron,  after  making  the  whole  earth  ring  with  the  music  of 
his  measures,  confessed  that  his  life  had  been  passed  in 
wretchedness,  and  that  he  longed  to  rush  into  the  thickest  of 
the  battle,  that  he  might  end  his  miserable  existence  by  a 
sudden  death.  Rothschild  and  Girard,  both  possessing  mil- 
lions, were  wretched  men,  living  and  toiling  like  galley  slaves, 
and  knew  nothing  of  that  happiness  which,  like  sunshine, 
brightens  and  cheers  everything. 

Some  one  has  happily  defined  happiness  as  "the  result  of 
harmonious  powers,  steadily  bent  on  pursuits  that  seek  a 
worthy  end.  It  is  not  the  lazy  man's  dower,  nor  the  sensual- 
ist's privilege.  It  is  reserved  for  the  worker,  and  can  never 
be  grasped  and  held  save  by  true  manhood  and  womanhood. 

A  great  deal  of  the  unhappiness  in  the  world  is  caused  by 
want  of  proper  occupation.  The  mind  is  incessantly  active, 
and  if  not  occupied  with  something  more  worthy  it  will  prey 
upon  itself.  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  misfortunes  in  life  to  be 
without  a  purpose  ;  to  drift  hither  and  thither,  at  the  mercy 
of  every  whim  and  impulse. 

How  many  there  are  like  a  certain  wealthy  French  gentle- 
man of  taste  and  culture,  who  had  read  much  and  traveled 
much,  but,  having  no  high  aim  in  life,  became  surfeited  with 
worldly  pleasure,  and  grew  weary  of  existence  !  He  said  :  "I 
am  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  I  know  not  where  to  go  or  what  to 
see  that  I  am  not  already  acquainted  with.  There  is  nothing 
new  to  sharpen  my  curiosity,  or  stimulate  me  to  exertion. 
I  am  sated.  Life  to  me  has  exhausted  its  charms.  The  world 


412  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

has  no  new  face  to  show  me,  nor  can  it  open  any  new  pros- 
pect to  my  view." 

A  noble  purpose  is  the  cure  for  such  disorders  of  the  mind, 
and  no  better  advice  could  be  given  than  that  which  the  poet 
Rogers  gave  to  Lady  Holland,  whose  life  was  almost  intoler- 
able from  ennui  :  "  Try  to  do  a  little  good." 

Sir  William  Jones,  himself  a  prodigy  of  industry,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  necessity  of  labor,  said  :  "I  apprehend  there  is 
not  a  more  miserable,  as  well  as  more  worthless  being  than  a 
young  man  of  fortune,  who  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  find  some 
new  way  of  doing  nothing." 

Many  who  have  gained  distinction  have  declared  that  the 
happiest  period  of  their  lives  was  when  they  were  struggling 
with  poverty,  and  working  with  all  their  might  to  raise  them- 
selves above  it. 

William  Chambers,  the  famous  publisher,  of  Edinburgh, 
when  speaking  of  the  labor  of  his  early  days,  says  :  "I  look 
back  to  those  times  with  great  pleasure,  and  I  am  almost 
sorry  that  I  have  not  to  go  through  the  same  experience 
again  ;  for  I  reaped  more  pleasure  when  I  had  not  a  sixpence 
in  my  pocket,  studying  in  a  garret  in  Edinburgh,  than  I  now 
find  when  sitting  amid  all  the  elegancies  and  comforts  of  a 
parlor." 

But  happiness  demands  not  only  that  our  powers  shall  be 
worthily  employed,  but  that  we  shall  be  actuated  by  a  gener- 
ous and  unselfish  spirit.  There  is  nothing  so  bracing  as  to 
live  outside  of  one's  self  ;  to  be  in  some  way  the  means  of 
making  brighter  and  happier  the  lives  of  others.  We  know 
little  of  true  enjoyment  unless  we  have  spoken  kind  words  of 
encouragement  to  those  in  distress,  or  lent  a  helping  hand  in 
time  of  trouble. 

A  gentleman  was  once  asked  :  "What  action  gave  you 
the  greatest  pleasure  in  life  ? "  He  replied  :  "  When  I  stopped 
the  sale  of  a  poor  widow's  furniture  by  paying  a  small  sum 
due  by  her  for  rent,  and  received  her  blessing.7'' 

Happiness  may  be  found  in  the  line  of  duty,  no  matter 
where  the  way  leads. 

Many  have  been  the  attempts  to  correctly  define  happi- 
ness. Varrow  made  note  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  differ- 
ent opinions,  but  the  secret  is  one  of  the  heart,  and  not  of 
the  intellect.  A  clear  conscience,  a  kind  heart,  and  a  worthy 


THE  SECRET  OF  A  HAPPY  LIFE.  413 

aim,  will  do  much  toward  making  life  a  perpetual  feast  of 
joy  ;  but  this  feast  will  be  made  up  of  a  succession  of  small 
pleasures,  which  flow  from  the  round  of  our  daily  duties  as 
sparkling  ripples  from  a  fountain. 

"  Happiness,"  says  a  writer,  "  is  a  mosaic,  composed  of 
many  smaller  stones.  Each,  taken  apart  and  viewed  singly, 
may  be  of  little  value  ;  but  when  all  are  grouped  together, 
and  judiciously  combined  and  set,  they  form  a  pleasing  and 
graceful  whole, —  a  costly  jewel." 

The  kind  words  we  speak  will  be  echoed  back  to  us  from 
the  lips  of  others,  and  the  good  that  we  do  will  be  as  seed 
sown  in  good  ground,  bringing  forth  an  hundred  fold. 

"  An  Italian  bishop,  who  had  struggled  through  many 
difficulties,  was  asked  the  secret  of  his  always  being  so 
happy.  He  replied  :  '  In  whatever  state  I  am,  I  first  of  all 
look  up  to  heaven,  and  remember  that  my  great  business  is  to 
get  there.  I  then  look  down  upon  the  earth,  and  call  to  mind 
how  small  a  space  I  shall  soon  fill  in  it.  I  then  look  abroad  in 
the  world,  and  see  what  multitudes  are  in  all  respects  less 
happy  than  myself.  And  then  I  learn  where  true  happiness 
is  placed,  where  all  my  cares  must  end,  and  how  little  reason 
\  ever  have  to  murmur  or  to  be  otherwise  than  thankful.' : 

True  happiness,  then,  which  defies  all  change  of  time  and 
circumstances,  and  is  perfect  and  unalloyed,  can  be  found 
only  in  that  source  of  all  goodness  —  God  himself. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

JOSEPH    JEFFERSON. 

SUCCESS   AS  UNDERSTOOD  BY  MR.   JEFFERSON HIS  RANK  AMONG  ACTORS 

—  BLENDING    OF    THE    MAN    AND    ACTOR HIS     THEATRICAL    LINEAGE MA- 
TERNAL   ANCESTRY-- BIRTHPLACE    AND    EARLY    SURROUNDINGS GLIMPSES 

OF     JEFFERSON     IN     THE     EARLY     DAYS THE     MEXICAN    WAR    PERIOD HIS 

FIRST    PERMANENT    SUCCESS IN    AUSTRALIA VISITS    SOUTH    AMERICA 

HIS     CAREER     IN     LONDON LATER    CAREER HIS     PERFORMANCES     OF     RIP 

VAN    WINKLE HIS    ART.       HOW    TO    BE    INSIGNIFICANT. 


Success  means   in  the  ordinary   sense,  as   I  take   it,  the 
full  achievement  of  any  object  we  have  in  view. 

If  it  is  the  mere  accumulation  of  money 
it  is  quite  evident  that  this  may  be  accom- 
plished both  by  honest  and  dishonest  means 
—  but  I  cannot  call  this  success  in  either 
case.  The  honest  achievement  of  having 
been  of  service  to  the  world  and  to  one's 
own  family  and  friends,  terminating  in  a 
career  of  an  unblemished  name,  is  what  I 
should  call  success. 

This  service  should  be,  in  all  cases,  en- 
tirely free  from  selfishness,  and  may  often- 
times be  extended  to  the  general  enlightenment  and  prosperity 
of  our  common  humanity. 


OSEPH  JEFFERSON,  the  comedian,  now  in  the  autumn 
of  his  distinguished  professional   career,  is  one  of  the 
most  famous  and  one  of  the  best  beloved  actors,  whether 
at  home  or  abroad.     The  first  thought  that  naturally 
occurs  to  the  observer  of  his  renown   is  the  thought  of  its 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON.  415 

singular  beauty,  tranquillity,  and  beneficence.  Mr.  Jefferson 
has  been  a  long  time  in  public  life,  and  he  has  made  his  way 
to  eminence  and  fortune  through  a  period  marked  by  the 
uncommonly  fierce  strife  of  conflicting  ambitions  ;  but  prob- 
ably he  never  had  an  enemy  in  the  world.  Simply  to  mention 
his  name  is  to  conjure  up  pleasant  memories  and  awaken 
feelings  of  kindness.  He  has  been  seen  far  and  wide,  in  all 
parts  of  the  United  States,  in  Canada,  in  Australia  and  New 
Zealand,  and  throughout  the  British  Isles,  and  the  influence 
that  he  has  everywhere  diffused  has  been  bright,  gentle,  and 
pure.  It  is  not  alone  the  exquisite  finish  of  his  dramatic  art 
that  has  prevailed  with  the  world,  gaining  for  Mr.  Jefferson 
a  first  place  in  the  public  mind  ;  the  tender,  sympathetic  spirit 
of  humanity  and  the  sweet  poetic  charm  that  radiate  from  his 
spirit  and  suffuse  his  acting  with  kindly  warmth  and  mys- 
terious fascination  have  equally  endeared  him  to  the  public 
heart. 

It  has  sometimes  been  asserted  that  judgment  of  an  actor 
cannot  be  wise  and  impartial  unless  it  separates  the  artist 
from  the  man  —  that  the  less  you  know  about  the  nature  of 
the  actor  himself,  the  better  are  you  fitted  to  analyze  and 
estimate  his  art.  But  this  is  a  mistaken  doctrine.  The  beau- 
ties of  an  actor's  art  are  technical  only  up  to  a  certain  point. 
Riding,  swimming,  skating,  fencing,  playing  whist,  playing 
chess  —  these,  and  all  such  arts  as  these,  are  to  be  viewed 
simply  and  solely  with  reference  to  method.  Acting  is  a  far 
greater  art,  involving  much  more  than  clearness  of  design, 
competent  force,  precision  of  touch,  and  grace  of  execution. 
The  informing  vitality  and  the  crowning  charm  of  an  actor's 
art  reside  in  attributes  that  flow  out  of  an  actor's  spiritual 
nature  ;  and  the  true  excellence  of  the  one  is  clearly  seen  and 
rightly  appreciated  only  by  those  observers  who  can  see  into 
the  constitution  and  resources  of  the  other.  Every  truth  that 
can  be  discerned  as  to  the  soul  of  the  actor  helps  such  an 
observer  more  justly  to  comprehend  and  more  deeply  to  feel 
the  power  and  the  loveliness  of  his  work.  Superficial  knowl- 
edge of  surroundings  and  habiliments  is  not  denoted  as  essen- 
tial, although,  to  some  extent,  this  also  may  help.  The  vital 
thing  is  a  deep  and  true  perception  of  the  soul.  The  more 
you  know  about  the  actor  in  this  sense,  the  better  are  you 
qualified  to  estimate  his  acting.  In  fact,  unless  you  know 


416  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

him  in  this  way,  you  can  know  his  acting  merely  as  mech- 
anism. 

In  the  case  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  man  and  the  actor  are  so 
inextricably  blended  that  in  any  disquisition  upon  his  art,  it 
is  well-nigh  impossible  to  dissever  them.  This  comedian, 
indeed,  has  completely  and  accurately  assumed  many  differ- 
ent identities  ;  few  actors  have  equaled  him  in  abundance  of 
the  resources  of  technical  skill ;  but  the  felicitous  precision, 
the  truth  to  nature,  with  which  he  has  portrayed  these  identi- 
ties, and  the  magical  charm,  whether  of  grace,  humor,  ten- 
derness, eccentricity,  or  genius,  with  which  he  has  suffused 
them,  arise  out  of  attributes  in  the  spiritual  constitution  of 
the  man  himself,  and  are  not  referable  to  his  dramatic  art. 

Mr.  Jefferson  comes  of  a  theatrical  lineage  in  both  branches 
of  his  ancestry.  The  Jefferson  family  of  actors  was  founded 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,  born  about  the  year  1728,  a  native  of 
the  township  of  Ripon,  Yorkshire,  England,  who  went  up  to 
London,  probably  in  1746,  when  a  youth  of  about  eighteen, 
became  a  member  of  Garrick's  company  at  Drury  Lane  The- 
ater, and  subsequently  had  a  career  of  about  sixty  years  on 
the  English  stage.  Old  dramatic  records  give  but  meager 
information  about  this  actor,  but  he  seems  to  have  attained  to 
a  good  position.  He  was  esteemed  the  equal,  in  comedy,  of 
so  fine  an  actor  as  Spranger  Barry,  and  the  superior,  in  this 
field,  of  Mossop,  Reddish,  and  the  elder  Sheridan.  His  tragic 
performances,  if  less  meritorious,  were  accounted  to  be  equal 
to  those  of  Macklin,  the  first  true  Shylock  of  the  English 
theater.  He  is  mentioned  as  "Garrick's  favorite  Horatio." 
He  was  even  accepted  sometimes  as  a  substitute  for  that  bril- 
liant genius  ;  and  in  one  of  the  accounts  of  him  that  were 
published  immediately  after  his  death  -  -  which  occurred  in 
1807  -  -  he  is  described  as  "  the  friend,  contemporary,  and 
exact  prototype  of  the  immortal  Garrick." 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  on  the  stage  from  1746  till  almost 
the  day  of  his  death.  He  managed  theaters  in  England 
at  Richmond,  Exeter,  Plymouth,  and  other  cities,  but  chiefly 
at  Plymouth.  His  career  might  be  told  in  much  more  detail, 
and  with  the  picture  of  the  whole  brilliant  Garrick  period 
as  a  background,  although,  of  course,  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  not,  and  should  not  be  made,  the  chief  figure  in  that 
resplendent  picture.  But  he  lived  in  a  remarkably  dramatic 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON.  417 

era,  and  he  was  associated  with  many  of  the  finest  intellects, 
the  loveliest  faces,  and  the  brightest  reputations  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Joseph  Jefferson,  second  in  the  Jefferson  family  of  actors, 
was  born  at  Plymouth,  England,  in  1774  or  1776.  There  is 
some  uncertainty  as  to  the  date  of  his  birth.  He  was  care- 
fully educated  for  the  stage,  and  he  appeared  at  the  Plymouth 
theater  while  yet  a  youth,  under  his  father's  direction.  As 
soon  as  he  had  attained  to  manhood,  however,  he  emigrated 
to  America,  and  he  never  returned  to  his  native  land.  He 
came  over  in  1795,  under  engagement  to  Charles  Stuart  Powell, 
first  manager  of  the  theater  in  Federal  street,  Boston  —  a 
house  that  was  opened  on  February  3,  1794.  Powell  agreed 
to  pay  the  young  actor's  passage,  and  a  salary  of  seventeen 
dollars  a  week. 

On  reaching  Boston,  Jefferson  found  that  Powell  had  been 
unfortunate,  and  had  been  obliged  to  shut  the  theater  (June 
19,  1795).  Left  thus  adrift,  he  engaged  with  Hallam  and 
Hodgkinson,  who  were  on  a  professional  visit  to  Boston,  from 
the  John  Street  Theater,  New  York,  and  with  those  managers 
he  performed  at  Boston,  Providence,  and  Hartford,  and  finally 
came  to  the  metropolis.  His  first  appearance  in  New  York 
was  made  on  February  10,  1796,  at  the  theater  in  John  street, 
and  the  part  he  played  was  Squire  Richard,  in  The  Provoked 
Husband.  He  was  of  small  stature,  slight  in  figure,  well 
formed,  and  graceful.  He  had  a  Grecian  nose,  and  his  eyes 
were  blue  and  full  of  laughter.  The  John  Street  Theater, 
precursor  to  the  old  Park,  was  first  opened  December  7,  1707, 
and  it  was  finally  closed  on  January  13,  1798.  Jefferson  was 
connected  with  it  for  nearly  the  whole  period  of  its  last  two 
years,  and  when  it  closed  he  went  to  the  Park,  at  first  styled 
"The  New  Theater,"  or  simply  "The  Theater."  Jefferson's 
career  at  the  Park  Theater  extended  through  five  regular 
seasons,  ending  in  the  spring  of  1803,  when  he  accepted  an 
engagement  with  Mrs.  Wignell,  who  just  then  had  succeeded, 
by  the  sudden  death  of  her  husband,  to  the  management  of 
the  Chestnut  Street  Theater,  in  Philadelphia. 

The  detailed  story  of  the  rest  of  his  life  would  be  the 
story  of  that  theater.  There  he  developed  his  powers,  there 
he  accomplished  his  best  work,  and  there  he  acquired  his 
great  fame.  Making  allowance  for  the  differences  existent 


418  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

between  the  conditions  of  publicity  in  those  days  and  in  ours, 
he  had  a  career  as  prominent,  though  not  as  well  known,  as 
that  of  his  famous  grandson,  and  in  much  the  same  spirit  he 
was  honored  and  beloved.  His  rank  and  position  were 
much  the  same  as  those  in  the  present  day  of  Mr.  John  Gil- 
bert. He  had  the  friendship  of  President  Jefferson,  and  the 
two  were  of  opinion  that  they  had  sprung  from  the  same 
stock;  but  the  relationship  was  never  traced.  The  President 
was  of  Welsh  extraction,  the  comedian  of  English.  It  is 
recorded  of  Jefferson  and  his  wife  that  they  were  born  on  the 
same  day  of  the  same  month  and  year,  one  in  America  and 
the  other  in  England.  They  had  nine  children,  all  but  two 
of  whom  adopted  the  stage. 

Jefferson  was  a  man  of  sweet  but  formal  character  and 
polished,  punctilious  manners,  of  absolute  integrity,  and  of 
pure  and  exemplary  life.  As  an  actor  he  was  remarkable 
for  nature  and  variety.  It  is  said  he  never  twice  gave  a 
scene  in  precisely  the  same  manner.  His  humor  was  involun- 
tary and  exceedingly  fascinating.  He  never  used  grimace. 
He  may  be  traced  through  more  than  two  hundred  charac- 
ters. ''He  played  everything  that  was  comic/'  said  John  P. 
Kennedy,  the  novelist,  "and  always  made  people  laugh  till 
the  tears  came  in  their  eyes.  .  .  .  When  he  acted,  families 
all  went  together,  old  and  young.  Smiles  were  on  every 
face;  the  town  was  happy."  The  latter  days  of  his  life  were 
sorely  overwhelmed  with  calamity  and  sorrow.  He  died  in 
Harrisburg  in  1832. 

The  third  Jefferson,  father  of  our  comedian,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia  in  1804.  He  was  a  man  of  most  serene  and 
gentle  nature,  and  of  simple,  blameless  life.  He  was  an 
inveterate  quiz,  a  good  scene-painter,  and  a  good  actor  of  old 
men  ;  but  he  did  not  make  an  important  figure  on  the  stage. 

The  maternal  ancestry  of  our  present  representative  Amer- 
ican comedian,  Joseph  Jefferson,  is  also  dramatic,  his  mother 
having  adopted  the  stage  when  a  child,  and  subsequently 
risen  to  distinction  as  an  actress,  and  to  special  eminence  as 
a  singer.  This  lady  was  the  only  child  of  a  French  gentle- 
man, M.  Thomas,  resident  for  some  time  at  San  Domingo, 
from  which  place,  however,  he  fled  with  his  wife  and  daughter, 
the  latter  then  only  three  or  four  years  of  age,  at  the  time  of 
the  second  revolt  of  the  negroes  against  the  French  govern- 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON.  419 

ment  in  1803,  when  a  massacre  of  the  white  population  was 
ordered,  and  to  some  extent  accomplished,  by  those  fierce 
insurgents.  The  refugees  had  a  narrow  escape.  One  of  M. 
Thomas's  slaves,  more  faithful  than  the  rest  to  his  master's 
fortunes,  gave  information  of  the  intended  slaughter,  so  that 
the  planter  was  enabled  just  in  time  to  make  his  escape.  The 
fugitives  decamped  by  night,  and  hid  themselves  among 
dense  thickets  adjacent  to  their  home.  The  house  was  pil- 
laged and  burned  and  the  whole  place  was  devastated.  Jeffer- 
son remembers  having  heard  his  mother  speak  of  this 
experience,  saying  that,  although  then  only  a  child,  she  could 
recollect  something  of  the  fright  and  horror  of  the  time  —  the 
concealment  by  night,  the  warning  not  to  utter  a  sound,  the 
suspense,  the  cries  of  the  negroes  as  they  went  about  beating 
the  bushes  in  their  murderous  quest,  which  proved  in  vain. 
Fortunately  the  child  did  not  cry,  and  M.  Thomas,  with  his 
living  treasures,  at  length  got  safely  away  from  the  island. 

Joseph  Jefferson,  the  fourth  of  this  distinguished  family, 
was  born  at  Philadelphia  on  February  20,  1829.  The  home  of 
his  birth  is  still  standing  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Spruce 
and  Sixth  streets.  He  was  reared  by  theatrical  parents  and 
among  theatrical  friends  and  the  surroundings  of  the  theater, 
and  he  was  embarked  upon  his  theatrical  career  while  yet  a 
little  child.  His  first  appearance  upon  the  stage  was  made  in 
1833,  when  he  was  only  four  years  old,  at  a  theater  in  Wash- 
ington. The  negro  comedian  Thomas  D.  Rice  (1808-60),  once 
and  for  a  long  time  known  and  popular  as  "Jim  Crow,"  car- 
ried him  on  in  a  bag  or  basket,  and  at  a  certain  point,  while 
singing  the  song  of  "  Jim  Crow,"  emptied  from  it  this  young- 
ster, blackened  and  "made  up  "as  a  facsimile  of  himself, 
who  immediately  struck  the  attitude  of  Rice,  and  danced  and 
sung  in  exact  imitation  of  the  long,  lank,  ungainly,  humorous 
original.  Four  years  later  this  lad  was  at  the  Franklin 
Theater  in  New  York,  with  his  parents,  and  he  appeared 
there  on  September  30,  that  year,  in  a  sword  combat  with  one 
Master  Titus,  whom  it  was  his  business  to  discomfit,  and  over 
whom  he  triumphed  in  good  old  bravado  manner. 

Early  in  1838  young  Jefferson  was  taken  to  Chicago, 
together  with  his  half-brother,  Charles  Burke,  and  both  of 
them  were  there  kept  in  continual  practice  on  the  stage.  The 
whole  family,  indeed,  went  wandering  in.to  the  West  and 


420  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

South,  and  many  and  varied  were  the  adventures  through 
which  they  passed,  earning  a  precarious  livelihood  by  the 
practice  of  an  art  almost  unrecognized  as  yet  in  those 
regions. 

A  glimpse  of  Jefferson  as  he  appeared  in  the  early  days  of 
his  professional  career,  which  were  also  the  early  days  of  the 
American  theater,  more  particularly  in  the  West,  was  afforded 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Chicago,  at  which 
the  veteran  theatrical  manager,  Mr.  James  H.  McVickar, 
read  a  paper  descriptive  of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the 
theater  in  that  city.  The  first  entertainment  for  which  an 
admission  fee  was  charged  in  Chicago  occurred  in  1834.  The 
first  theater  there  was  established  in  1837,  by  Henry  Isher- 
wood  and  Alexander  McKenzie.  It  stood  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  Lake  and  Market  streets.  Isherwood  is  remembered 
as  long  a  scenic  artist  at  Wallack's  Theater,  a  man  of 
signal  talent  and  of  interesting  character.  Mr.  McVickar 
expatiated  agreeably  upon  these  and  kindred  details,  and 
read  this  letter  from  the  comedian  :  — 

"I  am  not  quite  sure  that  I  remember  dates  and  circum- 
stances in  their  exact  form,  but  will  give  you  the  benefit  of 
all  I  know  relating  to  Chicago  theatricals.  My  father  and  his 
family  arrived  in  Chicago  by  way  of  the  lakes  in  a  steamer, 
somewhere  about  May,  in  the  year  1838.  He  came  to  join 
Alexander  McKenzie  (my  uncle)  in  the  management  of  his  new 
theater.  McKenzie  had  been  manager  of  the  old  one  the  season 
before.  I  think  the  new  theater  was  the  old  one  refitted. 
[This  is  an  error.]  I  know  it  was  the  pride  of  the  city  and 
the  ideal  of  the  new  managers,  for  it  had  one  tier  of  boxes  and 
a  gallery  at  the  back.  I  don't  think  that  the  seats  of  the  dress 
circle  were  stuffed,  but  I  am  almost  sure  that  they  were 
planed.  The  company  consisted  of  William  Leicester,  William 
Warren,  James  Wright,  Charles  Burke,  Joseph  Jefferson, 
Thomas  Sankey,  William  Childs,  H.  Isherwood  (artist), 
Joseph  Jefferson,  Jim.,  Mrs.  McKenzie,  Mrs.  J.  Jefferson 
(my  mother),  Mrs.  Ingersoll,  and  Jane  Germon.  I  was  the 
comic  singer  of  this  party,  making  myself  useful  in 
small  parts  and  first  villagers,  now  and  then  doing  duty  as  a 
Roman  senator,  at  the  back,  wrapped  in  a  clean  hotel  sheet, 
with  my  head  just  peering  over  the  profile  banquet  tables. 
I  was  just  nine  years  old.  I  was  found  useful  as  Albert  and 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON.  421 

Duke  of  York.  In  those  clays  the  audience  used  to  throw 
money  on  the  stage,  either  for  comic  songs  or  dances  ;  and 
oh,  with  that  thoughtful  prudence  which  has  characterized 
my  after-life,  how  I  used  to  lengthen  out  the  verses  !  The 
stars  during  the  season  were  Mrs.  McClure,  Dan  Marble,  and 
A.  A.  Addams.  Some  of  the  plays  acted  were  Lady  of  Lyons, 
Stranger,  Rob  Roy,  Damon  and  Pythias,  Wives  as  They 
Were  —  Aids  as  They  Are,  Sam  Patch,  etc.  The  theater  was 
in  Randolph  street  —  at  least  it  strikes  me  that  was  the  name. 
[It  was  in  Dearborn  street.]  The  city  about  that  time  had 
from  three  to  four  thousand  inhabitants.  I  can  remember 
following  my  father  along  the  shore,  when  he  went  shooting, 
on  what  is  now  Michigan  avenue. 

"  JOSEPH  JEFFERSON." 

During  the  progress  of  the  Mexican  war  the  Jeffersons 
followed,  in  company  with  other  players,  in  the  track  of 
General  Taylor's  army,  giving  performances  to  please  a 
military  and  boisterous  audience.  '  Those  were  the  rough  and 
wild  days  of  the  American  provincial  theater.  Readers  of 
such  records  as  Ludlow's  "Dramatic  Life"  and  Sol  Smith's 
"Reminiscences"  may  therein  catch  impressive  glimpses  of 
this  period  in  our  theatrical  history,  and  they  will  find  it 
recorded  that  the  pioneers  of  the  profession  in  the  West  often 
had  to  pursue  their  journeys  in  flatboats  down  the  great 
rivers,  from  town  to  town,  living  on  fish  and  birds,  sometimes 
shooting  wild  animals  on  the  river  banks,  and  stopping  at 
intervals  to  act  in  the  settlements.  Land  journeys  were 
frequently  made  by  the  poor  player  in  wagons  or  ox  carts, 
and  sometimes  he  traveled  on  foot.  Jefferson  had  experi- 
ence of  all  these  itinerant  methods,  and  so  it  was  in  the 
school  of  hardship  that  he  acquired  his  thorough  profes- 
sional training. 

He  saw  General  Taylor  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
He  was  sufficiently  near  at  the  battle  of  Palo  Alto,  May  8, 
1846,  to  hear  the  report  of  the  cannon.  He  saw  the  bombard- 
ment of  Matamoras,  and  he  acted  in  that  city,  in  the  Spanish 
theater,  two  nights  after  the  capture  of  the  place  by  the 
American  forces.  At  one  time  in  the  course  of  this  gypsy 
period,  he  was  so  "hard  up"  that  he  was  constrained  to 
diversify  the  avocation  of  acting  by  opening  a  coffee  and  cake 


422  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

stall,  as  one  of  the  camp  followers  of  General  Taylor.  But 
when  adverting  to  this  incident,  in  a  talk  with  the  present 
writer,  he  indicated  what  has  been  the  law  of  his  life  and  the 
secret  of  his  success  in  all  things.  "  I  sold  good  coffee  and 
good  cakes/'  he  said,  "  and  the  little  stall  was  not  a  failure." 

Jefferson  did  not  return  to  the  New  York  stage  until  1849, 
when,  on  September  10,  he  came  out  at  Chanfrau's  National 
Theater,  acting  Jack  Rackbottle,  in  the  play  of  Jonathan 
Bradford.  Here  he  met  Miss  Margaret  Lockyer,  a  native  of 
Burnham,  Somersetshire,  England,  to  whom  subsequently 
(May  19,  1850,)  he  was  married. 

From  1849  onward,  he  drifted  about  the  country  during 
several  years.  At  one  time  he  was  in  partnership  with  Mr. 
John  Ellsler,  now  a  prominent  manager  arid  admired  come- 
dian at  Cleveland,  and  together  they  took  a  dramatic  com- 
pany through  the  chief  cities  of  the  Southern  states.  At 
another  time  he  was  settled  in  Philadelphia,  and  later  in  Bal- 
timore. In  the  latter  city  he  was  allied  with  that  eminent 
manager,  since  so  intimately  associated  with  some  of  the 
brightest  and  saddest  pages  of  American  theatrical  history, 
Mr.  John  T.  Ford  ;  and  Jefferson  was  there  the  manager  of 
the  Baltimore  Museum.  In  1856  he  made  a  summer  trip  to 
Europe,  in  order  to  observe  and  study  the  art  of  acting  as 
exemplified  on  the  stage  in  London  and  Paris.  A  poor  man 
then,  but  then,  as  always,  devoted  to  his  art  as  to  a  sacred 
religion,  he  could  face  hardship  and  endure  trouble  and  pain 
for  the  accomplishment  of  a  high  purpose  ;  one  of  the  ocean 
voyages  he  made  in  the  steerage  of  a  packet. 

But  all  things  come  round,  at  last,  to  those  who  wait, 
making  ready  to  improve  opportunity  when  it  arrives,  and 
Jefferson's  time  came  in  good  season,  after  much  privation 
and  many  disappointments.  On  August  31,  1857,  Laura  Keene 
opened  her  theater  in  New  York  at  No.  622  Broadway,  and 
her  company  included  Jefferson,  who  on  the  first  night  made 
a  hit  as  Dr.  Pangloss,  in  The  Heir  at  Law.  But  it  was  not  till 
the  18th  of  October  following,  when  for  the  first  time  on  any 
stage  was  presented  Tom  Taylor's  comedy  of  Our  American 
Cousin,  that  Jefferson  gained  his  first  permanent  laurel,  and 
established  himself  in  the  judicious  thought  and  the  popular 
favor  of  his  time  as  a  great  comedian.  This  victory  was 
obtained  by  his  matchless  performance  of  Asa  Trenchard. 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON.  423 

The  piece  had  a  run  of  one  hundred  and  forty  nights.  Soth- 
ern  was  in  the  cast  as  Lord  Dundreary,  and  that  was  the 
beginning  of  the  almost  world-wide  success  afterward  gained 
by  him.  Jefferson  remained  at  Laura  Keene's  Theater  till 
July,  1859,  when  the  season  ended. 

He  was  a  member  of  Mr.  Boucicault's  company  and  stage 
manager  of  the  Winter  Garden  Theater  —  on  the  west  side  of 
Broadway,  opposite  to  the  end  of  Bond  street  —  in  the  season 
of  1859-60,  but  he  withdrew  from  that  theater  in  the  spring  of 
1860,  and  on  May  16  opened  Laura  Keene's  Theater  for  a  sum- 
mer season,  which  lasted  till  August  31.  There  he  presented 
The  Invincible  Prince,  The  Tycoon,  Our  American  Cousin,  and 
other  plays  with  a  company  that  included  Edward  A.  Sothern, 
Charles  W.  Couldock,  Mrs.  John  Wood,  Mrs.  Henrietta  Chan- 
frau,  Cornelia  Jefferson  (his  only  sister),  Mrs.  H.  Vincent, 
Hetty  Warren,  James  H.  Stoddart,  and  James  G.  Burnett. 
That  part  of  Jefferson's  professional  life  is  particularly  well 
remembered.  The  performances  then  given  were  of  singular 
brilliancy,  and  the  foundations  of  his  own  reputation  were  at 
that  time  securely  laid.  Early  in  1861  he  had  the  afflicting 
misfortune  to  lose  his  wife,  who  died  suddenly,  and  thereafter 
he  fell  into  infirm  health,  so  that  for  some  time  his  own  death 
seemed  imminent  ;  but  a  trip  across  the  continent  to  San 
Francisco,  a  voyage  thence  to  Australia,  and  the  good  influ- 
ence of  the  climate  of  that  country,  where  he  passed  four 
years,  restored  him  to  hope  and  vigor.  He  was  married  again, 
in  1867,  to  his  third  cousin,  Miss  Sarah  Warren,  of  Chicago. 

In  Australia  Mr.  Jefferson  increased  his  reputation  by  the 
excellence  of  his  professional  efforts.  He  there  acted  Asa 
Trenchard,  Caleb  Plummer,  Bob  Brierly,  Dogberry,  and  other 
characters,  and  especially  Rip  Van  Winkle.  His  popularity 
in  that  country  was  prodigious.  Once,  at  Hobart  Town,  in 
Tasmania,  among  a  people  whom  the  late  Henry  J.  Byron 
used  to  call  the  Tasmaniacs,  he  acted  Bob  Brierly,  the  rustic 
hero  of  Tom  Taylor's  play  of  The  Ticket-of -leave  Man,  in 
presence  of  about  six  hundred  ticket-of-leave  men,  and  this 
formidable  concourse  of  capable  critics,  at  first  hostile,  ended 
by  accepting  him  with  delighted  acclamation. 

He  visited  the  Pacific  coast  of  South  America  and  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  on  leaving  Australia,  and  from  the  latter 
place  he  went  directly  to  London.,  where  he  induced  Mr. 


424  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Boucicault  to  rearrange  and  rewrite  the  play  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle,  and  where  he  came  out,  giving  his  exquisite  per- 
formance of  Rip,,  in  September,  1865,  at  the  Adelphi  Theater. 
"  In  Mr.  Jefferson's  hands,"  wrote  John  Oxenford,  of  the 
London  Times,  "the  character  of  Rip  Van  Winkle  becomes 
the  vehicle  for  an  extremely  fine  psychological  exhibition." 
The  comedian's  success  was  great,  and  it  prepared  the  way 
for  great  and  continuous  triumph  upon  the  American  stage 
after  he  came  home.  Jefferson  reappeared  in  New  York, 
August  13,  1866,  at  the  Olympic  Theater,  and  afterward  trav- 
ersed the  principal  cities  of  the  republic,  being  everywhere 
received  with  intellectual  appreciation  and  the  admiring  plau- 
dits of  the  public.  He  has  since  then  made  another  visit  to 
the  English  capital,  acting  in  London  and  in  other  cities  of 
the  British  Isles.  He  reappeared  at  the  Princess's  Theater 
November  1, 1875,  and  acted  until  April  29,  1876.  He  appeared 
at  the  same  theater  at  Easter,  1877,  and  remained  there  until 
midsummer,  when  he  went  to  the  Haymarket  with  Mr.  John 
S.  Clarke,  and  acted  for  several  weeks  Mr.  Golightly,  in  Lend 
Me  Five  Shillings,  and  Hugh  De  Brass,  in  A  Regular  Fix.  He 
arrived  home  that  year  on  October  17,  and  all  his  engagements 
since  then  have  been  played  in  America.  His  repertory 
has  been  confined  to  Rip  Van  Winkle,  Caleb  Plummer,  Mr. 
Golightly,  Bob  Acres,  and  occasionally  Dr.  Ollapod. 

Of  late  years  Jefferson  has  acted  but  a  small  part  of  each 
season,  preferring  to  live  mostly  at  home  and  devote  his  atten- 
tion to  the  art  of  painting.  All  his  life  an  amateur  in  water- 
colors,  he  developed  some  years  ago  not  only  an  ardent 
passion,  but  a  remarkable  talent,  for  oil  painting  in  the  depart- 
ment of  landscape.  Several  of  his  works  have  been  exhibited. 
Many  of  them  are  suffused  with  a  mysterious  and  tender 
charm  of  feeling,  much  like  the  imaginative  quality  in  the 
paintings  of  Corot.  In  this  field  Jefferson  has  accomplished 
more  than  society  is  aware  of,  and  more  than  perhaps  his  con- 
temporaries will  consent  to  recognize.  No  man  must  succeed 
in  more  than  one  art  if  he  would  satisfy  the  standard  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lives. 

Mr.  Jefferson's  power  has  been  exerted  and  his  position 
has  been  gained  chiefly  by  means  of  the  performance  of  Rip 
Van  Winkle.  In  his  time,  indeed,  he  has  played  many  parts. 
More  than  a  hundred  of  them  could  be  mentioned,  and  in 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON.  425 

several  of  them  his  acting  has  been  so  fine  that  he  would  have 
been  recognized  with  admiration  even  though  he  had  never 
played  Rip  Van  Winkle  at  all.  It  is,  accordingly,  either 
ignorance  or  injustice  that  describes  him  as  "a  one-part 
actor."  Yet,  certainly  he  has  obtained  his  fame  and  influence 
mainly  by  acting  one  part.  This  fact  has  been  noticed  by 
various  observers  in  various  moods.  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you 
making  your  fortune,  Mr.  Jefferson,"  the  late  Mr.  Charles 
Mathews  said  to  him,  "but  I  don't  like  to  see  you  doing  it 
with  a  carpetbag."  Mr.  Mathews  was  obliged  to  play  many 
parts,  and  therefore  to  travel  about  the  world  with  many 
trunks  full  of  wardrobe,  whereas  the  blue  shirt,  the  old  leather 
jacket,  the  red-brown  breeches,  the  stained  leggings,  the  old 
shoes,  the  torn  red  and  white  silk  handerchief,  the  tattered 
old  hat,  the  guns  and  bottle,  and  the  two  wigs  for  Rip  Yan 
Winkle  can  be  carried  in  a  single  box.  The  remark  of  Mr. 
Mathews,  however,  was  meant  to  glance  at  the  "  one-part '' 
costume,  and  Mr.  Jefferson's  reply  to  this  ebullition  was  at 
once  good  humored  and  significant.  "  It  is  perhaps  better," 
he  said,  "  to  play  one  part  in  different  ways  than  to  play  many 
parts  all  in  one  way."  The  explanation  of  his  artistic 
victory  is  indicated  here.  Mr.  Jefferson  found  in  the  old  play 
of  Rip  Yan  Winkle  a  subject  with  reference  to  which  he 
could  freely  and  fully  express  not  only  his  own  human  nature 
at  its  highest  and  best  but  his  ideas  as  to  human  nature  and 
human  life  in  general. 

The  part  of  Rip,  indeed,  as  set  forth  in  the  pages  of  Wash- 
ington Irving  and  in  the  ancient  and  clumsy  play  which  Jef- 
ferson derived  from  his  half-brother,  Charles  Burke,  amounts 
to  nothing ;  but  the  part  as  Mr.  Jefferson  conceived  it  and 
built  it  up  amounts  to  an  epitome  of  human  life,  and  in  that 
respect  it  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  parts  in  the  range  of 
the  acting  drama.  Mr.  Jefferson  was  exceedingly  fond  of  it 
while  yet  he  was  a  youth,  and  long  before  the  arrival  of  that 
happy  time  when  he  was  privileged  to  attempt  it  on  the  stage. 
It  was  his  custom  to  dress  himself  as  Rip  Yan  Winkle  and  to 
act  the  part  alone  in  his  lodgings,  and  for  his  own  edification 
and  the  purposes  of  study  and  experiment,  years  before  he 
acted  it  in  public.  His  mind  instinctively  recognized  its 
value.  It  is  a  part  that  contains  all  of  the  great  extremes  of 
human  experience  —  youth  and  age,  mirth  and  sadness,  humor 


426  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

and  pathos,  loss  and  gain,  the  natural  and  the  supernatural 
man  in  his  relations  to  his  fellow  men,  and  man  in  his  rela- 
tion to  the  world  of  spirits.  It  is  domestic  without  insipidity, 
and  it  is  romantic  without  extravagance.  In  a  remote  way  it 
is  even  suggestive  of  "  the  sceptered  pall  of  tragedy."  Yet  it 
is  perfectly  simple,  and  it  is  sweet,  pure,  and  deeply  and 
richly  fraught  with  the  sympathetic  emotion  of  powerful  and 
tender  humanity. 

HOW    TO   BE   INSIGNIFICANT. 

'HE  world  is  full  of  insignificant  people.  They  are  born, 
they  go  to  school,  they  work,  they  eat,  they  sleep,  they 
talk -- rather  frivolously,  they  live --very  aimlessly, 
and  one  day  they  die,  and  the  world  is  not  much  the 
poorer  because  of  their  disappearance.  A  few  men  struggle 
to  the  front,  rise  beyond  the  humdrum  level  of  the  crowd,  and 
make  their  voices  heard  above  the  common  clamor.  But  as 
for  the  rest,  they  are  insignificant.  Why  ?  Because  it  is  the 
easiest  thing  in  the  world. 

Probably  the  surest  way  to  be  insignificant  is  to  inherit 
wealth.  It  is  generally  the  greatest  possible  curse  for  a  man 
to  begin  life  in  opulence.  It  ties  his  hands,  lowers  his  ambi- 
tion, and  narrows  his  sympathies.  He  is  fettered  by  fashion, 
and  bound  tightly  by  the  conventional  prejudices  of  society. 
He  will  not  succeed  in  journalism,  for  he  cannot  bend  his  back 
to  begin  with  the  daily  drudgery.  He  will  hardly  consent  to 
soil  his  hands  in  trade  ;  and  as  for  science  and  art,  why  should 
he  endure  the  long  toil  and  severe  training  of  the  student 
when  he  can  occupy  the  pleasurable  position  of  the  patron  ? 
Except  in  a  few  remarkable  cases,  the  young  man  who  enters 
on  life's  tragedy  to  the  music  of  jingling  gold  plays  an  insig- 
nificant part,  far  from  danger,  and  therefore  far  from  honor. 
My  brother,  be  extremely  thankful  if  you  are  thrown  entirely 
on  your  own  resources.  Many  of  the  men  who  have  won  the 
highest  success  in  commerce  and  science  and  art,  many  of  the 
boldest  reformers,  most  brilliant  writers,  and  most  forceful 
orators,  have  been  men  who  commenced  life  without  a  penny 
in  their  pockets.  One  of  the  best  men  I  have  ever  known  once 
thoughtlessly  sneered  at  a  young  journalist  because  he  lacked 
the  supposed  advantage  of  a  college  education.  He  did  not 
know  that  the  successful  journalists  in  the  city  of  London  this 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON  AS  "BOB  ACRES." 


THE  K"7"  YC 
PUBLIC  , 


A6TOR,  LENOX  AND 


HOW  TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.  429 

day  who  can  put  B.A.  after  their  names  can  be  comfortably 
counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  The  smartest  journalist 
in  that  city  to-day  had  no  schooling  after  he  reached  twelve 
years  of  age,  except  what  he  gained  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts.  It  may  seem  the  strangest  paradox,  but  it  is  never- 
theless a  simple,  undeniable  fact,  that  poverty  is  often  one  of 
the  greatest  blessings  a  man  can  have  in  beginning  his  career. 
It  nerves  him  for  the  battle,  it  hinders  self-indulgence,  and  is 
a  sure  preventive  of  laziness. 

Another  certain  method  of  acquiring  insignificance  is  a 
love  of  ease.  "  Anything  for  a  quiet  life  "  is  the  motto  which 
has  ruined  the  prospects  of  thousands.  The  man  who  is  con- 
tent to  exist  —  the  man  who  says  that  work  is  an  excellent 
thing,  and  he  would  rather  enjoy  a  short  spell  of  it,  but  he 
feels  that  "to  work  between  meals  is  not  good  for  the  diges- 
tion,"- -  that  man  will  always  be  miserably  small  and  con- 
temptibly insignificant.  You  have  got  to  climb  the  ladder  of 
life  —  there  ^  no  elevator  to  take  you  up.  There  are  prizes  to 
be  had,  but  ^ou  must  win  them  —  they  will  not  drop  into  your 
hands.  Do  you  wish  to  avoid  insignificance  and  rise  to  some 
nobler  height  of  work  and  character  and  attainment  ?  Then 
you  must  be  ready  not  only  to  take  opportunities,  but  to  make 
them.  You  must  be  strenuous  in  effort,  dogged  in  persever- 
ance, indomitable  in  courage,  and  cheerful  and  alert  in  mind. 
When  Cromwell  was  asked  to  postpone  an  enterprise  and 
"  wait  till  the  iron  was  hot,"  he  bravely  replied  that  he  would 
make  the  iron  hot  by  striking  it.  That  is  the  dauntless  spirit 
we  want  to-day  -  -  the  spirit  which  laughs  at  difficulty,  and  is 
not  to  be  turned  aside  from  its  ambition  by  all  the  amiable 
warnings  of  prudence  or  timidity.  There  is  one  hymn  which 
is  sometimes  sung  at  revival  meetings  —  we  do  not  hear  it 
often  now.  It  begins  - 

"  Oh,  to  be  nothing,  nothing." 

Now,  if  that  is  your  ambition,  you  can  easily  gratify  it. 
Nothingness  is  soon  achieved.  But  surely  no  young  man 
with  a  healthy  mind  and  a  Christlike  spirit  will  be  deceived 
by  this  hideous  mockery  and  caricature  of  true  humility.  To 
want  to  be  nothing  is  an  insult  to  the  God  who  made  you. 
Was  it  worth  while  bringing  you  into  the  world  to  whine  and 
cant  about  being  nothing  ?  Rouse  yourself  and  think  !  God 


430  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

has  surrounded  you  with  a  wealth  of  privileges  and  an  infin- 
itude of  priceless  blessings.  You  inherit  all  the  wisdom  and 
genius  and  benevolence  of  the  ages  —  riches  that  are  vast, 
golden,  immortal.  You  are  placed  within  reach  of  the  noblest 
possibilities ;  you  have  all  the  help  and  advantage  which 
come  of  dwelling  in  a  Christian  and  civilized  land  ;  you  live 
in  an  age  when  the  zeal  and  ardor  and  strength  of  young  men 
are  greatly  in  demand,  and  when  the  opportunities  for  useful- 
ness are  singularly  favorable  ;  and  yet  in  the  meanest,  laziest, 
most  spiritless  fashion  you  ask  to  be  "nothing,  nothing.'' 
Give  up,  once  for  all,  this  cowardly  and  characterless  whim- 
pering. Be  something.  Be  a  man  !  Shake  off  your  dull  sloth 
and  rise  to  a  nobler  life.  Do  you  murmur  about  the  fierce  and 
relentless  competition  ?  There  is  no  competition  at  the  top. 
The  crowd  is  at  the  bottom  ;  but  look  ahead,  battle  forward, 
fight  your  way  against  every  difficulty,  valiantly  overcome 
every  obstacle,  and  by  the  time  you  have  climbed  halfway  to 
success  you  will  find  that  the  throng  which  once  pressed 
around  you  begins  to  thin  and  disappear.  And  when  by  skill 
and  industry,  faith  and  fortitude,  pluck  and  perseverance, 
you  have  attained  the  height  you  set  your  young  heart  on 
reaching,  you  will  discoverHhat  there  is  no  competition  there 
—  you  will  then  be  able  to  dictate  your  own  terms,  and  claim 
the  adequate  reward  of  honest,  skillful,  earnest  work. 

Yet  another  most  fruitful  cause  of  insignificance  is  what 
I  should  call  "time-frittering."'  Some  months  ago  several  of 
the  most  prominent  ministers  in  New  York  were  persuaded 
to  give  their  views  on  "  The  Best  Use  of  Leisure  "  for  the 
guidance  of  young  men.  I  am  not  sure  that  there  is  any 
topic  of  much  greater  importance  than  this,  for  you  can  gen- 
erally tell  the  character  of  a  man  with  almost  infallible 
accuracy,  by  the  way  in  which  he  uses  his  leisure  hours. 
Time-frittering  is  undoubtedly  the  besetting  sin  of  the  young 
men  to-day.  Thousands  of  fellows  turn  with  horror  from 
actual  dissipation.  But  their  virtue  is  of  a  negative  and 
therefore  of  a  very  worthless  kind.  They  abstain  from  evil, 
but  they  never  do  any  good.  The  worst  and  most  costly 
extravagance  of  which  you  can  be  guilty  is  to  throw  away 
your  evenings.  They  are  golden  opportunities  for  which  you 
are  responsible,  and  of  which  you  should  make  the  best  and 
highest  use.  One  of  the  most  popular  of  our  writers  and  ora- 


HOW   TO  BE  INSIGNIFICANT.  431 

tors  was  once  asked  how  he  managed  to  get  through  such  a 
prodigious  amount  of  work.  ''Simply  by  organizing  my 
time,"  he  replied.  It  is  by  this  invaluable  habit  of  organizing 
your  leisure  hours  that  you  will  be  able  to  "  wrest  from  life 
its  uses  and  gather  from  life  its  beauty.''  It  is  wonderful 
what  may  be  accomplished  by  devoting  the  evenings  to  some 
useful  study  or  helpful  recreation.  Earnest  and  persistent 
students  have  learned  several  languages  in  the  odd  hours  of  a 
busy  career.  Never  be  afraid  of  giving  up  one  or  two  nights 
a  week  to  your  books.  "  Knowledge  is  power"  all  the  world 
over,  and  what  you  learn  will  be  sure  to  come  in  useful  one 
day.  It  is  an  old  saying,  but  I  may  repeat  it  with  advantage, 
that  "  Time-wasting  in  youth  is  one  of  the  mistakes  which 
are  beyond  correction." 

One  more  path  to  insignificance  must  be  mentioned  —  the 
loss  of  a  good  name.  A  blasted  reputation  will  carry  you  into 
nothingness  at  express  speed.  Lose  your  character,  and  men 
will  drop  you  with  stinging  promptitude,  and  you  will  sink 
into  the  lowest  depths  of  insignificance.  Scarcely  anybody 
will  want  to  know  you  —  nobody  will  employ  you,  and  only  a 
few  Christlike  souls  will  be  ready  to  lend  you  a  helping  hand. 
We  are  too  apt  to  read  the  Bible  nowadays  as  if  it  were  an  old- 
world  story,  which  has  no  bearing  on  the  practical  matters  of 
everyday  business.  But  has  it  never  struck  you  that  "  a 
good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches,"  even  as 
a  worldly  investment  ?  Punctuality,  concentration  of  effort, 
ceaseless  energy,  and  many  other  qualifications,  will  help  a 
man  forward ;  but,  possessing  all  these,  he  may  yet  be  a 
miserable  failure  if  he  has  not  a  good  name.  Character 
stands  for  a  good  deal,  even  in  these  days  of  fraud  and  deceit. 
A  band  of  thieves  will  want  an  honest  treasurer,  and  men 
who  are  themselves  full  of  trickery  will  appreciate  a  sturdy, 
honest  character  in  others.  The  young  man  whose  word  can- 
not be  relied  upon,  whose  honesty  is  not  beyond  suspicion, 
and  whose  personal  life  is  not  clean,  will  search  in  vain  for  a 
position  in  the  business  world  to-day.  Be  careful  that  you 
never  lose  your  good  name.  It  may  take  you  ten  or  twenty 
years  to  gain  a  high  and  spotless  reputation,  but  you  can 
easily  destroy  it  in  ten  minutes  ;  and  a  man  who  has  once 
proved  himself  unworthy  to  be  trusted  will  find  it  an  almost 
hopeless  task  to  win  back  confidence  and  regard.  He  may 


432  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

even,  possess  influence,  and  family  position,  and  hosts  of 
friends  ;  but  the  way  upward  will  be  hard  and  thorny,  because 
he  once  surrendered  his  reputation.  Be  on  your  guard,  be 
watchful  and  vigilant  ;  "  let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall."  Count  your  good  name  as  a  possession 
above  price,  and,  by  the  strong  help  of  your  Father  God, 
never  permit  it  to  be  soiled  or  sullied.  Honesty  is  better 
than  brilliancy  ;  purity  and  uprightness  are  greater  than  dash 
and  cleverness. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

JOHN   HEYL   VINCENT. 

ON   SUCCESS WHAT   HE  REPRESENTS BIRTH    AND   EARLY   ENVIRON- 
MENT --HIS    AMBITIONS  TO   GO    TO     COLLEGE IN     PENNSYLVANIA AT 

SCHOOL AS  A  TEACHER ENTERS   THE  MINISTRY SOME   EARLY  CHAR- 
ACTERISTICS  CAREER    IN    THE   WEST AS  AN   EDITOR SECRETARY  OF 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  UNION FURTHER  EDUCATION FIRST   IDENTIFICA- 
TION WITH  CHAUTAUQUA SOME  CHAUTAUQUA  RESULTS PRESIDENT  GAR- 

FIELD'S  TRIBUTE  —  LITERARY  WORK  —  HOME  LIFE  —  SERMONS  —  LOYALTY. 
SELF-EDUCATION. 

During  my  early  ministerial  life  I  conceived  a  plan,  reach- 
ing through  the  years,  by  which,  in  connection  with  profes- 

sional  duties,  I  might  turn  my  whole  life  into 

a  college  course,  and  by  force  of  personal 
resolve  secure  many  benefits  of  college 
education.  I  remembered  that  the  college 
aims  to  promote,  through  force  of  personal 
resolve,  the  systematic  training  of  all  the 
mental  faculties  to  the  habit  of  concentrated 
and  continuous  attention,  that  the  mind, 
with  its  varied  energies,  may  be  trained, 
and  thus  prepared  to  do  its  best  work,  sub- 
ject to  the  direction  of  the  will ;  that  it 
cultivates  the  powers  of  oral  and  written  expression ;  that  it 
encourages  fellowships  and  competitions  among  students 
seeking  the  same  end  ;  that  it  secures  the  influence  of  profes- 
sional specialists  —  great  teachers  who  know  how  to  inspire 
and  to  quicken  other  minds  ;  and  that  it  gives  to  a  man  broad 
surveys  of  the  fields  of  learning,  discovering  relations,  indi- 
cating the  lines  of  special  research  for  those  whose  peculiar 
aptitudes  are  developed  by  college  discipline,  thus  giving  one 
a  sense  of  his  own  littleness  in  the  presence  of  the  vast  realm 
of  truth  exposed  to  view,  so  that  he  may  find  out  with  La 
Place  that  "what  we  know  here  is  very  little  ;  what  we  are 
ignorant  of  is  immense." 

The  task  before  me  was  to  secure  these  results  to  as  large 


434  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

a  degree  as  possible  :  mental  discipline,  in  order  to  assure 
intellectual  achievement,  practice  in  expression,  contact  with 
living  students  and  living  teachers,  and  the  broad  outlook 
which  the  college  curriculum  guarantees.-  This  aim,  there- 
fore, for  years  controlled  my  professional  and  non-professional 
studies.  It  was  constantly  present  in  sermonizing,  in  teach- 
ing, in  general  reading,  in  pastoral  visitation,  in  contact 
deliberately  sought  with  the  ablest  men  and  women  —  spe- 
cialists, scientists,  litterateurs, —  whom  I  could  find,  especially 
those  who  had  gone  through  college  or  who  had  taught  in 
college.  I  secured,  from  time  to  time,  special  teachers  in 
Greek,  in  Hebrew,  in  French,  in  physical  science,  giving  what 
time  I  could  to  preparation  and  recitation.  I  read  with  care 
translations  of  Homer  and  Virgil,  outlines  of  the  leading 
Greek  and  Latin  classics,  and,  in  connection  with  an  exceed- 
ingly busy  professional  life,  devoted  much  time  to  popular 
readings  in  science  and  English  literature.  When  thirty  years 
old  I  went  abroad,  and  spent  a  year,  chiefly  for  the  sake  of 
coming  into  personal  contact  with  the  Old  World  of  history 
and  literature,  and  found  double  pleasure  in  the  pilgrimage 
because  I  made  it  a  part  of  my  college  training.  In  Egypt 
and  Palestine,  in  Greece  and  Italy,  I  felt  the  spell  of  the  old 
sages,  writers,  artists,  and  was  glad  to  find  that  the  readings 
of  my  youth  and  of  my  later  manhood  greatly  helped  me  to 
appreciate  the  regions  I  visited,  and  the  remains  in  art  and 
architecture  which  I  was  permitted  to  study. 


HE  only  real  and  lasting  addition  a  man  makes  to  the 
world's  stock  of  truth  is  empirical  —  that  which  he 
finds  out  in  the  course  of  his  practical  living.  Self- 
truths,  self-discoveries,  are  the  only  vital  ones.  In 
substance  they  may  be  what  other  men  have  found  and  told 
—  told  better,  perhaps,  than  another  can  ever  expect  to  do  it ; 
but  in  their  power  to  inspire  and  move,  they  are  unique.  They 
have  an  originality,  a  genuineness,  a  force  of  reproduction, 
which  lies  only  in  things  born  of  individual  experience  and 
pain  and  effort. 

There  are  few  men  whose  public  work  illustrates   this 


JOHN  HEYL  VINCENT.  435 

more  clearly  than  that  of  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  John 
H.  Vincent. 

In  Central  New  York,  fourteen  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea,  is  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  twenty  miles  long,  bordered 
by  rich  green  foliage  which  covers  the  surrounding  hills. 
Pretty  villages  dot  the  shore,  and  a  score  of  steamers  give 
life  to  the  charming  landscape.  The  Indians  called  the  lake 
Juduqua,  which  in  time  became  Chautauqua.  On  the  west 
bank,  in  the  midst  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  laid  out  in 
parks,  walks  and  drives,  is  the  '•  People's  University,"  with 
its  great  auditorium  for  six  thousand  persons,  its  museums, 
schools  of  language,  and  hall  of  philosophy  .  Every  year 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  people  gather  there,  some  to 
study  literature,  some  art,  and  some  the  sciences,  to  listen 
to  lectures  and  to  music,  enjoying  nature  the  while,  and 
gaining  health  and  rest  with  knowledge. 

Who  was  it  laid  this  successful  plan  for  the  culture,  not  of 
one  town,  nor  of  one  city,  but  of  a  continent  ?  Two  friends, 
one  of  whom  was  John  H.  Vincent. 

In  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  the  land  of  orange  blossoms  and 
magnolia  groves,  John  Heyl  Vincent  was  born,  February  23, 
1832,  a  descendant  from  the  noble  Huguenots  of  France.  His 
father  was  a  man  of  character,  a  great  reader,  an  admirable 
talker,  highly  conscientious  and  devoting  his  best  energies  to 
the  careful  education  of  his  children.  The  mother  was  a 
woman  of  singular  beauty  of  nature,  patient,  amiable,  living 
as  though  she  belonged  to  Heaven  rather  than  earth.  Her 
father,  Captain  Bernard  Raser,  of  Philadelphia,  who  died  at 
Batavia,  Java,  on  one  of  his  voyages,  was  a  man  of  elegant 
and  refined  manners,  which  his  daughter  inherited.  This 
grace  of  behavior,  coupled  with  the  grace  of  a  sunny,  self- 
sacrificing  life,  made  Mary  Vincent  the  idol  of  the  com- 
munity. Often  at  the  twilight  hour,  especially  on  Sundays, 
after  the  family  circle  had  joined  in  prayer  and  singing,  she 
would  take  her  children  to  her  own  room,  and  there  sweetly 
and  tenderly  tell  them  about  the  life  to  come,  and  point  out 
plainly  their  faults  and  spiritual  needs.  The  noble  yet  some- 
what stern  type  of  character  in  the  father  commanded  honor 
and  respect  ;  the  gentle  wiiisomeness  of  the  mother  won 
enthusiastic  love. 

The  eldest  child  who  survived  infancy,  John,  with  a  fine 


436  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

physique  and  impulsive  nature,  would  naturally  have  inclined 
to  the  boisterous  sports  characteristic  of  boyhood,  and  to  ath- 
letic feats,  but  this  early  training  made  him  serious  and  reflect- 
ive. Before  he  was  six  years  old  he  would  gather  the  colored 
children  of  his  father's  place  and  of  the  neighborhood,  and 
then,  while  with  a  whip  he  insured  their  sitting  still,  he 
preached  the  gospel  to  them.  How  much  good  such  preach- 
ing did  them,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say.  His  eagerness  for 
the  performance  of  public  service  in  due  form  went  so  far 
that  on  one  occasion  he  tore  in  pieces  a  valued  red  morocco 
hymn  book, —  the  gift  to  him  of  his  pastor, —  giving  each  of 
his  congregation  a  few  leaves.  He  forgot  the  reception  he 
would  surely  have  from  his  father,  when  he  had  finished  these 
services  and  brought  away  the  dismembered  hymn  book,  for 
Mr.  Vincent,  senior,  did  not  "  spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the 
child." 

The  lad  seems  early  to  have  had  conceptions  of  the  value 
of  a  college  education,  for  when  three  years  old,  with  a  little 
next-door  neighbor,  now  the  wife  of  Bishop  Hargrave  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South,  he  walked  a  mile  to  the 
University  of  Alabama,  where  the  aspiring  couple  were 
picked  up  by  one  of  the  professors,  an  intimate  friend  of  the 
families,  and  taken  care  of  until  a  servant  arrived  in  quest  of 
the  runaways. 

The  family  moved  North  in  1838  and  settled  near  Milton, 
Pa.,  where  the  father  purchased  a  large  farm,  and  built  a 
mill  on  the  Chillisquaque  creek,  which  empties  into  the 
Susquehanna  a  few  miles  above  Northumberland.  Here, 
when  our  young  public  speaker  was  between  thirteen  and 
fourteen,  we  find  him  at  a  play  missionary  meeting  one  after- 
noon ;  the  schoolhouse  was  full  of  children,  and  some  one 
suggested  it  become  a  temperance  meeting.  John  was  asked 
to  make  a  speech,  which  he  did  for  three  quarters  of  an  hour, 
and  it  is  said  there  was  great  fun  and  enthusiasm,  and  quite 
likely  some  of  the  fun  was  at  the  young  orator's  expense. 

Under  a  governess  he  fitted  for  and  entered  Milton  Acad- 
emy. An  eager  reader,  before  he  was  fifteen  he  had  read 
many  of  the  standard  works  in  his  father's  library  :  Addison's 
Essays,  Rollm's  History,  Gibbon's  Rome,  Pitkirfs  Civil  and 
Political  History  of  the  United  States,  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
Shakespeare,  Burns,  Young,  Pollock,  and  such  biographies  as 


JOHN  HEYL  VINCENT.  437 

the  Lives  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley  and  John  and  Mary 
Fletcher.  The  simplicity  and  beauty  of  Addison's  style 
delighted  him,  while  the  story  of  the  Wesleys  was  an  inspira- 
tion to  a  youth  who  believed  he  should  do  something  in  his 
life,  too,  for  the  good  of  the  world.  This  faith,  this  resolve, 
were  doubtless  both  shaped  and  strengthened  by  the  society 
of  the  ministers  and  other  educated  people  who  shared  the 
hospitality  of  the  Vincent  home.  Here  no  denomination  was 
unwelcome,  and  young  John  Vincent,  though  a  Methodist  in 
belief,  grew  to  manhood  with  a  Christian  love  broader  than 
any  sect  and  wider  than  any  section. 

At  fifteen  he  was  asked  to  teach  a  country  school  near  his 
father's  house.  Desiring  work,  and  believing  that  he  should 
enjoy  teaching,  he  accepted,  and  performed  his  newly  chosen 
duties  with  great  enjoyment.  The  next  year  he  took  charge 
of  another  school,  and  later  still  taught  on  the  Juniata,  some 
distance  away.  This  was  his  first  genuine  absence  from 
home.  He  dreaded  the  going.  The  time  came  at  last  for  him 
to  start  at  midnight.  The  dear  mother  tried  to  make  the 
home  even  brighter  and  cheerier  than  usual.  The  house  was 
gayly  lighted,  the  younger  children  sat  up  till  the  tired  eyes 
could  keep  open  no  longer,  there  was  smiling  cheer  on  every 
hand.  "  Do  not  cry  when  I  am  leaving,"  John  had  said  to 
his  mother  ;  but  when  the  hour  came,  with  pale  face,  and 
with  tears  on  her  cheeks  that  could  not  be  kept  back,  she  put 
her  arms  about  him,  but  she  could  only  say,  ''My  son,  live 
near  to  God  ;  live  near  to  God."  The  boy  of  sixteen  went  out 
into  the  world  with  these  words  ever  before  him  in  letters  of 
fire. 

So  early  as  this  the  genial  bents  of  the  educator  asserted 
their  strength.  One  of  the  schoolhouses  in  which  he  taught 
was  on  the  edge  of  a  grove,  and  there  he  constructed  rustic 
seats  for  his  pupils,  where  on  every  pleasant  day  the  school 
studied  out  of  doors  —  a  miniature  Chautauqua. 

During  four  years  of  teaching  he  had  continued  his  own 
studies,  and  finally  registered  at  Allegheny  College,  Mead- 
ville,  Pa.  It  of  course  had  required  unusual  will  and  per- 
severance to  teach  all  day,  to  hear  private  pupils  in  the 
evening,  and  at  the  same  time  to  study  so  systematically  as 
to  be  ready  for  college.  He  must  have  been  tired  often,  often 
like  other  boys  longed  for  recreation  and  freedom,  but  he 


438  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

never  lost  sight  of  his  aim  or  let  go  his  hold  of  his  self- 
appointed  task. 

But  now  came  an  unexpected  turn  of  plan.  Having  joined 
the  church  when  a  Sunday  school  scholar,  he  hoped  some  time 
to  become  a  preacher.  "  Why  not  enter  the  ministry  at 
once  ? "  argued  some  clergymen  who  were  friends  of  the 
family.  "The  world  needs  to  be  saved,  and  there  is  no  time 
to  be  lost."  Young  Vincent  knew,  yet  not  so  well  as  a  man 
knows  it  in  later  life,  how  necessary  is  a  college  training  for 
one  who  has  resolved  to  become  a  leader  of  thought ;  yet  he 
was  anxious  to  be  at  his  work  as  soon  as  possible.  After 
some  debate  he  took  the  advice  of  these  unwise  counselors, 
abandoning  his  plan  for  immediate  collegiate  education,  and 
at  twenty  years  of  age,  on  horseback  with  a  pair  of  saddle- 
bags, started  out  to  preach,  on  a  thirty-mile  circuit,  over  the 
mountains,  and  through  the  valleys  of  Luzerne  county,  Pa. 
Sometimes  he  developed  his  sermons  as  he  rode,  often  for 
miles  without  a  single  house  in  sight,  speaking  to  the  echoing 
forests  ;  sometimes  he  read  Dante,  and  Comte's  Philosophy, 
and  committed  to  memory  portions  of  Campbell's  Pleasures  of 
Hope.  Wherever  he  stopped  the  people  gave  him  welcome, 
for  he  was  interested  in  their  home  life  and  in  all  their  plans. 
Children  were  glad  when  his  bright  face  was  seen  in  their 
midst.  He  never  shook  hands  with  the  tips  of  his  fingers, 
nor  preached  dry  sermons. 

He  usually  spoke  three  times  each  Sunday,  and  so  eloquent 
was  he  that  he  was  sometimes  called  the  ''Young  Summer- 
field,"  after  the  brilliant  preacher  who  died  in  New  York  in 
1825,  only  twenty-seven  years  of  age. 

The  fame  of  the  boy-preacher  grew  apace  in  the  limited 
circle  of  his  earliest  ministry,  but  he  was  not  spoiled  by  the 
praise,  for  his  discreet  father  had  told  him  that  as  he  had 
great  facility  of  speech,  he  must  be  careful  not  to  confound 
ideas  with  words,  nor  think  because  he  could  talk  easily  that 
he  was  edifying  people.  "Many  young  ministers  are  spoiled 
by  praise,"  he  had  said  to  his  son,  "and  you  must  compare 
your  efforts  with  the  best  standards,  and  try  to  feel  how  great 
is  the  contrast  between  these  and  your  own  thought  and 
expression." 

About  this  time  the  precious  mother,  whose  pride  and 
delight  in  her  son  gave  zest  to  his  life,  died,  to  the  great  grief 


JOHN  HEYL  VINCENT.  439 

of  all  who  knew  her.  Says  a  well-known  minister  :  "  She 
was  one  of  the  loveliest  Christian  women  I  ever  knew.  Noth- 
ing seemed  ever  to  disturb  the  equanimity  of  her  spirit,  or 
displace  the  smile  from  her  countenance.  Her  death  was  a 
personal  bereavement  to  hundreds  beyond  her  own  family 
and  kindred."  Her  children  have  often  said,  "  We  never 
once  knew  her  to  speak  a  quick  or  impatient  word." 

Life  seemed  now  more  serious  than  ever  to  young  Vincent. 
He  spent  a  year  at  the  Wesleyan  Institute  of  Newark,  having 
joined  the  New  Jersey  Conference  in  1858.  Says  Rev.  George 
H.  Whitney,  D.D.,  president  of  the  Centenary  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute at  Hackettstown,  N.  J.,  who  was  at  this  time  secretary 
of  the  Newark  Institute  :  - 

"  Tall,  slender,  graceful,  genial,  with  a  kind  and  intellec- 
tual face,  with  abundant  brown  hair,  but  beardless,  I  was 
struck  with  his  manly  appearance.  We  became  fast  friends. 
At  that  early  age  he  showed  a  mastery  in  controlling  places, 
people,  and  the  dozen  minor  pulpits  under  his  control ;  always 
mild  in  manner,  strong  in  purpose,  and  equal  to  the  occasion. 
After  school  he  usually  walked  with  me  for  one  or  two  hours. 
It  was  his  custom  to  commit  to  memory  many  stanzas  and 
couplets  of  poetry  of  wide  range,  repeat  them  as  we  walked, 
and  challenge  me  to  equal  him  if  I  could.  Daily,  in  our 
walks,  he  would  say,  '  Give  me  a  text,  and  let  me  analyze 
it.'  Quick  as  a  flash  he  would  produce  first,  second,  third, 
finally,  and  ask  me  to  criticise  it.  I  have  never  met  his  equal 
in  analytic  power.  He  was  full  of  sparkle  and  cheer  as  now. 
All  said,  '  I  see  in  this  young  man  elements  of  future  great- 
ness.' Yet  he  was  always  modest  and  unassuming;  true, 
pure,  and  noble.  He  was  a  fine  speaker  in  those  days,  and 
popular  everywhere." 

He  became  pastor,  for  two  years,  at  North  Belville,  N.  J., 
and  for  the  following  two  years  at  Irvington.  It  was  now, 
not  satisfied  with  pulpit  work  alone,  that  he  developed  an 
educational  plan.  Every  Saturday  afternoon  pastor  and  peo- 
ple came  together,  imagining  themselves  a  band  of  tourists  in 
Palestine.  Bible  history  and  geography  were  studied.  Every 
scholar  was  personally  examined,  and  as  he  or  she  had  made 
progress,  was  promoted  by  grades  to  "  Pilgrim,"  "  Explorer," 
"Dweller  in  Jerusalem,"  and  "Templar."  During  a  later 
pastorate,  where  a  similar  class  had  been  organized,  the 


440  LEA  DEES  OF  MEN. 

pastor  wrote  weekly  letters  for  the  village  paper,  and  so 
graphic  and  interesting  were  they  that  many  believed  there 
was  an  actual  excursion.  Meantime  he  had  pursued  the  four 
years'  course  of  theological  study  required  by  his  church. 

His  father  having  moved  to  Chicago  to  take  charge  of 
large  business  interests,  young  Vincent  was  naturally  drawn 
to  the  West,  where  he  preached  several  years  in  Northern 
Illinois.  In  Joliet,  Mt.  Morris,  Galena  and  Rockford,  the 
Saturday  afternoon  Palestine  classes  were  crowded  by  old 
and  young,  and  from  all  denominations. 

Although  so  busy  and  engrossed,  he  was  not  too  busy  to 
fall  in  love  ;  but  he  wisely  waited  till  he  was  old  enough  to  be 
certain  what  kind  of  wife  he  wanted.  When  he  was  nearly 
twenty-seven,  he  married  Elizabeth  Dusenbury,  from  western 
New  York,  whose  father  was  a  Presbyterian  elder,  honored 
and  beloved  by  everybody.  The  daughter  had  a  fine  mind, 
unusual  strength  of  character,  and  good  judgment,  with  a 
delicate  sense  of  propriety  and  steadiness  of  purpose.  Well 
may  Doctor  Vincent  say,  "  I  owe  more  to  my  wife  than  to 
any  other  human  being  save  my  mother."  Into  his  plans  she 
entered  heartily,  and  became  a  counselor  and  helper.  Four 
years  after  his  marriage  he  spent  a  year  in  Europe,  traveling 
over  Egypt  and  Palestine,  thoughtfully  surveying  those 
countries  which  he  had  taught  thousands  to  love.  He 
returned  home  refreshed,  to  enter  upon  still  wider  activities. 
He  had  always  been  deeply  interested  in  Sabbath  school  work. 
"  How  could  he  reach  the  children  of  America  so  that  they 
would  love  Bible  study,  and  how  help  the  teachers  to  make 
this  study  interesting  ? "  He  decided  to  start  a  paper  devoted 
to  that  end.  This  was  the  Northwestern  Sunday  School 
Quarterly.  He  had  before  that  organized  the  first  Sunday 
school  institute  in  the  country,  and  a  little  later,  in  1866,  he 
originated  and  edited  the  Chicago  Teacher,  from  which  has 
come  the  International  Lesson  System  now  used  among 
Protestants  throughout  the  world. 

He  was  now  only  thirty-four,  yet  the  foremost  leader  in 
Sunday  School  work.  He  was  made  agent  of  the  Sunday  School 
Union  of  Chicago,  and  a  little  later  the  Secretary  of  the  Sunday 
School  Union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  to  which 
position,  for  the  fifth  term,  of  four  years  each,  he  was  elected. 
The  mother's  prayers  and  beautiful  life  were  surely  having 


JOHN  HEYL  VINCENT.  441 

their  influence  in  the  Christian  energy  and  patient,  far-reach- 
ing power  of  her  eloquent  son. 

When  appointed  to  the  secretaryship,  he  removed  to  Plain- 
field,  N.  J.,  where  his  home  became  a  center  of  social  and 
intellectual  activity.  Says  a  leading  clergyman  •  - 

"Doctor  Vincent  preached  in  the  Presbyterian,  Congrega- 
tionalist,  Baptist,  and  other  churches  in  Plainfield,  many 
times.  His  name  crowds  any  church  on  any  occasion,  in  a 
hard  rain  or  a  hot  night,  and  this  has  lasted  for  sixteen  years  ! 
Doctor  Vincent  has  few  peers  in  the  American  pulpit.  He  is 
a  princely  preacher.  ': 

All  these  years  he  had  recognized,  for  himself  as  well  as 
for  others,  the  necessity  of  collegiate  education.  Though  his 
hands  were  full  of  work,  he  had  continued  his  studies  alone, 
carefully  taking  up  higher  mathematics,  science,  metaphysics, 
and  classics,  till  he  had  mastered  the  college  course,  receiving 
his  A.  B.  degree  after  a  regular  examination. 

The  absorbing  question  with  him  then  became,  "  How  can 
the  great  world  catch  the  '  college  outlook  '  ?  "  He  reflected 
that  few  of  the  vast  number  can  afford  the  means.  Tens  of 
thousands  are  too  busy  earning  their  daily  bread. 

What  seemed  a  grave  mistake  in  his  early  life  —  the  neglect 
to  secure  a  college  training — in  his  treatment  of  it  become  a 
blessing  to  the  world.  "Some  way  must  be  opened  for  old 
and  young  to  become  educated,"  resolved  the  earnest  minis- 
ter ;  but  still  it  was  not  opened  for  some  years. 

In  1874,  Mr.  Lewis  Miller,  of  Akron,  Ohio,  a  wealthy  and 
generous  man  who  loved  Sunday  schools,  suggested  the  idea 
of  a  large  gathering  at  Chautauqua,  where  Christian  people 
could  enjoy  lecture,  science,  literature,  and  theology.  The 
plan  was  perfected  ;  Mr.  Miller  was  made  President,  and  Doc- 
tor Vincent  Superintendent  of  Instruction.  The  place  soon 
attracted  large  numbers  of  visitors  and  has  been  the  parent 
of  all  other  Sunday  school  assemblies. 

Four  years  later,  while  Doctor  Vincent  was  crossing  the 
ocean  homeward,  after  a  resting  time  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps, 
the  old  idea  of  a  College  Reading  Course  for  the  people  was 
matured.  Doctor  Vincent  calculated  that  by  reading  at  least 
one  hour  a  day,  for  four  years,  as  long  a  time  as  many  tired 
fathers  and  mothers  could  spare,  a  fair  knowledge  of  litera- 
ture, history,  and  science  could  be  obtained.  But  would  the 


442  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

people  of  this  country  take  hold  of  the  idea  ?  Time  would 
tell.  He  laid  the  plan  before  President  Warren  of  Boston 
University,  Doctor  Howard  Crosby,  Doctor  J.  G.  Holland, 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  and  others,  and  all  gave  it  their  hearty 
indorsement. 

On  August  10,  1878,  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific 
Circle  (C.  L.  S.  C.)  was  inaugurated  at  Chautauqua  in  the 
huge  tent  where  the  amphitheater  now  stands,  and  more 
than  seven  hundred  joined  at  once.  A  college  president  was 
the  first  to  give  his  name.  The  class  of  the  first  year  num- 
bered eight  thousand  people,  and  the  demand  for  the  needed 
books  exhausted  the  entire  stock  of  the  publishers  on  the 
first  day.  Ah,  yes,  the  people  were  anxious  to  learn  ! 

A  circle  with  three  hundred  members  was  formed  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  one  with  five  hundred  at  Pittsburg.  Letters  came 
from  all  over  the  country.  One  wrote  :  - 

"  I  am  so  grateful  to  you  that  I  can't  express  what  I  feel.  I 
am  a  hard  working  man.  I  have  six  children,  and  I  work 
hard  to  keep  them  in  school.  Since  I  found  out  about  your 
Circle  I  am  trying  my  best  to  keep  up  so  that  my  boys  will  see 
what  father  does,  just  for  an  example  to  them." 

Another :  - 

"  I  am  a  night  watchman,  and  I  read  as  I  come  on  my  night 
rounds  to  the  lights." 

A  Mississippi  captain  wrote  that  the  course  was  of  value 
to  him,  "  because,''  he  says,  "  when  I  stand  on  deck  stormy 
nights,  I  have  something  to  think  about." 

President  Garfield,  not  forgetting  how  he  had  hungered  for 
an  education,  studying  his  open  book  as  he  drove  the  mules 
along  the  tedious  path  by  the  Erie  Canal,  spoke  earnestly 
before  the  assembled  thousands  at  Chautauqua,  urging  the 
value  of  this  plan  of  study  :  - 

"  You  are  struggling  with  one  of  the  two  great  problems  of 
civilization.  The  first  one  is  a  very  old  struggle  ;  it  is,  '  How 
shall  we  get  leisure  ? '  That  is  the  problem  of  every  hammer 
stroke,  of  every  blow  that  labor  has  struck  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world.  The  fight  for  bread  is  the  first  great  primal 
fight,  and  it  is  so  absorbing  a  struggle  that  until  one  conquers 
it  somewhat,  he  can  have  no  leisure  whatever.  So  that  we 
may  divide  the  whole  struggle  of  the  human  race  into  two 
chapters  —  first,  the  fight  to  get  leisure  ;  and  then  comes  the 


JOHN  HEYL  VINCENT.  443 

second  fight  of  civilization,  What  shall  we  do  with  our  leisure 
when  we  get  it  ?  And  I  take  it  that  Chautauqua  has  assailed 
this  second  problem.  Now,  leisure  is  a  dreadfully  bad  thing 
unless  it  is  well  used.  A  man  with  a  fortune  ready  made,  and 
with  leisure  on  his  hands,  is  likely  to  get  sick  of  the  world,  sick 
of  himself,  tired  of  life,  and  become  a  useless,  wasted  man. 
What  shall  you  do  with  your  leisure  ?  I  understand  that 
Chautauqua  is  trying  to  answer  that  question  and  to  open  out 
fields  of  thought,  to  open  out  energies,  a  largeness  of  mind, 
a  culture  in  the  better  sense,  with  the  varnish  scratched  off, 
as  Brother  Kirkwood  says.  We  are  getting  over  the  business 
of  varnishing  our  native  woods  and  painting  them.  We  are 
getting  down  to  the  real  grain,  and  finding  whatever  is  best 
in  it,  and  truest  in  it ;  and  if  Chautauqua  is  helping  to  garnish 
our  people  with  the  native  stuff  that  is  in  them,  rather  than 
the  paint  and  varnish  and  gewgaws  of  culture,  it  is  doing 
well." 

The  delightful  work  goes  on,  always  making  new  channels 
and  always  broadening  all  its  old  ways.  Thousands  of  per- 
sons are  studying  the  Chautauqua  course,  several  hundreds  of 
these  in  Canada,  and  some  in  India,  South  Africa,  Japan,  and 
the  Sandwich  Islands.  One  half  of  the  required  readings  for 
the  members  are  published  in  the  Chautauquan,  the  organ  of 
the  movement.  Many  lesser  Chautauquas  have  been  organ- 
ized in  various  states. 

Out  of  this  work  has  grown  the  Chautauqua  University, 
chartered  by  the  state  of  New  York,  conducted  by  well-known 
professors  through  written  examinations.  The  "Young  Sum- 
merfield,"  who  rode  over  his  mountain  circuit  in  Pennsylva- 
nia at  twenty,  has  become  its  chancellor,  known  and  honored 
throughout  America.  Still  he  has  found  time  for  other  labors, 
as  those  know  who  have  listened  to  his  lectures  on  Reading, 
The  Model  Husband,  Egypt  and  the  Pyramids,  That  Boy, 
That  Boy's  Sister,  Sidney  Smith,  The  Witty  Dean,  The  Every 
Day  College,  etc.  ;  he  has  written  a  manual  of  Bible  history 
and  geography,  entitled,  "Little  Footprints  in  Bible  Lands," 
a  volume  on  the  Church  school,  small  books  on  Sunday  school 
work,  and  several  text-books  for  the  Chautauqua  course  ;  and 
he  has  spoken  at  innumerable  famous  gatherings,  like  the 
Sunday  school  centenary  at  Guildhall,  London,  and  preached 
in  such  far-off  places  as  Jerusalem  and  Damascus.  One 


444  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

secret,  I  think,  of  his  remarkahle  success  is  that  his  enthu- 
siasm and  sympathy  never  fail.  His  humor,  his  genial  face, 
his  magnetic  manner,  his  sunny  outlook,  his  confidence  in 
work  to  achieve  anything  and  everything  for  a  man,  make 
him  the  idol  of  his  audiences,  while  his  energy,  his  own 
capacity  for  endless  work,  and  his  executive  power  fit  him  for 
this  leadership. 

Another  secret  is,  that  while  the  detail  of  his  varied  labor 
is  something  unparalleled,  his  home  life  is  joyous  and 
refreshing. 

The  Vincent  home  is  like  the  father's,  in  the  early  days, 
most  hospitable.  Dr.  Vincent  and  his  only  son  —  a  professor 
of  great  promise  in  the  University  of  Chicago  —  are  like 
brothers,  counseling  together.  He  once  said,  "My  boy  is  my 
only  'pet.'  I  like  birds  —  in  the  free  air  of  heaven.  I  like 
dogs — in  my  neighbor's  yard.  I  like  cats  —  in  pictures  and 
at  somebody's  else  fireside.  I  like  horses --when  somebody 
else  drives  them."  Another  secret  is  that  both  in  his  study, 
and  on  the  wing,  Dr.  Vincent  is  a  great  reader,  marking  his 
books,  and  re-reading  the  things  he  likes.  He  says  :  "I  get 
strength,  breadth,  out  of  general  reading,  and  put  them  into 
my  work.  The  best  service  of  a  book  to  me  is  not  the  ideas  I 
get  out  of  it,  but  the  force  intellectual,  and  the  breadth  I  can 
use  in  producing  my  own  ideas  and  plans."  He  lias  the 
excellent  and  orderly  habit  of  jotting  down  random  thoughts. 
always  having  a  memorandum-book  with  him  while  riding  on 
the  cars,  or  in  his  office,  and  at  night  often  makes  note  of  a 
fugitive  thought,  caught  and  caged  while  flitting  through 
his  mind.  A  good  talker  himself,  he  makes  it  a  matter  of 
duty  to  draw  people  out  on  a  subject,  not  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, but  that  he  may  modify  his  own  views,  or  get  a  better 
chance  to  modify  theirs.  Some  of  his  best  sermons  have  grown 
out  of  stirring  conversations  with  people,  especially  skeptics, 
or  those  holding  different  views  from  himself. 

Another  secret  is  that  he  is  a  careful  worker,  depending 
upon  both  accuracy  and  finish,  often  re-writing  the  outline  of 
a  sermon  a  dozen  times,  always  maturing  each  detail  of  a 
plan. 

In  this  grand  work  going  on  so  noiselessly  and  so  closely 
all  around  us  that  we  can  hardly  get  the  "distance"'  from 
which  to  survey  its  noble  outlines,  its  projector  may  some- 


BISHOP  JOHN   H.   VINCENT. 


HH  TIE"'  '"DM 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ASTOP,  LENOX  AND 
TU.DSN  FOUWOATION* 


SELF-EDUCATION.  447 

times  feel  fatigue,  but  exhaustion  never.  It  yields  him,  as 
all  work  of  pure  beneficence  always  does,  new  ideas,  new 
aims,  new  hopes  for  the  advancement  of  the  people.  Does  it 
yield  him  dollars  ?  some  one  asks.  No  ;  he  receives  no  salary 
from  Chautauqua.  His  reward,  his  "support"  comes  in  con- 
sciousness of  the  love  of  thousands,  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  "  lift "  Chautauqua  has  given  to  the  family  life  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  better  "start"  thus  secured  for  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  these  happier  homes. 

Another  characteristic  which  he  has  shown  in  his  various 
institutions  is  his  loyalty  to  the  persons  who  first  understood 
him  and  allied  themselves  with  his  work.  Not  that  he  has 
sacrificed  the  good  of  the  work  to  keep  individuals  in  place. 
He  has  been  able  to  inspire  individuals  to  keep  pace  with  the 
progress  made,  and  to  train  up  a  corps  of  co-workers  so 
devoted  and  intelligent  that  the  Sunday  school  and  Chau- 
tauqua institutions  originating  with  him  are  independent  of 
him.  He  only  is  a  great  organizer  who  does  his  work  so 
that  it  can  stand  without  him. 

SELF-EDUCATION. 

DUCATION  is  the  harmonious  development  of  all  our 
faculties.  It  begins  in  the  nursery,  and  goes  on  at 
school,  but  does  not  end  there.  It  continues  through 
life,  whether  we  will  or  not.  The  only  question  is  whether 
what  we  learn  in  after  life  is  wisely  chosen  or  picked  up  hap- 
hazard. "Every  person,"  says  Gibbon,  "  has  two  educations, 
one  which  he  receives  from  others,  and  one  more  important, 
which  he  gives  himself." 

What  we  teach  ourselves  must  indeed  always  be  more  use- 
ful than  what  we  learn  of  others.  "  Nobody,"  said  Locke, 
"  ever  went  far  in  knowledge,  or  became  eminent  in  any  of 
the  sciences,  by  the  discipline  and  restraint  of  a  master." 

You  cannot,  even  if  you  would,  keep  your  heart  empty, 
swept,  and  garnished  ;  the  only  question  is  whether  you  will 
prepare  it  for  good  or  evil. 

Those  who  have  not  distinguished  themselves  at  school 
need"  not  on  that  account  be  discouraged.  The  greatest  minds 
do  not  necessarily  ripen  the  quickest.  If,  indeed,  you  have 
not  taken  pains,  then,  though  I  will  not  say  that  you  should 
be  discouraged,  still  you  should  be  ashamed  ;  but  if  you  have 


448  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

done  your  best,  you  have  only  to  persevere  ;  and  many  of 
those  who  have  never  been  able  to  distinguish  themselves  at 
school  have  been  very  successful  in  after  life.  We  are  told 
that  Wellington  and  Napoleon  were  both  dull  boys,  and  the 
same  is  said  to  have  been  the  case  with  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
Dean  Swift,  Clive,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Sheridan,  Burns,  and 
manjr  other  eminent  men. 

Evidently  then  it  does  not  follow  that  those  who  have  dis- 
tinguished themselves  least  at  school  have  benefited  least. 

Genius  has  been  described  as  "  an  infinite  capacity  for  tak- 
ing pains,"  which  is  not  very  far  from  the  truth.  As  Lilly 
quaintly  says,  "  If  Nature  plays  not  her  part,  in  vain  is 
Labour  ;  yet  if  Studie  be  not  employed,  in  vain  is  Nature." 

On  the  other  hand,  many  brilliant  and  clever  boys,  for 
want  of  health,  industry,  or  character,  have  unfortunately 
been  failures  in  after  life,  as  Goethe  said,  "  like  plants  which 
bear  double  flowers  but  no  fruit "  ;  and  have  sunk  to  driving 
a  cab,  shearing  sheep  in  Australia,  or  writing  for  a  bare  sub- 
sistence ;  while  the  comparatively  slow  but  industrious  and 
high-principled  boys  have  steadily  risen  and  filled  honorable 
positions  with  credit  to  themselves  and  advantage  to  their 
country. 

Doubts  as  to  the  value  of  education  have  in  some  cases 
arisen,  as  Dr.  Arnold  says,  from  "that  strange  confusion 
between  ignorance  and  innocence  with  which  many  people 
seem  to  solace  themselves.  Whereas,  if  you  take  away  a 
man's  knowledge,  you  do  not  bring  him  to  the  state  of  an 
infant,  but  to  that  of  a  brute  ;  and  of  one  of  the  most  mis- 
chievous and  malignant  of  the  brute  creation,"  for,  as  he 
points  out  elsewhere,  if  men  neglect  that  which  should  be  the 
guide  of  their  lives,  they  became  the  slaves  of  their  passions, 
and  are  left  with  the  evils  of  both  ages  —  the  ignorance  of  the 
child  and  the  vices  of  the  man 

No  one  whose  education  was  well  started  at  school  would 
let  it  stop.  It  is  a  very  low  view  of  education  to  suppose  that 
we  should  study  merely  to  serve  a  paltry  convenience,  that 
we  should  confine  it  to  what  the  Germans  call  "bread  and 
butter  "  studies. 

The  object  of  a  wise  education  is,  in  the  words  of  Solo- 
mon :  — 


SELF-EDUCATION.  449 

"  To  know  wisdom  and  instruction  ; 

To  perceive  the  words  of  understanding ; 

To  receive  the  instruction  of  wisdom, 

Justice,  and  judgment,  and  equity; 

To  give  subtlety  to  the  simple, 

To  the  young  man  knowledge  and  discretion." 

A  man,  says  Thoreau,  "  will  go  considerably  out  of  his 
way  to  pick  up  a  silver  dollar ;  but  here  are  golden  words, 
which  the  wisest  men  of  antiquity  have  uttered,  and  whose 
worth  the  wise  of  every  succeeding  age  have  assured  us  of." 

A  sad  French  proverb  says,  "  Si  jeunesse  savait,  si  viellesse 
pouvait "  ,•  and  a  wise  education  will  tend  to  provide  us  with 
both  requisites,  with  knowledge  in  youth  and  strength  in  age. 
"Experience,"  said  Franklin,  "is  a  dear  school,  but  fools  will 
learn  in  no  other." 

It  is  half  the  battle  to  make  a  good  start  in  life. 

"  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go  ; 
And  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it. " 

Begin  well,  and  it  will  be  easier  and  easier  as  you  go  on. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  you  make  a  false  start  it  is  far  from 
easy  to  retrieve  your  position.  It  is  difficult  to  learn,  but  still 
more  difficult  to  unlearn. 

Try  to  fix  in  your  mind  what  is  best  in  books,  in  men,  in 
ideas,  and  in  institutions.  We  need  not  be  ashamed  if  others 
know  more  than  we  do  ;  but  we  ought  to  be  ashamed  if  we 
have  not  learned  all  we  can. 

Education  does  not  consist  merely  in  studying  languages 
and  learning  a  number  of  facts.  It  is  something  very  differ- 
ent from,  and  higher  than,  mere  instruction.  Instruction 
stores  up  for  future  use,  but  education  sows  seed  which  will 
bear  fruit,  some  thirty,  some  sixty,  some  one  hundred  fold. 

"  Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing  ;    therefore  get  wisdom  : 
And  with  all  thy  getting,  get  understanding." 

Knowledge  is  admittedly  very  inferior  to  wisdom,  but  yet 
I  must  say  that  she  has  sometimes  received  very  scant  justice. 
We  are  told,  for  instance,  that 

"  Knowledge  is  proud  that  she  has  learnt  so  much  ; 
Wisdom  is  humble  that  she  knows  no  more." 


450  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

But  this  is  not  so.  Those  who  have  learned  most  are  best 
able  to  realize  how  little  they  know. 

Even  Bishop  Butler  tells  us  that  "men  of  deep  research 
and  curious  inquiry  should  just  be  put  in  mind,  not  to  mistake 
what  they  are  doing.  If  their  discoveries  serve  the  cause  of 
virtue  and  religion,  in  the  way  of  proof,  motive  to  practice,  or 
assistance  in  it ;  or  if  they  tend  to  render  life  less  unhappy, 
and  promote  its  satisfactions  ;  then  they  are  most  usefully 
employed  :  but  bringing  things  to  light,  alone  and  of  itself,  is 
of  no  manner  of  use,  any  otherwise  than  as  an  entertain- 
ment or  diversion." 

It  has  again  been  unjustly  said  that  knowledge  is 

"  A  rude  and  unprofitable  mass, 
The  mere  materials  from  which  wisdom  builds." 

He  would  be  a  poor  architect,  however,  who  was  careless  in 
the  choice  of  materials,  and  no  one  can  say  what  the  effect  of 
"bringing  things  to  light"  maybe.  Many  steps  in  knowl- 
edge, which  at  the  time  seemed  practically  useless,  have 
proved  most  valuable. 

Knowledge  is  power.  "  Knowledge  of  the  electric  telegraph 
saves  time ;  knowledge  of  writing  saves  human  speech  and 
locomotion  ;  knowledge  of  domestic  economy  saves  income  ; 
knowledge  of  sanitary  laws  saves  health  and  life  ;  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  the  intellect  saves  wear  and  tear  of 
brain  ;  and  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  Spirit  -  -  what  does 
it  not  save  ?  " 

"For  direct  self-preservation,"  says  Herbert  Spencer,  "or 
the  maintenance  of  life  and  health,  the  all-important  knowl- 
edge is — Science;  for  that  indirect  self-preservation  which 
we  call  gaining  a  livelihood,  the  knowledge  of  greatest  value 
is  —  Science.  For  the  due  discharge  of  parental  functions, 
the  proper  guidance  is  to  be  found  only  in  —  Science.  For 
that  interpretation  of  national  life,  past  and  present,  without 
which  the  citizen  cannot  rightly  regulate  his  conduct,  the 
indispensable  key  is  —  Science.  Alike  for  the  most  perfect 
production  and  highest  enjoyment  of  Art  in  all  its  forms,  the 
needful  preparation  is  still  — Science.  And  for  the  purpose  of 
discipline  —  intellectual,  moral,  religious  —  the  most  efficient 
study  is,  once  more  —  Science." 

"When  I  look  back,"  says  Dr.  Fitch,  "  on  my  own  life,  and 


SELF-EDUCATION.  451 

think  on  the  long  past  school  and  college  days,  I  know  well 
that  there  is  not  a  fact  in  history,  not  a  formula  in  mathe- 
matics, not  a  rule  in  grammar,  not  a  sweet  and  pleasant  verse 
of  poetry,  not  a  truth  in  science  which  I  ever  learned,  which 
has  not  come  to  me  over  and  over  again  in  the  most  unex- 
pected ways,  and  proved  to  be  of  greater  use  than  I  could 
ever  have  believed.  It  has  helped  me  to  understand  better 
the  books  I  read,  the  history  of  events  which  are  occurring 
round  me,  and  to  make  the  whole  outlook  of  life  larger  and 
more  interesting." 

Lastly,  let  us  quote  Dean  Stanley.  "  Pure  love  of  truth," 
he  says,  "  how  very  rare  and  yet  how  beneficent  !  We  do  not 
see  its  merits  at  once  :  we  do  not  perceive,  perhaps,  in  this  or 
the  next  generation,  how  widely  happiness  is  increased  in  the 
world  by  the  discoveries  of  men  of  science,  who  have  pursued 
them  simply  and  solely  because  they  were  attracted  towards 
them  by  their  single-minded  love  of  what  was  true."  Well 
then  may  Solomon  say  that 

"  A  wise  man  will  hear,  and  will  increase  learning." 

There  is  hardly  any  piece  of  information  which  will  not 
come  in  useful,  hardly  anything  which  is  not  worth  seeing  at 
least  once.  There  are  in  reality  no  little  things,  only  little 
minds. 

"Knowledge  is  like  the  mystic  ladder  in  the  Patriarch's 
dream.  Its  base  rests  on  the  primeval  earth  —  its  crest  is 
lost  in  the  shadowy  splendor  of  the  empyrean ;  while  the 
great  authors  who  for  traditionary  ages  have  held  the  chain 
of  science  and  philosophy,  of  poesy  and  erudition,  are  the 
angels  ascending  and  descending  the  sacred  scale,  and  main- 
taining, as  it  were,  the  communication  between  earth  and 
heaven." 

It  is  sad,  however,  to  remember  in  how  many  cases  the 
authors  of  great  discoveries  are  unknown  ;  sad,  not  on  their 
account,  but  because  we  should  wish  to  remember  them  with 
gratitude.  Great  discoverers  have  seldom  worked  for  them- 
selves, or  for  the  sake  of  fame. 

"  For  Truth  with  tireless  zeal  they  sought ; 

In  joyless  paths  they  trod  : 
Heedless  of  praise  or  blame  they  wrought, 
And  left  the  rest  to  God. 


452  LEADEES  OF  MEN. 

"  But  though  their  names  no  poet  wove 

In  deathless  song  or  story, 
Their  record  is  inscribed  above  ; 

Their  wreaths  are  crowns  of  glory." 

Attention  and  application  to  your  studies  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  enjoyment  of  life.  If  you  give  only  half 
your  mind  to  what  you  are  doing,  it  will  cost  you  twice  as 
much  labor. 

It  is  sad  to  think  how  little  intellectual  enjoyment  had 
yet  added  to  the  happiness  of  man,  and  yet  the  very  word 
"school"  meant  originally  rest  or  enjoyment.  It  is  most 
important,  says  Mr.  J.  Morley,  "  both  for  happiness  and  for 
duty,  that  we  should  habitually  live  with  wise  thoughts  and 
right  feelings." 

The  brain  of  man  should  be 

"  The  Dome  of  thought,  the  Palace  of  the  Soul." 

Says  Donne, 

"  We  are  but  farmers  of  ourselves,  yet  may, 
If  we  can  stock  ourselves  and  thrive,  uplay 
Much  good  treasure  for  the  great  rent  day." 

There  is  much  in  the  creed  of  Positivists  with  which  I  can- 
not agree,  but  they  have  a  noble  motto — "  U amour  pour 
principe,  I'ordre  pour  base,  et  le  prog  res  pour  but." 

There  are,  however,  says  Emerson,  many  "  innocent  men 
who  worship  God  after  the  tradition  of  their  fathers,  but 
whose  sense  of  duty  has  not  extended  to  the  use  of  all  their 
faculties." 

Man  measures  everything  by  himself.  The  greatest  moun- 
tain heights,  and  the  depth  of  the  ocean,  in  feet;  our  very 
system  of  arithmetical  notation  is  founded  on  the  number  of 
our  fingers.  And  yet  what  poor  creatures  we  are  !  What 
poor  creatures  we  are,  and  how  great  we  might  be  .  What  is 
a  man  ?  and  what  is  a  man  not  ? 

A  man,  says  Pascal,  is  "res  cogitans,  id  est  dubitans,  affir- 
mans,  negens,  pauca  intelligens,  multa  ignorans,  volens,  nolens, 
imaginans,  etiam,  et  sentiens." 

Man,  he  says  elsewhere,  "  is  but  a  reed,  the  feeblest  thing 
in  Nature  ;  but  he  is  a  reed  that  thinks  (un  roseau  pensant}. 
It  needs  not  that  the  universe  arm  itself  to  crush  him.  An 


SELF-EDUCATION.  453 

exhalation,  a  drop  of  water,  suffices  to  destroy  him.  But 
were  the  universe  to  crush  him,  man  is  yet  nobler  than  the 
universe,  for  he  knows  that  he  dies  ;  and  the  universe,  even 
in  prevailing  against  him,  knows  not  its  power." 

What  qualities  are  essential  for  the  perfecting  of  a  human 
being  ?  A  cool  head,  a  warm  heart,  a  sound  judgment,  and 
a  healthy  body.  Without  a  cool  head  we  are  apt  to  form 
hasty  conclusions,  without  a  warm  heart  we  are  sure  to  be 
selfish,  without  a  sound  body  we  can  do  but  little,  while  even 
the  best  intentions  without  sound  judgment  may  do  more 
harm  than  good. 

If  we  wish  to  praise  a  friend  we  say  he  is  a  perfect  gentle- 
man. "  What  is  it  to  be  a  gentleman  ? "  asked  Thackeray,  "is 
it  to  be  honest,  to  be  gentle,  to  be  brave,  to  be  wise  ;  and,  pos- 
sessing all  these  qualities,  to  exercise  them  in  the  most  grace- 
ful outward  manner  ?"  "A  gentleman,"  he  adds,  "  is  a  rarer 
thing  than  some  of  us  think  for."  Kings  can  give  titles,  but 
they  cannot  make  gentlemen.  We  can  all,  however,  be 
noble  if  we  choose. 

"That  man,"  says  Archdeacon  Farrar,  '•  approaches  most 
nearly  to  such  perfection  as  is  attainable  in  human  life  whose 
body  has  been  kept  in  vigorous  health  by  temperance,  sober- 
ness, and  chastity;  whose  mind  is  a  rich  storehouse  of  the 
wisdom  learned  both  from  experience  and  from  the  noblest 
thoughts  which  his  fellow  men  have  uttered ;  whose  imagina- 
tion is  a  picture  gallery  of  all  things  pure  and  beautiful ; 
whose  conscience  is  at  peace  with  itself,  with  God,  and  with 
all  the  world,  and  in  whose  spirit  the  Divine  Spirit  finds  a 
fitting  temple  wherein  to  dwell." 

The  true  method  of  self-education,  says  John  Stuart  Mill, 
is  "to  question  all  things;  never  to  turn  away  from  any 
difficulty  ;  to  accept  no  doctrine  either  from  ourselves  or  from 
other  people  without  a  rigid  scrutiny  by  negative  criticism  ; 
letting  no  fallacy  or  incoherence  or  confusion  of  thought 
step  by  unperceived  ;  above  all,  to  insist  upon  having  the 
meaning  of  a  word  clearly  understood  before  using  it,  and  the 
meaning  of  a  proposition  before  assenting  to  it:  —  these  are 
the  lessons  we  learn."  And  these  lessons  we  might  all  learn. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  education  at  any  rate  all  men  might 
be  equal ;  neither  rank  nor  wealth  give  any  substantial 
advantage.  Sir  W.  Jones  said  of  himself  that  with  the  for- 


454  LEADERS   Of    MEN. 

tune  of  a  peasant,  he  gave  himself  the  education  of  a  prince. 
It  was  long  ago  remarked  that  there  was  no  royal  road  to 
learning  ;  or  rather  perhaps  it  might  more  truly  be  said  that 
all  roads  are  royal.  And  how  great  is  the  prize  !  Education 
lights  up  the  history  of  the  world  and  makes  it  one  bright 
path  of  progress  ;  it  enables  us  to  appreciate  the  literature  of 
the  world  ;  it  opens  for  us  the  book  of  Nature,  and  creates 
sources  of  interest  wherever  we  find  ourselves. 

And  if  we  cannot  hope  that  it  should  ever  be  said  of  us 

that 

"  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all 

I  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again," 

it  might  at  any  rate  be  true  that 

"  He  hath  a  daily  beauty  in  his  life," 

for  have  we  not  all  immortal  longings  in  us  ? 

If  education  has  not  been  in  all  cases  successful,  this  has 
been  the  fault  not  of  education  itself,  but  of  the  spirit  in 
which  it  has  been  often  undertaken.  "  For  men  have  entered 
into  a  desire  of  learning  and  knowledge  sometimes  upon  a 
natural  curiosity  and  inquisitive  appetite,  sometimes  to  enter- 
tain their  minds  with  variety  and  delight,  sometimes  for  orna- 
ment and  reputation,  but  seldom  sincerely  to  give  a  true 
account  of  their  gift  of  reason  to  the  benefit  and  use  of  men. 
As  if  there  were  sought  in  knowledge  a  couch  whereupon  to 
rest  a  searching  and  restless  spirit ;  or  a  terrace  for  a  wander- 
ing and  variable  mind  to  walk  up  and  down  with  a  fair 
prospect ;  or  a  tower  of  state  for  a  proud  mind  to  rest  itself 
upon  ;  or  a  fort  or  commanding  ground  for  strife  and  conten- 
tion ;  or  a  shop  of  profit  or  sale,  and  not  a  rich  storehouse  for 
the  glory  of  the  Creator  and  the  relief  of  man's  estate.'' 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

JAMES   WHITCOMB   RILEY. 

A  POETIC  INTERPRETATION  OF  SUCCESS BIRTHPLACE  AND   BOYHOOD 

A    PICTURE    OF    HIS    CHILDHOOD EARLY    THEATRICAL    LEANINGS A 

PRACTICAL    JOKER SCHOOL    DAYS THE   "LEONAINIE"   EPISODE PER- 
SONAL APPEARANCE PREEMINENT    QUALITIES    OF    HIS  WORK IN  WHAT 

HIS   UNIQUENESS   LIES "POEMS    HERE  AT    HOME" THE    TWO  CLASSES 

OF  MR.  RILEY'S  POETRY  —  AS  A  BALLADIST  —  HIS  LYRICS  —  THE  POET  OF 

THE    PEOPLE CHARACTERISTICALLY  AMERICAN.     PERSONAL    PURITY  AND 

NOBILITY. 


*•  What  is  my  idea  of  success?" — 

Just  to  be  good — this  is  enough — enough  I 
O  we  who  find  sin's  billows  wild  and  rough 
Do  we  not  feel  how  much  more  than  any  gold 
Would  be  the  blameless  life  we  led  of  old 
While  yet  our  lips  knew  but  a  mother's  kiss? 
Ah  !  though  we  miss  all  else  but  this, 

To  be  good  is  enough  ! 

It  is  enough — enough — just  to  be  good  ! 
To  lift  our  hearts  where  they  are  understood  ; 
To  let  the  thirst  for  worldly  power  and  place 
Go  unappeased  ;  to  smile  back  in  God's  face 
With  the  glad  lips  our  mothers  used  to  kiss. 
Ah  !  though  we  miss  all  else  but  this, 

To  be  good  is  enough  ! 

I  believe  a  man  prays  when  he  does  well.  I  believe  he 
worships  God  when  his  work  is  on  a  high  plane.  When  his 
attitude  towards  his  fellow  men  is  right,  I  guess  God  is 
pleased  with  him. 


456  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

i*AMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY,  the    "  Hoosier  Poet,"  was 

Jborn  at  Greenfield,  Indiana,  and  there,  too,  spent  the  years 
of  his  boyhood.  His  father  was  an  attorney  of  some  prom- 
inence, and  a  genius  in  mechanics,  having  the  ability  to 
imitate  in  construction  almost  anything  that  can  be  made  with 
hands — a  trait  which  his  son  inherits  as  a  mental,  though  not 
manual,  characteristic.  The  father  was  impatient  to  see  his 
son,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond,  in  masculine  attire  ;  and  long 
before  the  child  had  reached  the  age  wnen  the  pinafore  is 
usually  discarded,  determined  to  gratify  this  desire.  He 
therefore  bought  the  small  amount  of  material  necessary,  and 
himself  cut  and  made  for  the  coming  poet  and  humorist  a 
wonderful  suit.  It  consisted  of  trousers  reaching  to  the  feet, 
and  a  coat  of  the  "  shad-belly "  variety,  adorned  with  i^ne 
bright  brass  buttons  then  in  fashion  for  gentlemen. 

At  that  age  the  child's  hair  was  almost  as  white  as  wool, 
and  his  face  was  covered  with  freckles  of  generous  size  and 
pronounced  color.  He  was  chubby,  and  the  grotesqueness  of 
this  ensemble  must  have  twanged  a  sympathetic  chord  in  his 
infantile  breast.  When  attired  in  his  new  suit  he  bore  a 
striking  resemblance  in  miniature  to  Judge  Wick,  a  ponderous 
jurist  and  politician  prominent  in  that  section  and  throughout 
the  West  at  that  time.  The  similarity  of  initials  as  well  as  of 
person  suggested  the  whim  to  the  rustic  wits,  and  Judge 
Wick  became  his  nickname  and  remained  with  him  after  he 
had  reached  his  teens,  and  then,  it  may  be  said,  became  his 
nom  de  guerre,  for  by  that  name  he  fought  and  conquered  in 
his  more  mature  boyhood.  He  was  his  father's  constant  com- 
panion, and  on  county  court  days  no  end  of  merriment  was 
aroused  when  a  conjunction  of  these  two  unique  personages 
with  judicial  titles  forced  a  comparison  and  provoked  the 
risibles  of  the  dullest.  When  the  business  of  litigation  was 
on,  the  boy  was  left  to  his  own  devices.  Perched  in  some 
obscure  niche  or  window,  he  imitated  every  movement  of  the 
court,  lawyers  and  witnesses,  and  there  his  studies  of  dialect 
and  human  nature  of  the  Hoosier  variety  were  made,  to  be 
reproduced  on  the  platform  and  in  print  in  later  years. 

As  he  grew  older  he  took  part  in  boy-theatricais,  and 
always  as  the  "  star."  His  preference  was  for  portrait-paint- 
ing as  a  vocation,  but  sign-painting  offered  a  more  quickly 
remunerative  field,  and  to  this  he  turned  his  attention  for 


JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY.  457 

a  while.  He  even  descended  to  lettering  on  fences,  and  the 
highways  of  Hancock  and  adjoining  counties  were  pictur- 
esque with  the  results  of  his  genius.  This  became  monotonous, 
and  he  again  turned  his  attention  to  the  stage.  He  joined  a 
strolling  company  and  became  its  genius.  Finding  his  lines 
faulty  or  unsuitable,  he  rewrote  them,  and  sometimes  recast  the 
entire  play --abridging,  brightening,  or  throwing  into  prom- 
inence unique  characters  as  his  ideas  of  consistency  demanded. 
At  one  time  he  attached  himself  to  a  combination  in  which 
the  payment  of  salaries  depended  on  the  amount  of  patent 
medicines  sold  between  acts.  The  stage  was  a  large  wagon 
drawn  by  horses  gayly  caparisoned.  On  this  was  mounted  a 
large  blackboard,  on  which  sketches  in  black  and  white  were 
displayed.  Riley  was  artist,  orator,  and  musician  in  turn, 
drawing  illustrations  and  caricatures  of  persons  in  the  motley 
audience,  lauding  the  virtues  of  his  wares,  improvising  addi- 
tional verses  to  a  song,  or  playing  accompaniments  on  violin 
or  guitar,  and  joining  in  the  chorus.  It  was  a  happy,  vaga- 
bond life,  a  rebound  from  the  repression  of  his  earlier  years. 
It  made  him  familiar  with  his  kind,  and  enriched  his  dialect 
vocabulary  and  his  studies  of  human  nature  from  life. 

During  his  sign-painting  career  he  sometimes  posed  as 
"  the  celebrated  blind  sign-painter."  Pretending  to  be  stone 
blind,  he  bewildered  the  crowds  which  collected  to  watch  him 
work.  Mr.  Riley  was  continually  playing  practical  jokes. 
Perhaps  the  most  ludicrous  was  one  he  played  on  the  Metho- 
dist church  congregation  of  his  native  town.  The  story  is 
told  by  a  relative  of  the  poet  that  this  church  needed  repair- 
ing badly,  and  a  committee  went  about  soliciting  aid.  Mr. 
Riley,  who  was  handy  at  any  kind  of  work,  could  not  help  in 
a  financial  way,  but  volunteered  to  repair  the  church  clock. 
The  committee  consented.  Just  before  the  reopening  of  the 
church  he  brought  the  clock  back  and  carefully  hung  it  in  its 
accustomed  place  high  on  the  wall  over  the  pulpit.  At  eleven 
o'clock,  when  the  minister  was  warming  to  his  subject,  the 
old  clock  began  striking.  It  struck  fifteen,  twenty,  thirty, 
forty,  fifty,  sixty,  and  kept  on  striking.  The  minister  stopped. 
The  clock  did  not.  It  was  far  out  of  reach  and  no  ladder  was 
near.  The  congregation  had  to  be  dismissed. 

He  rarely  attended  school  with  any  degree  of  regularity, 
but  he  learned  much  from  his  father,  and  seemed  to  absorb 


458  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

knowledge  without  effort.  From  early  boyhood  his  thoughts 
fell  into  line  in  rhythm.  Even  his  first  crude  rhyming  was 
not  deficient  in  this  respect.  His  poems  are  thought  out  as 
he  travels  or  walks  the  street,  and  when  their  time  is  fully 
come  he  gives  them  birth  regardless  of  surroundings  —  at  an 
office  desk  in  the  hum  of  business,  in  the  waiting  room  of  a 
railway  station,  on  the  corner  of  a  busy  editor's  table,  or 
seated  on  a  low  stool  with  his  manuscript  on  his  knees  —  it  is 
all  one  to  him.  At  other  times  he  is  very  sensitive  to  sur- 
roundings. His  reading  has  taken  a  wide  range,  but  has  been 
somewhat  discursive,  and  he  has  been  restrained  from  thor- 
ough study  of  any  model  through  fear  that  his  strong  imita- 
tive bent  might  mar  his  originality  of  expression.  In  response 
to  the  challenge  of  a  friend,  he  once  wrote  what  professed  to 
be  a  newly  discovered  manuscript  poem  of  the  late  Edgar 
Allan  Poe,  entitled  "  Leonainie,"  and  so  perfect  was  his  work 
that  so  capable  a  judge  as  William  Cullen  Bryant  pronounced 
it  genuine  and  criticised  it  at  some  length  as  such.  When 
this  unknown  Western  upstart  declared  himself  the  author  of 
it,  he  was  denounced  as  a  would-be  plagiarist. 

Mr.  Riley  is  a  short  man  with  square  shoulders  and  a  large 
head.  He  has  a  very  dignified  manner  at  times.  His  face 
is  smoothly  shaven  and,  though  he  is  not  bald,  the  light  color 
of  his  hair  makes  him  seem  so.  His  eyes  are  gray  and  round 
and  generally  solemn  and  sometimes  stern.  His  face  is  the 
face  of  a  great  actor  —  in  rest,  grim  and  inscrutable ;  in 
action,  full  of  the  most  elusive  expression  capable  of  humor 
and  pathos.  Like  most  humorists  he  is  sad  in  repose.  His 
language  when  he  chooses  to  have  it  so  is  wonderfully  con- 
cise, penetrating,  and  beautiful.  He  drops  often  into  dialect 
but  always  with  a  look  on  his  face  which  shows  that  he  is 
aware  of  what  he  is  doing.  In  other  words,  he  is  himself  in 
both  forms  of  speech.  His  mouth  is  his  wonderful  feature, 
wide,  flexible,  clean  cut.  His  lips  are  capable  of  the  grimmest 
and  merriest  lines.  He  has  lips  that  pout  like  a  child's  or 
draw  down  into  the  straight  grim  line  like  a  New  England 
deacon's,  or  close  at  one  side  and  uncover  his  white  and  even 
teeth  at  the  other  in  the  style,  slightly,  of  "Benjamin  F. 
Johnson,"  the  humble  humorist  and  philosopher.  In  his 
own  proper  person  he  is  full  of  quaint  and  beautiful  phi- 
losophy. He  is  wise  rather  than  learned, —  wise  with  the 


JAMES  WHITCOMB  EILEY.  459 

quality  that  is  in  the  Proverbs, —  almost  always  touched  with 
humor. 

Even  if  Mr.  Riley's  poetry  —  which,  along  with  his  prose, 
now  has  been  brought  out  in  a  beautiful  uniform  edition  —  had 
no  claim  to  distinction  in  itself,  the  fact  of  its  unrivaled  pop- 
ularity would  challenge  consideration.  But,  fortunately,  his 
work  does  not  depend  on  so  frail  a  tenure  of  fame  as  the  vogue 
of  a  season  or  the  life  of  a  fad.  The  qualities  which  secure  for  it 
a  wider  reading  and  a  heartier  appreciation  than  are  accorded 
to  any  other  living  American  poet  are  rooted  deep  in  human 
nature  ;  they  are  preeminently  qualities  of  wholesomeness 
and  common  sense,  those  qualities  of  steady  and  conservative 
cheerfulness  which  ennoble  the  average  man,  and  in  which 
the  man  of  exceptional  culture  is  too  often  lacking.  Its 
lovers  are  the  ingenuous  home-keeping  hearts,  on  whose 
sobriety  and  humor  the  national  character  is  based.  And  yet, 
one  has  not  said  enough  when  one  says  it  is  poetry  of  the 
domestic  affections,  poetry  of  sentiment  ;  for  it  is  much  more 
than  that. 

Poetry  which  is  free  from  the  unhappy  spirit  of  the  age, 
free  from  dejection,  from  doubt,  from  material  cynicism, 
neither  tainted  by  the  mould  of  sensuality  nor  wasted  by  the 
maggot  of  "reform,"  is  no  common  product,  in  these  days. 
So  much  of  our  art  and  literature  is  ruined  by  self-conscious- 
ness, running  to  the  artificial  and  the  tawdry.  It  is  the  slave 
either  of  commercialism,  imitative,  ornate,  and  insufferably 
tiresome,  or  of  didacticism,  irresponsible  and  dull.  But  Mr. 
Riley  at  his  best  is  both  original  and  sane.  He  seems  to  have 
accomplished  that  most  difficult  feat,  the  devotion  of  one's 
self  to  an  art  without  any  deterioration  of  health.  He  is  full 
of  the  sweetest  vitality,  the  soundest  merriment.  His  verse 
is  not  strained  with  an  overburden  of  philosophy,  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  debauched  with  maudlin  sentimentalism,  on  the 
other.  Its  robust  gayety  has  all  the  fascination  of  artlessness 
and  youth.  It  neither  argues,  nor  stimulates,  nor  denounces, 
nor  exhorts  ;  it  only  touches  and  entertains  us.  And,  after  all, 
few  things  are  more  humanizing  than  innocent  amusement. 

It  is  because  of  this  quality  of  abundant  good  nature, 
familiar,  serene,  homely,  that  it  seems  to  me  no  exaggeration 
to  call  Mr.  Riley  the  typical  American  poet  of  the  day.  True, 
he  does  not  represent  the  cultivated  and  academic  classes  ;  he 


460  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

reflects  nothing  of  modern  thought  ;  but  in  his  unruffled  tem- 
per and  dry  humor,  occasionally  flippant  on  the  surface,  but 
never  facetious  at  heart,  he  might  stand  very  well  for  the 
normal  American  character  in  his  view  of  life  and  his  palpable 
enjoyment  of  it.  Most  foreign  critics  are  on  the  lookout  for 
the  appearance  of  something  novel  and  unconventional  from 
America,  forgetting  that  the  laws  of  art  do  not  change  with 
longitude.  They  seize  now  on  this  writer,  now  on  that,  as 
the  eminent  product  of  democracy.  But  there  is  nothing 
unconventional  about  Mr.  Riley.  "  He  is  like  folks,"  as  an  old 
New  England  farmer  said  of  Whittier.  And  if  the  typical 
poet  of  democracy  in  America  is  to  be  the  man  who  most 
nearly  represents  average  humanity  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  this  country,  who  most  completely  expresses 
its  humor,  its  sympathy,  its  intelligence,  its  culture,  and  its 
common  sense,  and  yet  is  not  without  a  touch  of  original 
genius  sufficient  to  stamp  his  utterances,  then  Mr.  James 
Whitcomb  Riley  has  a  just  claim  to  that  title. 

He  is  unique  among  American  men  of  letters  (or  poets, 
one  might  better  say  ;  for  strictly  speaking  he  is  not  a  man  of 
letters  at  all)  in  that  he  has  originality  of  style,  and  yet  is 
entirely  native  and  homely.  Whitman  was  original,  but  he 
was  entirely  prophetic  and  remote,  appealing  only  to  the 
few  ;  Longfellow  had  style,  but  his  was  the  voice  of  our  col- 
legiate and  cultivated  classes.  It  is  not  a  question  of  rank  or 
comparison;  it  is  merely  a  matter  of  definitions.  It  is  the 
position  rather  than  the  magnitude  of  any  particular  and  con- 
temporary star  that  one  is  interested  in  fixing.  To  determine 
its  magnitude,  a  certain  quality  of  endurance  must  be  taken 
into  account ;  and  to  observe  this  quality  often  requires  con- 
siderable time.  Quite  apart,  then,  from  Mr.  Riley's  relative 
merit  in  the  great  anthology  of  English  poetry,  he  has  a  very 
definite  and  positive  place  in  the  history  of  American  letters 
as  the  first  widely  representative  poet  of  the  American  people. 
He  is  professedly  a  home-keeping,  home-loving  poet,  with 
the  purpose  of  the  imaginative  realist,  depending  upon  com- 
mon sights  and  sounds  for  his  inspirations,  and  engrossed 
with  the  significance  of  facts.  Like  Mr.  Kipling,  whose  idea 
of  perpetual  bliss  is  a  heaven  where  every  artist  shall  "  draw 
the  thing  as  he  sees  it,  for  the  God  of  things  as  they  are/' 
Mr.  Riley  exclaims:— 


JAMES   WHITCOMB  EILEY.  461 

"  Tell  of  the  things  jest  like  they  wuz — 

They  don't  need  no  excuse  ! 
Don't  tetch  'em  up  as  the  poets  does, 
Till  they  're  all  too  fine  f er  use  !  ' ' 

And  again,  in  his  lines  on  "  A  Southern  Singer":— 

«'  Sing  us  back  home,  from  there  to  here ; 
Grant  your  high  grace  and  wit,  but  we 
Most  honor  your  simplicity." 

In  the  proem  to  the  volume  "Poems  here  at  Home"  there 
occurs  a  similar  invocation,  and  a  test  of  excellence  is  proposed 
which  may  well  be  taken  as  the  gist  of  his  own  artistic 
purpose:— 

"  The  Poems  here  at  Home  !  Who  '11  write  'em  down, 
Jes'  as  they  air — in  Country  and  in  Town? — 
Sowed  thick  as  clods  is  'crost  the  fields  and  lanes, 
Er  these  'ere  little  hop-toads  when  it  rains  ! 
Who'll  '  voice'  'em?  as  I  heerd  a  feller  say 
'At  speechified  on  Freedom,  t'other  day, 
And  soared  the  Eagle  tel,  it  'peared  to  me, 
She  was  n't  bigger  'n  a  bumble-bee  ! 

"  What  We  want,  as  I  sense  it,  in  the  line 
O'  poetry  is  somepin'  Yours  and  Mine— 
Somepin'  with  live-stock  in  it,  and  out-doors, 
And  old  crick-bottoms,  snags,  and  sycamores  1 
Put  weeds  in — pizenvines,  and  underbresh, 
As  well  as  johnny-jump-ups,  all  so  fresh 
An'  sassy-like  ! — and  groun'-squir'ls, — yes,  and  '  We,' 
As  sayin'  is, — '  We,  Us  and  Company.' 

In  the  lines  "Right  here  at  Home"  the  same  strain  recurs, 
like  the  very  burden  of  the  poet's  life-song  : — 

11  Right  here  at  home,  boys,  is  the  place,  I  guess, 
Fer  me  and  you  and  plain  old  happiness ; 
We  hear  the  World  's  lots  grander  —  likely  so,— 
We  '11  take  the  World  's  word  for  it  and  not  go. 
We  know  its  ways  ain't  our  ways,  so  we  '11  stay 
Right  here  at  home,  boys,  where  we  know  the  way. 

"  Right  here  at  home,  boys,  where  a  well-to-do 
Man  'e  plenty  rich  enough  —  and  knows  it,  too, 


462  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

And  's  got  a*  extry  dollar,  any  time, 
To  boost  a  feller  up  'at  wants  to  climb, 
And  's  got  the  git-up  in  him  to  go  in 
And  git  there,  like  he  purt'  nigh  allus  kin  !" 

It  is  in  this  spirit  that  by  far  the  greater  part  of  his  work, 
the  telling  and  significant  part  of  it,  is  conceived.  The  whole 
tatterdemalion  company  of  his  Tugg  Martins,  Jap  Millers, 
Armazindys,  Bee  Fesslers,  and  their  comrades,  as  rollicking 
and  magnetic  as  Shakespeare's  own  wonderful  populace,  he 
finds  "right  here  at  home  ";  nothing  human  is  alien  to  him  ; 
indeed,  there  is  something  truly  Elizabethan,  something 
spacious  and  robust,  in  his  humanity,  quite  exceptional  to  our 
fashion-plate  standards.  In  the  same  wholesome,  glad  frame 
of  mind,  too,  he  deals  with  nature,  mingling  the  keenest,  most 
loving  observation  with  the  most  familiar  modes  of  speech. 
An  artist  in  his  ever  sensitive  appreciation  and  impressiona- 
bility, never  missing  a  phase  or  mood  of  natural  beauty,  he 
has  the  added  ability  so  necessary  to  the  final  touch  of  illu- 
sion,—  the  power  of  ease,  the  power  of  making  his  most  casual 
word  seem  inevitable,  and  his  most  inevitable  word  seem 
casual.  It  is  in  this,  I  think,  that  he  differs  from  all  his  rivals 
in  the  field  of  familiar  and  dialect  poetry.  Other  writers  are 
as  familar  as  he,  and  many  as  truly  inspired  ;  but  none  com- 
bines to  such  a  degree  the  homespun  phrase  with  the  lyric 
feeling.  His  only  compeer  in  this  regard  is  Lowell,  in  the 
brilliant  Biglow  Papers,  and  several  other  less  known  but  not 
less  admirable  Chaucerian  sketches  of  Few  England  country 
life.  Indeed,  in  humor,  in  native  eloquence,  in  vivacity,  Mr. 
Riley  closely  resembles  Lowell,  though  differing  from  that 
bookman  in  his  training  and  inclination,  and  naturally,  as  a 
consequence,  in  his  range  and  treatment  of  subjects.  .But 
the  tide  of  humanity,  so  strong  in  Lowell,  is  at  flood,  too,  in 
the  Hoosier  poet.  It  is  this  humane  character,  preserving  all 
the  rugged  sweetness  in  the  elemental  type  of  man,  which 
can  save  us  at  last  as  a  people  from  the  ravaging  taint  of 
charlatanism,  frivolity,  and  greed. 

But  we  must  not  leave  our  subject  without  discriminating 
more  closely  between  several  sorts  of  Mr.  Biley's  poetry  ;  for 
there  is  as  much  difference  between  his  dialect  and  his  classic 
English  (in  point  of  poetic  excellence,  I  mean,)  as  there  is 


JAMES  WHITCOMB  EILEY.  463 

between  the  Scotch  and  English  of  Burns.  Like  Bums,  he  is 
a  lover  of  the  human  and  the  simple,  a  lover  of  green  fields 
and  blowing  flowers  ;  and  like  Burns,  he  is  far  more  at  home, 
far  more  easy  and  felicitous,  in  his  native  Doric  than  in  the 
colder  Attic  speech  of  Milton  and  Keats. 

This  is  so,  it  seems  to  me,  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first 
place,  the  poet  is  dealing  with  the  subject  matter  he  knows 
best  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  he  is  using  the  medium  of 
expression  in  which  he  has  a  lifelong  facility.  The  art  of 
poetry  is  far  too  delicate  and  too  difficult  to  be  practiced  suc- 
cessfully without  the  most  consummate  and  almost  uncon- 
scious mastery  of  the  language  employed  ;  so  that  a  poet  will 
hardly  ever  write  with  anything  like  distinction  or  convinc- 
ing force  in  any  but  his  mother  tongue.  An  artist's  command 
of  his  medium  must  be  so  intimate  and  exquisite  that  his 
thought  can  find  adequate  expression  in  it  as  easily  as  in  the 
lifting  of  a  finger  or  the  moving  of  an  eyelid.  Otherwise  he 
is  self-conscious,  unnatural,  false  ;  and,  hide  it  as  he  may,  we 
feel  the  awkwardness  and  indecision  in  his  work.  He  who 
treats  of  subjects  which  he  knows  only  imperfectly  cannot  be 
true  to  nature  ;  while  he  who  employs  some  means  of  expres- 
sion which  he  only  imperfectly  controls  cannot  be  true  to  him- 
self. The  best  art  requires  the  fulfillment  of  both  these  severe 
demands  ;  they  are  the  cardinal  virtues  of  art.  Disregard  of 
the  first  produces  the  dilettante ;  disregard  of  the  second  pro- 
duces the  charlatan.  That  either  of  these  epithets  would 
seem  entirely  incongruous,  if  applied  to  Mr.  Riley,  is  a  tribute 
to  his  thorough  worth  as  a  writer. 

His  verse,  then,  divides  itself  sharply  into  two  kinds,  the 
dialect  and  the  conventional.  But  we  have  so  completely 
identified  him  with  the  former  manner  that  it  is  hard  to  esti- 
mate his  work  in  the  latter.  It  may  be  doubted,  however, 
whether  he  would  have  reached  his  present  eminence  had  he 
confined  his  efforts  to  the  strictly  regulated  forms  of  standard 
English.  In  poems  like  "A  Life  Term  "  and  "  One  Afternoon," 
for  instance,  there  is  smoothness,  even  grace  of  movement,  but 
hardly  that  distinction  which  we  call  style,  and  little  of  the 
lyric  plangency  the  author  commands  a'j  his  best ;  while  very 
often  in  his  use  of  authorized  English  there  is  a  strangely 
marked  reminiscence  of  older  poets,  as  of  Keats  in  "A Water 
Color"  (not  to  speak  of  "A  Ditty  of  No  Tone,"  written  as  a 


464  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

frankly  imitative  tribute  of  admiration  for  the  author  of  the 
"  Ode  to  a  Grecian  Urn"),  or  of  Emerson  in  "  The  All-Kind 
Mother."'  In  only  one  of  the  dialect  poems,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  there  any  imitative  note.  His  "Nothin'  to  Say"  has  much 
of  the  atmosphere  and  feeling  as  well  as  the  movement  of 
Tennyson's  "  Northern  Farmer."  But  for  the  most  part, 
when  Mr.  Biley  uses  his  own  dialect,  he  is  thoroughly  origi- 
nal as  well  as  effective.  He  has  not  only  the  lyrical  impetus 
so  needful  to  good  poetry  ;  he  has  also  the  story-teller's  gift. 
And  when  we  add  to  these  two  qualities  an  abundant  share 
of  whimsical  humor,  we  have  the  equipment  which  has  so 
justly  given  him  wide  repute. 

All  of  these  characteristics  are  brought  into  play  in  such 
poems  as  "Fessler's  Bees,"  one  of  the  fairest  examples  of  Mr. 
Riley's  balladry  at  its  best  :  - 

"  Might  call  him  a  bee-expert, 
When  it  oome  to  handlin'  bees, — 
Roll  the  sleeves  up  of  his  shirt 
And  wade  in  amongst  the  trees 
Where  a  swarm  'u'd  settle,  and  — 
Blandest  man  on  top  of  dirt !  — • 
Rake  'em  with  his  naked  hand 
Right  back  in  the  hive  ag'in, 
Jes'  as  easy  as  you  please  !  ' 

For  Mr.  Riley  is  a  true  balladist.  He  is  really  doing  for  the 
modern,  popular  taste,  here  and  now,  what  the  old  balladists 
did  in  their  time.  He  is  an  entertainer.  He  has  the  ear  of 
his  audience.  He  knows  their  likes  and  dislikes,  and  humors 
them.  His  very  considerable  and  very  successful  experience 
as  a  public  reader  of  his  own  work  has  reinforced  his 
natural  modesty  and  love  of  people,  and  made  him  con- 
stantly regardful  of  their  pleasure.  So  that  we  must  look 
upon  his  verses  as  a  most  genuine  and  spontaneous  expres- 
sion of  average  poetic  feeling  as  well  as  personal  poetic  inspi- 
ration. 

Every  artist's  work  must  be,  necessarily,  a  more  or  less 
successful  compromise  between  these  two  opposing  and  diffi- 
cult conditions  of  achievement.  The  great  artists  are  they 
who  succeed  at  last  in  imposing  upon  others  their  own  pecul- 
iar and  novel  conceptions  of  beauty.  But  these  are  only  the 


JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY.  465 

few  whom  the  gods  favor  beyond  their  fellows  ;  while  for  the 
rank  and  file  of  those  who  deal  in  the  perishable  wares  of  art 
a  less  ambitious  standard  may  well  be  allowed.  We  must 
have  our  balladists  as  well  as  our  bards,  it  seems  ;  and  very 
fortunate  is  the  day  when  we  can  have  one  with  so  much  real 
spirit  and  humanity  about  him  as  Mr.  Riley. 

At  times  the  pathos  of  the  theme  quite  outweighs  its  home- 
liness, and  lifts  the  author  above  the  region  of  self-conscious 
art ;  the  use  of  dialect  drops  away,  and  a  creation  of  pure 
poetry  comes  to  light,  as  in  that  irresistible  elegy  "  Little 
Haly,"  for  example  :  — 

"  '  Little  Haly,  little  Haly,'  cheeps  the  robin  in  the  tree  ; 
'  Little  Haly,'  sighs  the  clover  ;   '  Little  Haly,'  moans  the  bee  ; 
«  Little  Haly,  little  Haly,'  calls  the  Kill-dee  at  twilight ; 
And  the  katydids  and  crickets  hollers  '  Haly  '  all  the  night." 

In  this  powerful  lyric  there  is  a  simple  directness  ap- 
proaching the  feeling  of  Greek  poetry,  and  one  cannot  help 
regretting  the  few  intrusions  of  bad  grammar  and  distorted 
spelling.  They  are  not  necessary.  The  poem  is  so  universal 
in  its  human  appeal,  it  seems  a  pity  to  limit  the  range  of  its 
appreciation  by  hampering  it  with  local  peculiarities  of 
speech. 

At  times,  too,  in  his  interpretations  of  nature,  Mr.  Riley 
lays  aside  his  drollery  and  his  drawling  accent  in  exchange 
for  an  incisive  power  of  phrase. 

"  The  wild  goose  trails  his  harrow  " 

A 

is  an  example  of  the  keenness  of  fancy  I  refer  to.  Another  is 
found  in  the  closing  phrase  of  one  of  the  stanzas  in  "  A  Coun- 
try Pathway":— 

"  A  puritanic  quiet  here  reviles 

The  almost  whispered  warble  from  the  hedge, 
And  takes  a  locust's  rasping  voice  and  files 
The  silence  to  an  edge." 

In  "The  Flying  Islands  of  the  Night "  Mr.  Riley  has  made 
his  widest  departure  into  the  reign  of  whimsical  imagination. 
Here  he  has  retained  that  liberty  of  unshackled  speech,  that 
freedom  and  ease  of  diction,  which  mark  his  more  familiar 
themes,  and  at  the  same  time  has  entered  an  entirely  fresh 


466  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

field  for  him,  a  sort  of  grown-up  fairyland.  There  are  many 
strains  of  fine  poetry  in  this  miniature  play,  which  show  Mr. 
Eiley's  lyrical  faculty  at  its  best.  In  one  instance  there  is  a 
peculiar  treatment  of  the  octosyllabic  quatrain,  where  he  has 
chosen  to  print  it  in  the  guise  of  blank  verse.  It  is  impossible, 
however,  to  conceal  the  true  swing  of  the  lines. 

"  I  loved  her.     Why  ?     I  never  knew.     Perhaps 
Because  her  face  was  fair.     Perhaps  because 
Her  eyes  were  blue  and  wore  a  weary  air. 
Perhaps  !    Perhaps  because  her  limpid  face 
Was  eddied  with  a  restless  tide,  wherein 
The  dimples  found  no  place  to  anchor  and 
Abide.     Perhaps  because  her  tresses  beat 
A  froth  of  gold  about  her  throat,  and  poured 
In  splendor  to  the  feet  that  ever  seemed 
Afloat.     Perhaps  because  of  that  wild  way 
Her  sudden  laughter  overleapt  propriety  ; 
Or — who  will  say  ? — perhaps  the  way  she  wept." 

It  almost  seems  as  if  Mr.  Riley,  with  his  bent  for  jesting 
and  his  habit  of  wearing  the  cap  and  bells,  did  not  dare  be  as 
poetical  as  he  could ;  and  when  a  serious  lyric  came  to  him, 
he  must  hide  it  under  the  least  lyrical  appearance,  as  he  has 
done  here.  But  that,  surely,  if  it  be  so,  is  a  great  injustice  to 
himself.  He  might  well  attempt  the  serious  as  wrell  as  the 
comic  side  of  poetry,  remembering  that  "  when  the  half -gods 
go,  the  gods  arrive." 

No  poet  in  the  United  States  has  the  same  hold  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people  as  Riley.  He  is  the  poet  of  the  plain 
American.  They  buy  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  his  verse 
every  year  and  he  is  also  one  of  the  most  successful  lecturers 
on  the  platform.  He  gives  the  lie  to  the  old  saying,  for  he- as 
a  prophet  in  his  own  country.  The  people  of  Indiana  are  justly 
proud  of  him  for  he  has  written  "Poems  here  at  home.''  He 
is  read  by  people  who  never  before  read  poetry  in  their  life 
and  he  appeals  equally  well  to  the  man  who  is  heartsick  of 
the  hollow,  conventional  verse  in  imitation  of  some  classic. 

He  is  absolutely  American  in  every  line  he  writes.  His 
schooling  has  been  in  the  school  of  realities.  He  takes  the 
thing  at  first  hand.  He  considers  his  success  to  be  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  is  one  of  the  people  and  has  written  of  the 


JAMES   WHITCOMB  RILEY. 


THE  HEW  YORK 
PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


ASTOR,  LENOX  AND 
TLUD&M  FOUtf  DATIOW8 


PERSONAL  PURITY  AND  NOBILITY.  469 

things  he  liked  and  they  liked.  The  time  will  come  when  his 
work  will  be  seen  to  be  something  more,  vastly  more  than  the 
fancies  of  the  humorist.  He  is  the  most  remarkable  exempli- 
fication of  the  power  of  genius  to  transmute  plain  clods  into 
gold  that  we  have  seen  since  the  time  of  Burns.  He  has  dom- 
inated stern  and  unyielding  conditions  with  equal  success 
and  reflected  the  life  of  his  kind  with  even  greater  fidelity 
than  Burns. 

This  material  so  apparently  grim  and  barren  of  light  and 
shade  waited  only  for  the  creative  mind  and  sympathetic 
intelligence  ;  then  it  grew  beautiful  and  musical  and  radiant 
with  color  and  light  and  life.  Therein  is  the  magnificent 
lesson  to  be  drawn  from  the  life  and  work  of  the  "Hoosier 
Poet." 

PERSONAL   PURITY    AND   NOBILITY. 

'HOMAS  ALVA  EDISON  was  once  asked  why  he  was  a 
total  abstainer.  He  said,  "  I  thought  I  had  a  better 
use  for  my  head."  The  answer  is  worth  remembering 
by  any  young  fellow  who  means  to  use  his  brains.  A 
wonderful  battery  they  make.  Every  morning  they  take  up 
their  work,  and  start  us  on  our  daily  pleasure  or  our  daily 
duty,  if,— 

If  we  have  not  undertaken  to  impose  on  nature's  plan  for 
them. 

If  we  have  not  tried  this  stimulus  or  that  stimulus,  not  in 
the  plan  for  which  they  were  made. 

The  young  man  who  means  to  do  the  best  possible  work  his 
body  and  mind  can  do,  keeps  his  body  and  mind  as  pure,  as 
clean  from  outside  filth,  as  Edison  keeps  his  brain. 

This  is  what  is  meant  when  we  are  told  to  keep  ourselves 
as  pure  as  little  children  are. 

The  readers  of  this  book  are  so  well  up  to  the  lessons  of 
this  time  that  they  know  that  the  men  who  are  trained  for  a 
football  match,  or  a  running  match,  or  a  boxing  match,  have 
to  keep  their  bodies  from  any  stimulus  but  that  which  is  given 
by  food  prepared  in  the  simplest  way,  so  as  to  suit  the  most 
simple  appetite. 

It  is  not  simply  that  a  man's  body  must  be  in  good  order 
itself.  What  is  needed  is  that  a  man  shall  be  ready  and  able 
to  govern  his  body.  He  shall  say  "Go,"  and  his  body  shall 


470  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

go.  He  shall  say  "  Go  faster,"  and  his  body  shall  go  faster. 
His  will,  his  power  to  govern  his  machinery,  depends  on  his 
keeping  himself  pure. 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  a  certain  set  of  men  and  women 
in  England  earned  for  themselves  the  name  of  Puritans. 
That  name  was  given  them  because  they  kept  their  bodies 
pure..  Those  men  and  women  did  this  because  the  Saviour  of 
men  and  all  his  apostles  commanded  them  to  do  so.  The  New 
Testament  insists  on  personal  purity  as  the  beginning  of  all 
training  and  all  knowledge.  "  The  wisdom  from  above  is 
first  pure,"  it  says.  And  such  men  as  Paul  and  Peter  and  the 
rest,  who  changed  the  world,  insisted  on  personal  purity. 
They  meant  that  a  man's  body  should  be  so  pure  as  to  be  a  fit 
temple  of  God.  The  Puritans  of  England  believed  in  such 
instructions,  and  they  kept  their  bodies  pure.  In  his  inter- 
course with  women,  in  his  use  of  stimulants,  a  Puritan  gentle- 
man earned  his  name  by  his  chastity  and  his  temperance. 

The  Cavaliers,  the  men  at  court,  ridiculed  this  obedience  to 
divine  law.  What  followed  on  this  ridicule  ?  This  followed  : 
that,  when  the  questions  of  English  liberty  were  submitted  to 
the  decision  of  battle,  when  the  fine  gentlemen  of  the  court 
found  themselves  in  array  against  the  farmers  of  Lincoln- 
shire, led  by  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  Puritan  troopers,  who  kept 
their  bodies  pure,  rode  over  the  gay  gentlemen,  who  did  not 
keep  their  bodies  pure. 

What  happened  on  our  side  of  the  water  was  that  the 
handful  of  Puritan  settlers  in  Plymouth  and  in  the  Bay,  who 
kept  their  bodies  pure,  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  men 
of  Massasoit  and  Philip,  who  did  not  keep  their  bodies  pure. 
They  could  outmarch  them,  could  outwatch  them,  could  out- 
fight them.  They  could  rule  their  bodies.  They  could  be 
firm  to  a  purpose.  They  had  at  command  such  strength  as 
had  been  given  to  them. 

Young  men  of  the  present  day  know  what  are  the  tempta- 
tions which  now  offer  themselves  in  the  life  of  an  American 
boy.  They  are  different  in  different  places.  "  Not  long  ago," 
says  Edward  Everett  Hale,  "I  was  speaking  on  the  need  of 
immediate  act  if  one  would  carry  out  a  good  resolution.  I 
was  in  the  largest  theater  in  Boston.  I  looked  up  at  the 
third  gallery,  which  was  crowded  with  several  hundred  boys 
and  young  men.  I  said,  '  Go  home,  and  take  down  from  the 


PERSONAL  PUEITY  AND  NOBILITY.  471 

wall  of  your  room  the  picture  you  would  be  ashamed  to  have 
your  mother  see  there.'  An  evident  wave  of  consciousness 
passed  over  the  hundreds  of  witnesses,  as  they  turned  to 
each  other,  as  they  smiled,  or  in  some  way  showed  that  they 
knew  what  I  was  talking  about. 

Young  men  know  better  than  old  men  what  are  the  pres- 
ent temptations.  If  young  men  knew  as  well  as  old  men  do 
how  much  of  the  best  life  of  every  country  is  lost  because 
the  young  men  do  not  resist  those  temptations,  they  would 
pay  more  attention  to  what  old  men  say  to  them.  Anybody 
who  knows  the  history  of  the  tug  of  war  between  France  and 
Germany  twenty  years  ago  knows  what  happened  then.  War 
tests  all  forms  of  manliness.  It  tests  endurance  and  physical 
strength  and  patience  under  disappointment.  We  know  who 
went  under  when  the  French  troops,  all  rotten  with  the 
impurity  of  France,  met  the  German  peasants.  The  French 
Empire  disappeared  because  of  the  dissoluteness  of  the  French 
Empire.  A  court  like  that  could  not  expect  the  support  of  sol- 
diers any  stronger  than  the  officers  of  the  headquarters-staff 
who  marshaled  them. 

To  a  man  deep  down  in  licentious  or  intemperate  habits,  it 
is  very  difficult  to  prescribe  the  remedies  for  his  cure.  The 
trouble  is  that  he  has  lost  the  power  of  will.  It  is  very  hard 
then  to  make  him  will  or  determine  anything.  The  poor 
creature  does  not  know  what  determination  means.  He  says 
at  night,  "  I  will  never  touch  liquor  again,''  and  the  next  day, 
when  he  passes  a  liquor  shop,  he  says,  "I  have  changed  my 
mind,  and  I  will  take  it  again."  Indeed,  he  has  not  changed 
his  mind,  he  has  no  mind  to  change.  He  never  made  a  reso- 
lution, because  such  a  man  cannot  make  a  resolution. 

For  young  men,  the  course  is  distinct,  and  not  so  difficult. 
The  prayer,  "Lead  us  not  into  temptation,"  states  it  very 
precisely.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  men  who  wish  to  have 
our  cities  temperate  wish  to  close  the  open  saloon  in  the  city. 
They  want  to  save  young  men  from  a  very  fascinating  temp- 
tation. For  every  young  man  who  reads  this  page  knows 
that,  while  he  might  go  into  an  open  shop  with  a  friend  to 
drink  a  glass  of  beer,  to  treat  or  to  be  treated,  he  would  not 
so  much  as  think  of  buying  a  bottle  of  liquor  to  carry  it  up  to 
his  own  private  room  and  drink  it  there.  What  we  want, 
when  we  say  we  wish  we  could  shut  up  all  the  liquor  shops,  is 


472  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

to  save  from  temptation  people  who  have  not  formed  the 
habit  of  drinking.  Just  the  same  thing  is  to  be  said  as 
to  the  temptations  to  unchastity.  If  you  do  not  begin,  you 
will  not  take  a  step  forward.  The  moment  that  you  find  that 
a  book  is  impure,  or  is  such  a  book  as  you  would  not  show  to 
your  mother  or  your  sister,  that  is  the  moment  to  put  that 
book  into  the  fire.  Indeed,  the  mere  physical  act  of  putting  it 
into  the  fire  will  be  a  good  thing  for  you.  It  will  be  like  one 
of  the  old  sacrifices  on  the  altar. 

And  if  you  want  any  reason  which  you  can  state  to  a 
friend  or  yourself,  for  your  taking  such  a  course,  the  reason 
is,  that  you  wish  to  keep  mind  and  body  in  the  condition  in 
which  it  pleased  God  to  make  them.  You  mean  to  train  your- 
self precisely  as  the  trainer  of  a  football  team  or  a  baseball 
team  or  a  boat  crew  trains  his  men.  You  mean  that  your 
hand  shall  be  steady,  your  feet  quick,  your  arm  strong.  And, 
more  than  this,  you  mean  to  have  these  powers  in  immediate 
command,  so  that  they  shall  do  just  what  you,  the  living 
man,  want  to  have  done. 

The  brain  of  man  works  most  accurately  and  most  steadily, 
and  therefore  most  reliably,  when  it  is  never  plagued  or  per- 
plexed by  the  influence  of  liquor.  The  literary  man  who  is 
a  total  abstainer  comes  back  to  his  desk  every  morning  most 
easily  and  most  readily.  On  an  emergency  he  sticks  to  his 
work  for  four  and  twenty  hours,  if  it  is  necessary,  most 
cheerfully.  And  in  that  four  and  twenty  hours  his  work  is 
best  worth  reading.  You  may  ask  any  newspaper  man  you 
choose,  or  any  literary  man  of  fifty  years'  experience  who  has 
known  the  other  literary  men  of  his  time,  and  they  will  sub- 
stantiate this  answer.  You  may  ask  any  trainer  of  athletes, 
and  he  will  sustain  this  answer.  For  absolute  physical  exer- 
tion the  point  is  conceded.  The  riflemen  who  take  the  prizes 
in  England  are  total  abstinent  men.  And  Greely  says  him- 
self that  if  he  were  to  take  another  party  to  the  North  Pole  he 
would  take  no  man  if  he  was  not  a  total  abstinent  by  habit 
and  principle.  In  point  of  fact,  the  great  exertion  by  which 
the  American  flag  was  planted  nearest  the  North  Pole  was 
made  by  men  who  had  no  regular  spirit  ration. 

The  highest  eulogy  which  can  be  paid  to  anyone  is  to  say 
that  he  is  noble.  It  is  comprehensive  of  all  the  virtues  and 
of  all  the  graces.  There  is  no  one  word  representing  charac- 


PERSONAL  PUEITY  AND  NOBILITY.  473 

ter  and  esteem  which  is  so  all-embracing.  There  are  some 
words  for  which  no  adequate  definition  seems  possible.  The 
feeling  of  their  meaning  is  deeper  than  any  impression  which 
language  is  able  to  convey.  Such  a  word  is  nobility.  If  one 
were  to  attempt  the  substitution  of  some  other  word  for  it, 
such  as  goodness,  benevolence,  justice,  he  will  find  that 
neither  separately  nor  collectively  do  they  fully  express  its 
meaning.  It  can  only  be  stated  by  circumlocution,  and  even 
then  inadequately. 

It  is  first  of  all  a  feeling.  The  appeal  which  is  made  to 
a  noble  person  is  answered  almost  before  it  is  presented, 
because  his  consciousness  of  the  needs  of  others  is  so  acute 
that  the  meaning  is  comprehended  intuitively.  Nobility  is 
the  expression,  not  of  the  intellect  so  much  as  of  the  soul,  not 
merely  of  the  mind  but  of  the  heart.  It  is  often,  indeed  gen- 
erally, expressed  in  the  face,  for  a  really  noble  person,  how- 
ever much  he  may  strive  to  do  so,  cannot  conceal  from  others 
the  benevolence  which  controls  his  life. 

The  nobility  of  feeling  involves  sympathy  with  all  that  is 
true  and  good.  It  is  the  condition  of  a  person  who  looks  with 
dissatisfaction  upon  everything  low  and  degrading  and  is 
conscious  of  entire  harmony  with  that  which  is  elevated  and 
pure.  Such  feelings  have  animated  all  those  who  have  been 
recognized  among  the  choice  characters  of  the  world. 

Then  there  is  also  nobility  of  character.  The  feeling  has 
become  habit,  and  forms  what  is  known  among  men  as  char- 
acter. It  is  not  a  mere  emotion,  but  a  mode  of  life  in  which 
all  the  powers  and  attainments  are  subordinated  to  the  high- 
est aims  and  plans.  The  noble  character  finds  itself  so 
intrenched  in  desires  for  the  welfare  of  all,  that  temptations 
in  the  opposite  direction  cease  to  be  effective.  In  other  words, 
his  whole  being  has  become  ennobled. 

Nobility  of  feeling  and  character  is  always  accompanied 
by  nobility  of  action.  Character  and  action  are  harmonious, 
and  cannot  be  in  conflict.  There  may  be  good  actions  per- 
formed spasmodically  or  as  the  result  of  impulse  by  those 
whose  souls  are  not  noble,  but  a  steady,  sustained  life, 
doing  noble  deeds,  is  only  possible  when  connected  with  those 
emotions  and  conditions  which  naturally  and  necessarily  pro- 
duce them.  A  life  that  is  noble  is  always  the  result  of  inner 
forces  and  not  of  external  incitements.  The  topic  under  con- 


474  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

sideration  is  not  merely  nobility,  but  true  nobility.  This  word 
is  employed  by  lexicographers  and  in  literature  in  different 
senses.  It  is  applied  to  nobility  of  descent,  i.  e.,  to  hereditary 
nobility,  in  which  the  title  descends  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. It  is  a  title  of  rank  and  has  no  necessary  relation  to 
personal  character.  While  some  such  noblemen  have  true 
nobility,  there  are  others  to  whom  it  is  entirely  wanting. 
There  have  been  men  of  loftiest  worth  who  have  won  the 
highest  crowns  of  rank  or  station,  while  others  who  are  offi- 
cially designated  by  such  titles  have  shown  themselves 
unworthy  to  wear  theirs.  Of  Lord  Byron  it  may  be  said 
that  he  was  a  great  poet  and  nobleman,  but  not  a  noble  man, 
while  of  Lord  Shaftesbury  it  must  be  said  that  he  was  alike 
noble  in  rank,  in  character,  and  in  works,  thus  combining  in 
himself  the  highest  qualities  of  manhood. 

The  real  nobility,  however,  has  already  been  indicated, 
viz.,  that  which  consists  in  personal  worth.  One  may  be 
truly  noble,  and  recognized  as  such,  though  destitute  of  learn- 
ing, scholarship,  office,  or  rank.  Indeed,  it  is  frequently 
found  in  persons  of  the  humblest  worldly  circumstances. 
Almost  every  day  we  read  of  acts  worthy  of  heroes,  done  by 
those  whose  names  are  scarcely  known  in  the  community  in 
which  they  dwell.  Instances  to  justify  this  statement  will 
meet  daily  the  readers  of  current  literature. 

The  qualities  then  which  must  be  sought  in  order  to  secure 
true  nobility  are  a  lofty  purpose,  deep  sympathies,  and  absolute 
self-sacrifice.  Neither  is  sufficient  without  the  others.  What 
then  is  the  purpose  which  must  enter  into  and  constitute  a 
noble  life  ?  It  must  be  both  general  and  particular.  It 
desires  to  make  the  best  of  the  whole  world  and  the  best  of 
each  member  of  society.  It,  however,  must  save  the  whole 
by  saving  each  part  of  it.  It  serves  the  whole  society  by  serv- 
ing the  units  of  which  it  is  composed.  Hence  nobility  does 
not  neglect  little  things  or  to  do  good  in  what  seems  small 
and  insignificant  ways.  Nothing  is  too  small  and  nothing  is 
too  large  for  a  noble  soul  to  do.  In  statesmanship  and  patriot- 
ism both  George  Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln  were 
truly  noble.  How  lofty  their  aims,  how  earnestly  they  sym- 
pathized with  struggling  humanity,  and  how  unselfish  and 
complete  were  their  sacrifices  ! 

How  much  nobility  is  found  among  business  men  !    How 


PERSONAL  PURITY  AND  NOBILITY.  475 

many  are  doing  business,  not  for  their  own  aggrandizement, 
but  to  benefit  their  fellow  men  !  A  gentleman  of  extensive 
business  told  the  writer  of  this  but  recently  that  he  did  not 
expect  to  make  any  more  money.  What  he  made  hereafter 
was  for  others. 

The  same  is  true  also  in  professional  life.  In  the  ministry, 
in  law,  in  medicine,  are  to  be  found  men,  not  a  few,  whose 
aim  is  not  wealth  or  fame,  but  who  desire  to  serve  "their 
generation  according  to  the  will  of  God."  It  were  easy  to 
make  a  catalogue  of  men  and  women  in  all  ages  who  repre- 
sent to  the  world  this  type  of  character.  They  are  the 
choicest  treasures  of  our  world,  more  precious  than  mines  of 
gold  and  of  silver.  To  enumerate  even  a  few  of  them  would 
be  impossible  here. 

The  one  noble  character  which  rises  above  all  others  is  the 
world's  Redeemer,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  highest 
specimen  of  true  nobility  the  world  has  ever  known.  Every 
trait  illustrating  it  was  found  in  him  and  the  attainment  of  it 
will  be  best  secured  by  the  study  of  his  life  and  teachings 
and  the  imitation  of  his  example. 

True  nobility  is  possible  to  all  and  everywhere.  It  matters 
little  whether  one  be  in  public  position  or  in  private  station, 
in  a  royal  palace  or  in  a  humble  cottage,  in  professional  life 
or  in  daily  manual  labor.  There  is  no  place  where  it  will  not 
have  opportunity  for  exercise.  Wherever  generosity,  purity, 
self-sacrifice,  truth,  and  fidelity  are  found,  there  will  be  found 
that  for  which  all  the  people  of  the  world  should  seek,  true 
nobility. 

"  Be  noble  !  and  the  nobleness  that  lies 
In  other  men,  sleeping,  but  never  dead, 
Will  rise  in  majesty  to  meet  thine  own.": — Lowell. 

"  Be  noble  in  every  thought  and  in  every  deed."  -Longfellow. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 


THOMAS    BRACKETT    REED. 


ON     THE     RIGHT     USE     OF     WEALTH A     CONVERSATION GLIMPSES     OF 

HIS    CHARACTERISTICS STRENGTH     OF     HIS    PERSONAL    CONVICTIONS HIS 

HOME HOW    IT     BESPEAKS     THE     MAN FAVORITE     CLUB EARLY     ENVI- 
RONMENT   AND     ANCESTRY THE     SCHOOLMASTER AT    COLLEGE HABITS 

OF    READING JOURNEYS    TO    CALIFORNIA ADMISSION    TO    THE    BAR HIS 

RETURN    EAST — CENTERS     PUBLIC    LIFE MEMBER    OF    CONGRESS A    MEM- 
ORABLE   SPEECH SPEAKER READINESS    IN    DEBATE LITERARY    SIDE    OF 

HIS     CAREER HIS     EPIGRAMS.        "MAKE,    SAVE,    GIVE    ALL    YOU    CAN." 


We  envious  people  who  cannot  be  wealthy  any  more  than 
we  can  add  a  cubit  to  our  stature  avenge  ourselves  by  think- 
ing and  proclaiming  that  pursuit  of  wealth 
is  sordid  and  stifles  the  nobler  sentiments  of 
the  soul.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  if  who- 
ever makes  to  grow  two  blades  of  grass 
where  but  one  grew  before  is  a  benefactor 
of  his  race,  he  also  is  a  benefactor  who 
makes  two  ships  sail  the  sea  where  but  one 
encountered  its  storms  before.  However 
sordid  the  owner  may  be,  this  is  a  benefit  of 
which  he  cannot  deprive  the  world. 

But  no  progress  which  did  not  lift  all 
ever  lifted  any.  If  we  let  the  poison  of  filth  and  disease  per- 
colate through  the  hovels  of  the  poor,  death  knocks  at  the 
palace  gates.  If  we  leave  to  the  greater  horror  of  ignorance 
any  portion  of  our  race,  the  consequences  of  ignorance  strike 
us  all  and  there  is  no  escape.  We  must  all  move,  but  we 
must  all  keep  together.  It  is  only  when  the  rear  guard  comes 
up  that  the  vanguard  can  go  on. 


THOMAS  BEACKETT  REED.  477 

'T  was  at  a  dinner  in  Washington,"  said  Robert  P.  Porter, 
"  that  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  myself  seated 
next  to  Thomas  B.  Reed.  It  was  a  brilliant  occasion, 
for  around  the  table  sat  well-known  statesmen,  scientists, 
jurists,  economists,  and  literary  men,  besides  two  or  three 
who  had  gained  eminence  in  the  medical  profession.  Mr. 
Reed  was  at  his  best,  'better  than  the  best  champagne.'  His 
conversation,  sparkling  with  good  nature,  was  not  only  exhila- 
rating to  his  immediate  neighbors,  but  at  times  to  the  entire 
table.  Being  among  friends,  among  the  sort  of  men  he  really 
liked,  he  let  himself  out,  as  it  were. 

"  Before  the  conversation  had  gone  beyond  the  serious 
point  I  remember  asking  the  ex-Speaker  how  he  felt  at  the 
time  when  the  entire  Democratic  press  of  the  country  had 
pounced  upon  him  ;  when  he  was  boing  held  up  as  '  The 
Czar ' —  a  man  whose  iron  heels  were  crushing  out  American 
popular  government.  '  Oh.' he  promptly  replied,  'you  mean 
what  were  my  feelings  while  the  uproar  about  the  rules  of 
the  Fifty-first  Congress  was  going  on,  and  while  the  question 
was  in  doubt  ?  Well,  I  had  no  feeling  except  that  of  entire 
serenity,  and  the  reason  was  simple.  I  knew  just  what  I  was 
going  to  do  if  the  House  did  not  sustain  me  ; '  and  raising  his 
eyes,  with  a  typical  twist  of  his  mouth,  which  those  who 
have  seen  it  don't  easily  forget,  he  added,  '  when  a  man  has 
decided  upon  a  plan  of  action  for  either  contingency  there  is 
no  need  for  him  to  be  disturbed,  you  know.' 

"  'And  may  I  ask  what  you  determined  to  do  if  the  House 
decided  adversely  ?' 

"  'I  should  simply  have  left  the  chair,  resigning  the  Speak- 
ership,  and  left  the  House,  resigning  my  seat  in  Congress. 
There  were  things  that  could  be  done,  you  know,  outside  of 
political  life,  and  for  my  own  part  I  had  made  up  my  mind 
that  if  political  life  consisted  in  sitting  helplessly  in  the 
Speaker's  chair,  and  seeing  the  majority  powerless  to  pass 
legislation,  I  had  had  enough  of  it,  and  was  ready  to  step 
down  and  out.' 

"After  a  moment's  pause  he  turned,  and,  looking  me  full  in 
the  face  with  a  half  smile,  continued  :  '  Did  it  ever  occur  to 
you  that  it  is  a  very  soothing  thing  to  know  exactly  what  you 
are  going  to  do,  if  things  do  not  go  your  way  ?  You  have 
then  made  yourself  equal  to  the  worst,  and  have  only  to  wait 


478  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

and  find  out  what  was  ordained  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world.' 

"  'You  never  had  a  doubt  in  your  own  mind  that  the  posi- 
tion taken  was  in  perfect  accordance  with  justice  and  com- 
mon sense  ? '  I  ventured. 

"'Never  for  a  moment.  Men,  you  see,  being  creatures  of 
use  and  wont,  are  naturally  bound  up  in  old  traditions.  While 
every  court  which  had  ever  considered  the  question  had  de- 
cided one  way,  we  had  been  used  to  the  other.  Fortunately 
for  the  country,  there  was  no  wavering  in  our  ranks.' 

"  '  But  how  did  you  feel,'  said  I,  '  when  the  uproar  was  at 
its  worst,  when  the  members  of  the  minority  were  raging  on 
the  floor  together  ? ' 

"  'Just  as  you  would  feel,'  was  the  reply,  'if  a  big  crea- 
ture were  jumping  at  you,  and  you  knew  the  exact  length  and 
strength  of  his  chain,  and  were  quite  sure  of  the  weapon  you 
had  in  your  hands.' 

This  conversation  gives  a  clear  insight  into  the  character 
of  Thomas  B.  Reed.  It  shows  his  chief  characteristics  :  rnanly 
aggressiveness,  an  iron  will  —  qualities  which  friend  and  foe 
alike  have  recognized  in  him  —  with  a  certain  serenity  of 
temper,  a  broadness,  a  bigness  of  horizon  which  only  the 
men  who  have  been  brought  into  personal  contact  with  him 
fully  appreciate. 

Standing,  as  he  does,  in  the  foremost  rank  of  both  public 
and  professional  men,  still  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party,  he 
must  continue  to  be  one  of  the  most  attractive  personages  in 
American  life.  First  of  all,  one  thing  about  the  man  has  to 
be  emphasized  ;  he  lacks  one  of  the  traits  that  popular  leaders 
too  often  possess.  He  cannot  be  all  things  to  all  men.  He  is 
bound  to  be  true  to  his  personal  convictions,  and  he  is  not  the 
man  to  advocate  measures  or  policies  he  detests.  Every  one 
knows  how  public  men  have  at  times  voted  against  their 
earnest  convictions,  and  then  gone  into  the  cloak  room  and 
apologized  for  it  ;  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  man 
of  Mr.  Reed's  composition  in  this  role. 

To  judge  a  man  well,  to  know  his  best  side,  it  is  necessary 
to  see  him  at  home. 

Mr.  Reed's  home  in  Portland  is  a  three-story  corner  brick 
house,  on  one  of  the  most  sightly  spots  in  town.  Over  the 
western  walls  of  that  modern,  substantial  New  England 


THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED.  479 

home  there  clambers  a  mass  of  Japanese  ivy,  which,  reliev- 
ing the  straightness  of  the  architectural  lines,  gives  a  pleas- 
ing something,  an  artistic  touch,  to  the  ensemble.  From  the 
roof  of  the  house  there  is  a  superb  view  of  Casco  Bay  and 
the  picturesque  expanse  of  country  around  Portland. 

The  stamp  of  the  man's  character  is  plain  everywhere  in 
that  house.  The  rooms  are  large,  airy,  and  unpretentiously 
furnished,  yet  with  solidity  and  that  certain  winning  grace  of 
domestic  appointments  in  old  New  England.  Much  of  Mr. 
Reed's  work  is  done  at  his  desk  in  a  wee  bit  of  a  room  on  the 
second  floor,  where  crowded  bookshelves  reach  to  the  ceiling. 
His  library  long  ago  overflowed  the  confines  of  his  den,  and 
books  are  scattered  through  the  rooms  on  every  floor  ;  books, 
bought  not  for  bindings  nor  editions,  but  for  the  contents, 
ranging  from  miscellaneous  novels  to  the  dryest  historical 
treatises,  from  poetry  to  philosophy. 

The  library,  on  the  ground  floor,  where  callers  are  usually 
received,  has  among  the  inevitable  bookshelves  a  few  photo- 
graphs of  masterpieces.  Over  the  mantelpiece  a  painting  of 
Weeks's  shows  that  the  sympathies  of  the  owner  extend  be- 
yond that  sphere  to  which  the  reading  public  is  inclined  to 
confine  him. 

Of  the  favorite  haunts  of  Mr.  Reed,  the  place  of  all  to 
study  his  social  side  is  at  his  club,  The  Cumberland. 

"You  see,"  said  Mr.  Reed,  once  in  conversation,  "a  club 
of  this  kind  is  only  possible  in  a  conservative  town  like  Port- 
land, a  staid,  old  place  which  grows  slowly,  at  the  rate  of 
about  five  or  six  hundred  a  year,  where  the  one  hundred  club 
members,  while  belonging  to  opposite  political  parties,  unite 
to  a  man  in  celebrating  the  victory  of  any  of  their  fellow 
members.  Most  of  them,  friends  from  boyhood,  have  gone 
to  school  together,  and  are  known  to  one  another  but  by  their 
Christian  names."  There  the  ex-Czar  is  always  called  "  Tom," 
or  "Thomas,  old  boy,"  and  there  reigns  supreme  a  fine  spirit 
of  equality,  or  unpretentious  "give  and  take"  sort  of  inter- 
course, which  is  really  the  ideal  object  6f  a  club. 

"Indeed,  there  is  no  place  like  it,"  said  Mr.  Reed.  "It  is 
the  most  homelike  club  one  can  imagine;  too  small  to  have 
coteries,  and  with  lots  of  bright,  sensible  boys,  quick  at 
repartee.  People  talk  of  my  wit,  but,  I  tell  you,  it 's  hard 
work  to  hold  my  own  there  ;  and  then,  no  one  can  try  to  pose 


480  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

among  us,  or  attempt  to  make  a  fool  of  himself,  but  he  is 
properly  sat  upon.  Intercourse  with  your  fellow  men  in  such 
a  milieu  is  the  best  discipline  I  know  of  for  a  man  —  except 
that  of  political  life,''  he  added,  with  a  droll  smile. 

Of  course  Mr.  Reed  is  always  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
Portland,  though  professionally  a  resident  of  New  York,  and 
he  cherishes  the  idea  that  some  day  the  city  of  his  birth  will 
become  one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  continent.  "  Portland 
harbor  is  one  of  the  finest  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  is  at  least 
two  days  nearer  Europe  than  New  York,  and  one  day  nearer 
Europe  than  Boston.  The  annexation  of  Canada  to  the 
United  States,  or  the  union  of  the  two  countries,  one  of  which 
is  bound  to  come  in  the  course  of  time,  will  surely  bring  to 
Portland  the  great  prosperity  that  should  be  hers  by  reason 
of  her  admirable  harbor  and  her  geographical  position. 
And,"  he  added,  "  while  I  liked  the  life  in  Washington,  es- 
pecially when  the  session  was  active  and  there  was  plenty 
of  work  to  do,  and  while  I  enjoy  the  tense  activity  of  New 
York,  it  has  never  yet  been  the  case  that  I  have  left  Portland 
without  regret,  or  gone  back  to  it  without  pleasure." 

The  frame  house  in  which  he  was  born. still  stands,  shaded 
by  two  elms  of  obvious  age.  Henry  W.  Longfellow  was  born 
just  around  the  corner  from  it,  in  a  dwelling  that  marks  the 
spot  where,  in  1632,  one  George  Cleeve  built  the  first  white 
man's  habitation  ever  erected  in  the  territory  now  included 
in  Portland's  boundaries.  The  settlement  was  called,  in  ten- 
der remembrance  of  an  English  field,  "  Stogumnor,"  and  its 
founder's  life  was  one  of  almost  ceaseless  conflict,  now  with 
the  redskins  and  now  with  the  white  neighbors  of  other  settle- 
ments, so  that  Cleeve  left  behind  him  the  impress  of  a  bold, 
vigorous  fellow.  His  daughter  married  Michael  Mitten,  whose 
two  daughters  in  turn  married  two  brothers  named  Brackett. 
One  of  the  Brackett  daughters  married  a  fisherman  named 
Reed,  whose  descendant,  Thomas  Brackett  Reed,  has  exhib- 
ited, in  a  different  way  and  under  vastly  different  circum- 
stances, much  of  the  nerve  and  daring  that  animated  his  stern 
old  fighting  settler-ancestor,  George  Cleeve. 

At  nine  Mr.  Reed  entered  the  grammar  school,  at  eleven 
the  high  school.  He  was  sixteen  years  old  when  he  com- 
pleted his  course  in  the  latter.  His  boyhood  friends  say  he 
was  fond  of  fun,  though  the  amount  of  knowledge  he  absorbed 


THOMAS  BEACKETT  REED.         481 

would  indicate  that  he  was  also  fond  of  books  •  yet  Mr.  Reed 
himself  confesses  that  literature  in  general,  and  old  romances 
in  particular,  attracted  him  more  than  text-books.  He  still 
remembers  his  first  schoolmaster,  a  spare  young  man,  "the 
best  disciplinarian  I  ever  knew,''  who  had  the  art  of  holding  a 
turbulent  school  by  finding  out  what  was  the  particular  spring 
he  could  touch  to  control  every  one  of  his  lawless  boys. 

"He  had  the  pull  on  me,"  says  Mr.  Reed,  "by  simply 
holding  over  me  in  critical  moments  the  penalty  of  dismissal. 
You  know,  I  had  a  sort  of  inborn  idea  that  the  school  was  a 
great  thing  for  me,  and  I  knew  that  my  parents  were  too  poor 
to  afford  to  send  me  anywhere  else,  so  I  kept  straight  along, 
doing  my  duty.  It  was  the  master's  custom  to  allow  each 
boy  who  had  no  demerits  to  ring  his  bell  before  leaving  the 
class,  and  once  for  three  days  in  succession  I  did  not  ring  that 
bell.  I  can  see  now  the  master  coming  to  me,  and  saying  : 
'  Tom,  is  it  an  inadvertence  ? '  '  No,  sir.'  '  Did  you  break  the 
rules  ? '  '  Yes,  sir.'  '  Why  ? '  '  Because  they  were  too  hard.' 
'  Well,  boy,  you  know  what  you  can  do  if  the  rules  are  too 
hard;  you  can  leave  school.'  I  hung  my  head  and  he  went 
away,  after  a  few  moments  of,  to  me,  terrible  silence,  saying  : 
'  Never  let  me  hear  of  this  again,  Tom.'  And  I  replied  :  '  No, 
sir,'  and  meant  it." 

On  entering  Bowdoin  College  in  1856,  young  Reed  had  a 
half-formed  desire  of  becoming  a  minister,  which  he  relin- 
quished, however,  long  before  his  graduation.  His  life  strug- 
gle began  in  earnest  with  that  first  year  at  college,  for  he  had 
to  earn  enough  to  pay  his  way  as  he  went  along.  His  attend- 
ance at  class  recitations  during  the  first  term  of  his  freshman 
year  was  regular,  but  he  found  it  necessary  to  drop  out  the 
next  two  terms  and  earn  some  money  by  teaching.  He  kept 
up  his  studies,  however,  without  an  instructor.  All  through 
the  first  part  of  his  college  course  young  Reed  devoted  a  great 
deal  of  time  to  literature,  to  the  neglect  of  his  studies.  While 
in  the  high  school,  a  garret  in  the  house  of  one  of  his  mother's 
relations  had  become  his  Mecca.  It  was  packed  full  of  books, 
especially  novels,  and  there  he  was  wont  to  journey  twice  a 
week,  loading  himself  with  volumes,  over  which  he  spent  his 
days  and  the  best  part  of  his  nights.  Mr.  Reed  says  that  it 
was  mostly  trashy,  imaginative  stuff,  but  that  it  also  was 
full  of  delight,  and  in  some  ways  full  of  information  for  him. 


482  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

To  that  omnivorous  reading  he  attributes  in  large  part  his 
knowledge  of  words,  and  it  was  also,  no  doubt,  an  apprentice- 
ship from  which  he  stepped  naturally  into  higher  literature. 

Graduation  was  but  little  more  than  a  year  off,  when,  the 
contents  of  the  garret  being  exhausted,  the  young  man  real- 
ized to  his  consternation  that  his  class  standing  was  very  low. 
His  place  at  the  end  of  the  college  course  depended  on  his 
average  class  standing  all  through.  He  had  received  none  of 
the  sixteen  junior  parts  which  were  given  out  during  the 
junior  year,  and  to  his  dismay  the  English  orations,  corre- 
sponding to  the  junior  parts  at  the  end  of  the  course,  were 
reduced  to  twelve.  There  was  but  one  course  open  to  the 
ambitious,  spirited  boy  —  to  offset  the  low  average  of  his 
earlier  terms  by  an  exceptionally  high  average  during  the 
last.  Romances  and  poems  were  laid  aside,  and  from  that 
time  forward  until  commencement  he  was  up  at  five  in 
the  morning,  and  by  nine  o'clock  every  night  he  was  in  bed, 
and  tired  enough  to  drop  asleep  at  once.  Mr.  Reed  says  very 
frankly  that  he  did  not  relish  this  regimen,  for  by  nature  he 
is  indolent.  Apropos  of  this,  it  was  a  common  saying  among 
his  comrades  that  Reed  would  be  somebody  some  day,  if  he 
were  not  so  lazy. 

The  consequences  of  his  three  years  of  novel  reading  were 
such  a  serious  matter  to  him  that  he  was  afraid  to  go  and 
hear  the  result  of  the  final  examinations,  but  remained  in  his 
room  until  a  friend  came  to  tell  him  that  he  was  one  of  the 
first  five  in  his  class  in  his  average  for  the  entire  course. 
This  is  the  other  side  of  Reed  "  the  lazy." 

Besides  this  success,  his  oration  on  "  The  Fear  of  Death  '' 
won  the  first  prize  for  English  composition.  It  was  in  deliver- 
ing it  that  Mr.  Reed  felt  the  first  emotions  of  an  orator,  when 
every  eye  in  the  audience  was  riveted  upon  him,  and  when 
the  profound  silence  that  prevailed  told  the  deep  interest 
which  his  words  aroused.  Of  the  year's  work  which  won  for 
him  the  privilege  of  delivering  it  on  that  Commencement  day, 
Mr.  Reed  says  that  it  was  the  hardest  of  his  life,  and  the  only 
time  he  has  forced  himself  up  to  his  full  limit  for  so  long  a 
period. 

Graduation  from  college  was  not  by  any  means  the  end  of 
the  struggle  for  the  young  man.  Money  was  still  lacking,  and 
to  get  it  he  engaged  in  school  teaching,  an  occupation  which 


THOMAS  BEACKETT  REED.  483 

he  had  already  followed  during  two  terms,  and  in  vacation 
times.  He  taught  at  first  for  twenty  dollars  a  month, 
''boarding  round,"  and  the  highest  pay  he  ever  received  as  a 
teacher  was  forty-five  dollars  a  month.  His  old  comrades 
delight  in  telling  an  incident  of  his  school  teaching  days. 
He  once  found  it  necessary  to  chastise  a  boy  who  was  about 
his  own  age,  although  he  had  been  cautioned  against  whip- 
ping by  the  members  of  the  committee  of  the  district,  unless 
he  first  referred  the  case  to  them.  But  Reed  was  Reed  even 
in  those  days.  The  committee  having  failed  to  sustain  him  in 
the  past,  in  this  instance  he  decided  that  some  one  must  be 
master  at  school,  and  that  he  would  be  that  some  one.  Accord- 
ingly, the  refractory  young  man  was  thrashed,  after  an  excit- 
ing quarter  of  an  hour  —  a  close  victory,  which  one  pound 
more  avoirdupois  might  have  decided  against  the  teacher. 

Mr.  Reed  soon  gave  up  school  teaching,  and.  thinking  that 
a  young  man  would  have  a  better  chance  out  West,  he  went 
to  California.  Judge  Wallace,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of 
California,  examined  Reed  for  admission  to  the  bar.  It  was 
in  1863,  during  the  Civil  War,  when  the  Legal  Tender  Act  was 
much  discussed  in  California,  where  a  gold  basis  was  still 
maintained,  that  Wallace,  whose  office  adjoined  the  one  where 
Reed  was  studying,  happened  in  one  day  and  said,  "  Mr.Reed, 
I  understand  you  want  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar.  Have  you 
studied  law  ? "  "  Yes,  sir,  I  studied  law  in  Maine  while 
teaching."  "Well,"  said  Wallace,  "I  have  one  question  to 
ask.  Is  the  Legal  Tender  Act  constitutional  ?"  "  Yes,"  said 
Reed.  "  You  shall  be  admitted  to  the  bar,"  said  Wallace. 
"  Tom  Bodley  (a  deputy  sheriff,  who  had  legal  aspirations) 
was  asked  the  same  question  and  he  said  'no.'  We  will 
admit  you  both,  for  anybody  who  can  answer  off-hand  a  ques- 
tion like  that  ought  to  practice  law  in  this  country." 

Reed's  sojourn  on  the  Pacific  coast  was  short.  In  1864  he 
was  made  Assistant  Paymaster  in  the  United  States  Navy, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  until  his  honorable  discharge  a 
year  or  so  after.  His  admission  to  practice  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  state  of  Maine  followed  on  his  return 
to  the  East.  Cases  came  to  the  young  lawyer  slowly.  The 
first  ones  were  in  the  minor  municipal  courts.  Gradually  he 
secured  a  certain  run  of  commercial  and  admiralty  cases 
which  began  to  yield  something  tangible  in  the  shape  of  fees. 


484  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Yet  the  goal  of  success  seemed  a  long  way  off,  when  it  hap- 
pened that  in  one  of  these  minor  cases  he  cross-examined  a 
refractory  witness  in  such  a  manner  as  to  completely  over- 
turn the  testimony  given,  and  thereby  won  the  case  for  his 
client.  The  unexpected  result  was  that  the  witness  who  had 
been  upset  by  the  young  lawyer's  skill  conceived  a  great 
admiration  for  him,  and  became  influential  in  sending  him 
many  cases. 

That  he  made  his  mark  in  his  modest  position  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  after  two  years,  in  1867,  Mr.  Reed  was  nom- 
inated for  the  state  Legislature.  Judge  Nathan  Webb,  then 
County  Attorney,  who  had  known  Reed  simply  as  his  oppo- 
nent in  a  number  of  cases,  had  proposed  his  name,  and,  after 
six  ballots,  had  succeeded  in  nominating  him.  The  first  thing 
Reed  knew  about  it  was  when  reading  the  papers  the  next 
morning,  and  his  first  impulse  was  to  decline.  When  Webb 
came  in  he  urged  him  to  accept,  saying  that  a  winter's  legis- 
lative experience  would  be  in  every  respect  valuable  to  him. 
Mr.  Reed  accepted,  and  after  serving  two  terms  in  the  House 
he  was  elected  to  the  state  Senate.  Then  he  was  made 
Attorney-General  and  afterwards  City  Solicitor  of  Portland, 
and  in  1876  he  was  for  the  first  time  nominated  to  represent 
his  district  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Washington. 

At  the  very  moment  when  Reed,  escorted  by  one  of  his 
colleagues,  took  a  seat  at  the  first  convenient  desk,  on  the 
day  when  he  began  his  life  as  a  congressman,  Mr.  Reed's 
massive  figure,  suggestive  of  physical  strength  ;  the  easy 
and  yet  not  offensive  assurance  with  which  he  took  his  seat 
and  glanced  with  quizzical  eye  about  the  chamber  ;  the  unaf- 
fected way  with  which  he  accepted  congratulations  from  the 
New  England  members  who  knew  him,  and  the  reputation  he 
had  already  won  as  a  master  of  wit  and  the  possessor  of  a 
tongue  which  could  be  eloquent  with  sarcasm, —  all  of  these 
things  so  impressed  Mr.  S.  S.  Cox  that  he  turned  to  Mr.  Wil- 
liam P.  Frye,  then  a  member  from  Maine,  and  said  :  ''Well, 
Frye,  I  see  your  state  has  sent  another  intellectual  and  phys- 
ical giant  who  is  a  youngster  here."  "  Whom  do  you  mean  ?'; 
asked  Frye.  "  This  man  Reed,  who  must  be  even  now  crack- 
ing a  joke,  for  I  see  they  are  all  laughing  about  him." 

But  to  maintain  the  reputation  which  his  state  had  secured 
for  committing  its  interests  to  master  men,  Mr.  Reed  had  a 


THOMAS  BEACKETT  REED.  485 

hard  task  before  him.  Elaine,  who  had  just  passed  from  the 
House  to  the  Senate,  had  made  Maine  of  preeminent  influence 
by  reason  of  his  formidable  canvass  for  the  presidential  nomi- 
nation. Eugene  Hale  and  Mr.  William  P.  Frye  represented 
in  part  the  state  in  the  House.  Hannibal  Hamlin  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Senate,  and  the  tradition  of  the  remarkable  intel- 
lectual achievements  of  William  Pitt  Fessenden,  so  long  a 
senator  from  Maine,  was  still  so  fresh  in  the  minds  of  many 
members  of  Congress  that  it  was  common  to  hear  Mr.  Fessen- 
den spoken  of  as  perhaps  the  ablest  senator  since  the  days  of 
Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun.  But,  unlike  the  stories  that  are 
told  of  the  debut  of  many  statesmen,  Mr.  Reed's  first  speech 
was  not  a  failure.  On  the  contrary  it  was  a  success, —  a  suc- 
cess all  the  more  brilliant  because  won  under  trying  circum- 
stances. 

A  bill  was  under  consideration  to  pay  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary  in  Virginia  damage  for  the  occupancy  of 
its  buildings  by  United  States  troops  during  the  war.  It  was 
one  of  an  almost  innumerable  class  of  similar  claims  in  the 
South,  and  its  payment  would  have  established  a  precedent 
that  would  at  that  time  have  opened  the  door  to  the  appropri- 
ation of  millions  of  dollars.  It  had  been  put  forward  as  being 
the  most  meritorious  of  these  Southern  war  claims,  in  the 
hope  that  the  sympathy  which  could  be  aroused  in  behalf  of 
the  venerable  institution  of  learning  making  the  claim  (it 
dating  back  to  Washington's  time,  and  being  of  a  religious 
and  eleemosynary  as  well  as  educational  character)  would 
stir  up  a  sentimental  feeling  by  means  of  which  the  other 
claims  could  be  slipped  through  the  House. 

Dr.  Loring,  a  Republican  member  from  Massachusetts,  one 
of  the  most  polished  and  eloquent  speakers  in  the  House,  had 
made  a  strong  and  touching  appeal,  full  of  pathos  and  senti- 
ment, in  favor  of  the  bill.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech 
spontaneous  applause  burst  from  all  sides  ;  Republicans  and 
Democrats  thronged  to  the  desk  of  the  orator  to  congratulate 
and  shake  him  by  the  hand.  The  scene  was  a  memorable 
one.  Cries  of  "A7ote,"  "Vote,"  rose  from  all  parts  of  the 
House,  and  it  seemed  inevitable  that  the  bill  would  pass  by 
an  almost  unanimous  vote. 

At  this  juncture  Mr.  Reed  arose.  He  has  told  that  he 
would  at  that  moment  have  sold  his  opportunity  to  speak  for 


486  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

a  very  insignificant  sum.  He  stood  motionless  for  ten  min- 
utes, unable  to  utter  a  word.  Knowing  that  his  only  chance 
was  to  dominate  the  turmoil,  he  at  last  raised  his  voice,  and, 
after  five  minutes,  he  felt  that  he  would  have  a  hearing. 
Slowly  the  excitement  and  noise  quieted  down,  and  for  forty 
minutes  he  was  given  the  closest  attention.  The  speech  was 
so  clear,  forcible,  and  convincing  that,  in  spite  of  some  break 
in  the  Republican  ranks,  it  recalled  members  of  both  parties 
from  their  temporary  emotional  lapse,  and  turned  the  tide 
against  these  dangerous  claims. 

In  1877  he  was  made  a  member  of  what  was  known  as 
"  The  Potter  Committee,"  appointed  to  investigate  the  opera- 
tions of  the  returning  boards  in  the  South.  Committee  work 
was  essentially  congenial  to  Mr.  Reed.  He  delighted  in  cross- 
examinations,  and  his  power  of  sarcasm  and  of  insinuating 
inquiry  furnished  the  committee  and  the  public  with  the  most 
dramatic  scenes  which  occurred  at  any  of  its  sessions.  In 
cross-examining  a  clever  scoundrel,  one  Anderson,  for  in- 
stance, for  two  whole  days,  he  at  last  compelled  him  to  admit 
that  he  was  a  forger.  "  Who  is  this  man  Reed  ? "  every  one 
began  to  ask,  and  the  young  congressman  found  himself,  per- 
haps more  in  his  legal  capacity  than  as  a  legislator,  famous. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  article  to  describe  Mr.  Reed's 
public  career,  further  than  to  say  that  there  came  ra  day  when, 
upon  the  departure  of  Mr.  Frye  from  the  House  to  the  Senate, 
and  the  election  of  General  Garfield  to  the  presidency,  Mr. 
Reed  passed,  by  common  agreement  and  without  questioning, 
to  the  leadership  of  his  party  in  the  House,  and  that,  in  the 
logical  course  of  events,  he  was  naturally  indicated  as  the 
candidate  for  the  speakership,  when,  in  1889,  after  six  years  of 
minority,  his  party  became  a  majority.  What  a  magnificent 
combination  of  assaults  and  eulogies  his  career  as  Speaker 
brought  forth  is  too  vividly  impressed  upon  the  popular  mind 
to  need  more  than  mention. 

During  his  public  career  Mr.  Reed  manifested  in  a  score 
or  more  of  verbal  hand-to-hand  conflicts  his  ability  to  meet  an 
emergency  to  the  best  advantage  of  his  side.  Always  upon 
his  feet  when  he  scents  danger,  he  was  as  quick  to  scent  it  as 
any  politician  who  ever  occupied  a  seat  upon  that  floor.  He 
was  at  all  times  as  truly  the  master  of  all  his  resources  as  ever 
Mr.  Elaine  was  in  that  same  tempestuous  arena  of  the  House. 


THOMAS  BEACKETT  REED.'  487 

From  the  first  he  has  shown  himself  that  rara  avis,  a  born 
debater  —  aggressive  and  cautious,  able  to  strike  the  nail 
right  on  the  head  at  critical  moments,  to  condense  a  whole 
argument  with  epigrammatic  brevity.  He  has  shown,  to  my 
judgment,  better  than  any  parliamentarian  living,  how  the 
turbulent  battlings  of  great  legislative  bodies,  so  chaotic  in 
appearance,  are  not  chaos  at  all  to  one  who  has  the  capacity 
to  think  with  clearness  and  precision  upon  his  feet.  Such  a 
man  assimilates  the  substance  of  every  speech  and  judges  its 
relative  bearing  upon  the  question.  At  the  beginning  it  is 
hard  to  tell  where  a  discussion  will  hinge,  but  gradually,  as 
the  debate  goes  on,  the  two  or  three  points  which  are  the  key 
of  the  situation  become  clear  to  the  true  debater.  His  art  of 
debate  may  be  understood  as  if  logs  were  heaped  in  confusion 
before  him,  and  the  thing  to  do  was  to  single  out  the  one  log 
which,  when  removed,  starts  all  the  others  flying  down 
stream  —  an  easier  thing  to  conceive  than  to  accomplish,  and 
which  demands  an  alliance  of  widely  diverse  qualities.  A 
correspondent  told  Mr.  Reed  once  that  it  seemed  to  him  as  if 
there  must  be  in  the  temperament  of  the  debater  something 
of  the  artist's  nature  —  a  little  of  the  same  instinct  to  inspire 
and  guide  him.  And  he  added  :  "  Don't  you,  like  the  artist, 
draw  from  material  everywhere,  from  friend  and  foe  alike, 
from  things  bearing  directly  upon  your  subject  as  well  as 
from  things  that  are  apparently  more  removed  from  it  ?  Don't 
you  have  something  akin  to  inspiration  ? " 

"  Well,  perhaps  so,"  Mr.  Reed  answered,  "  and  an  anec- 
dote occurs  to  my  mind  which  you  may  think  fits  your  theory. 
An  obscure  chap  got  up  once  and  went  for  me  in  what  was 
evidently  a  six  months'  laboriously  prepared  invective.  I 
hardly  realized  what  he  was  about,  except  that  I  had  an 
impression  of  the  man  using  words  in  the  same  frantic  fash- 
ion a  windmill  uses  its  arms  in  a  blow.  All  the  same,  when 
he  had  finished  pitching  into  me,  I  could  not  but  get  up  and 
return  the  compliment.  I  had  no  more  idea  of  what  I  was 
going  to  say  than  he  had,  when,  by  a  hazard,  my  eye  caught 
in  the  sea  of  heads  before  me  the  face  of  another  representa- 
tive from  his  state — a  man  who  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  his 
party — and  instantly  the  answer  flashed  into  my  mind.  I  had 
begun  with  something  like  '  This  is  only  another  echo  of  the 
minority  of  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  whose  echoes  are  dying, 


488  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

not  musically,  but  dying.  Gentlemen/  I  continued,  it  is  too 
much  glory  for  a  state  to  furnish  us  with  two  such  eminent 
representatives,  the  one  to  lead  the  House,  the  other  to  bring 
up  the  rear.' 

"  But  I  want  to  tell  you,  while  we  are  on  this  subject  of  the 
artist  and  the  orator,"  Mr.  Reed  continued,  "  that  I  believe 
there  is  as  much  of  a  rhythm  in  prose  as  there  is  in  poetry, 
and  if  a  man  has  not  the  intuitive  feeling  of  that  subtle  thing, 
rhythm,  he  can  never  amount  to  anything  as  an  orator.  Cer- 
tain books  of  George  William  Curtis — '  Prue  and  I,'  espe- 
cially— have  helped  me  as  much  as  anything  to  realize  how 
delightful  a  quality  rhythm  is." 

There  is  a  side  to  Mr.  Reed  which  few  people  suspect.  He 
is  a  lover  of  good  novels,  especially  such  novels  as  those  of 
Balzac  and  Thackeray,  which  present  human  nature  in  a  rug- 
ged, truthful  manner.  Mr.  Reed  would  have  about  as  much 
respect  for  a  namby-pamby  novel  as  he  has  for  a  wishy-washy 
politician. 

Of  the  English  novelists  he  likes  Thackeray  by  far  the 
best.  "Pendennis,"  "The  Adventures  of  Philip,"  and  "The 
Virginians"  he  esteems  as  his  most  interesting  works,  though 
Thackeray  reached  high- water  mark,  in  Mr.  Reed's  opinion, 
in  "Vanity  Fair."  Charles  Reade,  too,  has  found  in  him  an 
assiduous  reader.  He  thinks  "  The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth" 
the  finest  and  truest  picture  that  has  been  made  of  life  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  that  Charles  Reade  is  the  best  story-tel- 
ler that  ever  wrote  English. 

In  poetry  his  preference  is  for  Tennyson,  but  he  is  a  con- 
stant reader  of  Browning,  Holmes,  Longfellow,  and  Whittier 
also.  "  Would  you  mind,"  said  Mr.  Reed,  while  talking  of 
poets,  "if  I  descend  from  the  great  names  and  say  that  I 
have  a  great  liking  for  the  rhymes  of  a  Kansas  lawyer, 
Eugene  F.  Ware,  who  writes  over  the  nom  de  plume  of  '  Iron- 
quill  '?  They  are  so  direct ;  they  present  a  moral  in  so  few  and 
so  strikingly  well  chosen  words  ;  and  then  they  have  just 
enough  of  that  quality  of  language  which  is  always  attractive 
because  it  is  language  in  .the  making.  How  do  you  like  this 
example  of  Mr.  Ware's  sturdy  popular  muse  ? 

<<  '  Once  a  Kansas  zephyr  strayed 

Where  a  brass-eyed  bull-pup  played  ; 


THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED.  489 

And  that  foolish  canine  bayed 
At  that  zephyr  in  a  gay, 
(Semi-idiotic  way. 
Then  that  zephyr  in  about 
Half  a  jiffy  took  that  pup, 
Tipped  him  over  wrong  side  up  ; 
Then  it  turned  him  wrong  side  out. 
Then  it  calmly  journeyed  thence 
With  a  barn  and  string  offence. 

MORAL. 

"  '  When  communities  turn  loose 
Social  forces  that  produce 

The  disorders  of  a  gale, 
Act  upon  a  well-known  law, 
Face  the  breeze,  but  close  your  jaw  ; 
It's  a  rule  that  will  not  fail. 

If  you  bay  it  in  a  gay, 
Self-sufficient  sort  of  way, 
It  will  land  you,  without  doubt, 
Upside  down  and  wrong  side  out.' 

Mr.  Reed,  who  learned  French  after  he  was  forty  years 
old,  enjoys  the  masterpieces  of  French  fiction  and  French 
verse  in  the  original.  He  reads  and  rereads  Horace,  or, 
rather,  certain  parts  of  Horace  which  appeal  strongly  to  him. 
But  his  one  great  admiration  is  Balzac.  il  Yes,  I  like  to  read 
Balzac,"  Mr.  Reed  often  says.  "'His  closeness  to  nature 
and  life  holds  you  in  spite  of  yourself.  There  is  hardly  a  book 
of  his  which  is  not  sad  beyond  tears.  '  Eugenie  Grandet'  is 
the  most  powerful  delineation  of  the  absorbing  grasp  which 
love  of  money  has  on  a  strong  man,  and  the  power  which 
love  has  over  an  untutored  spirit,  but  sadness  permeates 
everything.  That  wonderful  love  story  of  the  '  Duchess  de 
Langais  '  is  like  no  other  love  story  ever  written.  Could  any- 
thing be  more  sad  than  her  life  at  the  convent,  and  her 
lovers  long  search  for  her  hiding  place  ?  unless  it  be  that 
lover's  discovery  when  he  scaled  the  convent  walls,  that  death 
had  been  stronger  than  love,  and  that,  after  a  life  of  wasted 
devotion,  nothing  could  be  said  of  her  beautiful  form  as  it 
sank  into  the  ocean  except  the  mournful  words,  '  She  was  a 


490  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

woman  ;  now  she  is  nothing.'  And  what  an  extraordinary 
picture  that  is  in  the  '  Peau  de  Chagrin '  of  the  controlling 
power  of  society  over  a  fashionable  woman  !  And  again,  in 
'  Pere  Goriot.'  How  sad  they  all  are,  and  the  sadness  of  a 
life  that  toils  not  nor  spins  !  Verily,  to  be  happy,  we  must 
take  no  note  of  the  flying  hours,  and  live  outside  of  ourselves. 
Is  not  the  condition  of  joyous  life  to  forget  that  we  are  liv- 
ing? Here  most  of  the  characters  are  so  entirely  selfish  that 
one  sometimes  thinks  there  is  not  one  single  friendly  heart 
in  the  entire  story.  All  are  so  conscious  of  living — even 
those  in  the  higher  sphere  —  and  so  anxious  to  appear  other 
than  they  are,  that  their  entire  lives  are  only  ignoble  strug- 
gles, with  nothing  of  serene  repose.  When  the  strife  is  not 
for  gold  or  position  it  is  for  love,  which  is  thus  degraded." 

The  late  Benjamin  Butterworth,  of  Ohio,  speaking  apropos 
of  Tom  Reed,  as  Butterworth  affectionately  called  him,  related 
the  following:  "The  way  Reed's  constituents  have  stood  by 
him  is  one  of  the  most  gratifying  things  to  me  in  American 
politics.  During  one  of  his  campaigns,  in  which  I  spoke  for 
him,  I  met  some  Democrats  in  his  district ;  I  said,  '  Gentlemen, 
I  do  not  know  anything  about  your  politics,  but  you  have  a 
man  of  sterling  qualities  to  represent  you.'  'Yes,'  they 
replied,  '  he  is  an  intense  Republican  and  has  peculiarities, 
but  we  like  him  because  he  represents  the  best  thought  of  the 
district,  and  we  vote  for  him  on  the  sly.' : 

That  plain-speaking  man.  whose  chief  characteristic  is  to 
be  true  to  his  own  convictions,  is  a  pretty  good  specimen  of 
the  Puritan.  Had  he  been  in  Cromwell's  army  he  either 
would  not  have  prayed  at  all  or  he  would  have  prayed  just 
as  long  as  Cromwell  did.  In  either  case  he  would  have  fought 
for  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right,  all  the  time,  and  given 
no  quarter. 

Touching  what  might  be  called  his  blunt  frankness,  I  recall 
an  incident  told  me  by  a  member,  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Whisky  Bill.  Mr.  Reed  had  baffled  the  attempts  of  the 
whisky  men  to  get  it  up,  but  in  his  temporary  absence,  through 
the  inadvertence  or  incapacity  of  a  member,  the  bill  was 
forced  on  the  House.  Reed  ran  down  to  the  fellow,  and 
vented  his  feelings  in  the  remark,  "  You  are  too  big  a  fool  to 
lead,  and  have  not  got  sense  enough  to  follow." 

If  his  bits  of  speeches  flung  about  in  the  heat  of  debate, 


EX-SPEAKER  THOMAS   B.   REED. 


"  YORK 
POBL'C  LIBRARY 


-  >: 

TH.D.EN  FOUMDATIONS 


MAKE,   SAVE,    GIVE  ALL    YOU  CAN.  493 

either  in  retort  of  in  attack,  were  gathered,  they  would  make 
an  unusually  interesting  book.  No  other  man  has  like  him  the 
power  to  condense  a  whole  argument  into  a  few  striking  words. 
His  epigrams  are  worthy  of  the  literary  artist  in  that  they 
are  perfect  in  form.  Though  struck  out  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment  you  cannot  take  a  word  from  nor  recast  them.  They 
have  for  solid  basis  a  most  profound  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  of  life,  and  they  exhibit  to  a  luminous  degree  the 
possession  in  their  author  of  that  prime  quality  of  a  true  man 
-  horse  sense.  Such  a  fragment  of  a  speech  as  the  following 
is  worthy  to  be  perpetuated  in  any  guise :  "  Gentlemen, 
everybody  has  an  opinion  about  silver,  except  those  who  have 
talked  so  much  about  it  that  they  have  ceased  to  think." 

Since  his  retirement  from  Congress,  Mr.  Reed's  profes- 
sional career  in  New  York  has  been  quite  as  remarkable, 
though  less  spectacular  perhaps,  as  when  he  swayed  parties 
and  issues  within  the  domain  of  public  service. 

MAKE,  SAVE,  GIVE  ALL  YOU  CAN. 

OHN    WESLEY    put    all   that    can    be    said    truthfully 
about  money   into   the  following  maxim  :     ''Make  all 
you  can,  save  all  you  can,  give  all  you  can."    This  rule 
is  so  brief,  exhaustive,  and  scriptural,  that  it  would  not 
be  out  of  place  in  the  Bible.     Wesley  himself  never  made  a 
happier  statement  of  truth  than  this  ;  he  crowded  the  whole 
subject  into  a  nutshell. 

So  far  from  wrong  being  attached  to  money -making,  duty 
enjoins  it.  He  who  has  the  talent  and  opportunity  to  accumu- 
late is  under  special  obligation  to  make  money.  Some  men 
and  women  are  born  money-makers  ;  "they  find  a  gold  dollar 
under  every  stone  they  turn  over."  Their  Midas-touch  con- 
verts everything  they  handle  into  gold.  They  are  called 
lucky,  fortunate.  But  that  is  not  it.  It  is  simply  their  genius 
for  making  money.  Matthews  says  of  this  class:  "They  have 
the  instinct  of  accumulation.  The  talent  and  inclination  to 
convert  dollars  into  doubloons  by  bargains  or  shrewd  invest- 
ments are  in  them  just  as  strongly  marked  and  as  uncon- 
trollable as  were  the  ability  and  the  inclination  of  Shakes- 
peare to  produce  a  Hamlet  and  an  Othello,  of  Raphael  to  paint 
the  cartoons,  of  Beethoven  to  compose  his  symphonies,  or 
Morse  to  invent  an  electric  telegraph.  As  it  would  have  been 


494  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

a  gross  dereliction  of  duty,  a  shameful  perversion  of  gifts, 
had  these  latter  disregarded  the  instincts  of  their  genius  and 
engaged  in  the  scramble  for  wealth,  so  would  a  Rothschild, 
an  Astor,  or  a  Peabody  have  sinned  had  any  one  of  them  done 
violence  to  his  nature,  and  thrown  his  energies  into  channels 
where  they  would  have  proved  dwarfs,  and  not  giants.  The 
mission  of  a  Lawrence,  equally  with  that  of  an  Agassiz,  a 
Bierstadt,  or  a  Cornell,  is  defined  in  the  faculties  God  has  given 
him  ;  and  no  one  of  them  has  a  right  to  turn  aside  from  the 
paths  to  which  his  finger  so  plainly  points."  Academies,  col- 
leges, hospitals,  museums,  libraries,  railroads, —  none  of  which 
could  have  been  possible  without  their  accumulation, —  are  the 
proofs  of  their  usefulness,  and  though  the  millionaire  too 
often  converts  his  brain  into  a  ledger,  and  his  heart  into  a 
millstone,  yet  this  starvation  of  his  spiritual  nature  is  no 
more  necessary  in  his  pursuit  than  in  that  of  the  doctor  or 
the  lawyer.  The  same  law  of  duty  that  enjoins  accumula- 
tion, also  prescribes  the  rules  under  which  it  must  be  made. 
If  millions  are  made,  under  a  careful  observation  of  these 
rules,  no  sin  can  attach  to  the  fortune.  It  is  just  as  right  to 
acquire  a  million  as  a  dollar,  if  it  be  honestly  done.  Dis- 
honesty makes  the  acquisition  wrong,  whether  it  be  much  or 
little.  The  wrong  does  not  lie  in  the  amount  accumulated, 
but  in  the  method.  Therefore  we  say,  without  hesitation, 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  men  who  can  to  make  money. 

Others  are  not  born  with  a  genius  to  grow  rich,  any  more 
than  to  paint  or  orate.  They  must  cultivate  a  talent  in  this 
direction,  as  opportunity  offers,  as  they  would  cultivate  a 
talent  for  any  work  of  the  artisan.  In  this  way,  and  in  this 
alone,  can  they  improve  their  God-given  faculties  as  duty 
requires.  With  strict  integrity  of  character  any  person  can 
safely  make  the  venture.  The  late  Amos  Lawrence  wrote  to 
a  younger  brother:  "  As  a  first  and  leading  principle,  let 
every  transaction  be  of  that  pure  and  honest  character  that 
you  would  not  be  ashamed  to  have  it  appear  before  the  whole 
world  as  clearly  as  to  yourself.  It  is  of  the  highest  con- 
sequence that  you  should  not  only  cultivate  correct  principles, 
but  that  you  should  place  your  standard  so  high  as  to  require 
great  vigilance  in  living  up  to  it."  It  was  under  the  rule  of 
principle  as  high  as  this  that  Lawrence  amassed  his  own  for- 
tune. Duty  requires  that  others  should  observe  the  same  rule 


MAKE,   SAVE,    GIVE  ALL   YOU  CAN.  495 

in  making  money.  There  is  no  danger  in  the  hardest  struggle 
for  riches  under  such  a  rule. 

Wealth  can  do  more  good  than  learning,  for  it  can  pur- 
chase learning,  and  a  thousand  other  things  with  it.  For  this 
reason,  a  man  is  justified  in  making  all  the  money  he  can.  A 
noble  object  justifies  a  hard  struggle  for  the  possession ; 
according  to  the  old  adage,  "  The  end  justifies  the  means." 

The  attention  of  the  country  was  directed  some  years  ago  to 
the  career  of  a  business  man  of  large  wealth, —  Hon.  Leland 
Stanford.  The  contribution  of  his  entire  fortune  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  grand  university  in  California  has  awakened 
the  interest  and  gratitude  of  the  American  people.  Begin- 
ning life  a  poor  boy  ;  drifting  through  the  Golden  Gate  in 
the  infancy  of  the  state,  when  a  young  man  ;  devoting  his 
energies  to  business  with  remarkable  tact  and  persistence  ; 
and  early  becoming  interested  in  public  affairs, —  his  laudable 
ambition  was  rewarded  by  eminent  success.  He  was  one  of 
the  original  five  citizens  of  California  who  planned  a  rail- 
road across  the  continent,  and  finally  secured  it,  after  great 
sacrifices  and  trials.  Many  times  he  could  behold  only  disap- 
pointment and  disaster  before  him ;  but  hard  work,  courage, 
and  indomitable  perseverance  overcame  every  obstacle,  and 
his  triumph  was  complete. 

It  was  for  the  welfare  of  his  adopted  state,  and  the  pros- 
perity of  his  native  land,  that  he  toiled  rather  than  for  great 
riches.  The  latter  was  incidental  to  the  achievements  of  a 
noble  public  spirit  and  Christian  principle.  In  the  exercise  of 
Christian  liberality  he  contributed  to  the  support  of  every 
good  cause,  and  finally  showed  the  greatness  of  his  benevo- 
lence by  founding  a  university  scarcely  without  a  peer  in  the 
United  States.  Here  young  men  and  women  can  fit  them- 
selves for  almost  any  pursuit  that  learning  adorns.  From  its 
classic  halls,  thousands  will  go  forth  in  future  years  to  bless 
our  land  by  their  labors  in  the  various  professions  and  occupa- 
tions of  life.  The  home  will  feel  the  saving  power  of  their 
cultured  lives,  and  the  state  and  nation  become  stronger  and 
better  by  their  labors,  showing  that  wealth,  honestly  acquired 
and  rightly  used,  is  one  of  the  greatest  agencies  for  good  on 
earth. 

The  acquisition  of  money  becomes  a  valuable  school  of  dis- 
cipline when  conducted  upon  Christian  principles.  It  calls 


496  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

into  exercise  the  best  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  thereby 
developing  true  manhood  and  womanhood.  To  prove  this 
statement,  we  have  only  to  call  the  roll  of  honor,  as  it  stands 
recorded  on  the  page  of  history,— Lawrence,  Grant,  Appleton, 
Spooner,  McDonough,  Allen,  Peabody,  Slater,  Goodhue,  Dodge, 
and  others  too  numerous  to  mention.  Their  business  did 
more  for  them  than  their  schools.  The  wealth  it  brought 
them  was  the  least  important  possession,  the  spotless  charac- 
ters coined  in  the  process  were  more  precious  than  gold.  "A 
good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches,  and  lov- 
ing favor  rather  than  silver  and  gold."  This  alone  justifies 
the  effort  to  make  all  you  can.  The  process  is  not  necessarily 
demoralizing,  but  uplifting  and  inspiring. 

When  Goodhue,  of  New  York  city,  was  buried,  the  din  of 
traffic  was  hushed  in  the  street;  and  city  officials,  merchant 
princes,  clergymen,  lawyers,  and  scholars  gathered  to  pay  an 
honest  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory.  The  character  of  the 
deceased  drew  them  there,  not  his  riches.  The  pastor  said  : 
"  It  is  the  recognized  worth  of  private  character  which  has 
extorted  this  homage.  It  is  the  man  himself;  the  pure,  high- 
minded,  righteous  man  who  adorned  our  nature,  who  digni- 
fied the  mercantile  profession, who  was  superior  to  his  station, 
his  riches,  his  exposures,  and  made  the  common  virtues  more 
respected  and  venerable  than  shining  talents  or  public  hon- 
ors ;  who  vindicated  the  dignity  of  common  life,  and  carried  a 
large,  high,  and  noble  spirit  into  ordinary  affairs  ;  who  made 
men  recognize  something  inviolable  and  awful  in  the  private 
conscience,  and  thus  gave  sanctity  and  value  to  our  common 
humanity.  This  was  the  power,  this  the  attraction,  this  the 
value  of  Jonathan  Goodhue's  life.  He  has  made  men  believe 
in  virtue.  He  has  made  them  honor  character  more  than 
station  or  wealth.  He  has  illustrated  the  possible  purity,  dis- 
interestedness, and  elevation  of  mercantile  life.  He  has 
shown  that  a  rich  man  can  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  He 
stands  up  by  acclamation  as  the  model  of  a  Christian  mer- 
chant." And  all  this  under  the  rule,  "  Make  all  you  can." 

The  real  value  of  money  was  never  so  great  as  now.  The 
progress  of  civilization  has  largely  multiplied  opportunities 
and  enjoyments,  so  that  money  can  do  more  good  now  than 
ever.  "  With  this  talisman,  a  man  can  surround  himself 
with  richer  means  of  enjoyment,  secure  a  more  varied  and 


MAKE,   SAVE,    GIVE  ALL   YOU  CAN.  497 

harmonious  culture,  and  set  in  motion  grander  schemes  of 
philanthropy  than  at  any  previous  period  in  the  world's  his- 
tory." The  proper  use  of  money  is  better  understood  to-day 
than  ever  before  ;  .and  there  is  a  more  general  disposition  to 
use  it  well.  If  some  know  better  how  to  waste  it,  others 
understand,  as  never  before,  how  to  dispense  it  for  the  high- 
est welfare  of  mankind.  Organizations  to  spend  money  for 
the  public  good  are  legion  now,  and  every  form  of  suffering 
humanity  finds  relief.  Another  strong  reason  for  the  counsel, 
"  Make  all  you  can." 

Lord  Bacon's  remark  about  riches  will  add  force  to  the 
foregoing  :  "I  cannot  call  riches  by  a  better  name  than  the 
'  baggage'  of  virtue  ;  the  Roman  word  is  better,  '  impediment,' 
for  as  the  baggage  is  to  an  army,  so  are  riches  to  virtue.  It 
cannot  be  spared  or  left  behind,  and  yet  it  hindereth  the 
march  ;  yea,  and  the  care  of  it  sometimes  loseth  or  disturbeth 
the  victory.  Of  great  riches  there  is  no  real  use,  except  it  be 
in  the  distribution  ;  the  rest  is  but  conceit." 

When  Wesley  gave  this  counsel  --  "  Save  all  you  can  ': 
he  did  not  mean  to  inculcate  stinginess,  but  a  wise  economy. 
There  is  a  kind  of  saving  that  amounts  to  meanness  ;  it 
ought  to-be  avoided.  "  There  is  that  withholdeth  more  than 
is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  to  poverty."  If  it  fill  the  coffers,  it 
empties  the  soul  of  all  that  is  noble.  Wesley  was  the  sworn 
enemy  of  such  saving  as  that.  He  meant  what  Dr.  Franklin 
did  when  he  wrote  to  a  young  man  :  "  The  way  to  wealth  is 
as  plain  as  the  way  to  market.  It  depends  chiefly  on  two 
words,  industry  and  frugality  ;  that  is,  waste  neither  time  nor 
money,  but  make  the  best  use  of  both.  If  you  would  be 
wealthy,  think  of  saving  as  well  as  of  getting.  The  Indies 
did  not  make  Spain  rich,  because  her  outgoes  were  greater 
than  her  incomes."  Again,  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  :  ' (  You  may 
think  that  a  little  punch  now  and  then,  diet  a  little  more 
costly,  clothes  a  little  finer,  and  a  little  entertainment  now 
and  then,  can  be  no  great  matter.  But,  remember,  many  a 
a  little  makes  a  mickle."  Still,  again,  "A  man  may,  if  he 
knows  not  how  to  save  as  he  gets,  keep  his  nose  all  his  life  to 
the  grindstone,  and  die  not  worth  a  groat  at  last." 

Saving,  in  this  sense,  is  certainly  a  duty.  It  is  the  only 
way  to  prevent  going  behindhand  in  finances  and  to  become 
forehanded.  The  author  knew  a  farmer  who  was  wont  to  do 


498  LEADERS  OF  3fEX. 

considerable  business  as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  A  short  time 
before  his  death,  in  old  age,  he  told  a  neighbor  that  he  was 
worth  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  neighbor  was  greatly 
surprised,  and  inquired  :- 

"  How  in  the  world  have  you  done  it  ?" 

"  By  saving  what  other  people  waste,"  was  the  old 
man's  reply.  Successful  business  men,  whether  merchants, 
mechanics,  manufacturers,  or  farmers,  claim  that  economy  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  success. 

Richard  Cobden,  the  noted  English  statesman,  said  to  an 
audience  of  workingmen  :  "  The  world  has  always  been 
divided  into  two  classes  ;  those  who  have  saved,  and  those 
who  have  spent ;  the  thrifty  and  the  extravagant.  The  build- 
ing of  all  the  houses,  the  mills,  the  bridges,  and  the  ships, 
and  the  accomplishment  of  all  other  great  works  which  have 
rendered  man  civilized  and  happy,  have  been  done  by  the 
savers,  —  the  thrifty  •  and  those  who  have  wasted  their 
resources  have  always  been  their  slaves." 

A  marketman  in  the  country,  who  was  selling  a  cartload 
of  watermelons  a  week,  was  once  asked  :  - 

"  Who  buys  your  melons  ?  " 

"  Those  who  live  from  hand  to  mouth,"  he  replied  ;  not 
the  wealthy  or  the  well-to-do  men  of  the  town, —  the  employ- 
ers,—  but  the  workingmen,  many  of  whom  complain  of  their 
burdens  of  poverty. 

Budgett,  the  great  English  merchant,  claimed  that  the 
want  of  economy  doomed  "  hundreds  of  business  men  to 
failure."  Economy  was  one  of  the  cardinal  lessons  he  taught 
his  six  hundred  clerks.  He  rebuked  them  for  using  too  much 
twine  in  tying  packages  and  too  much  paper  in  wrapping 
them,  and  required  them  to  pick  up  the  old  nails  about  the 
premises,  that  they  might  be  straightened  for  use.  Some  of 
the  clerks  called  him  penurious,  because  they  did  not  under- 
stand him.  He  required  these  things  more  for  their  sake  than 
his  own.  It  was  his  way  of  teaching  economy.  His  numer- 
ous gifts  to  charitable  objects  proved  that  he  was  not  penuri- 
ous, but  he  was  economical.  One  day  he  saw  a  lad  who  was 
following  a  load  of  hay  to  pick  up  the  locks  that  fell  there- 
from. He  stopped  to  commend  the  boy,  and  recommended 
him  to  practice  economy  as  a  duty  and  advantage,  and  then 
gave  him  a  shilling.  At  another  time,  he  was  walking  with 


MAKE,   SAVE   GIVE,    ALL    YOU  CAN.  499 

a  female  servant  in  the  highway,  when  he  found  a  potato. 
He  picked  it  up  and  presented  it  to  his  servant,  accompanied 
with  a  practical  lecture  on  economy.  He  promised  to  furnish 
land  to  plant  it  with  its  product  from  year  to  year.  The 
pledge  was  accepted,  and  the  potato  planted.  The  yield  was 
thirteen  potatoes  the  first  year,  ninety-three  the  second  year, 
and  a  barrel  full  the  third  year,  and  had  the  experiment  been 
continued  for  fifty  years  Budgett  could  not  have  found  land 
enough  in  England  on  which  to  plant  the  last  crop.  Here 
Budgett  taught,  not  only  the  practical  advantage  of  economy, 
but  furnished  a  capital  illustration  of  the  law  of  accumula- 
tion that  follows. 

Many  youths  say:  "Of  what  use  is  it  to  lay  up  a  few 
cents  a  day  ?  If  it  were  a  dollar,  it  would  be  worth  the  while." 
The  small  amount  saved,  blinds  them  to  the  great  value  of 
the  habit  formed.  Economy,  as  a  habit  of  life,  is  of  priceless 
worth.  The  amount  saved,  great  or  small,  is  nothing  in  com- 
parison with  the  habit  of  economy. 

The  habit  of  economy  enables  men  to  live  within  their 
means.  They  pay  as  they  go,  and  thus  keep  out  of  debt. 
Smiles  says  :  "  Debt  makes  everything  a  temptation.  It 
lowers  a  man  in  self-respect,  places  him  at  the  mercy  of  his 
tradesman  and  his  servant,  and  renders  him  a  slave  in  many 
respects,  for  he  can  no  longer  call  himself  his  own  master, 
nor  boldly  look  the  world  in  the  face.  It  is  also  difficult  for 
a  man  who  is  in  debt  to  be  truthful  ;  hence,  it  is  said  that 
lying  rides  on  debt's  back.  The  debtor  has  to  frame  excuses 
to  his  creditor  for  postponing  payment  of  the  money  he  owes 
him,  and  probably,  also,  to  contrive  falsehoods/' 

Sir  Edward  Bulwer-Lytton  wrote  :  "  Some  of  the  neediest 
men  I  ever  knew  had  a  nominal  five  thousand  pounds  a  year. 
Every  man  is  needy  who  spends  more  than  he  has  ;  no  man  is 
needy  who  spends  less.  I  may  so  ill  manage  my  money  that, 
with  five  thousand  pounds  a  year,  I  purchase  the  worst  evils 
of  poverty,  terror,  and  shame  ;  I  may  so  well  manage  my 
money  that,  with  one  hundred  pounds  a  year,  I  purchase  the 
blessings  of  wealth,  safety,  and  respect." 

Doctor  Johnson  claimed  that  debt  was  a  "  calamity."  He 
said  :  "  Do  not  accustom  yourself  to  consider  debt  only  as  an 
inconvenience  ;  you  will  find  it  a  calamity.  Poverty  takes 
away  so  many  means  of  doing  good,  and  produces  so  much 


500  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

inability  to  resist  evil,  both  natural  and  moral,  that  it  is  by  all 
virtuous  means  to  be  avoided.  Let  it  be  your  first  care,  then, 
not  to  be  in  any  man's  debt,  for  this  destroys  liberty,  and 
makes  some  virtues  impracticable  and  others  extremely  diffi- 
cult. Frugality  is  not  only  the  basis  of  quiefc,  but  of  benefi- 
cence. No  man  can  help  others  that  wants  help  himself  ;  we 
must  have  enough  before  we  have  to  spare." 

Nature  is  frugal.  The  wisest  economy  is  practiced  through- 
out the  entire  domain.  Nothing  is  wasted.  Not  a  particle  of 
matter  is  lost.  The  leaves  fall  and  decay,  the  flowers  wither 
and  die,  the  rains  sink  into  the  earth,  the  snowdrifts  disap- 
pear before  the  breath  of  spring,  wood  burns  to  ashes, — but 
nothing  is  lost.  In  other  forms  all  these  contribute  to  the  on- 
going of  the  universe  ;  and  without  this  economical  arrange- 
ment we  know  not  that  the  divine  plan  could  succeed.  Econ- 
omy is  one  of  the  pillars  on  which  the  whole  fabric  rests. 

''It  is  the  savings  of  the  world  that  have  made  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world.  Savings  are  the  result  of  labors  ;  and  it  is 
only  when  laborers  begin  to  save  that  the  results  of  civiliza- 
tion accumulate.  We  have  said  that  thrift  began  with  civil- 
ization ;  we  might  almost  have  said  that  thrift  produced 
civilization.  Thrift  produces  capital,  and  capital  is  the  con- 
served result  of  labor.  The  capitalist  is  merely  a  man  who 
does  not  spend  all  that  is  earned  by  work." 

Saving  to  give  is  the  highest  and  noblest  motive.  He  who 
saves  all  he  can  is  alone  able  to  give  as  he  should.  There 
appears  to  be  this  natural  connection  between  saving  and 
giving,  the  secret  of  it  being  found  in  the  disposition.  Hence, 
too,  the  genuine  satisfaction  found  in  the  act, — satisfaction 
not  only  from  giving,  but,  also,  satisfaction  of  saving  in  order 
to  give.  It  is  the  only  way  to  enjoy  money,  and  men  who 
have  it  ought  certainly  to  enjoy  it  as  they  enjoy  other  bless- 
ings. One  of  the  last  thoughts  expressed  by  Peter  C.  Brooks, 
near  the  close  of  his  life,  was,  "  Of  all  of  the  ways  of  dispos- 
ing of  money,  giving  it  away  is  the  most  satisfactory."  His 
experience  confirmed  the  divine  statement, "  It  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive."  "  The  liberal  soul  shall  be  made  fat ; 
and  he  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  also  himself."  "He 
which  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap  also  sparingly ;  and  he 
which  soweth  bountifully  shall  reap  also  bountifully."  We 
insist  that  these  divine  promises  are  fulfilled,  both  figura- 


MAKE,   SAVE,    GIVE  ALL   YOU  CAN.  501 

tively  and  literally,  in  the  lives  of  such  men  as  Brooks,  Amos 
Lawrence,  Appleton,  and  many  others.  Lawrence  was  wont 
to  repeat  the  famous  maxim,  "  Charity  giveth  itself  rich  ; 
covetousness  hoardeth  itself  poor  ; "  and  then  he  would  add  : 
"  Here  is  the  embodiment  of  a  volume,  and  whoever  wrote  it 
deserves  the  thanks  of  good  men.  I  would  fain  be  rich, 
according  as  he  defines  riches  ;  but  possession, — '  possession  is 
the  devil,'  as  the  old  Frenchman  said  to  George  Cabot.'' 

He  set  apart  two  rooms  in  his  residence  for  the  storage  of 
articles  designed  to  bless  the  needy.  Here  was  a  pile  of  ready 
made  clothing ;  there  one  pile  of  cloths  to  be  manufactured 
into  clothing  ;  near  by,  a  pile  of  groceries,  in  assorted  pack- 
ages, ready  to  deliver ;  and  so  on,  the  whole  space  being 
occupied  by  what  he  called  "hay-cocks.'' 

In  these  rooms  Mr.  Lawrence  spent  many  of  his  happiest 
and  most  profitable  hours  in  making  up  packages  for  the 
indigent ;  cloth  for  a  suit  of  clothes  for  a  student  in  college, 
or  a  minister  in  his  small  country  parish  ;  groceries  for  a  very 
poor  family  just  reported  by  a  city  missionary  ;  even  a  pack- 
age of  toys,  or  something  particularly  useful  and  interesting 
for  a  family  of  children  he  knew.  A  professor  in  college  is 
notified  of  a  barrel  and  bundle  of  books  forwarded,  with 
broadcloth  and  pantaloon  stuff,  with  odds  and  ends  for  "poor 
students  when  they  go  out  to  keep  school  in  the  winter." 
These  were  his  "  little  deeds  of  kindness,"  when,  at  the  same 
time,  he  was  contributing  his  thousands  to  endow  a  college, 
or  other  literary  institution,  to  educate  young  men  for  the 
ministry,  to  support  missionaries  and  other  philanthropic 
enterprises.  He  knew  how  to  enjoy  riches,  and  got  more  real 
satisfaction  out  of  them  than  Girard  or  Astor  ever  dreamed 
of.  He  wrote  to  a  son  who  was  away  at  school,  "  I  hope  you 
will  one  day  have  the  delightful  consciousness  of  using  a  por- 
tion of  your  means  in  a  way  to  give  you  as  much  pleasure  as 
I  now  experience.  Your  wants  may  be  brought  within  a  very 
moderate  compass  ;  and  I  hope  you  will  never  feel  yourself  at 
liberty  to  waste  on  yourself  such  means  as,  by  system  and 
right  principle,  may  be  beneficially  applied  to  the  good  of 
those  around  you."  Saving  to  give  he  both  preached  and 
practiced. 

Two  men  were  conversing  about  the  vast  estate  of  John 
Jacob  Astor,  some  years  ago.  One  asked  the  other  if  he 


502  LEADERS  OF  MEX. 

would  be  willing  to  take  care  of  the  millionaire's  property  - 
fifteen  or  twenty  millions  of  dollars — merely  for  his  board 
and  clothing.  "No!"  was  the  indignant  reply.  "  Do  you 
take  me  for  a  fool  ? '  '  Well,"  rejoined  the  other,  ''that  is  all 
Mr.  Astor  himself  gets  for  taking  care  of  it ;  he  's  found  and 
that 's  all.  The  houses,  the  warehouses,  the  ships,  the  farms, 
which  he  counts  by  the  hundred,  and  is  often  obliged  to  take 
care  of,  are  for  the  accommodation  of  others.''  "  But  then,  he 
has  the  income,  the  rents  of  the  large  property, —  five  or  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum,"  responded  the  other. 
"True;  but  he  can  do  nothing  with  that  income  except  to 
build  more  houses,  warehouses,  and  ships,  or  loan  money  on 
mortgages  for  the  convenience  of  others.  He  's  found,  and 
you  can  make  nothing  else  out  of  it,"  was  the  triumphant 
answer  of  the  first  speaker. 

Only  those  who  observe  Wesley's  rule  ever  get  anything 
but  their  board  and  clothing  for  taking  care  of  their  property. 
There  is  only  one  thing  to  be  gotten  out  of  it ;  and  that  is 
enjoyment  ;  and  the  latter  comes  from  giving,  and  not  from 
hoarding.  Rothschild,  the  great  Jew  banker  of  years  ago,  was 
only  "found.''  He  was  not  happy  ;  his  great  wealth  furnished 
him  no  real  enjoyment.  He  once  exclaimed  to  a  friend  who 
congratulated  him  upon  his  palatial  residence  and  vast  for- 
tune as  a  reason  for  being  happy,  "  Happy  !  Me  happy  !" 
these  three  words  told  the  story  of  his  life  -  -  "  one  of  the  most 
devoted  worshipers  that  ever  laid  a  withered  soul  on  the  altar 
of  Mammon." 

Girard  wrote  to  a  friend  :  "As  to  myself,  I  live  like  a 
galley  slave,  constantly  occupied,  and  often  passing  the  night 
without  sleeping.  I  am  wrapped  up  in  a  labyrinth  of  affairs, 
and  worn  out  with  care.  I  do  not  value  a  fortune.  The  love 
of  labor  is  my  highest  motive.  When  I  rise  in  the  morning, 
my  only  effort  is  to  labor  so  hard  during  the  day  that,  when 
night  comes,  I  may  be  enabled  to  sleep  sound."  With  all  his 
wealth,  he  worked  for  his  victuals  and  clothes.  No  wonder 
that  he  felt  like  a  "galley  slave."  The  introduction  of  giving 
all  he  could,  would  have  enabled  him  to  extract  solid  enjoy- 
ment from  his  riches.  As  it  was,  he  was  only  "found." 

A  rich  man  was  once  heard  to  say,  "  I  was  happier  getting 
my  wealth  than  I  am  in  spending  it."  We  have  heard  of 
other  rich  men  saying  the  same  thing  ;  but  no  man  will  say  it 


MAKE,   SAVE,    GIVE  ALL   YOU  CAN.  503 

who  observes  Wesley's  rule,  "  Give  all  you  can."  That  is  the 
heaven-ordained  condition  of  enjoying  the  spending  of  a  for- 
tune more  than  accumulating  it.  Cooper,  Lawrence,  and  all 
that  class  of  men,  enjoyed  spending  their  money  far  more 
than  they  did  getting  it,  because  a  benevolent  spirit  controlled 
them.  It  is  the  liberal  soul  that  is  made  fat  ;  the  stingy  soul 
is  made  lean.  They  could  almost  say  with  Mark  Antony,  "I 
have  lost  all  except  what  I  have  given  away.''  What  is  dis- 
pensed by  well-directed  benevolence  is  not  lost,  it  is  invested. 
It  will  yield  a  constant  income.  "  Give,  and  it  shall  be  given 
unto  you  ;  good  measure,  pressed  down,  and  shaken  together, 
and  running  over,  shall  men  give  into  your  bosom.  For  with 
the  same  measure  that  ye  mete  withal,  it  shall  be  measured  to 
you  again.''  It  is  good  measure  when  we  get  that  which  is 
"pressed  down,  shaken  together,  and  running  over";  and 
that  is  what  genuine  benevolence  receives  every  time.  There- 
fore, our  charities  should  be  reckoned  as  investments.  The 
remainder  of  our  property  may  "  take  to  itself  wings  and  fly 
away" ;  but  this,  never.  Money  judiciously  given  away  is  safe. 
Abbott  Lawrence,  brother  of  Amos,  was  another  merchant 
prince  of  Boston  who  reduced  Wesley's  rule  to  practice.  His 
pastor  related  the  following  :  "As  I  wTas  standing  just  beneath 
the  pulpit  at  the  close  of  the  funeral,  a  gentleman,  whom  I  saw 
at  once  was  a  clergyman,  came,  and,  addressing  me  by  name, 
asked  if  he  might  speak  to  me  a  moment.  My  reply  was  : 
'  Can  you  not  choose  some  other  time  ?  I  cannot  attend  to 
any  business  amid  this  scene,  and  with  that  body  lying  there.' 
His  answer  was  as  rapid  as  he  could  speak,  as  if  his  heart  were 
bursting  for  utterance,  and  with  tears  streaming  down  his 
cheeks  :  '  I  must  leave  the  city  at  two  o'clock,  and  must  speak 
now.  It  is  of  him  who  has  left  that  body  that  I  would  speak. 
Eighteen  years  ago  I  was  a  poor  boy  in  this  city,  without 
means  and  without  friends.  I  was  a  member  of  the  Mechanics' 
Apprentices'  Association.  Mr.  Lawrence  came  to  one  of  our 
meetings,  and  heard  me  deliver  an  essay  I  had  written.  He 
spoke  to  me  afterward,  inquired  into  my  circumstances  and 
character.  I  made  known  to  him  my  wants  and  wishes,  and 
he  furnished  me  with  means  to  acquire  an  education.  When 
prepared,  he  told  me  that  Harvard  College  was  best,  but  to  go 
to  what  college  I  liked.  I  went  to  the  Wesleyan  University, 
and  he  supported  me  there.  I  am  now  a  minister  of  the 


504  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

gospel  in  the  state  of  New  York.  Seeing  his  death  in  the 
paper,  and  a  notice  of  the  funeral  to-day,  I  came  on  to  attend 
it.  He  was  my  greatest  benefactor.  I  owe  it  to  him  that  I 
am  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  I  am  not  the  only 
one  he  has  thus  helped.  God  will  accept  him.  I  felt  that  I 
must  say  this  to  some  one  ;  to  whom  can  I  better  say  it  than  to 
his  pastor  ? '  And  with  this  he  hurried  away,  leaving  me  only 
time  to  learn  his  name,  and  to  receive  from  him  a  kind  prom- 
ise to  write  to  me."  There  is  only  one  way  of  making  such 
men  :  apply  Wesley's  rule. 

Opposers  of  the  rule  "Give  all  you  can, "plead  "Charity 
begins  at  home,"  and  it  usually  ends  there  with  those  who 
make  this  plea.  It  has  been  styled  "  a  neat  pocket  edition  of 
covetousness,"  and  really  means  that  selfishness  begins  at 
home  ;  and  where  selfishness  begins,  charity  ends.  Behind 
this  maxim  thousands  have  intrenched  themselves  against 
every  appeal  of  benevolence,  presenting  a  striking  contrast 
with  the  noble-hearted  man  who  was  asked,  "  Have  you  not 
made  yourself  rich  enough  to  retire  from  business  ? "  "  By 
no  means,"  he  replied  ;  "  I  am  not  rich  enough  yet  to  give  one 
leaf  of  the  catechism  to  each  member  of  my  family."  "How 
large  is  your  family?"  his  interrogator  inquired.  "About 
fourteen  hundred  million."  This  contrast  presents  the  essen- 
tial difference  between  selfishness  and  benevolence  in  practi- 
cal life. 

The  spirit  that  gives  all  it  can  ennobles  all  other  acts.  In 
William  Carey  it  manifested  itself  early  toward  companions 
and  friends,  and  those  who  were  poor  like  himself  ;  and  later 
in  life  it  stood  forth  grandly  in  his  great  missionary  labors  in 
the  East,  where  he  literally  spared  not  himself  in  toiling  for 
the  good  of  others.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  he  was  the 
son  of  a  very  humble  shoemaker,  and  the  two  men  who  sup- 
ported him  in  the  foreign  missionary  field  were  extremely 
poor  in  their  boyhood, —  one  of  them  was  the  son  of  a  carpen- 
ter, and  the  other  of  a  weaver, —  all  three  growing  into  man- 
hood with  this  noble  attribute  beautifying  their  lives.  The 
money  of  the  two,  with  the  personal  labors  of  the  third,  estab- 
lished a  magnificent  college  at  Serampore,  planted  sixteen 
missionary  stations,  translated  the  Bible  into  sixteen  lan- 
guages, and  inaugurated  a  grand  moral  revolution  in  British 
India. 


PART  THREE. 

LEADERS   IN  BUSINESS   AND    INDUSTRIAL 

LIFE. 


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CHAPTER  XXIV. 


ANDREW    CARNEGIE. 


MR.     CARNEGIE     ON     SUCCESS HIS     EARLY     BOYHOOD     IN     THE     UNITED 

STATES HIS     BIRTHPLACE ANCESTRY MESSENGER       BOY DEATH     OF 

HIS     FATHER LEARNS     TELEGRAPHY  —  BECOMES     AN     EMPLOYEE     OF      THE 

PENNSYLVANIA    RAILROAD SECRETARY    TO     THOMAS    A.    SCOTT A    FIRST 

INVESTMENT DURING     THE     CIVIL     WAR HOW    HE     BECAME     CONNECTED 

WITH    THE     IRON     AND     STEEL     INDUSTRY HIS     ORGANIZING    ABILITY A 

MAGAZINE    EPISODE HIS    CAREFUL     METHOD A    GREAT    TRAVELER HIS 

DEVOTION  TO  GOLF HIS  BENEFACTIONS CHARACTERISTICS  AS  A  THINKER, 

WRITER,    AND    SPEAKER HIS    LITERARY    WORK A     FEW     EXTRACTS HIS 

PERSONALITY SECRET    OF    HIS    SUCCESS.       HOW    TO    START    IN    LIFE. 


I  congratulate  poor  young  men  upon  being  born  to  that 
ancient  honorable  degree  that  renders  it  necessary  that  they 

should  devote  themselves  to  hard  work.  A 
basket  full  of  bonds  is  the  heaviest  basket  a 
young  man  ever  had  to  carry.  He  generally 
gets  to  staggering  under  it.  There  are  credi- 
ble instances  of  such  young  men  who  have 
pressed  to  the  front  rank  of  our  best  and 
most  useful  citizens.  These  deserve  great 
credit,  but  the  vast  majority  of  the  sons  of 
rich  men  are  unable  to  resist  the  temptations 
to  which  wealth  subjects  them  and  sink  into 
unworthy  lives. 


I  would  almost  as  soon  leave  a  young  man  a  curse  as 
burden  him  with  the  almighty  dollar.  It  is  not  from  this  class 
that  rivalry  is  to  be  feared.  The  partner's  sons  will  not 
trouble  you  much,  but  look  out  that  some  boys  poorer,  much 
poorer,  than  yourself,  whose  parents  cannot  afford  to  give 
them  like  advantages — look  out  that  such  boys  do  not  chal- 
lenge you  at  the  post  and  pass  you  at  the  grand  stand.  Look 
out  for  the  boy  who  has  had  to  plunge  into  work  direct  from 
the  common  school  and  who  begins  by  sweeping  out  the 
offices.  He  is  the  probable  dark  horse  that  you  had  better 
watch. 


508  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

To  summarize  the  essential  conditions  necessary  to  suc- 
cess, I  would  say  :  Aim  for  the  highest ;  never  enter  the  bar- 
room ;  do  not  touch  liquor,  or,  if  at  all,  only  at  meals  ;  never 
speculate  ;  never  endorse  beyond  your  surplus  cash  fund ; 
make  the  firm's  interest  yours;  break  orders  always  to  save 
owners  ;  concentrate  ;  put  all  your  eggs  in  one  basket  and 
watch  that  basket ;  expenditure  always  within  revenue ; 
lastly,  be  not  impatient,  as  Emerson  says,  "  No  one  can  cheat 
you  out  of  ultimate  success  but  yourself." 


/ 

1848  a  young  Scot  of  eleven,  named  Andrew  Carnegie, 
whose  family  had  just  emigrated  to  America,  got  a  job 
as  a  "bobbin  boy"  in  a  cotton  factory  of  Allegheny  City. 
His  wages  were  one  dollar  and  twenty  cents  a  week.  For 
a  quarter  of  a  century  that  boy  —  changed  to  a  man  —  dom- 
inated the  vast  steel  industry  of  the  United  States  ;  the  com- 
pany which  he  created  and  controlled,  employs  an  army  of 
fifty  thousand  men,  operates  nineteen  separate  furnaces  of  the 
largest  size,  with  seven  distinct  great  steel  works  and  a  score 
of  finishing  mills,  owns  two  complete  railroads,  gas  and 
coke  companies,  iron  mines,  docks,  fleets,  and  other  ramify- 
ing interests  difficult  even  to  catalogue,  and  was  the  gov- 
erning factor  in  the  formation  of  the  greatest  corporation  the 
world  has  ever  known,  the  "  billion  dollar ''  United  States 
steel  corporation  ;  he  himself  has  presented  libraries,  elabo- 
rate museums  and  other  public  institutions  to  more  than  a 
hundred  and  twenty  cities  and  towns  in  the  United  States, 
England,  and  Scotland. 

Even  such  an  inadequate  statement  calls  aloud  for  details — 
unlike  the  case  Mr.  Carnegie  himself  tells  of,  where  he  was 
describing  to  his  nephews  the  battle  of  Bannockburn:  "  '  There 
were  the  English  and  there  stood  the  Scotch.'  '  Which 
whipped,  uncle  ? '  cried  the  three  at  once  —  details  unnec- 
essary ! "  Let  us  glance,  then,  at  the  salient  facts  of  the 
fifty  years  that  have  wrought  so  magical  a  transformation. 
The  elder  Carnegie  was  a  master  weaver  of  Dunfermline, 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE.  509 

Scotland.  When  the  newly  invented  steam  machinery  drove 
him  and  his  four  hand  looms  out  of  business,  he  and  his  wife 
with  their  two  boys  decided  to  follow  some  relatives  across 
the  ocean  to  America.  They  loved  their  native  land  as  good 
Scots  do  ;  but  "  it  will  be  better  for  the  boys,"  they  agreed, 
and  that  settled  it.  There  is  a  fine  humor  in  the  thought  that 
steam  machinery  took  away  young  Andrew  Carnegie's  liveli- 
hood and  drove  him  over  seas  to  Pittsburg  !  It  is  like  the  man 
in  the  Eastern  tale  whose  enemy  sent  a  Jinn  to  destroy  him,  but 
who  mastered  the  Jinn  instead  and  made  it  give  him  domin- 
ion over  the  whole  world. 

His  very  first  step  was  to  become  acquainted  with  this  new 
force  in  the  world  of  industry  which  was  overthrowing  the 
old  order  of  things  and  had  incidentally  ruined  his  family. 
He  started  to  work  in  a  steam  cotton  factory,  tending  bob- 
bins. In  less  than  a  year  he  had  been  taken  from  the  factory 
by  one  who  had  noticed  the  boy,  and,  in  the  new  works,  he 
learned  how  to  run  the  engine  and  was  promoted  to  this 
work,  his  salary  of  twenty  cents  a  day  not  being  increased, 
until  he  did  clerical  work  for  his  employer  as  well  —  for  he 
had  some  knowledge  of  arithmetic  and  wrote  a  good  hand. 

Here  is  his  own  account  of  his  next  step,  when  he  became 
a  messenger  boy  in  the  Ohio  Telegraph  Company  :  - 

"  I  awake  from  a  dream  that  has  carried  me  away  back  to 
the  days  of  early  boyhood,  the  day  when  the  little  white- 
haired  Scotch  laddie,  dressed  in  a  blue  jacket,  walked  with 
his  father  into  the  telegraph  office  at  Pittsburg  to  undergo 
examination  as  applicant  for  position  of  messenger  boy. 
.  .  .  .  If  you  want  an  idea  of  heaven  upon  earth,  imagine 
what  it  was  to  be  taken  from  a  dark  cellar,  where  I  fired  the 
boiler  from  morning  till  night,  and  dropped  into  the  office, 
where  light  shone  from  all  sides,  and  around  me  books,  papers, 
and  pencils  in  profusion,  and  oh  !  the  tick  of  those  mysterious 
brass  instruments  on  the  desk  annihilating  space  and  stand- 
ing with  throbbing  spirits  ready  to  convey  the  intelligence  to 
the  world.  This  was  my  first  glimpse  of  Paradise." 

Shortly  after  this  his  father  died,  and  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen the  boy  became  the  sole  support  of  his  mother  and 
younger  brother.  But  the  weight  on  his  shoulders  was  merely 
a  spur  to  his  ambition.  He  had  not  been  in  the  office  a  month 
when  he  began  to  learn  telegraphy,  and  a  little  friendly 
instruction  soon  had  him  spending  all  his  spare  minutes  at 


510  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  key.  Characteristically,  he  was  not  content  with  the 
general  custom  of  receiving  by  the  tape,  but  doggedly  mas- 
tered the  clicking  tongue  of  the  instrument,  until  the  sup- 
posed insecurity  of  taking  messages  by  sound  was  found  not 
to  apply  to  him.  He  became  an  operator  presently  at  a  salary 
which  seemed  to  him  princely,  though  he  augmented  even 
this  twenty-five  dollars  a  month  by  copying  telegraphic  news 
for  the  daily  papers. 

There  is  almost  a  monotony  about  the  story  of  such  a 
man's  career  ;  everything  he  worked  at  he  did  better  than  his 
older  arid  more  experienced  companions, —  and  his  success 
shot  upward  like  Jack's  beanstalk.  When  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  needed  an  operator,  "  Andy  "  was  chosen  as  a  matter 
of  course  ;  and  here  his  field  of  endeavor  began  to  broaden 
rapidly.  He  relates  graphically  his  first  experience  as  a  cap- 
italist :  - 

"  One  day  Mr.  Scott  (the  superintendent  of  his  division), 
who  was  the  kindest  of  men  and  had  taken  a  great  fancy  to 
me,  asked  if  1  had  or  could  find  five  hundred  dollars  to  invest. 
.  .  .  I  answered  promptly  :  - 

"  'Yes,  sir,  I  think  I  can.' 

"  'Very  well,'  he  said,  'get  it.  A  man  has  just  died  who 
owns  ten  shares  in  the  Adams  Express  Company,  which  I 
want  you  to  buy.  It  will  cost  you  sixty  dollars  per  share.' 

"  The  matter  was  laid  before  the  council  of  three  that 
night,  and  the  oracle  spoke.  'Must  be  done.  Mortgage  our 
house.  I  will  take  the  steamer  in  the  morning  for  Ohio  and 
see  uncle,  and  ask  him  to  arrange  it.  I  am  sure  he  can.'  Of 
course  her  visit  was  successful  —  where  did  she  ever  fail  ? 

"The  money  was  procured;  paid  over;  ten  shares  of 
Adams  Express  Company  stock  was  mine,  but  no  one  knew 
our  little  home  had  been  mortgaged  '  to  give  our  boy  a  start.' 

"Adams  Express  then  paid  monthly  dividends  of  one  per 
cent.,  and  the  first  check  arrived.  .  .  . 

"The  next  day  being  Sunday,  we  boys  —  myself  and  my 
ever-constant  companions --took  our  usual  Sunday  afternoon 
stroll  in  the  country,  and  sitting  down  in  the  woods  I  showed 
them  this  check,  saying,  '  Eureka  !  we  have  found  ii.' 

"  Here  was  something  new  to  all  of  us,  for  none  of  us  had 
ever  received  anything  but  from  toil.  A  return  from  capital 
was  something  strange  and  new." 

As  soon  as  he  had  learned  all  there  was  to  know  about  train 
dispatching,  he  began  to  improve  on  the  existing  methods  ; 
he  became  a  picked  man  ;  Colonel  Scott  selected  him  for  his 


ANDREW   CARNEGIE.  511 

secretary  ;  and  before  long,  when  Colonel  Scott  advanced  to 
the  vice-presidency  of  the  road,  the  young  man  found  him- 
self superintendent  of  the  Pennsylvania's  Western  Division. 
Again  his  opportunities  multiplied --and  Andrew  Carnegie 
always  had  the  eye  of  a  hawk  for  an  opportunity. 

One  day  as  the  young  superintendent  was  examining  the 
line  from  a  rear  car,  a  tall,  thin  man  stepped  up  to  him,  intro- 
duced himself  as  T,  T.  Woodruff,  an  inventor,  and  asked  if 
he  might  show  him  an  idea  he  had  for  a  car  to  accommodate 
passengers  at  night.  Out  came  a  model  from  a  green  baize 
bag. 

"  He  had  not  spoken  a  minute,  before,  like  a  flash,  the 
whole  range  of  the  discovery  burst  upon  me.  '  Yes/  I  said, 
'  that  is  something  which  this  continent  must  have.' 

"  Upon  my  return  I  laid  it  before  Mr.  Scott,  declaring  that 
it  was  one  of  the  inventions  of  the  age.  He  remarked  :  '  You 
are  enthusiastic,  young  man,  but  you  may  ask  the  inventor 
to  come  and  let  me  see  it.'  I  did  so,  and  arrangements  were 
made  to  build  two  trial  cars,  and  run  them  on  the  Pennsylva- 
nia Railroad.  I  was  offered  an  interest  in  the  venture,  which, 
of  course,  I  gladly  accepted.  .  .  . 

"The  notice  came  that  my  share  of  the  first  payment  was 
$217.50 — as  far  beyond  my  means  as  if  it  had  been  millions. 
I  was  earning  $50  per  month,  however,  and  had  prospects,  or 
at  least  I  always  felt  that  I  had.  I  decided  to  call  on  the  local 
banker  and  boldly  ask  him  to  advance  the  sum  upon  my 
interest  in  the  affair.  He  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  and 
said  :  '  Why,  of  course,  Andy,  you  are  all  right.  Go  ahead  ! 
Here  is  the  money.'  ....  The  cars  paid  the  subsequent 
payments  from  their  earnings. '  I  paid  my  first  note  from  my 
savings,  so  much  per  month,  and  thus  did  I  get  my  foot  upon 
fortune's  ladder.  It  is  easy  to  climb  after  that.  And  thus 
came  sleeping  cars  into  the  world." 

Then  came  the  Civil  War,  and  Mr.  Carnegie's  constant 
friend,  Colonel  Scott,  now  became  Assistant  Secretary  of  War 
and  placed  him  in  charge  of  the  military  railroads  and  tele- 
graph lines.  His  expert  knowledge,  indomitable  courage, 
and  energy  made  him  invaluable.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
the  third  man  wounded  on  the  Union  side  (being  injured  while 
trying  to  free  the  track  into  Washington  from  obstructing 
wires) ;  he  did  yeoman's  service  at  Bull  Run  ;  and  he  over- 


512  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

worked  himself  so  pitilessly  that  his  health  broke  down,  and 
he  was  forced  to  go  abroad  for  the  winter. 

But  the  man  had  not  yet  struck  his  true  vocation.  That 
came  presently,  when  his  attention  was  drawn  to  the  wooden 
bridges  universally  used  at  that  time.  The  Pennsylvania 

«/  »/ 

road  was  experimenting  with  a  cast-iron  bridge.  Young 
Carnegie  —  he  was  still  under  twenty-five  —  grasped  the  situ- 
ation with  one  of  the  sudden  inspirations  that  characterize 
his  forceful  intellect.  The  day  of  the  wooden  bridge  was 
past ;  the  iron  structure  must  supersede  it.  Some  men  might 
have  stopped  there.  Andrew  Carnegie  went  out  and  formed 
a  company  to  build  iron  bridges. 

He  had  to  raise  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  but  he 
had  behind  him  the  confidence  of  a  Pittsburg  banker,  and  this 
proved  easy.  So  the  Keystone  Bridge  Works  came  into  being. 

From  this  time  on,  the  name  of  Andrew  Carnegie  is 
inseparably  associated  with  that  astonishing  development  of 
American  iron  and  steel,  which  is  among  the  modern  won- 
ders of  the  world.  The  Keystone  Company  built  the  first 
great  bridge  over  the  Ohio  river  ;  and  the  Union  Iron  Mills 
appeared  in  a  few  years  as  the  natural  outgrowth  of  this  ram- 
ifying industry.  Then,  in  1868,  Mr.  Carnegie  went  to  Eng- 
land. The  Bessemer  process  of  making  steel  rails  had  lately 
been  perfected.  The  English  railways  were  replacing  their 
iron  rails  with  steel  ones  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  English 
manufacturers  were  beginning  to  whisper  to  each  other  that 
they  had  firm  grip  of  a  gigantic  revolutionizing  idea.  The 
young  Scotchman  went  back  to  Pittsburg,  and  before  the 
Englishmen  were  well  aware  of  his  existence  he  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  steel  works  which  have  now  finally  beaten 
them  at  their  own  game. 

The  Ironmaster  was  now  fairly  launched  on  his  life  work. 
He  bought  up  the  Homestead  Works,  his  most  formidable 
rival ;  by  1888  he  held  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand  seven  huge 
plants,  all  within  five  miles  of  Pittsburg,  which  he  proceeded 
to  forge  and  amalgamate  into  a  steel-armored  giant,  called 
the  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  the  like  of  which  the  world  had 
not  before  seen.  At  the  beck  and  call  of  this  Titan  are  fifty 
thousand  men,  and  great  machines  which  dash  down  with 
the  force  of  a  hundred  tons,  or  descend  so  gently  as  to  rest 
upon  an  eggshell  without  cracking  it.  Other  products  of 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE.  513 

man's  ingenuity  tear  the  ore  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ; 
it  goes  to  the  company's  furnaces  and  converters  on  the  com- 
pany's railroads  ;  out  flow  millions  of  tons  of  iron  and  steel ; 
electric  cranes  catch  up  great  masses  of  two  hundred  tons 
each,  carrying  them  hither  and  thither,  arranging,  assem- 
bling :  rails  and  bridges  and  armor-plate  and  all  the  other 
myriad  manifestations  of  iron's  utility  are  hurried  forth  in 
endless  procession  to  every  part  of  the  globe  ;  vast  coke  and 
coal  fields,  mines,  docks,  ships,  gas  fields, —  all  these  are  merely 
incidental  and  casual  stones  in  the  rearing  of  this  edifice ; 
and  it  gives  one  a  new  comprehension  of  the  mental  possibil- 
ities of  one's  fellows  even  to  follow  in  the  track  of  the  mind 
which  conceived  and  built  up  this  overwhelming  incarnation 
of  modern  industrialism. 

Confronted  with  such  a  record  of  achievement  as  this, 
there  is  an  instinctive  demand  for  something  which  will  help 
the  hearer  to  grasp  the  personality  of  the  genius  behind  it. 
One's  mind  cannot  be  satisfied  until  it  has  traced  this  lordly 
commerce-bearing  river  to  its  source.  What  was  it  in  that 
Scotch  boy  which  promised  this  mighty  hive  of  industry  as 
surely  as  the  acorn  promises  the  oak  ?  Here  is  what  he  says 
himself  :— 

"Take  away  all  our  factories,  our  trade,  our  avenues  of 
transportation,  our  money  ;  leave  me  our  organization,  and  in 
four  years  I  shall  have  reestablished  myself." 

There  is  something  thrillingly  dramatic  about  that.  It 
voices  the  large  poise  and  confidence  of  that  type  of  genius 
which  recognizes  the  limitations  of  any  one  human  being,  and 
consequently  builds  with  men  as  the  machinist  builds  with 
iron, —  here  a  cog,  a  governor,  a  fly-wheel, —  until  he  has 
solved  the  secret  of  perpetual  motion,  for  he  has  brought  into 
being  a  self -directing,  self-supporting,  self -renewing  organi- 
zation, attracting  to  itself  other  human  atoms,  and  merely 
gaining  force  and  irresistible  impetus  as  the  years  roll  on. 

Mr.  Carnegie  is  fond  of  telling  how  he  was  once  asked  by 
the  editor  of  a  popular  magazine  for  an  article  on  Organiza- 
tion in  Business. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  think  I  could  write  that  article*.  But 
I'm  afraid  the  price  I 'd  have  to  ask  you  would  be  too  high." 

"  Oh  !  no,"  said  the  delighted  editor,  with  a  vision  of  a  mag- 
nificent "  feature  "  in  an  early  number  ;  "  I  'm  sure  we  could 
arrange  that  satisfactorily.  Name  your  own  figure." 


514  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"  Well,"  replied  Mr.  Carnegie,  "  I  could  hardly  afford  to 
do  it  for  less  than  five  million  dollars."  He  smiled  a  little  at 
the  sight  of  the  editor's  face,  and  then  went  on  :  "  No,  I  must 
withdraw  that.  What  I  should  put  into  it  has  cost  me  much 
more  than  that,  and  of  course  you  would  not  expect  me  to  sell 
it  to  you  at  less  than  cost." 

As  the  diplomatist  puts  it,  "  The  negotiations  fell  through." 

Probably  in  his  case  this  faculty  is  even  more  fundamental 
than  the  cardinal  qualities  of  concentration,  industry,  intelli- 
gence, and  thrift  which  he  enumerates  as  the  requisites  of 
success.  He  could  not  be  a  mere  "hewer  of  wood  and  drawer 
of  water"  with  his  capacity  for  attracting,  holding,  and 
developing  men  of  exceptional  ability  in  every  department  of 
business.  His  partners  in  his  famous  company  numbered 
forty  odd,  all  young  men — "My  indispensable  and  clever 
partners,"  he  calls  them,  "  some  of  whom  had  been  my  boy 
companions,  I  am  delighted  to  say,  some  of  the  very  boys  who 
had  met  in  the  grove  to  wonder  at  the  ten-dollar  check." 

Charles  M.  Schwab,  head  of  the  new  United  States  steel 
corporation,  is  a  typical  example  of  the  sort  of  men  whom  he 
has  developed.  Almost  every  year  new  names  are  added  to 
this  list  ;  for  although  Mr.  Carnegie  "never  helps  a  man,"  he 
founded  his  whole  business  upon  the  principle  of  making  the 
man  help  himself,  and  then  giving  him  the  fullest  chance  to 
use  and  develop  his  abilities.  No  favoritism,  and  a  share  of 
the  business  for  those  who  make  the  business,  have  been  his 
watchwords.  "My  partners,"  he  says,  "are  not  only  part- 
ners, but  a  band  of  devoted  friends  who  never  have  a  differ- 
ence. I  have  never  had  to  exercise  my  power,  and  of  this  I 
am  very  proud.  Nothing  is  done  without  a  unanimous  vote, 
and  I  am  not  even  a  manager  or  director.  I  throw  the 
responsibility  upon  others  and  allow  them  full  swing." 

A  recent  writer  says  :  - 

"  Although  Mr.  Carnegie  is  not  even  a  manager  or  director, 
his  judgment  is  largely  depended  upon  for  the  solution  of 
questions  that  require  sagacity  and  foresight,  and  he  is  fre- 
quently consulted  by  his  fellow  partners,  usually  by  telegraph, 
as  he  is  no  longer  a  resident  of  Pittsburg.  Every  day,  in 
whatever  part  of  the  world  he  may  be,  a  tabulated  form  care- 
fully filled  up,  giving  the  product  and  details  of  every  depart- 
ment of  the  works,  is  mailed  to  him,  thus  enabling  him  to  keep 
thoroughly  in  touch  with  his  business." 

He  shows  the  same  admirable  acumen,  common  sense,  and 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE.  515 

fairness  in  dealing  with  his  great  body  of  employees.  They, 
too,  have  been  partners  in  the  business,  for  in  1890  he  intro- 
duced a  sliding  scale  of  payment  by  which  a  minimum  was 
guaranteed,  and  every  worker,  no  matter  how  humble  his 
capacity,  shared  in  the  profits  of  prosperous  times  which  he 
helped  to  produce. 

His  vade  mecum  is  a  big  chest  of  drawers,  each  one  devoted 
to  papers  on  some  special  subject  ;  for,  like  most  men  of  his 
caliber,  when  he  wants  information  he  wants  it  at  once. 
Says  a  writer  who  walked  through  his  library  and  office  at 
Skibo,  speaking  of  this  cabinet  of  papers  :  - 

"  Every  drawer  has  its  label  —  'The  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany Reports,'  'paid  bills,'  'correspondence  about  libraries/ 
'grants,  etc.,'  'other  donations,'  'applications  for  aid,'  'mis- 
cellaneous,' 'social,'  'autograph  letters  to  keep/  '  publication 
articles,'  'correspondence  about  yachts,  launches,  etc.,'  'Skibo 
estate,'  '  Pittsburg  Institute,'  and  so  on,  and  so  on.  We 
looked  from  the  little  labels  that  told  of  all  things  done  in 
order  and  nothing  forgotten,  and  then  to  the  Remington  type- 
writer on  the  big  writing  table  and  the  sheets  of  '  shorthand ' 
lying  before  it  ;  to  the  piles  of  .books  from  '  The  Gospel  of 
Wealth '  to  '  An  American  Four-in-hand  in  Britain '  ;  to  the 
maps  hanging  on  the  wall  and  door  back,  with  little  flag  pins 
to  mark  where  the  interest  of  the  moment  was  centered.  We 
almost  grasped  the  secret  of  the  making  of  a  millionaire." 

But  right  here  is  manifested  the  quality  which  makes 
Andrew  Carnegie  much  larger  and  more  rounded  than  a  mere 
steel  magnate  or  business  genius.  He  has  never  been  con- 
tented to  sink  himself  entirely  even  in  these  tremendous 
enterprises  which  would  seem  to  demand  any  man's  last 
ounce  of  energy  and  concentration.  Long  before  he  became 
a  rich  man  he  showed  his  admirable  balance  in  this  respect. 
We  have  seen  that  he  was  a  hard  worker,  but  he  never 
"ground"  his  mind  and  spirit  to  the  exclusion  of  sport  and 
pleasure.  A  friend  who  knew  him  as  superintendent  of  the 
Pennsylvania's  Western  Division  tells  how  he  would  have 
the  conductors  and  brakemen  gather  information  for  him 
about  the  best  fishing  places  along  their  routes.  His  visits  of 
inspection  were  then  so  arranged  that  he  could  disappear  for 
half  a  day  or  more  at  a  time,  and  industriously  whip  these 
streams  in  search  of  trout  and  bass.  His  fondness  for  this 
sport  has  stuck  by  him  all  his  life,  and  to  it  among  other 
things  he  owes  his  acquaintance  with  his  great  friend  Herbert 


516  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Spencer.  These  two  hardened  anglers  are  accustomed,  when 
they  get  together,  to  exchange  "ideas  about  the  sort  of  fly 
most  desirable  to  use  in  complicated  cases,  and  to  try  to  rea- 
son out  the  fish's  mental  attitude  when  it  sees  the  fisherman's 
bait." 

Sixty  trips  across  the  ocean,  a  journey  around  the  world, 
and  expeditions  to  the  North  Cape,  China,  Japan,  and  Mexico, 
are  a  record  eloquent  in  themselves  that  he  does  not  "  work 
hard  "  in  the  sense  in  which  most  American  men  of  affairs 
understand  that  phrase.  His  mail  now  averages  from  three 
hundred  to  six  hundred  letters  a  day,  and  while  a  capable 
private  secretary  and  a  yawning  waste-paper  basket  absorb  by 
far  the  larger  portion  of  this  mass  of  correspondence,  he  is 
nevertheless  called  upon  to  transact  a  huge  amount  of  busi- 
ness. But  he  never  permits  the  load  to  become  an  Old  Man 
of  the  Sea.  In  the  library  of  his  home  he  attends  to  the 
necessary  things  in  less  time  than  most  business  men  expend 
in  traveling  to  and  from  their  offices,  and  like  Napoleon  real- 
izes that  a  fortnight  answers  more  letters  than  he  does. 

Often  he  will  go  away  all  day  to  play  golf,  which  he  jok- 
ingly declares  to  be  the  only  "  serious  business  of  life."  A 
correspondent  once  went  to  Cumberland  Island,  his  sister's 
home,  on  the  Georgia  coast,  to  interview  him  on  some  event 
of  tremendous  importance  in  the  world  of  steel.  He  found 
him  on  the  golf  links,  and  fired  at  him,  point  blank,  a  long 
list  of  carefully  prepared  questions  concerning  this  matter. 
Mr.  Carnegie  listened  with  patience  till  the  newspaper  man 
had  finished  then  he  broke  out  :  - 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  anything  about  all  that ;  but  yesterday 
I  broke  my  record.  I  just  went  around  this  course  in  five 
strokes  less  than  ever  before." 

A  fellow  enthusiast  at  the  game  declares  that  Mr.  Carnegie 
never  tires  of  talking  about  it.  He  says  :  "I  think  it  is  a 
great  pity  that  he  had  not  begun  golf  in  his  earlier  days, —  a 
time  when  he  was  busy  as  a  telegraph  boy,  doing  the  ele- 
mental things  which  have  made  him  the  man  he  is.  Being  a 
Scotchman,  he  has  the  keenest  appreciation  of  anyone  who 
can  play  the  ancient  and  royal  game  with  skill."  He  once 
said  to  a  friend  who  was  playing  golf  with  him,  and  who 
happened  to  make  a  long  stroke  off  the  tee,  that  for  the  joy  of 
nrnking  one  such  drive  the  payment  of  ten  thousand  dollars 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE.  517 

would  be  cheap.  At  Skibo  he  has  golf  links  of  his  own,  and 
plays  there  with  his  friends,  and  in  the  long  twilights  the 
game  lasts  till  dinner  time,  or  even  up  to  half-past  eight 
o'clock.  One  day  in  the  winter  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
devote  the  day  to  playing  golf,  but  when  the  morning  came, 
although  it  was  bright  and  sharp,  the  thermometer  was  at  six 
above  zero.  He  was  not  to  be  debarred,  however,  from  his 
anticipated  round,  and  spent  the  day  at  St.  Andrew's,  near 
Yonkers,  on  the  links,  though  everything  was  frozen  up  tight. 
He  came  home  bright  and  happy,  saying  it  was  one  of  the 
best  golf  days  he  ever  had  in  his  life  ! 

Besides  his  golf  and  fishing,  and  his  well  known  pastime 
of  coaching,  he  walks  and  drives  when  in  New  York  or  at 
Skibo  Castle,  and  he  greatly  enjoys  steam  yachting,  calling  a 
sea  voyage  his  panacea  for  every  ill.  He  tells  a  story  on 
himself  in  this  connection.  Leaving  for  Scotland  later  than 
usual  one  spring,  he  met  old  Captain  Jones,  superintendent  of 
one  of  the  Edgar  Thomson  plants,  and  began  to  express  his 
sympathy  that  the  latter  should  have  to  stay  there  in  the  hot 
weather  with  his  many  thousands  of  workmen. 

"  I  'm  very  sorry  you  can't  all  go  away,  too,"  he  declared. 
"  Captain,  'you  don't  know  the  complete  relief  I  get  when  out- 
side of  Sandy  Hook  I  begin  to  breast  the  salt  breezes." 

"And  oh,  Lord  !"  replied  the  quick-witted  captain,  "think 
of  the  relief  we  all  get." 

Next  to  his  fame  as  the  "  Steel  King,"  Mr.  Carnegie  is 
undoubtedly  most  widely  known  through  his  remarkable  list 
of  public  benefactions  in  the  shape  of  libraries  and  museums. 
These  number  over  a  hundred,  ranging  from  a  $15,000  free 
village  library,  to  the  magnificent  Carnegie  Institute  at  Pitts- 
burg,  the  enlargements  of  which  alone  are  to  cost  $3,600,000. 
Half  a  million  people  every  year  benefit  by  this  library,  with 
its  116,000  volumes,  the  splendid  orchestra  and  art  gallery, 
and  the  museum,  which  is  rapidly  developing  into  an  educa- 
tional institution  of  the  first  rank.  His  latest  and  probably 
most  noteworthy  benefaction  is  a  gift  of  $10,000,000  to  found 
The  Carnegie  Institution  in  Washington. 

Mr.  Carnegie  has  strongly  stated  his  principles  in  regard 
to  the  use  of  surplus  wealth  :  - 

"  I  have  often  said,  and  I  now  repeat,  that  the  day  is  com- 
ing, and  already  we  see  its  dawn,  in  which  the  man  who  dies 


518  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

possessed  of  millions  of  available  wealth  which  was  free  and 
in  his  hands  ready  to  be  distributed  will  die  disgraced.  Of 
course,  I  do  not  mean  that  the  man  in  business  may  not  be 
stricken  down  with  his  capital  in  the  business  which  cannot 
be  withdrawn,  for  capital  is  the  tool  with  which  he  works  his 
wonders  and  produces  more  wealth.  I  refer  to  the  man  who 
dies  possessed  of  millions  of  securities  which  are  held  simply 
for  the  interest  they  produce,  that  he  may  add  to  his  hoard  of 
miserable  dollars." 

He  is  no  hypocrite  ;  he  believes  that  a  man  who  makes  a 
fortune  has  every  right  to  enjoy  its  benefits  to  the  fullest  extent 
of  which  he  is  capable,  but  he  has  always  asserted  and  lived  up 
to  the  principle  that  "surplus  wealth"  is  to  be  regarded  "  as  a 
sacred  trust,  to  be  administered  by  its  possessor,  into  whose 
hands  it  flows,  for  the  highest  good  of  the  people."  He  is  not 
a  "philanthropist "  in  the  accepted  sense,  for  he  holds  that 
"of  every  thousand  dollars  indiscriminately  given,  nine  hun- 
dred and  fifty  had  better  have  been  thrown  into  the  sea,"  and 
as  he  says  in  "  Wealth  and  its  Uses  ":— 

"  There  is  no  use  whatever,  gentlemen,  trying  to  help 
people  who  do  not  help  themselves.  You  cannot  push  anyone 
up  a  ladder  unless  he  be  willing  to  climb  a  little  himself. 
When  you  stop  boosting,  he  falls,  to  his  injury." 

So  in  the  matter  of  giving  libraries  he  follows  a  very  defi- 
nite rule.  He  never  makes  any  stipulations  that  the  library 
shall  have  a  particular  character  ;  all  he  insists  on  is  that 
when  he  has  founded  it,  it  shall  be  supported  by  the  people 
and  shall  be  managed  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  community. 
His  very  first  appearance  in  print  was  as  a  protestant  against 
discrimination  in  reading  facilities.  A  generous  Colonel 
Anderson,  of  Allegheny,  used  to  throw  open  his  library  to  the 
working  boys  and  men  of  the  city.  Young  Carnegie  was  then 
telegraph  operator,  and  upon  finding  himself  debarred  from 
the  privileges  through  the  donor's  classification,  he  wrote 
such  a  burning  and  indignant  appeal  against  the  injustice  of 
it  that  the  restriction  was  removed  and  the  library  made  free 
to  all.  He  says  somewhere  :— 

"He  had  only  about  four  hundred  volumes,  but  I  doubt  if 
ever  so  few  books  were  put  to  better  use.  Only  he  who  has 
longed,  as  I  did,  for  Saturday  to  come  that  the  spring  of 
knowledge  should  be  opened  anew  to  him,  can  understand 
what  Colonel  Anderson  did  for  me  and  others  of  the  boys  of 
Allegheny,  several  of  whom  have  risen  to  eminence.  "5s  it 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE.  519 

any  wonder  that  I  resolved  that  if  surplus  wealth  ever  came 
to  me,  I  should  use  it  in  imitating  my  benefactor  ? " 

Never  has  any  resolve  been  carried  to  more  complete 
fruition  than  this,  and  Mr.  Carnegie  has  raised  a  memorial  to 
his  old  benefactor  in  the  library  building  which  he  has  pre- 
sented to  Emporia  College,  Kansas,  and  is  erecting  a  monu- 
ment in  his  honor  at  Allegheny  City  park.  A  friend  says  :— 

"  The  giving  of  libraries  is  his  great  pleasure  and  recre- 
ation. I  have  seen  his  eyes  sparkle  over  a  letter  received 
from  the  people  who  have  worked  out  the  library  problem  in 
their  town  by  his  help  and  have  got  the  institution  running 
and  doing  much  good.  His  pleasure  in  actually  seeing  the 
good  that  a  library  has  accomplished  through  the  efforts  of 
others  added  to  the  original  gift  made  by  him,  is  only  equaled 
by  making  a  good  drive  on  the  golf  links." 

Of  course,  in  the  large  daily  mail  already  referred  to,  library 
letters  are  most  numerous,  and  if  people  realized  how  many 
impracticable,  indirect,  and  foolish  letters  on  this  subject  were 
received,  they  would  see  the  importance  of  telling  in  a  clear 
and  businesslike  way  what  is  needed  and  why  the  gift  should 
be  bestowed. 

Mr.  Carnegie  is  too  good  a  business  man  simply  to  present 
money  en  masse.  The  usual  procedure,  after  the  money  has 
been  promised,  is  to  have  the  plans  made.  The  builders'  esti- 
mates are  prepared,  and  these  having  been  approved  by  the 
town,  are  sent  to  Mr.  Carnegie,  who  is  very  prompt  in  issuing 
instructions  to  honor  the  drafts  of  the  town  to  pay  for  the 
building  as  it  progresses.  This  does  away  with  any  confusion 
in  connection  with  the  funds  and  the  successful  completion  of 
the  enterprise. 

Mr.  Carnegie's  great  fondness  for  music  has  diverted  a  por- 
tion of  this  stream  of  benefaction  ;  he  has  quietly  presented 
organs  to  one  .church  after  another,  until  now  the  number  is 
perhaps  three  hundred.  He  often  says  he  will  be  responsible 
for  all  the  organs  say,  but  would  hesitate  to  indorse  the 
preachers  without  limitations.  Mr.  Carnegie  is  fond  of  point- 
ing out  that  theology  and  religion  are  different  things  —  one 
being  only  the  work  of  man. 

One  might  reasonably  fancy  that  the  diverse  activities 
already  chronicled  were  sufficient  even  for  an  extraordinary 
man,  but  Mr.  Carnegie  has  made  himself  in  addition  an  envia- 
ble reputation  as  a  clear  thinker  and  a  forceful  writer  arid 


520  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

speaker.  His  first  volumes,  "  Notes  of  a  Trip  Round  the 
World"  (1879),  and  "Our  Coaching  Trip"  (1882),  were  origi, 
nally  printed  for  private  circulation  only,  but  the  demand  for 
them  proved  so  great'that  they  were  subsequently  published 
regularly  —  after  the  author  had  been  forced  to  give  away  fif- 
teen hundred  copies  of  the  later  work  by  the  incessant 
requests  for  it.  His  "  Triumphal  Democracy  "  came  out  in 
1886,  reaching  a  circulation  of  forty  thousand  copies  in  the 
first  two  years,  and  this  volume,  with  his  many  later  pam- 
phlets and  magazine  articles,  has  amply  proved  his  wide  read- 
ing, sound  reasoning,  and  ability  to  hit  hard.  He  is  thor- 
oughly democratic,  and  believes  in  the  United  States  and  its 
future  with  a  fervor  which  has  often  inspired  him  to  elo- 
quence. Always  an  omnivorous  reader  and  with  a  natural 
taste  for  the  enduring  literature  of  all  ages,  he  is  particu- 
larly devoted  to  Shakespeare.  A  reading  of  some  part  of  a 
play  of  Shakespeare  is  almost  a  daily  pleasure,  and,  like  most 
Shakespeare  enthusiasts,  he  is  forever  being  reminded  of 
some  passage  by  the  most  casual  incident ;  and  again,  like 
enthusiasts,  he  likes  to  quote  the  whole  passage  suggested 
with  his  own  interpretation  of  the  dramatist's  meaning. 

It  is  really  wonderful  to  think  of  the  energy  and  thirst  for 
knowledge  which  could  produce  such  general  literary  culture 
in  so  busy  a  man, —  starting  at  fourteen  with  only  a  common 
school  education  and  a  mother  and  brother  to  provide  for 
besides  himself. 

In  looking  over  Mr.  Carnegie's  writings  one  cannot  fail  to 
be  struck  by  the  terseness,  felicity,  and  "pith"  of  many  of 
his  phrases.  It  is  not  the  studied  elegance  of  the  stylist,  but 
the  epigrammatic  expression  of  a  vigorous  personality.  Here 
are  a  few  extracts  taken  at  rancfom  :  - 

"  If  a  man  would  eat,  he  must  work.  A  life  of  elegant 
leisure  is  the  lift  of  an  unworthy  citizen.  The  Republic  does 
not  owe  him  a  living  ;  it  is  he  who  owes  the  Republic  a  life  of 
usefulness.  Such  is  the  Republican  idea." — Triumphant 
Democracy. 

"In  looking  back  you  never  feel  that  upon  any  occasion 
you  have  acted  too  generously,  but  you  often  regret  that  you 
did  not  give  enough."  -An  American  Four-in-Hand  in 
Britain. 

"Among  the  saddest  of  all  spectacles  to  me  is  that  of  an 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE.  521 

elderly  man  occupying  his  last  years  grasping  for  more  dol- 
lars." —An  American  Four-in-Hand  in  Britain. 

"  The  Monarchist  boasts  more  bayonets,  the  Republican 
more  books."  -  Triumphant  Democracy. 

"There  are  a  thousand  heroines  in  the  world  to-day  for 
every  one  any  preceding  age  has  produced."  -Triumphant 
Democracy.  • 

"  Immense  power  is  acquired  by  assuring  yourself  in  your 
secret  reveries  that  you  were  born  to  control  affairs."  -  Curry 
Commercial  College,  Pittsburg,  June  23,  1885. 

"  A  great  thing  this  instantaneous  photography  ;  one  has 
not  time  to  look  his  very  worst."  —  An  American  Four-in- 
Hand  in  Britain. 

"  But  Eve  was  not  used  to  kind  treatment.  Adam  was 
by  no  means  a  modern  model  husband,  and  never  gave  Eve 
anything  in  excess  except  blame."  —  An  American  Four-in- 
Hand  in  Britain. 

"  People  never  appreciate  what  is  wholly  given  to  them  so 
highly  as  that  to  which  they  themselves  contribute."  -An 
American  Four-in-Hand  in  Britain. 

"  The  instinct  which  led  the  slaveholder  to  keep  his  slave 
in  ignorance  was  a  true  one.  Educate  man,  his  shackles 
fall."  —  Triumphant  Democracy. 

"  There  is  no  price  too  dear  to  pay  for  perfection."  —  Round 
the  World. 

"Without  wealth  there  can  be  no  Maecenas." — The  Gospel 
of  Wealth. 

"  In  my  wildest  and  most  vindictive  moments  I  have  never 
gone  so  far  as  to  wish  that  the  Irish  landlords,  as  a  class,  had 
justice."  -  Speech  at  Glasgow,  September  13,  1887. 

"I  hope  Americans  will  find  some  day  more  time  for  play, 
like  their  wiser  brethren  upon  the  other  side."  — An  American 
Four-in-Hand  in  Britain. 

"  There  is  always  peace  at  the  end  if  we  do  our  appointed 
work  and  leave  the  result  with  the  Unknown."  -An  Ameri- 
can Four-in-Hand  in  Britain. 

"  Be  king  in  one  line,  not  a  Jack  at  all  trades." 

"For  Heaven  our  Home,  substitute  Home  our  Heaven." 

"  Break  orders  to  save  owners  every  time." 

Curry  Address. 

"  Put  all  your  eggs  in  one  basket  and  then  watch  that 
basket." — Curry  Institute  Address,  1885. 

Andrew  Carnegie  to-day  is  more  active  and  vigorous  than 


522  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

most  men  of  half  his  age  both  at  his  work  and  his  recreations. 
He  is  rather  small  physically,  but  tireless  in  his  sports. 
Though  his  hair  is  now  white,  there  is  a  light  in  his  eye,  and 
a  sense  of  power  in  his  face,  bearing,  and  erect  carriage, 
which  bear  evidence  to  his  splendid  vitality  of  mind  and 
body. 

He  has  a  profound  admiration  for  the  men  who  really  do 
things,  with  an  emphasis  on  the  "do,"  which,  as  is  his  habit, 
he  often  illustrates  by  a  good  story.  An  old  friend  of  his  in 
Pittsburg,  who  kept  his  fast  trotters  and  held  the  record,  was 
beaten  in  a  brush  by  a  young  man.  The  old  gentleman  disap- 
peared for  some  time.  He  had  gone  to  Kentucky  to  get  a 
horse  that  would  reestablish  his  supremacy.  He  was  being 
shown  over  a  stud,  and  had  already  been  past  a  long  string  of 
horses  with  their  records  on  the  stall,  and  the  victories  they 
had  won.  Then  he  was  taken  through  a  long  line  of  young 
horses  with  their  pedigrees,  from  which  the  dealer  was  prov- 
ing what  they  were  going  to  do  when  they  got  on  the  track. 
The  old  gentleman  wiping  his  forehead — for  it  was  a  hot 
day — suddenly  turned  to  the  dealer  and  said  :- 

"  Look  here,  stranger, —  you  've  shown  me  '  have  beens,' 
and  you  've  let  me  see  your  '  going  to  be's,'  but  I  am  here  for 
an  '  iser." 

One  who  has  known  him  says  :  "A  friend  is  struck  most 
strongly,,  in  coming  into  association  with  Mr.  Carnegie,  by 
the  force  and  tenacity  of  his  own  convictions.  When  he  has 
thought  out  a  thing,  he  knows  that  he  is  right,  and  he  will 
fight  to  the  bitter  end.  To  say  that  he  has  the  courage  of  his 
convictions 'is  not  more  than  half  telling  the  story  ;  he  has  the 
courage  of  ten  men  for  one  conviction,  and,  one  rather 
suspects,  thoroughly  enjoys  defending  his  own  side.  In  the 
case  of  the  South  African  War  and  the  Philippines  he  was 
most  violently  against  many  of  his  best  friends.  He  was 
a  friend  of  the  Boer  and  a  friend  of  the  Filipino,  and  he 
collected  a  tremendous  amount  of  printed  matter  on  these 
subjects,  from  which  he  informed  himself  so  minutely  as  to 
render  him  a  formidable  opponent  on  either  question.'' 

Unlike  many  men  of  large  deeds,  he  is  a  great  talker,  and 
his  well  rounded  mind,  unusual  versatility,  quick  interest, 
and  fund  of  humorous  stories  make  him  the  best  of  com- 
panions. He  is  never  at  a  loss,  and  is  equally  at  home  "  jolly- 


ANDREW   CARNEGIE.  523 

ing "  the  dry  goods  men  at  an  Arkwright  Club  dinner  or 
giving  sound  advice  to  Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller  Jr.'s  Bible 
class. 

With  all  his  enormous  wealth  he  takes  pleasure  in  the 
simplest  things,  provided  they  are  genuine.  While  a  frequent 
visitor  at  the  opera,  he  owns  no  box,  but  sits  in  the  body  of 
the  house.  He  has  traveled  widely,  yet  he  does  not  own  a  pri- 
vate car,  adhering  to  the  democratic  principles  that  he  has  so 
forcibly  laid  down.  He  has  the  truly  great  physical  ability  of 
going  to  sleep  at  will,  and  in  the  intervals  of  important  duties 
he  will  drop  off  in  a  short  sleep,  gaining  refreshment  denied 
to  most  men. 

His  sympathy  is  always  with  any  man,  particularly  a 
young  man,  who  is  hammering  away  honestly  to  make  his 
success.  A  friend  says  of  him  :  - 

"Andrew  Carnegie  has  none  of  the  arrogance  of  wealth, 
and  his  kindliness  of  spirit  goes  out  most  warmly  to  the  peo- 
ple who  are  struggling  to  get  ahead  in  the  world,  whether  in 
business,  in  education,  musical  study,  or,  indeed,  any  direc- 
tion. As  an  instance  of  this,  I  know  of  a  case  where  a  young 
man  was  leaving  a  position  which  he  had  filled  successfully 
for  a  good  many  years,  to  start  in  business  on  his  own  account, 
sacrificing  a  large  salary  and  risking  all.  Mr.  Carnegie,  hear- 
ing of  this,  and  knowing  the  young  man  slightly,  wrote  him 
a  letter  out  of  pure  kindliness,  congratulating  him  on  making 
the  change,  and  prophesying  a  success.  This  letter  was  timed 
to  arrive  when  it  would'  do  most  good, —  the  moment  when 
the  difficulties  of  the  struggle  seemed  most  trying.  The  young 
man  of  this  instance  gained  a  confidence  and  a  wholesome 
faith  in  himself,  which  has  been  of  the  utmost  value  to  him." 

One  secret  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  success  is  his  profound  confi- 
dence in  the  people  whom  he  has  gathered  about  him.  He  does 
things  which  a  stranger  would  pronounce  unbusinesslike  and 
careless  ;  but  that  stranger  would  be  struck,  upon  investiga- 
tion, by  the  fact  that  never  once  had  this  habit  gotten  him  into 
trouble.  He  acts  on  the  principle  that  to  trust  a  man  in  itself 
goes  a  long  way  toward  making  him  worthy  of  trust, —  and 
his  judgment  of  men  is  so  keen  that  he  trusts  the  right  man. 

Eminently  broad-minded,  Mr.  Carnegie  believes  in  all 
religions,  but  in  no  theologies.  He  has  great  sympathy,  for 
instance,  with  a  young  Chinaman  who  came  to  him,  heart- 
broken, because  he  had  been  told  by  the  missionary  that  his 
fathers  had  been  heathen  for  centuries,  and  that  his  children 


524  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

were  idolaters,  and  that  they  would  surely  be  found  in  the 
place  of  everlasting  punishment  !  He  sees  the  good  in  the 
religion  of  Confucius,  of  Buddha,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  sects, 
Oriental  and  Western.  He  is  not  a  contributor  to  foreign  mis- 
sions, and  confines  his  giving  to  directions  in  which  he  is 
familiar,  and  of  which  he  has  knowledge. 

It  is  a  pleasant  picture  this,  of  a  sturdy,  forceful,  large- 
minded  man,  putting  the  whole  energy  of  his  nature  into 
carrying  out  great  enterprises,  or  playing  golf,  or  writing 
books,  or  fishing,  or  coaching,  or  placing  the  means  of  self- 
education  within  the  reach  of  millions  of  his  fellow  men. 
Surely  he  is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  modern  Citizen  of  the 
Republic. 

The  first  volume  of  his  life  is  closed,  and  the  poor  bobbin 
factory  boy  retires  from  business,  as  Mr.  Morgan  says,  "the 
richest  man  in  the  world,"  all  made  in  legitimate  manufactur- 
ing, never  a  share  sold  or  bought  on  the  stock  exchange. 
This  is  a  "record  breaker";  but  what  if  the  last  volume  of 
this  man's  life  is  to  render  the  other,  marvelous  though  it  be, 
comparatively  unimportant  ?  Others  have  made  great  for- 
tunes, though  less  in  amount ;  but  it  is  often  said  of  Mr. 
Carnegie  that  he  never  does  things  like  other  men  :  will  he 
give  the  world  a  last  volume  more  surprising  than  the  first  ? 
There  are  those  who  so  believe,  but  that  is  another  story.  We 
must  await  developments. 

HOW    TO    START    IN   LIFE. 

HE  first  great  lesson  a  young  man  should  learn  is  that 
he  knows  nothing  ;  and  the  earlier  and  more  thor- 
oughly  this  lesson  is  learned,  the  better  it  will  be  for 
his  peace  of  mind  and  success  in  life.  A  young  man 
bred  at  home,  and  growing  up  in  the  light  of  parental  admi- 
ration and  parental  pride,  cannot  readily  understand  how  it  is 
that  every  one  else  can  be  his  equal  in  talent  and  acquisition. 
If,  bred  in  the  country,  he  seeks  the  life  of  the  town,  he  will 
very  early  obtain  an  idea  of  his  insignificance. 

This  is  a  critical  period  in  his  history.  The  result  of  his 
reasoning  will  decide  his  fate.  If,  at  this  time,  he  thoroughly 
comprehends,  and  in  his  heart  admits  and  accepts  the  fact, 
that  he  knows  nothing  and  is  nothing  ;  if  he  bows  to  the  con- 
viction that  his  mind  and  his  person  are  but  ciphers  among 


ANDREW   CARNEGIE. 


HOW  TO  START  IN  LIFE.  527 

the  significant  and  cleanly-cut  figures  about  him,  and  that 
whatever  he  is  to  be,  and  is  to  win,  must  be  achieved  by  hard 
work,  there  is  abundant  hope  of  him.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
a  huge  self-conceit  still  holds  possession  of  him,  and  he 
straightens  up  to  the  assertion  of  his  cold  and  valueless  self ; 
or  if  he  sink  discouraged  upon  the  threshold  of  a  life  of  fierce 
competitions  and  more  manly  emulations,  he  may  as  well  be 
a  dead  man.  The  world  has  110  use  for  such  a  man,  and  he 
has  only  to  retire,  or  submit  to  be  trodden  upon. 

When  a  young  man  has  thoroughly  comprehended  the 
fact  that  he  knows  nothing,  and  that,  intrinsically,  he  is  of 
but  little  value,  the  next  thing  for  him  to  learn  is  that  the 
world  cares  nothing  for  him  ;  that  he  is  the  subject  of  no 
man's  overwhelming  admiration  and  esteem  ;  that  he  must 
take  care  of  himself.  A  letter  of  introduction  may  possibly 
procure  him  an  invitation  to  tea,  and  nothing  more.  If  he  be 
a  stranger,  he  will  find  every  man  busy  with  his  own  affairs, 
and  none  to  look  after  him.  He  will  not  be  noticed  until  he 
becomes  noticeable,  until  he  has  done  something  to  prove  that 
he  has  an  absolute  value  in  society.  No  letter  of  recommen- 
dation will  give  him  this,  or  ought  to  give  him  this. 

Society  demands  that  a  young  man  shall  be  not  only 
somebody,  but  that  he  shall  prove  his  right  to  the  title  ;  and 
it  has  a  right  to  demand  this.  Society  will  not  take  this 
matter  upon  trust  —  at  least  not  for  a  long  time,  for  it  has 
been  deceived  too  often.  Society  is  not  very  particular  what 
a  man  does,  so  that  it  prove  him  to  be  a  man  ;  then  it  will 
bow  to  him,  and  make  room  for  him.  A  young  man,  not 
long  since,  made  a  place  for  himself  by  writing  an  article 
for  a  certain  review.  Few  people  read  the  article,  but  the 
fact  that  he  wrote  such  an  article,  that  it  was  very  long,  and 
that  it  was  published,  did  the  business  for  him.  Everybody, 
however,  cannot  write  articles  for  reviews,  although  every 
person  at  some  period  of  his  life  thinks  he  can  ;  but  every- 
body, who  is  somebody,  can  do  something.  A  man  must 
enter  society  of  his  own  free  will,  as  an  active  element,  or  a 
valuable  component,  before  he  can  receive  the  recognition 
that  every  true  man  longs  for.  A  man  who  is  willing  to 
enter  society  as  a  beneficiary  is  mean,  and  does  not  deserve 
recognition. 

There  is  no  surer  sign  of  an  unmanly  and  cowardly  spirit 


528  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

than  a  vague  desire  for  help  ;  a  wish  to  depend,  to  lean 
upon  somebody,  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  industry  of 
others.  There  are  multitudes  of  young  men  who  indulge  in 
dreams  of  help  from  some  quarter,  coming  in  at  a  con- 
venient moment,  to  enable  them  to  secure  the  success  in  life 
which  they  covet.  The  vision  haunts  them  of  some  benev- 
olent old  gentleman,  with  a  pocketful  of  money,  a  trunkful 
of  mortgages  and  stocks,  and  a  mind  remarkably  apprecia- 
tive of  merit  and  genius,  who  will,  perhaps,  give  or  lend 
them  money  with  which  they  will  commence  life  and  go  on 
swimmingly.  Perhaps  his  benevolence  will  take  a  different 
turn  and  he  will  educate  them.  Or,  perhaps,  with  an  eye  to 
the  sacred  profession,  they  desire  to  become  the  beneficiaries 
of  some  benevolent  institution. 

One  of  the  most  disagreeable  sights  in  the  world  is  that  of 
a  young  man  with  healthy  blood,  broad  shoulders,  and  good 
bone  and  muscle,  standing  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets,  look- 
ing and  longing  for  help.  Of  course,  there  are  positions  in 
which  the  most  independent  spirit  may  accept  of  assistance — 
nay,  in  fact,  as  a  choice  of  evils,  desire  it  ;  but  for  a  man 
who  is  able  to  help  himself  to  desire  the  help  of  others  in 
the  accomplishment  of  his  plans  of  life,  is  positive  proof 
that  he  has  received  a  most  unfortunate  training,  or  that 
there  is  a  leaven  of  meanness  in  his  composition  that  should 
make  him  shudder.  Do  not  misunderstand  ;  that  pride  of 
personal  independence  should  not  be  inculcated  which 
repels  in  its  sensitiveness  the  well-meant  good  offices  and 
benefactions  of  friendSj  qr  that  resorts  to  desperate  shifts 
rather  than  incur  an  obligation.  The  thing  to  be  condemned 
in  a  young  man  is  the  love  of  dependence,  the  willingness 
to  be  under  obligation  for  that  which  his  own  effort  may 
win. 

Church  societies  and  kindred  organizations  sometimes  do 
much  more  harm  than  good,  by  inviting  into  the  Christian 
ministry  a  class  of  young  men  who  are  willing  to  be  helped. 
A  man  who  willingly  receives  assistance,  especially  if  he  has 
applied  for  it,  invariably  sells  himself  to  his  benefactor,  unless 
that  benefactor  happen  to  be  a  man  of  sense  who  is  giving 
absolutely  necessary  assistance  to  one  whom  he  knows  to  be 
sensitive  and  honorable.  Any  young  man  who  will  part  with 
freedom  and  the  seK-rpspect  that  grows  out  of  self-reliance 


HOW  TO  START  IN  LIFE.  529 

and  self-support,  is  unmanly,  neither  deserving  of  assistance 
nor  capable  of  making  good  use  of  it.  Assistance  will  invari- 
ably be  received  by  a  young  man  of  spirit  as  a  dire  neces- 
sity—  as  the  chief  evil  of  his  poverty. 

When,  therefore,  a  young  man  has  ascertained  and  fully 
realized  the  fact  that  he  does  not  know  anything ;  that  the 
world  does  not  care  anything  about  him  ;  that  what  he  wins 
must  be  gained  by  his  own  brain  and  hands,  and  that  while  he 
holds  in  his  own  power  the  means  of  gaining  his  own  liveli- 
hood and  the  objects  of  his  life,  he  cannot  receive  assistance 
without  compromising  his  self-respect  and  selling  his  free- 
dom, he  is  in  a  fair  position  for  beginning  life.  When  a 
young  man  becomes  aware  that  only  by  his  own  efforts  can 
he  rise  into  companionship  and  competition  with  the  shrewd, 
sharp,  strong,  and  well-drilled  minds  around  him,  he  is  ready 
for  work,  and  not  before. 

Indeed,  what  many  people  consider  a  good  start  in  the 
world  may  prove  the  poorest  start  of  all.  A  capital  of  ten 
thousand  dollars,  inherited,  or  loaned  by  some  rich  friend, 
may  prove  less  fortunate  for  a  young  man  than  poverty  and 
a  good  character. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  money  capital  that  is  earned 
before  it  is  used,  serves  the  business  man  a  higher  purpose 
than  the  same  amount  of  capital  inherited  or  borrowed. 
Earning  the  capital  is  a  good  start  of  itself.  It  booms  the 
noblest  qualities  of  manhood. 

Principle  alone  is  a  good  start,  and  will  earn  a  good  name 
more  surely  and  quickly  than  money.  "  Good  principles  and 
good  habits  were  all  the  capital  I  had  to  start  with,"  said 
Amos  Lawrence,  and  it  was  all  the  capital  he  needed,  as  his 
successful  career  proved.  At  one  time  he  wrote  to  his  son 
who  was  in  France  :  — 

"Good  principles,  good  temper,  and  good  manners  will 
carry  a  man  through  the  world  much  better  than  he  can  get 
along  with  the  absence  of  either.  The  most  important  is 
good  principles.  Without  them,  the  best  maners,  although 
for  a  time  very  acceptable,  cannot  sustain  a  person  in  trying 
situations." 

Admiral  Farragut  said  to  a  gentleman  at  Long  Branch, 
after  the  close  of  the  late  war  :  — 


530  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"Would  you  like  to  know  how  I  was  enabled  to  serve  my 
country  ?  " 

"  Of  course  I  should,"  responded  the  person  addressed. 
"I  should  enjoy  it  hugely." 

"  It  was  all  owing  to  a  resolution  that  I  formed  when  I  was 
ten  years  old/'  continued  the  admiral.  ''My  father  was  sent 
to  New  Orleans  with  the  little  navy  we  had,  to  look  after  the 
treason  of  Burr.  I  accompanied  him  as  a  cabin  boy.  I  had 
some  qualities  that  I  thought  made  a  man  of  me.  I  could 
swear  like  an  old  salt,  could  drink  a  stiff  glass  of  grog  as  if  I 
had  doubled  Cape  Horn,  and  could  smoke  like  a  locomotive.  I 
was  great  at  cards,  and  was  fond  of  gambling  in  every  shape. 
At  the  close  of  dinner  one  day,  my  father  turned  everybody 
out  of  the  cabin,  locked  the  door,  and  said  to  me  :  — 

"  '  David,  what  do  you  mean  to  be  ? ' 

"  '  I  mean  to  follow  the  sea,'  I  said. 

"'  Follow  the  sea!'  exclaimed  father;  'yes,  be  a  poor, 
miserable,  drunken  sailor  before  the  mast,  kicked  and  cuffed 
about  the  world,  and  die  in  some  fever  hospital  in  a  foreign 
clime.' 

"  '  No,  father,'  I  replied,  '  I  will  tread  the  quarter-deck,  and 
command,  as  you  do.' 

"  'No,  David  ;  no  boy  ever  trod  the  quarter-deck  with  such 
principles  as  you  have,  and  such  habits  as  you  exhibit.  You 
will  have  to  change  your  whole  course  of  life  if  you  ever 
become  a  man.' 

"  My  father  then  left  me  and  went  on  deck.  I  was  stunned 
by  the  rebuke,  and  overwhelmed  with  mortification.  '  A  poor, 
miserable,  drunken  sailor  before  the  mast,  kicked  and  cuffed 
about  the  world>  and  die  in  some  fever  hospital  ! '  That 's  my 
fate,  is  it  ?  I  '11  change  my  life  and  change  it  at  once.  I  will 
never  utter  another  oath,  never  drink  a  drop  of  intoxicating 
liquor,  never  gamble.  And,  as  God  is  my  witness,  I  have  kept 
"ihese  three  vows  to  this  hour.  Shortly  after  I  became  a  Chris- 
tian, and  that  act  settled  my  temporal,  as  it  settled  my  moral, 
destiny." 

It  was  a  good  beginning  for  Farragut  when  his  father 
started  him  off  in  the  direction  of  total  abstinence  and  purity. 
But  for  his  good  resolve  on  that  memorable  day,  he  would 
have  been  a  ruined  sailor  before  the  mast,  instead  of  the 
famous  admiral  he  was. 


HOW  TO  START  IN  LIFE.  531 

The  late  William  B.  Spooner,  of  Boston,  was  but  seven  years 
old  when  poverty  forced  him  out  of  his  home  into  a  tanyard, 
where  he  drove  the  horse  in  the  bark  mill.  A  very  poor  out- 
look it  was  for  the  homesick  boy  !  But  it  proved  a  good  start, 
because  it  introduced  him,  after  fifteen  years,  to  the  leather 
business  in  Boston.  His  early  training  in  the  tannery  famil- 
iarized him  with  the  details  of  the  business,  and  his  excellent 
principles  won  the  confidence  of  all  who  knew  him.  At 
twenty-two  he  was  serving  a  large  and  successful  leather 
dealer,  when  a  gentleman  who  had  observed  his  tact,  indus- 
try, and  transparent  honesty,  invited  him  to  become  his  part- 
ner in  the  same  kind  of  business. 

"  I  have  no  capital  to  put  into  the  business,"  said  Spooner. 

"Yes,  you  have,"  responded  the  gentleman;  "you  have 
character  and  experience,  and  I  have  money.  I  will  put  my 
money  into  the  firm,  and  that  is  all  the  money  we  want ;  and 
you  put  in  your  experience  and  principles." 

The  bargain  was  concluded  on  this  basis,  as  Spooner  knew 
the  young  man  who  had  the  money  capital  to  be  entirely  reli- 
able. The  end  of  that  new  departure  was  that  in  forty-five 
years  he  was  worth  half  a  million  dollars,  and  he  had  lost  and 
given  in  charity  another  half  million.  At  the  same  time,  he 
had  become  one  of  the  most  influential  and  honored  citizens 
of  Boston.  Poverty  gave  him  a  good  start  at  seven  years  of 
age  ;  and  tact,  integrity,  and  hard  work  supplemented  it  at 
twenty-two.  Neither  a  favored  ancestry  nor  money  rendered 
him  essential  aid. 

A  father  placed  his  son,  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  a  large 
mercantile  house  in  New  York  city.  One  day  a  lady  was 
examining  some  silk  dress  goods,  when  the  young  clerk  dis- 
covered a  flaw  in  the  silk,  and  called  her  attention  to  it.  The 
result  was  that  she  did  not  purchase  the  silk.  His  employer 
witnessed  the  whole  scene,  and  at  once  wrote  to  the  boy's 
father  to  come  and  take  him  away,  as  he  "would  never  make 
a  merchant." 

The  father  hastened  to  the  city  and  asked  :  — 

"Why  will  not  my  son  make  a  merchant  ?" 

"  Because  he  has  not  the  tact,"  answered  the  merchant. 
"He  told  a  lady  voluntarily  that  the  silk  she  wanted  to  buy 
was  damaged,  and  I  lost  the  bargain.  Purchasers  must  look 
out  for  themselves." 


532  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  inquired  the  father,  greatly  relieved. 

"Yes." 

"  Then  I  think  more  of  my  son  than  ever,  and  I  would  not 
have  him  remain  in  your  store  for  the  world." 

That  merchant  became  a  bankrupt,  and  the  boy  became  an 
honored  millionaire,  as  honest  as  he  was  rich.  The  employer 
never  had  a  good  start,  with  all  his  money  ;  the  boy  got  a 
good  start  when  he  was  turned  out  of  that  warehouse  for  his 
uprightness. 

The  renowned  Dr.  Channing  once  wrote  to  a  young 
man  :  — 

"At  your  age  I  was  poor,  dependent,  hardly  able  to  buy 
my  clothes  ;  but  the  great  idea  of  improvement  had  seized 
upon  me  —  I  wanted  to  make  the  most  of  myself.  I  was  not 
satisfied  with  knowing  things  superficially,  and  by  halves,  but 
tried  to  get  some  comprehensive  views  of  what  I  studied ;  I 

had  an  end,  and,  for  a  boy,  a  high  end,  in  view 

The   idea  of  carrying  myself  forward  did  a  great  deal  for 

me I  never  had  an  anxious  thought  about  my  lot 

in  life  ;   when   I  was  poor,  ill,  and  compelled  to  work  with 
little  strength,  I  left  the  future  to  itself."' 

The  good  start  which  Dr.  Channing  had  was  when  he 
resolved  "  to  make  the  most  of  himself." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


MARSHALL    FIELD. 

MR.    FIKLD    ON    THE    ELEMENTS    OF    SUCCESS    AND    FAILURE HIS    RANK 

AMONG    MERCHANTS AS    AN    INDIVIDUAL HIS    WHOLESALE    AND     RETAIL 

BUSINESS GENERAL    ESTIMATE    OF    HIS   WEALTH HIS    BUSINESS    METHODS 

-FOUNDATION     STONE    OF    HIS    SUCCESS HOW    HIS    MERCANTILE    BUSINESS 

GREW A    MAN     OF     MODEST     AND     RETIRING     DISPOSITION HIS     ASSOCIA- 
TIONS     RESTRICTED        TO       A       FEW PRIVATE       BENEFACTIONS RELIGIOUS 

LIFE PUBLIC    BENEFACTIONS THE    FIELD    COLUMBIAN     MUSEUM GIFTS 

TO      CHICAGO      UNIVERSITY  --  BIRTHPLACE    AND     BOYHOOD PRIVATE    LIFE. 

THE    YOUNG    MAN    IN    MERCANTILE    LIFE. 

I  would  say  first  to  a  young  man  standing  upon  the  thresh- 
old of  a   business    career  that  he  should  carefully   consider 

what  his  natural  bent  or  inclination  is,  be  it 
business  or  profession  ;  in  other  words,  take 
stock  of  himself  and  ascertain,  if  possible, 
what  he  is  best  adapted  for  and  endeavor  to 
get  into  that  vocation  with  as  few  changes 
as  possible.  Having  entered  upon  it,  then 
let  him  pursue  the  work  in  hand  with  dili- 
gence and  determination  to  get  it  thoroughly, 
which  can  only  be  done  by  close  and  enthu- 
siastic application  of  the  powers  at  his 
command.  He  should  strive  to  master  the 
details  and  put  into  it  an  energy  directed  by  strong  common 
sense  so  as  to  make  his  services  of  value  wherever  he  is  ;  be 
alert  and  ready  to  seize  opportunities  when  they  present  them- 
selves. The  trouble  with  most  young  men  is  that  they  don't 
learn  anything  thoroughly  and  are  apt  to  do  work  committed 
to  them  in  a  careless  manner  ;  forgetting  that  what  is  worth 
doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well.  They  become  mere  drones 
and  rely  upon  chance  to  bring  them  success.  The  business 
world  is  full  of  just  such  young  men  content  in  simply  putting 
in  their  time  somehow  and  drawing  their  salaries  ;  making 
no  effort  whatever  to  increase  their  efficiency  and  thereby 
enhance  their  own  as  well  as  their  employers'  interests.  There 
are  others  who  want  to  do  what  they  are  not  fitted  for  and 


534  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

waste  their  lives  in  what  may  be  called  misfit  occupations. 
Far  better  be  a  good  carpenter  or  mechanic  of  any  kind  than 
a  poor  business  or  professional  man. 

Next  to  the  selection  of  occupation  is  that  of  companions. 
Particularly  is  this  important  in  the  case  of  young  men  begin- 
ning their  career  in  strange  cities  and  away  from  home  influ- 
ences, as  too  often  is  it  the  case  that  young  men  of  excellent 
abilities  a,re  ruined  by  evil  associates  ;  a  young  man  therefore 
cannot  too  early  guard  himself  against  forming  friendships 
with  those  whose  tendency  is  to  lead  him  on  the  downward 
path.  To  every  young  man  I  would  say,  seek  at  the  start  to 
cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  those  only  whose  contact  and 
influence  will  kindle  high  purposes,  as  I  regard  the  building 
up  of  the  sterling  character  one  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  true  success.  The  young  man  possessing  a  conscience  that 
cannot  brook  the  slightest  experience  of  wrongdoing  and 
which  insists  on  steadfast,  undeviating  truthfulness,  sturdy 
honesty,  and  strict  devotion  to  duty  under  all  circumstances, 
has  a  fortune  to  begin  with.  The  ability  to  restrain  habit, 
passions,  tongue,  and  temper,  to  be  their  master  and  not  their 
slave,  in  a  word,  absolute  self-control,  is  also  of  first  impor- 
tance. One  who  cannot  govern  himself  is  unfitted  to  govern 
others. 

Economy  is  one  of  the  most  essential  elements  of  success, 
yet  most  wretchedly  disregarded.  The  old  adage,  "  Willful 
waste  makes  woeful  want,"  never  was  more  fully  exemplified 
than  in  these  days  when  much  of  the  want  that  now  prevails 
would  not  exist  had  care  been  taken  in  time  of  prosperity  to 
lay  up  something  fora  "rainy  day."  The  average  young 
man  of  to-day  when  he  begins  to  earn  is  soon  inclined  to  hab- 
its of  extravagance  and  wastefulness  ;  gets  somehow  imbued 
with  the  idea  that  irrespective  of  what  he  earns  he  must 
indulge  in  habits  corresponding  to  those  of  some  other  young 
man  simply  because  he  indulges  or  imagines  he  cannot  be 
manly  without.  The  five,  ten,  or  fifteen  cents  a  day  that  is 
acquired,  while  a  mere  trifle  apparently,  if  saved,  would  in  a 
few  years  amount  to  thousands  of  dollars  and  go  far  toward 
establishing  the  foundations  of  a  future  career.  One  must 
realize  that,  in  order  to  acquire  the  dollars  he  must  take  care 
of  the  nickels.  Careful  saving  and  careful  spending  invaria. 
bly  promote  success.  It  has  been  well  said  that,  "It  is  not 


MARSHALL  FIELD.  535 

what  a  man  earns  but  what  he  saves,  that  makes  him  rich/' 
John  Jacob  Astor  said  that  the  saving  of  the  first  thousand 
dollars  cost  him  the  hardest  struggle.  As  a  rule  people  do  not 
know  how  to  save.  I  deem  it  of  the  highest  importance, 
therefore,  to  impress  upon  every  young  man  the  duty  of 
beginning  to  save  from  the  moment  he  commences  to  earn,  be 
it  ever  so  little  ;  a  habit  so  formed  in  early  life  will  prove  of 
incalculable  benefit  to  him  in  after  years  ;  not  only  in  the 
amount  acquired  but  through  the  exercise  of  economy  in  small 
affairs  he  will  grow  in  knowledge  and  fitness  for  larger  duties 
that  may  devolve  upon  him. 

A  young  man  should  aim  to  be  manly  and  self-reliant :  to 
make  good  use  of  all  the  spare  moments  ;  to  read  only  whole- 
some books  ;  and  study  to  advance  his  own  interests  as  well 
as  those  of  his  employer  in  every  possible  way.  As  a  rule  a 
young  man  of  high  principles  and  fair  ability  who  saves  his 
money  and  keeps  his  habits  good  becomes  valuable  in  any 
concern. 

I  would  not  have  young  men  believe,  however,  that  success 
consists  solely  in  acquisition  of  wealth  ;  far  from  it,  as  that 
idea  is  much  too  prevalent  already.  The  desire  to  become  rich 
at  the  expense  of  character  prevails  to  an  alarming  extent  and 
cannot  be  too  severely  denounced.  What  is  needed  to-day 
more  than  anything  else  is  to  instill  in  the  minds  of  our 
young  the  desire  above  all  to  build  up  a  character  that  will 
win  the  respect  of  all  with  whom  they  come  in  contact,  and 
which  is  vastly  more  important  than  a  great  fortune.  - 

If  the  elements  herein  outlined  promote  success  the  logical 
conclusion  would  be  that  a  disregard  of  them  forebodes  fail- 
ure. The  man  who  is  characterized  by  want  of  forethought, 
idleness,  carelessness,  or  general  shiftlessness  cannot  expect 
to  succeed.  These,  coupled  with  other  causes,  such  as  extrava- 
gance in  living  or  living  beyond  one's  means ;  outside 
speculations  and  gambling  ;  want  of  proper  judgment,  over- 
estimating capacity  and  undertaking  more  than  capital  would 
warrant  ;  assuming  too  heavy  liabilities  ;  relying  on  chance 
to  pull  through;  lack  of  progressiveness, —  all  are  prolific 
causes  of  failure. 


536  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

mARSHALL    FIELD   is  the   Sphinx   of  the  mercantile 
world  —  colossal,  awesome,  and   silent.      In  the  long 
T         list  of  American  multi-millionaires  are  a  few  names 
that  have  little   or   no  significance  to  the   average 
reader.     Conspicuous   among  these  is  the  name  of  Marshall 
Field.      It  is    seldom    heard   outside   of   Chicago    except  in 
mercantile    circles.      Yet    Marshall    Field    is    the    greatest 
merchant  in  the  world,  and,  possibly,  the  third  richest  man 
in  the  United  States. 

As  an  individual,  he  exists  only  to  a  very  limited  number 
of  business  associates,  friends,  cronies,  and  relatives  ;  to  the 
masses  of  the  people,  even  to  those  in  his  home  city  of 
Chicago,  he  is  simply  a  gigantic  business  emporium. 

To  understand  him  better  it  is  necessary  to  learn  a  few 
facts  that  have  exerted  the  greatest  influence  upon  his  career. 

The  supreme  achievement  of  Marshall  Field's  life  has  been 
the  accumulation  of  an  immense  fortune. 

When  the  variety  and  magnitude  of  his  business  opera- 
tions are  considered,  it  is  marvelous  that  one  man  in  his  wak- 
ing moments  can  exercise  even  a  general  supervision  of  them. 

His  wholesale  and  retail  dry  goods  business  is  in  excess  of 
$50,000,000  a  year.  He  manufactures  a  large  percentage  of 
the  goods  he  sells,  and  the  rattle  of  his  looms  is  heard  in  the 
manufacturing  centers  of  both  hemispheres.  He  has  factories 
in  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  in  France,  Italy,  Spain, 
Germany,  Austria,  and  Russia,  in  China,  Japan,  and  India. 
His  woolen  mills  furnish  a  local  market  for  the  Australian 
wool-grower,  and  the  revolutions  of  his  spindles  in  South 
America  run  races  with  the  government  of  that  part  of  the 
world. 

When  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  organized  the  United  Steel 
Corporation,  commonly  known  as  the  Steel  Trust,  there  was 
no  public  mention  of  the  name  of  Marshall  Field,  although 
he  is  one  of  the  largest  stockholders  in  that  corporation. 

The  extent  of  his  holdings  in  the  great  lines  of  railroads  is 
not  definitely  known.  It  has  been  stated  with  some  color  of 
authority  that  he  has  $10,000,000  invested  in  Baltimore  and 
Ohio,  and  his  holdings  in  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  and  the 
Northwestern  are  known  to  be  large.  In  the  Pullman  Car 
Company  he  is  the  largest  individual  stockholder  and  has 
controlled  the  affairs  of  that  great  corporation  for  a  number 
of  years. 


MARSHALL  FIELD.  537 

In  real  estate  alone  his  wealth  exceeds  that  of  many  multi- 
millionaires who  are  more  widely  known  than  himself.  A 
conservative  estimate  of  the  real  estate  owned  by  Marshall 

»/ 

Field  in  Chicago  alone,  including  land  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Calumet  river  peculiarly  adapted  for  manufacturing  pur- 
poses, places  it  at  $30,000,000.  In  addition  to  this  he  has  a 
great  deal  of  valuable  iron  mining  land  in  the  northern  pen- 
insula of  Michigan. 

Although  not  known  by  the  titles  of  banker  or  financier, 
his  banking  and  purely  financial  interests  are  large. 

Conservatively  stated,  Marshall  Field's  wealth  exceeds  a 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  ;  how  much  in  excess  can  only  be 
surmised,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  himself  knows. 

In  this  age  of  enormous  individual  fortunes,  it  is  not  so 
marvelous  that  one  man  should  have  acquired  this  great  sum, 
as  it  is  that  it  is  all  clean  money  made  honestly,  in  a  legitimate 
business.  To  credit  it  solely  to  the  ability  and  business  methods 
of  its  owner  would  be  an  error,  though  Mr.  Field  takes  pride 
in  the  belief  that  the  basis  of  his  business  success  is  cash. 
His  entire  business  is  conducted  upon  a  cash  basis.  There  is 
no  evidence  that  he  ever  owed  a  dollar,  and  it  is  certain  that 
he  never  borrowed  one.  He  never  gave  a  note  or  a  mortgage, 
never  bought  or  sold  a  dollar's  worth  of  stock  on  margins. 
His  nearest  approach  to  speculation  has  been  in  mining 
investments. 

Although  a  heavy  investor  in  stocks,  Wall  street  methods 
are  as  obnoxious  to  him  as  those  of  any  other  game  of  chance. 

The  intoxication  of  the  wheat  pit  is  as  unknown  to  him  as 
any  other  form  of  drunkenness.  In  an  indirect  way  the 
Titanic  struggles  on  the  Board  of  Trade  have  been  of  profit  to 
him,  for  he  has  supplied  the  victims  of  wheat,  ribs,  and  lard 
corners  with  the  cash  to  settle  their  losses  by  buying  their 
inside  gilt-edged  down-town  real  estate  and  adding  it  to  his 
lucrative  permanent  investments. 

Another  foundation  stone  of  his  success  has  been  business 
integrity.  The  house  of  Marshall  Field  &  Co.  is  as  far  above 
suspicion  as  Caesar's  wife.  The  great  merchant  has  escaped 
the  sobriquet  of  "  Honest"  Marshall  Field,  but  the  adjective 
is  indelibly  stamped  upon  his  business  reputation.  Although 
much  of  his  success  must  be  credited  to  the  inherited  Yankee 
instinct  for  barter  and  trade,  and  to  sterling  mercantile  meth- 
ods, the  element  of  chance  had  much  to  do  with  it. 


538  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

When  Marshall  Field  came  to  Chicago,  a  strong-limbed, 
clear-headed  Yankee  farmer's  son,  the  place  had  a  population 
of  50,000.  It  was  inevitable  in  the  development  of  the  Middle 
West  that  its  metropolis  should  be  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan,  but  there  was  a  wide  diversity  of  opinion  concern- 
ing the  exact  spot.  Conditions  seemed  to  favor  Milwaukee, 
eighty  miles  north  ;  Saint  Joseph,  Michigan,  on  the  opposite 
shore  had  its  prophets,  but  the  final  choice  fell  to  Chicago 
aided  by  the  "I  will"  spirit  of  its  pioneers. 

In  those  days  Marshall  Field  was  a  hard-working  clerk. 
He  had  been  born  to  work,  though  not  to  poverty,  and  was 
schooled  in  hard  New  England  economy.  He  attended  to  his 
business  and  saved  his  money.  In  time  he  became  a  partner. 
Chance  determined  it  as  the  right  time,  for  in  that  year  the 
Civil  War  began,  and  prices  rose  correspondingly  with  the 
enormous  demand  for  commodities.  The  enduring  founda- 
tion of  the  house  of  Marshall  Field  &  Co.  was  laid  and  its 
future  assured.  The  remainder  of  the  story  is  found  in  the 
rapid  booming  of  the  West,  in  the  progress  of  science  and 
invention,  and  in  the  growth  of  Chicago  to  a  population  of 
nearly  two  millions. 

It  is  the  exceptional  individual  only  who  escapes  from  his 
environment.  Other  men  may  rise  above  it  at  times,  but  they 
never  get  away  from  it  entirely.  Marshall  Field's  environ- 
ment since  youth  has  been  the  store,  the  shop,  the  factory. 
He  has  lived  continuously  in  an  atmosphere  of  business  and 
always  within  hearing  of  the  clink  of  the  coin  as  it  fell  into 
the  till.  If  in  his  youth  he  had  been  what  we  call  a  sociable 
man  with  a  disposition  to  mingle  with  his  fellow  men,  sharing 
their  troubles  and  dividing  his  own  with  them,  the  world 
might  have  heard  of  him  in  some  other  capacity,  but  never  as 
its  greatest  merchant.  It  is  not  remarkable  then  that  a 
youthful  life  absorbed  in  business  should  not  be  turned  from 
the  pursuit  of  its  greatest  purpose  by  the  affairs  of  others,  or 
lured  from  the  hum  of  shoppers,  the  clatter  of  looms,  the 
whirl  of  spindles,  and  the  music  of  the  ever-dropping  coin 
by  the  frou-frou  and  chatter  of  modern  society. 

In  small  communities  the  volume  of  a  merchant's  business 
quite  often  depends  as  much  upon  his  attitude  towards  his 
fellow  townsmen  as  the  quality  and  variety  of  his  merchan- 
dise. He  is  personally  known  to  all  his  customers  and,  if  he 


MARSHALL  FIELD.  539 

is  an  affable  man,  taking  part  in  the  small  society  of  the  place 
and  displaying  a  proper  public  spirit,  he  has  an  advantage 
over  competitors  of  less  tact.  Hence  it  becomes  a  part  of  his 
business  to  cultivate  an  agreeable  personality  and  a  liberal 
public  spirit,  and  to  participate  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  com- 
munity. 

The  personality  of  the  great  city  merchant  is  swallowed 
up  in  his  business.  Few  of  his  customers  ever  see  him. 
They  have  no  more  interest  in  his  personal  traits  than  he  has 
in  theirs.  In  the  great  city  emporium  the  homely  cordiality 
of  the  country  store  is  supplanted  by  cold  business  formality. 

It  may  be  argued,  however,  that  the  great  merchant  would 
identify  himself  with  the  public  affairs  of  the  community,  if 
only  for  selfish  reasons,  inasmuch  as  the  growth  and  material 
prosperity  of  the  municipality  mean  a  corresponding  growth 
of  his  business.  Ordinarily,  this  is  the  case,  but  Marshall 
Field  is  the  exception  and  the  logical  one.  The  unaided 
growth  of  Chicago  from  a  town  to  a  city  was  so  rapid  that  the 
business  energy  of  its  leading  merchant  was  taxed  to  keep 
pace  with  it.  Rapidly  accumulating  wealth  imposes  a  degree 
of  slavery  upon  its  owner,  however  joyfully  the  victim  may 
thrust  his  neck  further  and  further  into  the  golden  yoke. 
The  phenomenal  growth  of  Marshall  Field's  business  chained 
him  to  the  counting  room  and  to  the  till. 

Whatever  may  be  the  secret  pleasures  of  such  a  strenuous, 
exacting  business  life,  it  has  its  drawbacks  ;  for  the  outward 
evidence  is  that  it  narrows  the  sympathies  and  blunts  the  per- 
ception of  man's  duty  to  society.  In  the  pride  of  his  strength 
man  is  apt  to  forget  that  many  are  weak. 

Marshall  Field  has  lived  the  self-centered  life  of  the  strenu- 
ous business  man.  Publicity  of  any  sort  is  distasteful  to  him, 
and  he  regards  the  interviewer  as  an  intruder.  His  persistent 
refusal  to  talk  for  publication  or  to  consent  to  pose  as  the  sub- 
ject of  the  biographer  or  character  student  is  not  chargeable 
to  excessive  modesty.  He  is  modest  enough,  but  it  would  be 
more  accurate  to  say  that  his  dislike  to  appearing  in  print  is 
the  natural  resentment  of  a  reclusive  spirit  to  a  seeming  inter- 
ference with  its  affairs.  It  may  be  charged  in  part  to  the 
sensitive  pride  that  is  so  apparent  in  people  who  live  much  to 
themselves  or  are  wholly  absorbed  in  their  own  affairs. 

Only  of  late  years  has  it  been  possible  to  obtain  his  photo- 


540  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

graph,  but  the  best  counterfeit  presentment  the  photographer's 
art  can  produce  does  not  do  him  justice.  It  is  faithful  only  in 
showing  his  white  hair  and  mustache,  and  the  well-preserved 
features  of  a  man  who  has  lived  an  abstemious  life.  It  can 
give  no  idea  of  his  dynamic  presence,  suggestive  of  agressive- 
ness  as  well  as  of  unlimited  reserve  force.  It  shows  the 
contour  of  general  features,  but  not  their  animating  keenness 
and  shrewdness.  It  cannot  put  the  rapier  glances  into  the  cold 
gray  eyes,  set  far  back  in  the  head. 

If  Marshall  Field  were  in  the  midst  of  a  street  crowd 
on  bargain  day  any  student  of  character  would  single  him 
out  of  the  thousands  as  a  master  of  men.  His  erect  military 
bearing  might  cause  him  to  be  mistaken  for  a  retired  admiral 
or  major-generaljbut  no  one  would  ever  mistake  him  for  an  ordi- 
nary man.  No  young  blade  of  a  soldier  carries  himself  better 
than  this  man  of  sixty-six,  as  he  walks  to  his  place  of  busi- 
ness in  the  early  morning.  His  commodious  and  old-fashioned 
residence  is  about  a  mile  from  his  great  retail  store.  It  is  not 
so  large  or  imposing  as  the  Pullman  residence  further  down 
the  street,  yet  George  M.  Pullman  in  the  later  years  of  his  life 
was  only  a  kind  of  head  clerk  of  Marshall  Field's  car  busi- 
ness. 

There  is  a  library  in  the  house,  but  the  master  merchant 
does  not  rank  as  a  book-lover  ;  there  are  pictures  on  the 
walls,  — good  ones,  too, — but  the  owner  can  scarcely  be  called 
an  art  collector  or  a  connoisseur. 

In  this  home  of  his  younger  days  the  man  of  many  millions 
dwells  alone.  His  wife  is  dead,  and  his  children,  a  son,  who 
bears  the  same  name  as  himself,  and  a  daughter,  are  both 
married. 

Within  the  gilded  and  expansive  circle  of  society  he  has 
drawn  a  smaller  circle,  close  to  the  nave,  within  which  are 
included  the  few  to  whom  he  dispenses  hospitality,  and  at 
whose  homes  he  occasionally  dines.  They  are  for  the  most 
part  old  friends  around  whom  cluster  the  memories  and  senti- 
ments of  early  days  in  Chicago.  The  practical  nature  of 
Marshall  Field  is  shown  in  his  friendships  as  well  as  in  his 
business,  as  many  of  his  old  friends  could  testify  if  they 
would.  One  conspicuous  instance  of  this  is  found  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  Robert  T.  Lincoln  to  the  presidency  of  the  Pullman 
Company.  There  are  many  other  instances  in  which  his 


MARSHALL  FIELD.  541 

hand  has  been  stretched  forth  in  friendly  help  to  preferment 
or  to  avert  financial  disaster. 

What  and  how  widespread  are  his  private  benefactions 
no  man  may  know.  With  his  church  and  its  pastors  he 
has  dealt  liberally.  The  old  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of 
which  he  is  a  member,  and  which  was  founded  by  a  scholar 
and  churchman  of  gentle  memory  in  Chicago,  the  Reverend 
Robert  Patterson,  was  recently  destroyed  by  fire,  but  a  sub- 
stantial edifice  will  take  its  place. 

Mr.  Field  is  not  publicly  identified  with  church  affairs,  as 
are  Rockefeller  and  Morgan,  but  whenever  his  religion  is 
expressed  in  any  act  it  reveals  the  old  Puritan  spirit  of  literal 
observance.  He  is  the  only  big  merchant  in  Chicago  that 
does  not  advertise  in  the  Sunday  papers. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  Marshall  Field  has  a  social,  though  not 
a  society,  part,  and  that  his  religion  is  as  orthodox  as  his  busi- 
ness principles.  Although  he  takes  no  public  part  in  politics, 
he  has  serious  political  convictions.  Notwithstanding  his 
exclusiveness  and  the  natural  tendency  of  great  wealth 
toward  aristocratic  ideas,  his  democracy,  which  is  of  the  soil, 
is  too  deep-rooted  to  permit  him  to  be  anything  but  a  Demo- 
crat—  a  Democrat  of  the  Cleveland  school,  with  ''Public 
office  is  a  public  trust "  as  his  motto.  His  business  as  an 
importer,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  country,  naturally  sug- 
gests his  view  of  tariff  reform,  which  is  to  abolish  the 
tariff. 

The  lives  of  few  men  in  this  country  are  so  suggestive  of 
the  opportunities  for  legitimate  business  success  within  the 
last  half  century.  That  Marshall  Field  has  improved  every 
business  opportunity  is  shown  by  marvelous  results  ;  that 
much  of  his  wealth  is  due  to  conditions  and  circumstances,  in 
the  creation  of  which  he  had  no  part,  is  a  matter  of  historical 
record. 

The  community  has  done  much  for  him.  What  has  he 
done  for  the  community  ?  His  public  benefactions,  so  far,  can 
be  numbered  on  one  hand,  with  fingers  to  spare.  His  most 
conspicuous  public  donation  is  the  Field  Columbian  Museum, 
to  which  he  gave  a  million  dollars.  This  museum  occupies 
the  old  Fine  Arts  building  of  the  World's  Fair,  in  Jackson 
park.  Mr.  Field  is  credited  with  a  desire  to  make  this  the 
greatest  museum  of  natural  history  in  the  world.  A  great 


542  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

deal  of  the  old  junk  left  over  from  the  World's  Fair,  which 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  museum,  has  already  been  disposed 
of.  and  its  place  supplied  by  exhibits  more  in  keeping  with  the 
character  of  the  institution. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  word  "  Columbian/'  in 
its  title,  is  a  present  bar  to  the  fulfillment  of  Mr.  Field's 
desires  in  respect  to  the  museum.  As  the  name  now  stands, 
it  perpetuates  the  achievements  of  the  World's  Fair.  Such 
was  the  intention  of  its  founders.  The  name  of  Field  was 
prefixed  as  an  acknowledgment  of  Mr.  Field's  million-dollar 
donation.  Marshall  Field  is  a  proud  man,  though  with  none 
of  the  ostentatious  pride  that  finds  its  gratification  in  palatial 
yachts,  gorgeous  equipages,  and  sybarite  luxuries.  His  pride 
is  of  that  old  New  England  strain  that  finds  expression  in  the 
protection  of  the  good  name  and  the  preservation  of  the 
virtues  of  its  possessor.  Marshall  Field  is  proud  of  his  name, 
and,  if  it  were  bestowed  exclusively  upon  the  museum,  it  is 
believed  that  the  prospects  of  that  institution  to  be  made  the 
greatest  of  its  kind  in  the  world  would  be  brighter  than  they 
are  at  present. 

The  University  of  Chicago  has  received  large  gifts  from 
Mr.  Field,  but  all  the  gifts  to  this  institution  shrink  into  insig- 
nificance beside  Rockefeller's  donation  of  $10,000,000. 

In  the  town  of  Con  way,  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Field  has  built 
a  memorial  library  at  a  cost  of  $200,000.  This  seems  like  a 
small  sum  in  these  days,  when  one  woman  gives  $30,000,000 
to  a  university,  and  Carnegie  tosses  out  libraries  like  a  man 
throwing  handbills  at  a  circus.  But  it  is  munificent  for  a 
town  the  size  of  Conway  and  ample  for  its  needs. 

On  a  farm  near  this  town  Marshall  Field  was  born  and 
passed  his  boyhood  days.  It  was  here  he  went  to  the  district 
school  and  got  the  elementary  education  which  he  has  sup- 
plemented by  experience  in  a  world-wide  business.  His  ances- 
tors were  of  the  soil,  and  he  was  a  hardy  product  of  genera- 
tions of  hardy  men. 

He  is  now  approaching  the  "threescore  years  and  ten" 
allotted  to  man,  and  is  still  physically  rugged. 

His  former  partners,  Levi  Z.  Leiter  and  Potter  Palmer, 
have  retired  from  business,  but  with  him  the  struggle  goes  on 
as  of  yore.  He  is  still  the  central  figure  of  a  world  of  his  own 
making  —  a  humming,  buzzing  world  of  busy  people,  creat- 


MARSHALL  FIELD. 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  IN  MERCANTILE  LIFE.     545 

ing,  buying,  selling,  packing,  and  shipping.  How  shall  a  man 
who  has  made  such  a  world  for  himself  and  lived  nearly  a 
half  century  in  its  very  vortex  find  his  way  out  of  it  and  be 
content  in  the  quiet  corners  of  a  house  ?  Carnegie  did  it,  but 
under  the  hard  exterior  of  the  ironmaster  was  a  warm  sym- 
pathy for  art,  letters,  and  science  of  government.  He  had  a 
knowledge  born  of  contact  with  men  of  all  classes  outside  of 
his  business,  and  a  deep-seated  love  for  the  homely,  quiet  life 
of  his  native  Scotland. 

In  the  twilight  of  Marshall  Field's  life  the  retrospect 
reveals  nothing  that  a  man  of  his  ambition  may  not  count  a 
virtue.  Years  ago  he  reached  the  goal  he  set  out  for.  Suc- 
cess within  the  limitations  of  a  life  devoted  exclusively  to 
trade  is  stamped  upon  every  page  of  his  history.  His  private 
life  is  unblemished.  Thousands  of  skilled  hands  and  trained 
minds  perform  services  for  him.  They  are  well  paid,  and  all 
the  avenues  of  promotion  are  open  to  such  as  master  their 
line  of  work. 

The  test  of  years  has  confirmed  his  judgment  in  the  selec- 
tion of  his  chief  assistants,  and  the  faithful  have  reaped  rich 
rewards. 

He  has  amassed  a  colossal  fortune  without  having  created 
the  antagonism  of  any  class.  The  element  of  discord  and 
discontent  has  no  grievance  against  him. 

And  now,  as  the  twilight  shadows  fall --what  ? 

The  museum,  the  university,  and  the  library  are  proof  that 
he  does  not  lack  the  spirit  of  giving,  and  this  is  an  age  of 
public  benefactions.  He  has  millions  upon  millions.  They 
are  his  own.  He  made  them,  under  favorable  conditions,  to 
be  sure,  but  he  made  them.  They  were  not  wrung  from  under- 
paid labor,  nor  gained  by  the  chicanery  of  stock  jobbing. 
They  represent  no  man's  loss.  What  he  will  do  with  them 
none  but  himself  can  say  —  and  the  Sphinx,  colossal  and 
awesome,  guarding  the  great  pyramids  of  trade,  is  silent. 

THE   YOUNG   MAN   IN   MERCANTILE   LIFE. 

lEFORE  a  young  man  attempts  to  make  a  success  he 
should  convince  himself  that  he  is  in  a  congenial  busi- 
ness, whether  it  be  a  trade  or  profession  ;  both  are 
honorable  and  productive.  Let  him  satisfy  himself  before 
everything  else  that  it  enlists  his  personal  interest.  If  a  man 


546  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

shows  that  he  has  his  work  at  heart,  his  success  can  be  relied 
on.  Personal  interest  in  any  work  will  bring  other  things, 
but  all  the  other  essentials  combined  cannot  create  personal 
interest.  That  must  exist  first ;  then  two  thirds  of  the  battle 
is  won.  Fully  satisfied  that  he  is  in  that  particular  line  of 
business  for  which  he  feels  stronger,  warmer  interests  than 
for  any  other,  then  he  should  remain. 

First,  whatever  else  he  may  strive  to  be,  he  must,  above  all, 
be  absolutely  honest.  From  honorable  principles  he  can  never 
swerve.  A  temporary  success  is  often  possible  on  what  are 
not  exactly  dishonest,  but  precarious  lines  ;  such  success,  how- 
ever, is  only  temporary  with  a  certainty  of  permanent  loss. 
The  surest  business  successes --yes,  the  only  successes  worth 
the  making — are  built  on  honest  foundations.  There  can  be 
no  blinking  at  the  truth  or  at  honesty,  no  halfway  compro- 
mise. There  is  but  one  way  to  be  successful,  and  that  is  to  be 
absolutely  honest,  and  there  is  but  one  way  of  being  honest. 
Honesty  is  not  only  the  foundation,  but  the  capstone,  as  well, 
of  business  success. 

If  the  case  in  point  be  that  of  a  merchant,  he  must  be 
scrupulously  just  and  upright  in  all  his  transactions  ;  integ- 
rity, good  faith,  exactness  in  fulfilling  his  engagements,  must 
be  permanent  and  distinctive  features  in  his  character.  He 
must  be  a  high-minded  and  honorable  man.  He  must  feel  a 
stain  upon  his  good  name  like  a  wound,  and  regard  with  utter 
abhorrence  everything  that  wears  the  appearance  of  mean- 
ness or  duplicity.  Knowing  that  credit  is  the  soul  of  business, 
he  is  anxious  to  sustain  the  integrity  of  the  mercantile  charac- 
ter ;  accordingly,  his  word  is  good  as  his  bond  ;  he  stands  to 
his  bargain  and  is  faithful  to  his  contract.  He  would  rather 
at  any  time  relinquish  something  of  his  lawful  rights  than 
engage  in  an  irritating  dispute.  He  would  rather  be  the  object 
than  the  agent  in  a  dishonorable  or  fraudulent  transaction. 
When  one  told  old  Bishop  Latimer  than  the  cutler  had  cozened 
him  in  making  him  pay  twopence  for  a  knife  not  worth  a 
penny,  "  No,"  said  Latimer,  "  he  cozened  not  me  but  his  own 


conscience." 


Second  :  He  must  be  alert  and  alive  to  every  opportunity. 
He  cannot  afford  to  lose  a  single  point,  for  that  single  point 
might  prove  the  very  link  that  would  make  complete  the 
whole  chain  of  business  success.  Though  an  enterprising 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  IN  MERCANTILE  LIFE.     547 

man  and  willing  to  run  some  risks,  knowing  this  to  be  essen- 
tial to  success  in  commercial  adventure,  yet  he  is  not  willing 
to  risk  everything  nor  put  all  on  the  hazard  of  a  single  throw. 
He  feels  that  he  has  no  right  to  do  this,  that  it  is  morally 
wrong  thus  to  put  in  jeopardy  his  own  peace  and  the  comfort 
and  prospects  of  his  family.     Of   course,  he  engages  in  no 
wild    and    visionary    schemes    the    results    of    which    are 
altogether  uncertain,  being  based  upon  unreasonable  expec- 
tations   and    improbable    suppositions.     He    is    particularly 
careful  to  embark  in  no  speculation  out  of  his  regular  line  of 
business  and  with  the  details  of  which  he  is  not  familiar.     He 
is  aware,  although  he  knows  all  about  the  cost  of  the  ship 
and  can  determine  the  quality  and  estimate  the  value  of  a 
bale  of  cotton,  that  he  is  not  a  good  judge  of  the  worth  of 
wild  lands  because  his  experience  has  not  been  with  them. 
Accordingly  he  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  bargains  of 
this  sort,  however  promising  they  may  appear.     He  will  not 
take  a  leap  in  the  dark  nor  purchase  upon  representations  of 
others  who  may  be  interested  in  the  sale.     He  deems  it  safest 
for  him  to  keep  clear  of  grand   speculations  and  to  attend 
quietly  and   regularly   to   his   own   business.     Above  all  he 
makes  it  a  matter  of  conscience  not  to   risk   in  hazardous 
enterprises  the  property  of  others  intrusted  to  his  keeping. 

Third  :  He  must  be  willing  to  learn,  never  overlooking 
the  fact  that  others  have  long  ago  forgotten  what  he  has  still 
to  learn.  Firmness  of  decision  is  an  admirable  trait  in  busi- 
ness. The  young  man  whose  opinion  can  be  tossed  from  one 
side  to  another  is  poor  material,  but  youth  is  full  of  errors  and 
caution  is  a  strong  trait.  At  the  outset  he  is  careful  to  indulge 
in  no  extravagance  and  to  live  within  his  means  —  the  neglect 
of  which  precaution  he  finds  involves  so  many  in  failure  and 
ruin.  Simple  in  his  manners  and  unostentatious  in  his  habits 
of  life  he  abstains  from  all  frivolous  and  foolish  expenditure. 
At  the  same  time  he  is  not  niggardly  or  mean.  Whatever 
will  contribute  to  the  improvement  or  welfare  of  his  family  or 
whatever  will  gratify  their  innocent  tastes,  be  it  books  or  pic- 
tures, he  obtains,  if  within  his  means  though  it  cost  much, 
knowing  that  at  the  same  time  he  may  foster  the  genius 
and  reward  the  labors  of  an  inestimable  class  of  men  whose 
work  reflects  honor  upon  their  country  and  who  consequently 
merit  the  patronage  of  the  community.  But  whatever  is 


548  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

intended  for  mere  parade  and  vain  show  he  will  have  none 
of  it  though  it  cost  nothing.  He  thinks  it  wise  and  good  econ- 
omy to  spend  a  great  deal  of  money,  if  he  can  afford  it,  to  ren- 
der home  attractive  and  to  make  his  children  wise  and  virtu- 
ous and  happy.  Above  all  he  never  grudges  what  is  paid  to 
the  schools  and  other  mediums  of  education  for  their  intel- 
lectual and  moral  training ;  for  a  good  education  he  deems 
above  all  price. 

Fourth :  The  young  business  man  if  he  be  wise  will 
entirely  avoid  the  use  of  liquors.  If  the  question  of  harm 
done  by  intoxicating  liquors  is  an  open  one  the  question  of  the 
actual  good  derived  from  it  is  not. 

Fifth  :  Let  him  remember  that  a  young  man's  strongest 
recommendation  is  his  respectability.  Some  young  men 
apparently  successful  may  be  flashy  in  dress,  loud  in  manner, 
and  disrespectful  of  women  and  sacred  things,  but  the  young 
man  who  is  respectful  always  wears  best.  The  way  a  young 
man  carries  himself  in  his  private  life  oftentimes  means  much 
to  him  in  his  business  career.  No  matter  where  he  is  or  in 
whose  company,  respectability,  and  all  that  it  implies,  will 
always  command  respect. 

Sixth :  The  successful  man  of  business  feels  that  he  has 
duties  not  only  to  his  immediate  relatives  and  friends,  but  to 
a  larger  family  —  the  community  in  which  he  lives.  He  is 
deeply  interested  in  its  virtue  and  happiness  and  feels  bound 
to  contribute  his  full  share  to  the  establishment  and  support 
of  all  good  institutions,  particularly  the  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, humanity,  and  religion.  He  is  led  to  this  by  the  exten- 
sive liberalizing  spirit  of  his  calling.  It  is  unfortunately  the 
tendency  of  some  occupations  to  narrow  the  mind  and  con- 
tract the  heart.  The  mere  division  of  labor  incident  to  and 
inseparable  from  many  mechanical  and  manufacturing  pur- 
suits, though  important  and  beneficial  in  other  respects,  yet 
serves  to  dwarf  and  cramp  the  intellect.  The  man  who  spends 
all  his  days  in  making  the  heads  of  pins  thinks  of  nothing 
else  and  is  fit  for  nothing  else.  Commercial  pursuits,  on  the 
other  hand,  being  so  various,  extensive,  and  complicated,  tend 
to  enlarge  the  mind  and  banish  narrow  and  selfish  feelings. 
The  merchant,  for  instance,  looks  abroad  over  the  world,  puts 
a  girdle  around  the  earth,  has  communication  with  all  climes 
and  nations  and  is  thus  ready  to  take  large  and  liberal  views 


THE  YOUNG  MAN  IN  MERCANTILE  LIFE.     549 

of  all  things.  The  wealth  which  he  has  acquired  easily  and 
rapidly  he  is  consequently  disposed  to  spend  freely  and  mag- 
nificently. It  has  been  splendidly  said  of  Roscoe,  a  distin- 
guished Liverpool  merchant :  "  Wherever  you  go  you  perceive 
traces  of  his  footsteps  in  all  that  is  elegant  and  liberal.  He 
found  the  tide  of  wealth  flowing  merely  in  the  channels  of 
traffic  ;  he  has  diverted  from  it  invigorating  rills  to  refresh 
the  gardens  of  literature.  The  noble  institutions  of  literary 
and  scientific  purposes  which  reflect  such  credit  on  that  city 
have  mostly  been  originated  and  they  all  have  been  effectually 
promoted  by  him."  In  like  manner  the  successful  business 
man  encourages  learning  and  patronizes  learned  men. 

Seventh  :  The  virtue  of  patience  cannot  be  too  strongly 
emphasized.  The  electric  atmosphere  of  the  American  busi- 
ness world  is  all  too  apt  to  make  young  men  impatient.  They 
want  to  fly  before  they  can  even  walk  well.  Ambition  is  a 
splendid  thing  in  any  young  man,  but  getting  along  too  fast  is 
just  as  injurious  as  getting  along  too  slowly.  Men  between 
twenty  and  twenty-five  must  be  patient.  Patience  is,  it  is 
true,  a  difficult  thing  to  cultivate,  but  it  is  among  the  first 
lessons  one  must  learn  in  business.  A  good  stock  of  patience 
acquired  in  early  life  will  stand  a  man  in  good  stead  in  later 
years.  It  is  a  handy  thing  to  have  to  draw  upon,  and  makes  a 
splendid  safety  valve.  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day  and  a  busi- 
ness man  is  not  made  in  a  night ;  as  experience  comes,  the  judg- 
ment will  become  mature,  and  by  the  time  the  young  man 
reaches  thirty  he  will  begin  to  realize  that  he  did  not  know  as 
much  at  twenty-five  as  he  thought  he  did.  When  he  is  ready 
to  learn  from  others  he  will  begin  to  grow  wise,  and  when  he 
reaches  that  state  when  he  is  willing  to  consider  that  he  has 
not  a  "  corner  "  in  knowledge,  he  will  be  stepping  out  of  the 
chrysalis  of  the  immature  business  man. 

If  a  young  man  wishes  a  set  of  concise  rules  to  govern  his 
undertakings,  here  it  is  :- 

Get  into  a  business  you  like. 

Devote  yourself  to  it. 

Be  honest  in  everything. 

Employ  caution  ;  think  out  a  thing  well  before  you  enter 
upon  it. 

Sleep  eight  hours  every  night. 

Do  everything  that  means  keeping  in  good  health. 


550  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

School  yourself  not  to  worry  ;  worry  kills,  work  does  not. 
Avoid  liquors  of  all  kinds. 
If  you  smoke,  smoke  moderately. 

Shun  discussion  on  two  points. —  religion  and  politics. 
And  last,  but  not  least,  marry  a  true  woman  and  have  your 
own  home. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


WILLIAM    ANDREWS   CLARK. 


ON  PARAMOUNT  ELEMENTS  OF  SUCCESS  —  TYPE  OF  THE  SUCCESSFUL 
WESTERN  PIONEER BIRTHPLACE LINEAGE EARLY  EDUCATION RE- 
MOVAL TO  THE  WEST A  TEACHER  IN  THE  COMMON  SCHOOLS FURTHER 

EDUCATION STUDIES      LAW  -  -  A      CHANGE      OF      PURPOSE FIRST       MINING 

EXPERIENCES BECOMES       A       TRADER       AND       MERCHANT ORGANIZES       A 

BANKING    HOUSE SUCCESSFUL    MINING  PROJECTS  A    HARD   WORKER AN 

EPISODE — •  EFFORTS    IN    BEHALF    OF    MONTANA HIS    POLITICAL     CAREER  - 

A    MEMORABLE    CONTEST ELECTED    UNITED    STATES    SENATOR --  HIS  HOME 

AND    HOME-LIFE MAN     OF     CULTURE     AND     PATRON     OF     ART PERSONAL 

CHARACTERISTICS.        METHOD. 

The  question  of  success  in  America  to-day  is  one  of  large 
importance,  and  is  susceptible  of  various  answers,  any  or  all 

of  which  may  be  true  when  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  the  particular  conditions  specially 
pertaining  to  each.  There  are  many  ele- 
ments, however,  that  must  be  relied  upon  as 
potent  factors  in  any  large  success.  There 
are  some,  of  course,  that  are  paramount. 
Among  these  that  are  purely  personal,  I 
would  state  the  essential  ones  to  be,  in  my 
opinion,  the  following  :  sobriety,  regular  and 
temperate  habits  of  living,  continuity  and 
tenacity  of  purpose,  absolute  courage  and 
determination  to  surmount  obstacles,  unflinching  veracity 
and  integrity,  complete  system  and  method,  and  reasonable 
economy. 


Pluck>  enterprise,  and  intelligence  are  rightly 
accounted  for  on  the  theory  that  it  was  the  strongest 
of  mind  and  heart  as  well   as  body  that  pushed  out 
from  the  older  communities  to  the  western  frontier,  especially 


552  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

into  the  wilds  of  the  Rocky  mountain  region,  in  the  early 
sixties,  some  2,000  miles  beyond  the  border  line  of  civilization. 
The  weak  and  timid  and  vacillating  are  not  apt  to  undertake 
the  role  of  pathfinder  under  the  circumstances  and  conditions 
which  brought  the  pioneer  to  Bannock,  Virginia  City,  and 
Last  Chance  Gulch.  It  was  another  race  of  men  that  came 
at  that  period  to  lay  the  foundation  of  this  young  common- 
wealth, fitting  exactly  the  poet's  ideal  of  those  who  "consti- 
tute a  state,"  and  who  have  given  to  Montana  a  pioneer  his- 
tory and  achievements  in  commerce  and  enterprise  and 
government  alike  honorable  and  glorious.  Among  the 
pioneers  of  this  stamp  none  has  achieved  greater  success  or 
distinction  than  Senator  William  A.  Clark.  The  material 
benefits  which  the  state  has  derived  from  his  energy,  enter- 
prise, and  ability,  cannot  be  better  presented  or  illustrated 
than  by  the  recital  of  the  story  of  his  busy  and  eventful 
career. 

William  Andrews  Clark,  pioneer,  miner,  merchant,  banker, 
and  United  States  senator,  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Connells- 
ville,  Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  8th  of  January, 
1839.  His  parents  were  John  and  Mary  (Andrews)  Clark, 
both  natives  of  that  county.  His  grandfather,  whose  name 
was  also  John,  was  a  native  of  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  who 
emigrated  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania  soon 
after  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  latter  was  married  to  Miss 
Reed  of  Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  who  was  of  Irish 
parentage.  Mr.  Clark's  maternal  grandparents  were  also 
from  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  and  settled  in  western  Pennsyl- 
vania about  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  They  were 
William  and  Sarah  Andrews.  Mrs.  Andrews'  maiden  name 
was  Kithcart,  and  she  was  a  descendant  of  the  Cathcart  fam- 
ily, who  were  originally  Huguenots,  the  name  having  been 
changed  to  Kithcart  through  an  error  made  by  a  registrar  in 
the  transfer  of  a  tract  of  land.  The  Cathcart  family  emi- 
grated from  France  into  Scotland  at  an  early  period,  and  later 
moved  to  the  north  of  Ireland.  Subsequently  they  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States,  and  different  branches  of  the 
family  settled  in  ISTew  York  and  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Clark's 
parents  were  married  in  Pennsylvania,  and  continued  to 
reside  there  until  1856,  when  they  moved  to  Van  Buren  county, 
Iowa,  where  his  father  died  in  1873.  In  his  religious  affilia- 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS  CLARK.  553 

tions  he  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which 
he  served  as  an  elder  for  forty  years  prior  to  his  death. 

Senator  Clark's  father  being  a  farmer,  the  former's  boy- 
hood days  were  spent  on  the  homestead,  where  he  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  three  months'  winter  schooling  and  nine 
months  of  such  farm  work  as  the  boy  could  turn  his  hand  to. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered  Laurel  Hill  Academy,  where 
he  prepared  for  college  and  acquired  a  good  English  educa- 
tion. After  the  removal  of  his  father  to  Iowa,  William 
assisted  the  first  year  in  improving  and  tilling  the  new 
prairie  farm  and  taught  school  the  succeeding  winter.  He 
attended  an  academy  in  Birmingham  one  term  and  then  after- 
wards entered  Iowa  Wesleyan  University  at  Mt.  Pleasant, 
and  later  became  a  disciple  of  Blackstone.  He  prosecuted  his 
legal  studies  for  two  years  but  did  not  afterwards  engage  in 
the  profession  ;  so  that  the  broad  and  masterful  career  of  a 
man  of  affairs  in  the  Western  world  was  not  cut  short  by  his 
installment  in  the  lawyer's  office. 

Young  Clark  now  started  toward  the  setting  sun.  In 
1859-60  he  was  teaching  school  in  Missouri.  In  1862  he 
crossed  the  great  plain,  driving  a  team  to  the  South  Park  and 
Colorado  and  that  winter  worked  in  the  quartz  mines  in  Cen- 
tral City,  gaining  knowledge  and  enterprise  that  afterward 
served  him  to  good  purpose  and  perhaps  in  no  small  degree 
helped  to  shape  his  destiny  as  the  future  "quartz  king"  of 
Montana. 

In  1863  the  news  of  the  gold  discoveries  at  Bannock  reached 
Colorado  and  Mr.  Clark  was  among  the  first  to  start  for  this 
new  El  Dorado.  After  sixty-five  days  traveling  with  an  ox 
team  he  arrived  at  Bannock  just  in  time  to  join  a  stampede  to 
Horse  Prairie.  Here  he  secured  a  claim,  which  he  worked 
during  this  and  the  following  season,  clearing  up  a  net  profit 
of  $1500  the  first  summer.  This  formed  the  basis  of  his  future 
operations  in  Montana  and  the  beginning  of  the  immense 
fortune  he  has  since  accumulated. 

In  the  ensuing  five  years  Mr.  Clark's  career  was  one  of 
push  and  enterprise  characteristic  of  the  man.  Instead  of 
working  in  the  "  placers  "  he  took  advantage  of  the  opportu- 
nities offered  for  trade  and  business  and  in  less  than  half  a 
decade  was  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  wholesale  mer- 
cantile establishments  in  the  territory,  built  up  from  the 


554  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

smallest  beginnings.  His  first  venture  was  to  bring  in  a 
load  of  provision  from  Salt  Lake  City  in  the  winter  of  18G3-4, 
which  he  at  once  sold  at  amazing  profits.  The  next  winter 
this  experiment  was  repeated  on  a  larger  scale  and  Virginia 
City  was  his  market.  In  the  spring  of  18G5  he  opened  a 
general  merchandise  store  at  Blackfoot  City,  then  a  new  and 
hustling  mining  camp.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  sold 
his  stock  and,  being  apprised  that  tobacco  was  a  scarce  article 
in  the  mining  camps,  went  on  horseback  to  Boise  City,  Idaho, 
where  he  purchased  several  thousand  pounds  at  a  cost  of 
$1.50  a  pound.  Securing  a  team  he  drove  to  Helena  with  his 
precious  cargo,  closing  it  out  at  $5.00  and  $6.00  a  pound  to 
ready  purchasers.  In  February,  1866,  Mr.  Clark  joined  a 
stampede  to  Elk  Creek,  where  he  established  another  store 
and  sold  goods  to  the  miners  during  the  season.  He  closed 
out  in  the  fall  and  took  a  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast,  going  as  far 
as  San  Francisco,  and  making  a  goodly  portion  of  the  journey 
on  horseback.  He  then  returned  to  Montana  with  a  stock  of 
goods  which  he  had  selected  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  miners 
and  which  he  disposed  of  at  large  profits. 

In  October,  1866,  Mr.  Clark  went  East  by  way  of  Fort  Ben- 
ton  and  the  "  Mackinaw  route,"  being  thirty-five  days  in  mak- 
ing the  voyage  from  Fort  Benton  to  Sioux  City.  After 
visiting  the  principal  cities  of  the  Union,  including  a  sojourn 
in  the  South,  he  returned  to  Montana  the  following  year.  We 
next  hear  of  him  as  a  mail  carrier  on  the  Star  route  between 
Missoula  and  Walla  Walla,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles, 
where  his  energy  and  administrative  qualities  had  ample 
scope  to  display  themselves  ;  but  he  made  a  success  of  mail 
carrying  and  staging,  as  he  did  of  every  other  undertaking. 
His  next  move  was  in  the  direction  of  a  wider  sphere  of  busi- 
ness activity. 

In  the  autumn  of  1868,  Mr.  Clark  made  a  trip  to  New  York 
city  and  there  formed  a  co-partnership  with  Mr.  R.  W.  Don- 
nell  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  a  wholesale  mercantile 
and  banking  business  in  Montana  —  a  connection  that  resulted 
in  one  of  the  strongest  business  firms  of  that  period  in  the 
territory.  They  shipped  in  a  large  stock  of  general  merchan- 
dise over  the  Missouri  river  in  the  spring  of  1869  and  estab- 
lished an  extensive  wholesale  business  at  Helena.  In  1870 
the  business  was  transferred  to  Deer  Lodge  and  consolidated 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS  CLARK.  555 

with  that  of  Mr.  Donnell  on  the  west  side  city.  At  this  time 
Mr.  S.  E.  Larabie  was  admitted  into  the  business  and  the  firm 
of  Donnell,  Clark  &  Larabie  entered  upon  a  successful  career. 
The  mercantile  branch  of  the  business  was  shortly  closed  out 
and  they  then  gave  exclusive  attention  to  banking,  first  at 
Deer  Lodge,  and  at  a  later  date  at  both  that  place  and  Butte 
City.  In  May,  1884,  Messrs.  Clark  and  Larabie  purchased  the 
interests  of  Mr.  Donnell  in  their  Montana  business  and  sub- 
sequently Mr.  Clark  and  his  brother  James  Eoss  Clark  came 
into  full  ownership  of  the  Butte  bank.  The  banking  house 
of  W.  A.  Clark  &  Brother  of  Butte  City,  Montana,  has  since 
that  time  grown  into  one  of  the  strongest  banking  institutions 
of  the  West. 

But  it  is  in  mining  investments  and  in  the  operations 
of  vast  ore  mills  and  smelters  for  the  treatment  of  base  ores 
that  Mr.  Clark  has  made  the  great  financial  success  of  his  life, 
and  contributed  so  largely  to  the  development  and  prosperity 
of  his  state.  No  other  single  individual  has  played  so  con- 
spicuous a  part  in  this  direction.  In  1877,  Mr.  Clark  first 
began  to  give  attention  to  the  quartz  prospects  of  Butte.  pur- 
chasing in  this  year  in  whole  or  in  part  the  original  Colusa, 
Mountain  Chief,  Gambetta,  and  other  mines,  nearly  all  of 
which  proved  afterward  to  be  fabulously  rich. 

In  order  to  fit  himself  for  a  successful  mining  career  Mr. 
Clark  spent  the  winter  of  1872-3  at  the  School  of  Mines, 
Columbia  College,  taking  a  course  in  practical  assaying  and 
analysis,  with  a  general  outline  of  mineralogy,  where  he 
gained  a  knowledge  that  afterwards  served  him  excellent 
part  in  his  extensive  mining,  milling,  and  smelting  opera- 
tions. 

The  first  stamp  mill  of  Butte,  "The  Old  Dexter,"  was 
finished  in  1876  through  the  financial  help  of  Mr.  Clark.  The 
first  smelter  of  consequence  in  the  same  city  was  erected  by  a 
company  organized  by  him.  This  was  the  Colorado  and 
Montana  Company,  which  still  continues  as  one  of  the 
leading  enterprises  of  the  "  copper  city."  Mr.  Clark  is  one  of 
the  principal  stockholders  and  vice-president  of  the  company. 
In  1880  he  organized  the  Moulton  Company,  which  at  once 
proceeded  to  the  erection  of  the  Moulton  Mill  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mine.  The  company  built  a  complete,  dry-crush- 
ing and  chloridizing,  forty-stamp  mill,  sunk  a  three  compart- 


556  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ment  shaft  800  feet,  put  in  modern  pumping  and  hoisting 
works  and  thoroughly  explored  the  property  at  the  cost  of 
about  $500,000.  This  mine  has  been  in  successful  operation 
ever  since.  Even  through  the  period  of  financial  depression, 
when  nearly  every  other  silver  mine  in  the  West  closed  down, 
the  stamps  of  the  Moulton  never  ceased  to  drop.  Mr.  Clark, 
in  connection  with  his  brother  James  Ross,  is  also  the  owner 
of  the  Butte  Reduction  Works,  and  the  Colusa  Parrot,  and 
several  other  copper  and  silver  mines  in  connection  therewith. 
Besides  his  interests  in  these  companies  he  has  large  individ- 
ual holdings  in  the  mines  of  Butte,  many  of  which  are  in  suc- 
cessful operation,  affording  employment  to  a  small  army  of 
men.  He  also  owns  valuable  mining  properties  in  Idaho  and 
Arizona.  The  United  Verde  Copper  Company's  property  in 
Arizona  owned  by  him  is  one  of  the  mining  wonders  of  the 
world.  It  is  probably  the  richest  and  most  extensive  of  all 
the  mines,  not  excepting  the  Anaconda,  Mountain  View,  or 
any  of  the  big  properties  of  Butte.  Mr.  Clark  completed  and 
equipped  a  railroad  to  the  United  Verde  mine,  connecting 
with  the  Santa  Fe  system,  which  is  a  marvel  of  engineering 
and,  considering  its  length,  which  is  26  miles,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  expensive  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  He  has  built 
immense  smelting  and  refining  plants  at  this  mine  and  the 
future  output  from  it  will  probably  only  be  limited  by  the 
demands  of  the  world's  markets. 

Mr.  Clark  established  the  first  water  system  in  Butte  and 
also  the  first  electric  light  plant.  He  is  the  owner  of  the 
Butte  Miner,  one  of  the  leading  daily  papers  of  the  city,  and 
also  president  and  principal  owner  of  the  cable  and  electric 
railways  of  that  city,  and  largely  interested  in  many  other 
industrial  enterprises  besides  the  mining  and  smelting  of 
ores.  No  man  gives  closer  attention  to  his  extensive  busi- 
ness affairs  than  does  Mr.  Clark,  and  consequently  he  is 
one  of  the  busiest  men  imaginable.  As  illustrative  of  his 
characteristics  in  this  respect  the  following  incident  is 
related  :  — 

Several  years  ago  a  Washington  man  visited  Montana 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Clark.  He  found  the 
millionaire  seated  in  a  plain,  poorly  furnished  office  working 
as  if  his  life  depended  upon  it.  He  was  pleasant  enough  — 
for  politeness  is  an  invariable  rule  with  him  —  but  it  could  be 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS  CLARK.  557 

plainly  seen  that  he  had  no  time  to  devote  to  unimportant 
matters.  Noting  this,  Mr.  X-  -  retired,  not,  however,  before 
he  had  received  an  invitation  to  return  in  an  hour  and  lunch 
with  him.  The  meal  was  of  the  plainest  description  and 
hurriedly  disposed  of.  Again  there  was  no  time  for  unnec- 
essary talk,  but  Mr.  X managed  to  make  the  senator 

consent  to  meet  him  the  following  morning. 

"  What  time  will  you  come  around  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Clark. 

"  Any  time  that  will  suit  you,"  responded  Mr.  X-    — . 

"Seven  o'clock  then," responded  Mr.  Clark,  explaining  the 
earliness  of  the  hour  by  saying,  "  I  am  rather  of  an  early  riser. 
It  is  a  habit  I  have  got  into.  I  do  not  ask  my  employees  to 
get  around  any  earlier  than  I  do  myself.  I  am  always  at  my 
office  at  seven  o'clock  every  morning  when  I  am  in  town." 

Subsequently  Mr.  X  -  -  ascertained  that  the  office  hours 
of  the  senator  were  from  7  A.  M.  to  7  P.  M.,  with  a  brief 
interval  of  half  an  hour  in  the  middle  of  the  day  for  refresh- 
ments. 

Notwithstanding  that  Mr.  Clark's  time  is  always  in 
demand  in  connection  with  his  vast  business  interests,  still 
he  has  always  taken  time  to  respond  to  any  call  of  public 
duty  either  from  his  state  or  his  party  and  the  services  ren- 
dered have  invariably  been  of  the  highest  order.  Whatever 
he  does,  he  does  well.  Taking  a  deep  interest  in  public 
and  political  affairs  he  has  prepared  himself  by  study  and 
observation  to  fulfill  the  highest  functions  of  citizenship. 
During  the  Centennial  exhibition  in  Philadelphia  in  1876,  Gov- 
ernor Potts  appointed  him  State  Orator  to  represent  Montana, 
and  his  oration  on  that  occasion  was  a  brilliant  effort  and  did 
good  service  in  making  known  the  wonderful  resources  of  his 
state.  In  1884  he  was  elected  a  delegate  from  Silver  Bow 
county  to  the  first  constitutional  convention  of  Montana  and 
was  chosen  president  of  that  body.  In  this  position  he  won 
new  laurels  as  presiding  officer  and  showed  himself  a  master 
of  parliamentary  law  and  tactics.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
commissioned  by  President  Arthur  to  act  as  one  of  the  com- 
missioners of  the  World's  Industrial  and  Cotton  Exhibition  at 
New  Orleans,  where  he  spent  several  months  in  the  interests 
of  Montana. 

In  1888  Mr.  Clark  received  the  Democratic  nomination  for 
delegate  to  Congress  and  made  a  brilliant  canvass  of  the 


558  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

territory,  but  his  defeat  was  compassed  by  reason  of  treachery 
within  the  party  camp.  When  Montana  was  admitted  to  the 
Union  in  1889  and  a  second  constitutional  convention  was 
necessary  he  was  again  elected  a  member  of  that  body  and, 
as  before,  was  chosen  its  presiding  officer.  Upon  the  first 
Legislative  assembly,  which  convened  in  Helena  in  January, 
1890,  devolved  the  duty  of  electing  two  United  States  sena- 
tors. The  political  muddle  growing  out  of  Precinct  No.  34 
troubles  resulted  in  the  organization  of  two  Houses  of  repre- 
sentatives and  of  the  election  of  two  sets  of  United  States 
senators.  The  Democrats  elected  Mr.  Clark  and  Mr.  Maginnis, 
and  the  Republicans  Mr.  Sanders  and  Mr.  T.  C.  Power.  Mr. 
Clark  received  the  unanimous  vote  of  his  party  in  caucus  and 
in  joint  session,  the  claims  of  which  were  presented  to  the 
United  States  Senate  and  as  that  body  was  largely  Republican 
at  the  time  the  issue  did  not  remain  long  in  doubt.  Messrs. 
Sanders  and  Power  were  declared  elected  ;  but  Mr.  Clark 
received  from  his  party  in  the  state  the  highest  honor  within 
its  gift  and  is  as  proud  of  it  as  if  he  had  enjoyed  the  full  frui- 
tion of  what  he  regards  as  a  just  and  legal  election. 

Again  a  senator  was  to  be  elected  to  succeed  Colonel  San- 
ders by  the  Legislature  that  convened  in  Helena  in  January, 
1893.  In  this  body  the  Populists  with  three  members  held  the 
balance  of  power.  Mr.  Clark  again  received  a  Democratic 
caucus  nomination  but  a  small  contingent  of  Democrats  under 
the  avowed  leadership  of  Mr.  Marcus  Daly  refused  to  go  into 
the  caucus  or  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  majority.  As  a  con- 
sequence the  contest  was  protracted  through  the  entire  ses- 
sion of  sixty  days  and  the  gavel  fell  the  last  joint  session  with 
no  election  as  United  States  senator. 

It  was  a  memorable  contest  in  which  party  and  factional 
strife  ran  high.  On  the  last  ballot  and  one  or  two  preceding 
ones,  Mr.  Clark  lacked  but  two  votes  of  election,  receiving  the 
support  of  one  Populist  and  several  Republicans  in  addition  to 
that  of  the  faithful  band  of  twenty-six  Democrats  that  stood 
true  to  him  from  start  to  finish.  Mr.  Clark  headed  the  delega- 
tion to  the  Democratic  convention  at  Chicago  in  1892  and  was 
justly  recognized  by  the  administration  in  the  distribution  of 
federal  patronage  in  the  state. 

In  reference  to  his  entire  public  life  it  may  be  safely  said 
that  no  man  in  Montana  has  been  more  highly  honored  by 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS  CLARK.  559 

his  party  or  has  more  readily  deserved  the  confidence  and 
leadership,  with  one  accord,  awarded  to  him.  At  all  times 
and  under  all  circumstances  he  has  been  faithful  to  his  party, 
as  constant  and  as  true-fixed  as  the  North  star. 

In  1894  the  permanent  seat  of  government  of  Montana  was 
located.  In  1892  the  first  capital  contest,  in  which  several 
towns  were  entered,  resulted  in  leaving-  Helena  and  Anaconda 
in  the  field  as  the  only  candidates  which  could  lay  claim  to 
the  suffrage  of  the  people.  Helena  was  the  temporary  capi- 
tal. Anaconda  being  the  Anaconda  Company's  candidate 
had  an  immense  financial  backing  and  enjoyed  the  advantage 
of  a  powerful  political  alliance.  For  a  time  it  seemed  that 
this  town,  owned  and  controlled  by  one  corporation,  would 
win  the  day.  People  who  feared  the  consequences  of  such  an 
outcome  were  without  leadership  on  which  they  could  lean 
with  confidence.  Helena  forces  were  without  organization. 
At  this  juncture,  Mr.  Clark,  whose  home  is  within  plain  view 
of  the  Anaconda  mines,  in  Butte,  and  who  was,  therefore, 
surrounded  by  the  strongest  Anaconda  influences  in  the 
state,  cast  aside  all  personal  and  political  ambitions  and 
entered  the  fight  for  the  people.  From  the  day  that  he  made 
his  decision  known  through  the  columns  of  his  newspaper, 
the  Butte  Miner,  until  election  day,  he  was  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  Helena  forces.  Not  only  did  he  contribute 
liberally  of  his  time  and  means  but  he  took  the  stump  and 
addressed  the  people  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  state,  mak- 
ing a  powerful  and  eloquent  appeal  to  their  pride  and  patriot- 
ism. 

Never  in  the  history  of  this  or  any  other  state  was  a  battle 
more  intense  or  exciting.  Never  did  the  people  more  keenly 
feel  that  their  rights  and  liberty  were  at  stake  and  never  did 
a  citizen  receive  a  greater  or  more  spontaneous  ovation  than 
that  which  Mr.  Clark  enjoyed,  when,  after  having  unques- 
tionably snatched  victory  from  defeat,  the  people  of  that  state 
gathered  in  thousands  at  Helena  to  do  him  honor.  The 
citizens  bore  him  on  their  shoulders  from  his  train,  placed  him 
in  the  carriage,  and  then  detached  the  horses,  took  their 
places  at  the  poles  and  triumphantly  hauled  it  to  the  city  as  a 
victor's  chariot.  It  was  a  battle  never  to  be  forgotten  and 
the  unprecedented  expressions  of  gratitude  which  were 
showered  upon  Mr.  Clark  form  a  climax  of  triumph  such  as 


560  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

rarely  crowns  the  efforts  of  any  American  citizen.  It  was  a 
victory  which  easily  gives  Mr.  Clark  rank  as  the  first  citizen 
of  his  state  and  one  of  the  most  commanding  figures  of  the 
West. 

In  1895,  the  Legislature  was  largely  Republican,  but  a  few 
Democrats  who  were  in  the  House  and  Senate  again  made 
Mr.  Clark  their  nominee  for  the  United  States  Senate.  In 
1898-9  the  Democrats  again  secured  control  of  the  state  by  a 
large  majority  and  Mr.  Clark  was  the  chief  figure  in  the 
contest.  This  was  much  embittered  by  the  war  waged  against 
him  by  Marcus  Daly,  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Company,  of 
which  Mr.  Daly  was  president  and  general  manager.  The 
Daly  forces,  by  combining  with  a  man  by  the  name  of  Con- 
rad, secured  control  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
elected  the  speaker,  a  pronounced  Daly  man.  Prior  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Legislature  the  Anaconda  Standard,  Daly's 
personal  organ,  made  a  bitter  fight  against  Mr.  Clark,  pre- 
dicting that  bribery  would  be  resorted  to  to  secure  his 
election,  and  making  the  broad  statement  that  any  member 
of  the  Legislature  who  voted  for  Mr.  Clark  would  be  branded 
as  a  bribe-taker  upon  the  day  appointed  by  law  to  vote  for 
United  States  senator.  A  resolution  was  introduced  into  the 
House  of  Representatives  charging  that  bribery  had  been 
resorted  to  in  order  to  secure  the  election  of  Mr.  Clark,  sug- 
gesting that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  investigate  these 
charges.  The  speaker  appointed  a  committee  all  of  whom 
were  avowed  enemies  of  Mr.  Clark. 

A  resolution  was  also  introduced  into  the  Senate  which 
named  a  committee  from  that  body,  all  of  whom  were  opposed 
to  Mr.  Clark.  The  committee  held  several  secret  sessions  and 
when  the  hour  arrived  to  vote,  a  man,  by  the  name  of  White- 
side,  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  House  exhibiting  $30,000 
which  he  claimed  that  he  and  others  had  received  for  agree- 
ing to  support  Mr.  Clark  for  the  United  States  Senate.  Imme- 
diately following  this  incident  Mr.  Clark  branded  it  as  a 
conspiracy  and  demanded  a  rigid  investigation  by  the 
local  authorities.  The  judge  of  the  district  court  ordered  a 
grand  jury  impaneled,  which  consumed  upwards  of  two 
weeks  in  investigating  the  charges  preferred  by  Mr.  Daly  and 
his  friends,  and  finally  reported  that  there  was  no  foundation 
for  the  charges  made  nor  evidence  to  be  had  sustaining  them. 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS  CLARK.  561 

In  the  meantime  the  vote  for  senator  continued.  Each 
day  Mr.  Clark  gained  votes,  and  immediately  upon  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  grand  jury,  he  received  fifty-five  votes,  seven 
more  than  the  required  number  to  elect. 

On  the  eventful  morning  of  the  day  of  election  the  Repub- 
lican members,  of  whom  there  were  sixteen  all  told,  in  both 
Houses,  held  a  secret  caucus  to  determine  whom  they  should 
support  that  day  for  senator.  Previous  to  this  they  had  cast 
their  vote  for  different  candidates  for  the  high  office  day  by 
day,  and  out  of  the  sixteen,  twelve  agreed  to  and  did  support 
Mr.  Clark,  insuring  his  election.  Later,  the  twelve  Republic- 
ans who  voted  for  Mr.  Clark  assigned  as  their  reason  for 
doing  so,  in  effect,  that  Mr.  Daly  and  the  Anaconda  Copper 
Company  had  dominated  the  politics  of  the  state  of  Montana 
too  long,  that  their  growing  power  and  arrogant  methods  had 
become  a  menace  to  all  political  parties,  and  that  the  interests 
of  the  state  would  be  best  subserved  by  the  election  of  Mr. 
Clark  and  the  defeat  of  the  Daly  faction.  It  has  developed 
that  the  very  large  majority  of  the  people  of  the  state  of  Mon- 
tana, regardless  of  politics,  acquiesce  in  and  are  rejoiced  at 
the  election  of  Mr.  Clark,  and  are  entirely  satisfied  with  the 
result  of  the  great  contest. 

The  subsequent  continuation  of  this  contest  in  the  United 
States  Senate  and  its  outcome,  as  well  as  the  triumphal  vindi- 
cation of  Senator  Clark  by  the  Legislature  of  his  state  in  1901, 
has  now  become  a  part  of  our  contemporary  history.  That 
the  conspiracy  itself  was  the  result  of  ignoble  motives,  as  it 
was  groundless  in  point  of  legal  evidence,  cannot  at  this  date 
be  denied  ;  and  far  from  besmirching  the  personal  integrity 
and  reputation  of  Mr.  Clark,  the  apparent  insincerity  of  the 
whole  course  of  proceedings  have  only  tended  to  put  him  in  a 
place  of  higher  regard  and  public  esteem. 

In  March,  1869,  Mr.  Clark  was  married  to  Kate  L.  Stauffer 
of  Connellsville,  Pa.  Almost  immediately  the  couple  started 
for  their  distant  home  in  the  mountains,  where  they  resided 
at  Helena,  later  at  Deer  Lodge  and  still  later  in  Butte  City. 
In  1879  Mr.  Clark  took  his  family  to  Paris,  where  they 
remained  three  years,  all  of  them,  including  himself,  having 
acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  French  language.  He 
then  sent  them  to  Dresden,  Germany,  for  two  years  to  acquire 
a  knowledge  of  the  German  language.  During  these  years, 


562  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Mr.  Clark  spent  the  winters  in  Europe  and  he  and  Mrs.  Clark 
and  the  eldest  children  traveled  extensively  through  the 
Continent  and  in  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa.  In  late  years, 
besides  their  beautiful  home  in  Butte,  they  have  maintained 
a  residence  in  the  fashionable  district  of  New  York  city, 
where  a  portion  of  each  year  is  spent.  Mr.  Clark's  home  in 
New  York  is  one  of  the  most  notable  in  that  city  of  splendid 
palaces  and  has  been  furnished  and  decorated  with  rare  speci- 
mens of  art,  to  the  collection  of  which  he  has  devoted  much 
time  and  a  large  amount  of  money.  His  art  collection  is  one 
of  the  utmost  value  and  embraces  works  by  Millet,  Rousseau, 
Corot,  Daubigny,  Zeim,  Casin,  Delacroix,  Fortuny,  L'Hermite, 
and  La  Font.  Personally  Mr.  Clark  impresses  one  as  a  man 
of  extensive  and  varied  culture.  He  is  a  lover  of  literature 
and  patron  of  art,  while  in  point  of  attainment  as  a  public 
speaker  and  an  administrator  he  has  shown  eminent  capa- 
bilities. 

This  sketch  of  Mr.  Clark  is  necessarily  general  in  charac- 
ter ;  to  go  into  the  interesting  details  of  his  life,  of  the  strug- 
gles of  his  early  manhood,  successes  of  later  days,  would 
require  a  volume  in  itself  and  one  that  would  not  be  lacking 
in  intense  interest.  Enough  has  been  submitted,  however,  to 
prove  that  he  is  entitled  to  a  place  in  the  first  ranks  of  the 
brave,  determined,  energetic,  and  self-made  men  of  the  West 
who  have  builded  a  new  empire  in  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century. 

Mr.  Clark  is  yet  in  the  prime  of  life  and  is  pushing  on  to 
greater  and  grander  achievements.  Though  a  man  of  large 
wealth,  he  is  still  the  same  warm  and  steadfast  friend,  the 
same  genial  companion  as  in  the  years  of  his  tensest  struggles 
and  greatest  difficulties.  He  has  accumulated  riches  without 
arrogance,  a  rare  case  indeed.  Above  all,  he  is  a  good  citizen, 
public  spirited  and  patriotic,  proud  of  his  state  and  of  the 
greatest  mining  camp  on  earth,  which  is  indebted  in  so  large  a 
measure  to  him  for  its  present  prosperity. 

METHOD.  - 

,RDER    is    heaven's    first    law,"    it     is    said;      also, 
"  Method  consists  in  the   right  choice  of  means  to 
an  end."     Here   is   a  distinction,    though   the  two 
words  cover  the  line  of  thought  we  wish  to  express. 


SENATOR  WILLIAM   A.   CLARK. 


METHOD  565 

We  select  "  method  "  because  it  is  the  term  used  in  speak- 
ing of  all  kinds  of  business.  '•'  Without  method,  little  can  be 
done  to  any  good  purpose." 

We  say  of  one  person,  referring  to  business,  he  is  method- 
ical or  systematic  •  of  another,  he  is  orderly,  meaning  what 
the  proverb  does,  "A  place  for  everything  and  everything  in 
its  place."  This  is  the  ground  our  subject  covers,  including, 
perhaps,  the  thought  embraced  in  another  maxim,  "  A  time 
for  everything  and  everything  in  its  time." 

The  benefits  of  method  are  dispatch,  larger  achievements, 
better  quality,  and  greater  ease  and  comfort  in  work.  There 
is  attraction,  even  beauty,  also,  in  a  business  that  moves,  like 
the  works  of  a  clock,  without  friction.  The  systematic  divis- 
ion of  time  and  labor  in  our  day,  in  all  great  manufactories, 
is  to  secure  large  and  quicker  results,  as  well  as  better  goods. 
In  an  armory,  thirty  men,  each  producing  his  particular  part 
of  the  musket,  will  make  more  and  better  muskets  in  a  given 
time.  In  a  store  where  each  employee  knows  his  time,  place, 
and  work,  and  is  true  thereto,  more  is  done,  and  better  done, 
and  done  at  less  cost,  than  can  be  possible  otherwise.  In 
the  home  where  time  and  labor  are  adjusted  with  reference 
to  the  best  results,  the  orderly  housewife,  rising  at  an 
appointed  time,  regular  as  the  sun,  doing  her  work  as  method- 
ically as  the  state  department  is  run,  more  is  accomplished, 
all  is  better  done,  and  that  home  is  more  attractive.  In  the 
schoolroom,  the  pupil  who  yields  cheerfully  to  the  method  of 
the  teacher,  observing  the  precise  time  for  studying  this,  that, 
and  the  other  lesson,  with  books,  papers,  slate,  pencil,  and 
other  helps  arranged  in  order  on  his  or  her  desk,  will  do  far 
better  work,  and  contribute  more  to  the  success  of  the  school, 
than  the  pupil  who  is  restive  under  rigid  method,  and  whose 
desk  is  suggestive  of  chaos. 

Method  has  industry,  punctuality,  observation,  persever- 
ance, self-control,  and  other  indispensable  virtues  in  its  train. 
It  cannot  exist  without  them,  and  carries  them  along  up  into 
manhood  and  womanhood  to  bless  the  whole  life.  Method  in 
early  life  assures  method  in  later  life. 

John  Kitto,  a  poor  boy  who  lost  his  hearing  by  an  accident, 
had  so  great  a  thirst  for  knowledge  that  a  benevolent  gentle- 
man took  him  out  of  the  poorhouse  and  sent  him  to  school. 
His  strong  desire  to  make  the  most  of  his  time  and  opportu- 


566 


LEADERS  OF  MEN. 


nities  led  him  into  very  methodical  ways.  After  a  little,  he 
wrote  to  his  benefactor  that  he  had  reduced  his  labors  to  a 
system,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  tell  where  he  was  and 
what  he  was  doing  at  any  time  of  the  day  or  week,  at  the 
same  time  sending  to  his  benefactor  a  copy  of  the  following 
diagram.  The  spaces  in  the  original  diagram  were  distin- 
guished by  the  colors  of  which  here  only  the  names  are  given. 

Morn.  A.  M.  P.  M.  Evening         Night 


Sunday 

Red,  1 

Brown,  2 

Brown 

Brown 

Pink,  3 

Monday 

Yellow,  4 

Yellow 

Pink 

Pink 

Pink 

Tuesday 

Red 

Yellow 

Pink 

Pink 

Pink 

Wednesday 

Green,  5 

Yellow 

Green 

Green 

Pink 

Thursday 

Yellow 

Yellow 

Pink 

Pink 

Pink 

Friday 

Red 

Yellow 

Blue,  6 

Blue 

Pink 

Saturday 

Red 

Scarlet,  7 

Red 

Red 

Pink 

1.  Optional.     2.   Writing  to  Mr.  Woolcombe.     3.  Reading. 
mar.     5.  Writing  to  Mr.  Harvey.     6.  Extracting.     7.  Church. 


4.    Gram- 


He  added  :  "  Those  portions  of  time  which  I  have  used 
optionally,  will  be  occupied  in  reading,  writing,  or  walking, 
as  circumstances  may  dictate  or  permit.  I  shall  spend  all  the 
time  I  possibly  can  in  the  library  rather  than  at  my  lodgings  ; 
but  when  not  at  the  library,  I  shall  be  at  Mr.  Barnard's,  unless 
I  take  a  walk  during  one  of  the  optional  periods." 

With  this  diagram  and  explanation,  Mr.  Harvey  could  tell 
where  his  protege  was  at  any  given  time,  and  what  he  was 
doing.  Indeed,  he  might  have  regulated  his  watch  by  this 
rigid  method. 

Kitto  carried  this  method  into  the  exhausting  labors  of 
manhood,  when  he  prepared  his  "Bible  Illustrations,"  and 
other  great  works.  He  claimed  that  it  would  have  been 
impossible  for  him  to  have  produced  these  works  without  sys- 
tematic labor.  He  was  such  a  thorough  believer  in  method  to 
assure  dispatch  that,  in  manhood,  he  required  his  daughter  to 
clean  his  study  by  the  following  rules  :  - 

1.  Make  one  pile  of  religious  books. 

2.  Another  of  books  not  religious. 

3.  Another  of  letters. 


METHOD.  567 

4.  Another  of  written  papers  other  than  that  of  letters. 

5.  Another  of  printed  papers. 

6.  Put  these  piles  upon  the  floor. 

7.  The  table  being  now  clear,  dust  and  scour  it. 

The  celebrated  Nathaniel  Emmons  claimed  that  he  could 
not  work  at  all,  unless  order  reigned  about  him.  For  more 
than  fifty  years  the  same  chairs  stood  in  the  same  places  in  his 
study,  his  hat  hung  on  the  same  hook,  the  shovel  stood  on  the 
north  side  of  the  open  fireplace,  and  the  tongs  on  the  south 
side.  During  all  these  years  he  sat  in  the  same  chair  to  write 
his  sermons,  and  the  chair  occupied  the  same  place  ;  he  wore 
a  hole  through  the  floor  where  he  sat,  so  that  a  new  floor  for 
that  spot  was  necessary.  One  of  his  students  of  theology, 
who  resided  in  the  family,  says  of  his  orderly  habits  :  - 

"  One  day  I  was  sitting  by  the  fire  with  him,  when  a  brand 
fell  upon  the  hearth.  I  arose  and  put  the  brand  in  its  place, 
but  put  the  tongs  on  the  north  side  of  the  fireplace.  The  doc- 
tor immediately  removed  the  tongs  to  the  south  side,  but  said 
nothing.  In  a  few  minutes  another  brand  fell,  which  I 
replaced  with  the  tongs,  then  setting  the  tongs  again  on  the 
north  side  with  the  shovel.  The  doctor  arose  again  and 
changed  the  tongs  from  the  north  to  the  south  side.  Soon  the 
brand  fell  a  third  time,  and,  as  the  doctor's  movements 
appeared  to  me  very  singular,  I  determined  to  find  out  what 
they  meant.  Having  adjusted  the  brands,  therefore,  I  placed 
the  tongs  designedly  along  with  the  shovel  on  the  north.  The 
doctor  arose,  put  the  tongs  in  their  place  on  the  south  side,  and 
said  :  - 

"'My  young  friend,  as  you  are  going  to  stay  with  me,  I 
wish  to  tell  you  now  that  I  keep  the  shovel  on  the  north  side 
of  my  fire  and  the  tongs  on  the  south.' : 

Students,  like  business  men,  can  accomplish  much  more  by 
a  methodical  way  of  doing  than  could  be  possible  otherwise. 

Cecil,  who  was  a  prodigious  worker,  said  :- 

"  Method  is  like  packing  things  in  a  box  ;  a  good  packer 
will  get  in  half  as  much  again  as  a  bad  one." 

That  quaint  old  divine,  Fuller,  was  wont  to  advise  :  "  Mar- 
shal thy  notions  into  a  handsome  method.  One  will  carry 
twice  more  weight  trussed  and  packed  up  in  bundles  than 
when  it  lies  untowardly  flapping  and  hanging  about  his 
shoulders.' 


568  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

Noah  Webster  never  could  have  prepared  his  dictionary  in 
thirty-six  years,  unless,  the  most  exacting  method  had  come  to 
the  rescue.  That  saved  him  from  ten  to  twenty  years  and  a 
vast  amount  of  anxiety  and  trouble. 

The  biographer  of  Gideon  Lee  says  of  him  :  "  He  was  so 
systematic  that  he  kept  all  accounts  posted  up  to  each  night, 
and  all  correspondence  answered,  so  that  up  to  the  evening 
preceding  his  last  illness  everything  was  in  its  place.  With- 
out this  system  and  regularity,  he  could  not  have  accom- 
plished a  tithe  of  his  projects."  It  was  equally  true  of  Amos 
Lawrence  in  keeping  his  business  accounts  ;  and  he  gave  as  a 
reason  for  his  method,  "  I  may  not  be  here  to-morrow." 

The  Bible  says,  "To  everything  there  is  a  season,  and  a 
time  for  every  purpose  under  heaven."  That  certainly  includes 
human  plans  ;  and  there  is  no  way  of  adjusting  one's  life  to 
this  fact  of  Providence  except  by  method. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

JOHN   PIERPONT   MORGAN. 

ON  AIDS    TO  SUCCESS BIRTHPLACE DESCENDED    FROM    AN  OLD  AME1, 

ICAN  FAMILY--  HOW  EDUCATED BEGINNING  OF    HIS  CAREER  AS  A   BANKER 

-INHERITED  ADVANTAGES J.  P.  MORGAN  &  COMPANY WHAT  MR.  MOR- 
GAN DOES SECRET  OF  HIS  POWER  IN  FINANCIAL  CIRCLES AN  INCES- 
SANT WORKER  PERSONAL  APPEARANCE METHOD  OF  TRANSACTING  BUS- 
INESS  HIS  WONDERFUL  KNOWLEDGE  OF  MEN REORGANIZER  AND  CON- 

STRUCTER  --  HIS  NOTEWORTHY    ACHIEVEMENTS  ON  BEHALF    OF    THE  UNITED 

STATES  GOVERNMENT ART  COLLECTOR  --  HIS  FONDNESS  FOR  YACHTING  - 

GIFTS    TO    PUBLIC    INSTITUTIONS CHARACTERISTICS.       HOW    GREAT    THINGS 

ARE    DONE. 

No  general  formula  for  the  successful  accomplishment  of 
all  things  by  all  persons  can,  in  my  judgment,  be  made.     Men 

differ  ;  so  do  conditions. 

In   all  large  permanent  successes,  how- 
ever, certain  elements  are  plainly  discern- 
ible.    Foremost  among  these  I  should  place 
honesty  of  purpose,  energy,  confident  judg- 
ment,  knowledge  of  men  and  values,  and 
the  ability  to  construct  and  harmonize.    But 
above  and  beyond  these  is  the  man  himself 
-a  force  that   oftentimes    outweighs    any 
mere  catalogue    of    qualifications.     Energy 
may  fail,  judgment  may  fail,  or  any  other  of 
the  special  qualities  referred  to  may  fail,  but  the  man  himself 
comes  to  the  rescue. 


FEW  months  ago  an  American  citizen  without  title  or 
office  landed  in   England,   and  so  apprehensive  was 
Threadneedle    street    of    his    power  in  the  financial 
world,  and  of  the  effect  which  his  sudden  death  might  have 


570  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

on  the  markets,  that  certain  brokers,  to  protect  themsel^  es  in 
their  American  investments,  immediately  took  the  extraordi- 
nary measure  of  applying  to  Lloyd's  for  insurance  011  his  life, 
paying  premiums  at  the  rate  of  thirty  pounds  on  the  thousand 
for  three  months. 

This  citizen  was  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  who  had  just  organ- 
ized the  most  powerful  industrial  and  financial  institution  the 
world  has  ever  known.  It  matters  not  whether  he  was  a  large 
owner  in  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation ;  as  its  recog- 
nized and  actual  dictator  he  controlled  a  yearly  income  and 
expenditure  nearly  as  great  as  that  of  imperial  Germany, 
paid  taxes  on  a  debt  greater  than  that  of  many  of  the  lesser 
nations  of  Europe,  and,  by  employing  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men,  supported  a  population  of  over  one  million 
souls,  almost  a  nation  in  itself.  Iron  and  steel  making  has 
long  been  known  as  the  basic  industry.  England's  great- 
ness and  Germany's  recent  progress  were  due  largely  to  their 
ability  to  produce  iron  and  steel  cheaply  and  in  large  quanti- 
ties. Mr.  Morgan,  as  ironmaster,  controlling  the  world's 
greatest  and  cheapest  sources  of  iron  supply,  threatened  the 
trade  and  profits  of  England  and  Germany,  both  of  which 
had  already  felt  the  sharp  tooth  of  American  competition. 
It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  he  was  regarded  at  the 
moment  as  the  American  peril  incarnate. 

While  in  England  Mr.  Morgan  bought  —  whether  for  him- 
self or  for  American  clients,  it  matters  not  —  one  of  the  great- 
est of  English  steamship  companies,  the  Leyland  line,  operat- 
ing thirty-eight  vessels  between  Europe  and  America.  This 
move,  following  so  closely  upon  the  organization  of  the  Steel 
Trust, was  interpreted  at  first  as  a  blow  to  England's  suprem- 
acy on  the  seas.  It  was  natural  and  inevitable  that  Europe 
should  anxiously  inquire  as  to  the  further  intentions  of  this 
man,  to  whom  the  purchase  of  a  great  steamship  line  seemed 
only  the  incident  of  a  holiday. 

About  the  same  time  still  another  episode  brought  into 
high  relief  Mr.  Morgan's  power.  A  panic  occurred  in  the 
London  Stock  Exchange,  resulting  from  the  great  financial 
struggle  between  Mr.  Morgan  and  certain  opposing  interests 
for  the  control  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway.  A  number  of 
English  traders  must  have  faced  ruin, with  serious  subsequent 
effects  to  the  whole  market,  if  Mr.  Morgan  had  not  stepped  in 


J.    PIEEPONT  MORGAN.  571 

and  relieved  the  situation  by  accepting  small  payments  from 
the  distressed  traders  where  he  might  have  exacted  his  pound 
of  flesh. 

No  one  could  follow  the  accounts  of  his  doings  in  England, 
and  of  the  deep  concern  which  his  presence  caused,  without 
realizing  the  meaning  of  power.  Mr.  Morgan,  no  doubt,  con- 
trols and  influences  more  money  and  money  interests  to-day 
than  any  other  man  in  the  world.  Perhaps  no  one,  not  even 
Mr.  Morgan  himself,  fully  realizes  the  responsibility  and  grav- 
ity of  that  power.  Certain  it  is  that  the  death  to-day  of  Mr. 
Morgan  would  disturb  more  capital  and  shake  more  settled 
business  institutions  than  the  death  of  almost  any  sovereign 
in  Europe. 

If  Mr.  Morgan  were  merely  rich,  he  would  not  be  worth 
thoughtful  attention  except  as  a  social  problem,  but  his  own 
riches  constitute  the  least  of  his  claims  to  distinction.  Now- 
adays a  rich  man  has  little  more  opportunity  to  reach  a  com- 
manding place  in  the  world  than  a  poor  man,  and  often  his 
riches  hamper  his  advancement.  Native  force  and  genius, 
sustained  with  hard  work,  govern  progress  among  men  of 
wealth  as  in  any  other  class.  Twenty-five  years  ago  Mr. 
Morgan  was  practically  unknown  even  in  Wall  street,  and 
he  could  hardly  be  called  wealthy  as  wealth  is  now  measured. 
By  deep  thinking  and  hard  work  he  has  reached  at  the  age  of 
sixty-four  years,  the  foremost  place  in  American  finance. 
He  is  the  most  advanced  expression  of  a  new  world  move- 
ment, that  of  ''community  of  interest,"  of  consolidation  ;  he 
saw  that  great  combinations  were  to  constitute  the  next  step 
in  the  development  of  industry  and  commerce,  and  he  took 
early  advantage  of  his  sagacity. 

Mr.  Morgan,  therefore,  is  to  be  considered  not  as  a  million- 
aire, but  as  a  man  of  original  force.  Whether  or  not  he  has 
used  his  unquestioned  genius  to  the  highest  purpose,  whether 
or  not  he  deserves  all  the  credit  or  all  the  abuse  that  he  has 
received,  are  questions  the  future  alone  will  be  able  to 
answer. 

Americans  of  great  wealth  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes  :  those  who  are  self-made  and  those  who  inherit  their 
riches.  The  self-made  millionaire,  although  by  no  means 
unknown  in  old  Europe,  is  peculiarly  an  American  product, 
and  there  is  no  story  which  bites  more  keenly  on  our  popular 


572  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

imagination  than  that  of  the  poor  farmer  lad  -  never  a  plain 
"  boy ':  -who  hoed  potatoes  at  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  and 
grew  to  be  worth  twenty-five  millions.  To  this  class  belong 
such  men  as  Huntington,  Armour,  the  first  Astor,  the  first 
Vanderbilt,  Peter  Cooper,  Jay  Gould,  Hill,  and  Pullman. 
They  have  all  been  bold,  active,  fearless  men,  sometimes 
rough  and  unpolished,  sometimes  unprincipled,  always  force- 
ful and  original.  To  their  sons  and  successors  these  men  left 
their  money,  but  rarely  their  force  and  daring.  Passiveness, 
polish,  and  conservatism  naturally  succeed  creative  activity, 
and  the  later  Astors,  Vanderbilts,  and  Goulds  have  been  con- 
servators rather  than  creators.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  possesses 
the  somewhat  rare  distinction,  in  America,  of  belonging  to  both 
of  these  classes.  Born  to  considerable  wealth,  surrounded  in 
his  youth  by  evidences  of  culture,  and  carefully  educated,  he 
could  have  led  a  life  of  leisure  if  it  had  so  pleased  him.  It 
was  of  his  own  motion  that  he  chose  a  business  career. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  much  of  the  great  wealth  of  our 
country  belongs  to  men  who  sprung  from  very  old  American 
families.  The  Morgan  family  dates  back  to  1636,  when  Miles 
Morgan,  first  of  the  name,  landed  on  the  soil  of  New  England, 
and  became  one  of  the  company  which  founded  the  town  of 
Springfield,  Massachusetts.  Joseph  Morgan,  grandfather  of 
J.  Pierpont,  was  a  farmer  and  tavern-keeper  in  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, with  a  Revolutionary  War  record.  Joseph  left  his 
son  Junius  Spencer,  the  present  Morgan 's  father,  a  good  prop- 
erty on  what  is  now  Asylum  Hill,  Hartford.  Junius  Spencer, 
full  of  energy  and  business  acumen,  was  a  bank  clerk  while 
hardly  more  than  a  boy,  then  a  partner  in  the  dry  goods  busi- 
ness with  Levi  P.  Morton  (afterwards  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States),  and  later  an  associate  of  the  millionaire  phi- 
lanthropist, George  Peabody.  He  made  money  rapidly,  estab- 
lished a  successful  banking  house  in  London,  with  branches 
in  America  and  Australia,  and  laid  the  foundation  upon  which 
his  son  rose  to  preeminence.  At  the  age  of  twenty -three  he 
married  Juliet.  Pierpont,  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Pier- 
pont, poet  and  preacher,  an  original  thinker,  and  a  combative 
reformer,  though  not  particularly  endowed  with  practical  wis- 
dom. Pierpont  was  the  author  of  the  ringing  old  poem 
beginning  :  - 

"  Stand  1  the  ground  's  your  own,  my  braves." 


J.    PIERPONT  MORGAN.  573 

Mr.  Morgan  was  born  April  17,  1837,  in  Hartford,  Connect- 
icut, where  he  continued  to  live  until  he  was  fourteen  years 
old,  attending  a  neighboring  country  school  for  several  years. 
In  1851  his  father  moved  to  Boston,  and  J.  Pierpont  became  a 
student  in  the  famous  English  High  School,  graduating  at  the 
age  of  eighteen.  He  is  described  as  being  a  boy  of  sturdiness 
and  independence,  not  talkative,  taking  small  part  in  the 
social  side  of  his  school  life  and  not  at  all  distinguished  in  his 
studies,  except  possibly  in  mathematics.  At  one  time  in  his 
youth,  an  old  friend  of  the  family  told  me,  young  Morgan  had 
a  decided  inclination  toward  poetry  writing.  For  two  years 
after  he  left  Boston  he  was  a  student  at  the  University  of  Got- 
tingen,  Germany.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  embarked  on 
his  career  as  a  banker,  receiving  his  first  experience  with  the 
house  of  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co.,  of  N"ew  York  city. 

One  of  the  most  complicated  departments  of  banking  is 
that  of  foreign  exchange  ;  it  is  also  the  department  which  has 
had  the  greatest  growth  in  America  in  recent  years.  Through 
his  father's  world- wide  connections,  as  well  as  in  his  own  bus- 
iness relationships,  Mr.  Morgan  attained  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  every  intricacy  of  the  foreign  business.  He  acquired  a 
mastery  of  the  delicate  relationships  between  the  business 
transactions  of  nation  and  nation  and  he  saw  the  world 's 
credit  system  in  its  broader  aspects.  Many  an  able  banker  is 
limited  by  the  lack  of  such  a  breadth  of  view,  the  possession 
of  which  must  have  counted  high  in  many  of  Mr.  Morgan's 
achievements.  It  is  significant  of  the  elder  Morgan's  idea  of 
a  banker 's  education  that  he  appointed  his  son,  J.  Pierpont, 
to  a  position  in  the  foreign  exchange  department  of  the 
bank  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  career,  and  when  he  had 
mastered  the  American  end  of  the  business  he  was  sent  to 
London. 

All  who  knew  Mr.  Morgan  in  early  life  agree  that  from  the 
very  beginning  he  exhibited  the  cardinal  feature  of  his  char- 
acter, the  capacity  for  pursuing  his  own  way  without  advice, 
and  that,  independent  of  his  father,  he  worked  with  him 
rather  as  man  with  man  than  as  son  with  father.  In  1860,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three,  he  became  the  American  agent  for 
George  Peabody  &  Company,  of  London,  and  with  that  firm 
his  experience  began  in  the  handling  of  large  funds,  and  he 
acquired  familiarity  with  the  risks  and  responsibilities  of  great 


574  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

business  transactions.  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  he  helped 
organize  the  firm  of  Dabney,  Morgan  &  Company,  and  seven 
years  later,  in  1871,  he  formed  a  combination  with  the  wealthy 
Drexels  of  Philadelphia,  the  firm  being  known  as  Drexel, 
Morgan  &  Company.  In  1895  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Company 
became  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company,  and,  Mr.  Morgan's  father 
having  died  in  1890,  the  London  house  of  J.  S.  Morgan  & 
Company,  and  the  Paris  branch  of  Morgan,  Harjes  &  Com- 
pany, with  all  their  connections  the  world  over,  fell  under  the 
sole  dictatorship  of  J.  P.  Morgan,  and  to-day  J.  P.  Morgan  is 
the  supreme  director  of  all  this  great  financial  machine. 

Significant  of  the  changing  centers  of  the  world's  money 
power  is  the  fact  that  J.  S.  Morgan,  the  father,  directed  his 
banks  from  London,  while  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  the  son, 
directs  the  larger  system  from  New  York.  It  was  character- 
istic also  that  Morgan  should  have  finally  dominated  every 
man  and  every  firm  with  whom  he  came  in  contact ;  he  must, 
by  nature,  be  absolute  dictator  or  nothing.  It  is  for  this  rea- 
son, no  doubt,  that  his  house  has  remained  a  private  bank  - 
a  private  bank  giving  larger  scope  and  freedom  of  action  than 
a  national  bank,  or  any  institution  limited  by  fixed  rules  and 
subject  to  the  divided  mind  of  a  board  of  directors.  J.  P. 
Morgan  &  Company  is  not  a  corporation.  It  is  a  partnership. 
There  are  many  partners — in  all  eleven  besides  Mr.  Morgan 
-and  most  of  them  men  of  the  first  rank,  though  wholly 
under  the  influence  of  the  vital  personality  of  the  senior  mem- 
ber. 

Comparatively  few  people  possess  any  very  clear  concep- 
tion of  what  Mr.  Morgan  is  or  does  in  Wall  street.  He  is 
vaguely  compared  with  Mr.  Keene,  who  is  a  speculator  ;  with 
Jay  Gould,  who  was  a  wrecker  ;  with  Hill  and  Harriman,  who 
are  strictly  railroad  men  ;  with  the  Astors,  who  are  primarily 
real-estate  owners  ;  with  Carnegie,  who  was  an  ironmaster. 
But  Mr.  Morgan's  business  is  purely  that  of  a  banker  —  a 
worker  with  money.  As  such  he  acts  as  an  agent  for  rich 
clients  in  the  investment  of  money  ;  he  loans,  borrows,  trans- 
mits money  abroad,  issues  letters  of  credit,  and  buys  and  sells 
securities  which  are  the  evidences  of  money.  The  extensive 
foreign  connections  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  enable  the  firm 
to  do  a  large  business  in  foreign  exchange.  The  interchange  of 
merchandise  commodities  between  the  United  States  and  the 


J.    PIERPONT  MORGAN.  575 

rest  of  the  world  now  amounts  to  the  vast  sum  of  seventy- 
seven  million  dollars  for  every  business  day  of  the  year.  The 
banker  who  issues  the  drafts  or  the  credits  makes  a  profit  on 
every  dollar  conveyed.  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  transact  a 
large  share  of  this  business. 

Mr.  Morgan  is  not  a  practical  railroad  man,  nor  a  steel 
manufacturer,  nor  a  coal  dealer,  although  he  is  interested  in 
all  these  things,  because  he  is  constantly  buying  and  selling 
railroad  and  steel  and  coal  stocks.  Sometimes  for  some  spe- 
cific purpose  he  buys  so  much  of  a  railroad  company's  stock 
that  he  and  his  clients  practically  own  the  railroad,  and  he 
takes  a  strong  position  in  directing  its  policy.  Not  long  ago  I 
heard  an  apparently  intelligent  speaker  who  conveyed  the 
impression  that  Morgan  bought  a  railroad  out  of  his  surplus 
cash  as  a  farmer  buys  a  cow.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from 
the  truth.  While  Mr.  Morgan  must  make  use  of  his  own 
large  means,  it  no  doubt  forms  but  a  small  part  in  his  vast 
deals.  The  essence  of  successful  banking  is  connections, 
otherwise,  friends.  While  coveting  large  earnings  capital  is 
proverbially  shrinking  and  timid,  fearing  to  strike  out  boldly 
for  itself,  and  yet  ever  ready  to  trust  itself  with  confidence  to 
the  leader  whose  skill,  foresight,  and  cautious  daring  have 
been  steadily  fruitful  of  success.  Such  a  money-master  is  J. 
Pierpont  Morgan.  The  millionaire  Peabody  trusted  him  first, 
then  the  Drexels  with  their  vast  fortunes,  then  the  Vander- 
bilts,  for  whom  he  made  a  profitable  sale  of  bonds  early  in  his 
career.  All  through  these  years  he  has  thus  built  up  an  army 
of  powerful  connections,  not  only  in  America,  but  in  England, 
France,  and  Germany,  so  that  more  and  more  millions  of 
capital  follow  the  dictates  of  his  judgment. 

A  number  of  men  in  Wall  street  who  knew  Mr.  Morgan 
and  his  methods  intimately  —  and  some  were  his  friends  and 
some  his  enemies -- were  asked  how  he  attained  the  leading 
position  in  the  world  of  finance.  The  answers  were  :  "  He 
does  exactly  as  he  agrees  to  do."  "  He  keeps  his  word." 
"  He  is  an  honest  man."  And  one  said  :  "  He  is  a  gentleman 
in  his  business  dealings."  It  is  plain  that  Mr.  Morgan  would 
not  have  the  handling  of  such  important  interests  unless  men 
of  money  trusted  him.  But  a  leader  must  not  only  be  honest ; 
he  must  justify  his  leadership  by  success.  The  value  of  his 
judgment  must  be  vindicated  in  good  times  and  bad,  else  his 


57G  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

splendid  following  will  surely  fall  apart.  His  followers  must 
continue  to  regard  him  as  strong  and  wise.  It  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  Mr.  Morgan  has  been  working  doggedly  at  his 
profession  for  forty-four  years,  and  that  his  prestige  and  pre- 
eminence are  of  no  sudden  growth.  With  these  facts  in  mind 
it  is  plain  why  Mr.  Morgan's  life  .is  now  so  precious  to  the 
markets.  When  he  drops  out  there  is  a  possibility  that  some 
of  the  warring  interests  which  he  now  holds  together  with  an 
iron  hand,  as  he  holds  the  rival  coal  railroads  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, for  example,  may  clash  ;  the  aggregation  of  capital 
which  he  now  leads  to  swift  successes  may  be  unable  to  find 
at  once  another  master  in  whose  judgment  it  reposes  such 
confidence,  and  it  may  begin  to  withdraw  from  the  great 
activities  to  which  Mr.  Morgan  has  spurred  it,  and  with- 
drawal of  capital  means  stringency  and  falling  prices. 

Besides  his  own  private  banking  house  here  and  its 
branches  abroad,  Mr.  Morgan  largely  controls  a  powerful 
national  bank  in  New  York  city  —  the  National  Bank  of 
Commerce,  of  which  he  is  the  vice-president.  It  is  known  in 
Wall  street  as  "Morgan's  Bank."  He  is  a  dominating  influ- 
ence in  other  banks  and  financial  institutions  and  a  direc- 
tor never  without  much  influence  in  twenty-one  railroad 
companies,  great  and  small,  including  the  New  York  Central 
and  Lake  Shore  systems.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Com- 
pany, the  ^Etna  Fire  Insurance  Company,  the  General  Electric 
Company,  the  greatest  electric  company  in  the  world,  and  in 
other  less  important  corporations.  And  through  his  partners, 
who  are  directors  in  other  railroad  and  steel  corporations,  his 
influence  reaches  far  and  wide.  He  is  a  potent,  and  in  times 
of  trouble  the  controlling,  factor  in  several  of  what  are  known 
as  the  "coal  roads  "of  Pennsylvania  —  the  Erie,  the  Lehigh 
Valley,  the  Central  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  Reading,  together 
with  their  tributary  coal  fields.  He  is  the  predominating 
influence  in  the  Southern  railway  and  in  three  of  its  connec- 
tions, the  foremost  railroad  system  of  the  Southern  states, 
with  over  eight  thousand  miles  of  track,  a  system  which  he 
has  created,  and  of  which  an  associate  and  friend  is  president. 
He  is  also  a  power  in  many  other  railroads,  as  witness  his 
recent  appointment  of  the  directors  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  his  evident  influence  through  J.  J.  Hill  in  the 


J.   PIEEPONT  MORGAN.  577 

Burlington  and  Great  Northern  management.  And,  as  I 
have  already  said,  he  is  at  present  practically  dictator  of  the 
vast  steel  interests  of  the  country,  through  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation,  and  he  controls  at  least  one  Atlantic  steam- 
ship line. 

It  is  impossible,  of  course,  for  any  outsider  to  know  Mr. 
Morgan  's  exact  influence  in  any  one  of  these  vast  business 
concerns.  It  may  be  set  down  for  a  fact  that  if  Mr.  Morgan's 
interests  reach  into  any  corporation  even  slightly,  and  Mr. 
Morgan  chooses  to  dictate,  his  word  is  going  a  long  way. 
"Why,"  exclaimed  a  somewhat  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Mr. 
Morgan 's,  "  if  he  owned  one  share  in  a  railroad  company  and 
wanted  to  boss,  he'd  boss."  Indeed,  he  has  something  to  do 
with  so  many  widely  diverse  interests,  that  he  occasionally 
finds  one  of  his  companies  fighting  another,  as  when,  the  other 
day,  the  General  Electric  Company  began  suit  against  the 
Lorain  Steel  Company,  one  of  the  components  of  the  Steel 
Trust.  If  anything  dim  and  big  in  the  way  of  business  is 
impending  in  Wall  street,  brokers  tell  with  bated  breath  that 
Mr.  Morgan,  or,  as  it  is  usually  expressed,  "  The  old  man,"  is 
behind  it.  He  is  the  bogy  of  the  street.  Indeed,  it  is  amus- 
ing to  behold  in  what  awe  Mr.  Morgan  is  everywhere  held. 
Every  one  who  speaks  of  him  or  about  him  must  first  be 
assured  that  the  disclosures  will  go  no  further,  as  if  he  were 
committing  a  'sort  of  treason. 

And  Mr.  Morgan  himself  sits  in  his  office  and  works  pro- 
digiously, apparently  paying  no  attention  to  what  is  said 
about  him,  whether  good  or  evil.  Mr.  Morgan  's  office  occu- 
pies the  first  floor  of  a  large,  somewhat  old-fashioned  building, 
standing  at  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Broad  streets,  New  York 
city,  the  financial  center  of  our  country  and  of  the  world.  On 
one  side  in  Wall  street  rises  grimly  the  columned  portals  of 
the  United  States  Sub-Treasury  building,  with  George  Wash- 
ington standing  in  bronze  dignity  in  front.  On  the  other  side, 
in  Broad  street,  facing  Mr.  Morgan 's  window,  the  new  Stock 
Exchange  is  building.  Within  a  radius  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
are  gathered  some  of  the  richest  banks  in  America,  and  the 
office  whence  most  of  the  great  railroad  and  other  corpora- 
tions of  the  country  are  controlled.  Uncounted  millions  of 
dollars'  worth  of  business  —  American,  European,  Australian, 
Chinese,  African  —  is  there  transacted  every  hour.  But  in 


578  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

the  crook  of  the  steps  of  Mr.  Morgan's  office  a  man  makes  a 
good  living  selling  lemonade  and  chewing  gum,  and  he  looks 
contented,  too. 

To  Mr.  Morgan's  office  come  railroad  presidents,  bank 
presidents,  and  the  heads  of  great  corporations,  to  consult 
with  him,  and  once  the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Treas- 
ury came  to  seek  his  aid  in  preserving  the  solvency  of  the 
United  States  Government.  He  rarely  goes  to  them  ;  they  all 
come  to  him.  Until  recently  any  man  might  walk  up  to  his 
desk,  which  stands  in  plain  view  from  the  outer  office,  with- 
out the  formality  of  presenting  a  card  ;  but  while  approach- 
able, it  would  be  an  intrepid  man  indeed  who  would  call  upon 
him  without  definite  business  in  hand. 

Mr.  Morgan  impresses  one  as  a  large  man,  thick  of  chest, 
with  a  big  head  set  close  down  on  burly  shoulders,  features 
large,  an  extraordinarily  prominent  nose,  keen  gray  eyes, 
deep  set  under  heavy  brows,  a  high,  fine  forehead,  a  square, 
bulldog  chin.  His  hair  is  iron-gray  and  thin,  and  his  mus- 
tache is  close  cropped.  For  a  man  of  his  age  and  size  he 
seems  unusually  active,  moving  about  with  almost  nervous 
alertness.  He  is  a  man  of  few  words,  always  sharply  and 
shortly  spoken.  When  a  man  comes  to  him  Mr.  Morgan  looks 
at  him  keenly,  waiting  for  him  to  speak  first,  and  his  decision 
follows  quickly. 

A  young  broker,  who  had  never  met  Mr.  Morgan  before, 
went  to  him  not  long  ago  to  borrow  nearly  a  million  dollars 
for  a  client.  He  told  Mr.  Morgan  what  he  wanted  in  half  a 
dozen  words,  and  handed  him  the  list  of  securities  to  be 
deposited  as  collateral.  Mr.  Morgan  looked  sharply  at  his 
visitor,  "  looked  at  me  as  if  he  saw  clear  through  me,"  as 
the  broker  expressed  it,  then  glanced  swiftly  down  the  list. 
"  I  '11  take  the  loan,"  he  said,  and  passed  the  borrower  on  to 
one  of  his  partners.  That  was  all.  The  whole  transaction, 
involving  a  loan  larger  than  the  yearly  business  of  many  a 
small  bank,  had  not  taken  a  minute  and  a  half,  and  Mr. 
Morgan's  side  of  the  conversation  had  consumed  not  more 
than  a  dozen  words. 

Mr.  Morgan  knows  to  the  last  degree  the  psychology  of 
meeting  and  dealing  with  men.  The  man  who  sits  in  his 
office,  a  citadel  of  silence  and  reserve  force,  and  makes  his 
visitor  uncover  his  batteries  is  impregnable.  That  is  Mr. 


J.    PIERPONT  MORGAN.  579 

Morgan's  way — the  way  he  dealt  with  a  certain  owner  of 
coal  lands  in  Pennsylvania  who  knew  that  Mr.  Morgan  must 
have  his  property,  and  so  had  come  down  prepared  to  exact 
a  good  price,  to  "thresh  it  out  with  Morgan."  Mr.  Morgan 
kept  him  waiting  a  long  time,  and  then  he  came  out  bulky, 
cold,  impressive,  looked  the  coal  man  in  the  eye,  and  only 
broke  the  silence  to  say,  "  I  '11  give  you  $—  -  for  your  prop- 
erty." And  there  the  bargain  was  closed.  His  way  is  to  deal 
brusquely  in  ultimatums  ;  he  says  :  "I  '11  do  this,"  or,  "  I  '11 
do  that,"  and  that  settles  it. 

All  who  know  say  that  Mr.  Morgan  does  not  ask  advice, 
not  even  of  his  partners,  and  that  when  he  makes  up  his 
mind  nothing  short  of  a  cataclysm  will  divert  him.  No 
doubt  his  confidence  in  himself  inspires  confidence  in  others. 
He  may  make  and  must  have  made  mistakes,  but  he  goes 
tramping  forward  as  though  nothing  had  happened,  and  even 
his  partners  may  be  more  than  half  convinced  that  nothing 
has  happened  or  else  that  it  is  all  a  skillful  feint  in  some 
unsuspected  manoeuver. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  the  surety  of  judgment  and  the  broad- 
ness of  mind  which  enable  him  to  work  with  large  numbers 
of  men  — a  strong  man  with  eyes  on  a  clearly  defined  though 
distant  purpose,which  he  alone  perceives,marching  ruthlessly 
forward  until  his  goal  is  reached.  It  was  Bismarck's  way. 
We  may  not  like  such  men,  and  the  cries  of  those  who  are 
trampled  upon  may  ring  ugly  in  our  ears,  but  this  is  the 
method  of  the  men  who  accomplish  things. 

Without  what  has  been  so  well  called  the  "  leaping  mind," 
Mr.  Morgan  never  could  have  accomplished  what  he  has.  Mr. 
Morgan  does  not  spend  many  hours  at  his  office,  and  when  he 
is  there  he  rarely  remains  long  at  one  desk.  A  man  who 
was  long  associated  with  him  told  me  how  he  "leaped" 
through  his  correspondence,  how  he  was  often  complete  mas- 
ter of  a  proposition  before  the  explanations  were  half  finished, 
and  the  lawyers  who  drew  up  the  papers  for  the  Steel  Corpora- 
tion could  hardly  keep  pace  with  his  swiftly  enunciated  plans. 
Indeed,  Mr.  Morgan  is  given  credit  in  Wall  street,  not  so 
much  for  his  skill  in  organizing  the  Steel  Trust  as  he  is  for  the 
speed  with  which  the  enormous  task  was  accomplished.  On 
December  12,  1900,  he  attended  a  diriher  given  at  the  Univer- 
sity Club  by  J.  Edward  Simmons, of  the  Fourth  National  Bank. 


580  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

Charles  M.  Schwab  was  there  and  gave  an  illuminative 
address  on  the  steel  and  iron  industry.  Mr.  Morgan,  though 
already  a  dominant  factor  in  three  steel  combinations,  had 
never  before  met  Mr.  Schwab,  but  he  was  so  impressed  with 
his  address,  that  he  conceived  the  idea  of  a  gigantic  com- 
bination of  the  steel  interests  in  America.  Three  months 
later  the  largest  corporation  in  the  world  was  organized,  with 
Mr.  Schwab  as  its  president,  and  the  stock  was  on  sale. 

As  yet  no  account  has  been  given  except  incidentally,  of 
what  Mr.  Morgan  has  .actually  done  to  make  him  a  great 
figure  in  finance.  There  is  not  space  here  to  mention  even 
briefly  half  of  the  great  money  maneuvers  which  he  has 
planned  and  carried  to  success.  First  of  all  it  is  evident  that 
Mr.  Morgan  has  never  been  a  wrecker,  like  Jay  Gould  ;  he 
has  always  been  an  up-builder,  or  a  creator.  Most  of  his 
achievements  have  had  for  their  object  the  saving  of  money 
waste.  Economy  in  production,  economy  in  management, 
economy  in  interest  charges,  are  what  he  has  always  sought. 
That  is  why  he  never  misses  an  opportunity  to  strike  a  blow 
at  competition  in  whatever  form  it  may  appear.  Rival  com- 
panies compete  and  lose  money  ;  Mr.  Morgan  steps  in  and 
combines  them,  thus  saving  not  only  the  losses  due  to  the 
competition,  but  economizing  also  in  administrative  ex- 
penses. In  times  of  great  excitement  in  Wall  street,  when 
panic  and  loss  threatened  the  entire  country,  Mr.  Morgan  has 
been  the  first  to  come  to  the  rescue  with  his  money  and  credit, 
knowing  that  panic  and  uncertainty  are  among  the  most 
fruitful  sources  of  loss  to  capital.  In  the  panic  of  December, 
1899,  for  instance,  when  call  money  reached  one  hundred  and 
eighty-six  per  cent.,  Mr.  Morgan  at  once  poured  several  mil- 
lion dollars  into  the  market,  and  instantly  quieted  the  panic. 
For  many  years  he  has  acted  as  a  sort  of  balance-wheel  to  the 
country's  finance,  wielding  his  immense  power  and  credit  so 
as  to  steady  the  market  when  panic  threatened. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  been  such  a  reorganizer  and  reconstructer 
of  bankrupt  corporations,  especially  railroad  companies,  that 
Wall  street  has  come  to  call  the  process  re-Morganizing.  He 
acts,  sometimes,  as  a  sort  of  expert  financial  doctor,  called 
in  to  treat  financial  illness  for  a  few  —  and  he  knows  as  well 
how  to  charge  as  the  best  specialist  in  surgery.  At  other  times 
he  buys  up  a  railroad,  as  a  second-hand  furniture  dealer  buys 


J.   PIER  PONT  MORGAN.  581 

a  dilapidated  settee,  refurbishes  it  with  new  upholstery, 
stiffens  the  legs,  polishes  up  the  varnish,  and  sells  it  for  new 
at  a  big  profit.  One  might  also  liken  Mr.  Morgan  to  a  shrewd 
retail  merchant,  for  he  knows  so  well  how  to  make  his  goods 
attractive  that,  when  he  places  a  fine  new  line  of  stocks  and 
bonds  in  his  window,  they  are  recognized  as  the  latest  fash- 
ion, and  find  a  ready  market. 

But  this  reorganizing  is  a  tremendously  difficult  business. 
For  instance,  in  1893,  Mr.  Morgan's  firm  took  hold  of  what 
was  then  the  Richmond  and  West  Point  Terminal  Railway 
and  Warehouse  System,  a  loose,  confused  combination  of 
some  thirty  jealous  companies,  all  involved  in  bankruptcy, 
with  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  in  securities 
outstanding.  It  required  months  merely  to  learn  the  nature 
of  the  business,  and  then  Mr.  Morgan  took  up  the  almost  hope- 
less task  of  getting  the  consent  of  all  the  warring  interests  to 
his  plan  of  reorganization.  He  had  to  persuade,  frighten,  or 
force  crowds  of  creditors  to  bow  to  his  will,  besides  providing 
the  vast  sums  of  money  necessary  to  buy  up  claims  and  to 
support  the  railroad  while  the  work  of  reorganization  was 
going  forward.  It  is  impossible  to  give  more  than  a  hint  of 
the  complications  involved  in  such  an  achievement  ;  in  this 
case  there  were  not  fewer  than  twenty-six  foreclosures.  And 
at  the  last,  in  this  as  in  every  reorganization,  Mr.  Morgan 
was  confronted  with  the  great  task  of  convincing  the  public 
that  the  new  company  could  so  operate  the  railroad,  which 
had  gone  bankrupt  before,  that  it  would  pay  a  profit,  else  the 
stocks  and  bonds  would  not  sell.  To-day  the  Southern  Rail- 
way, which  sprung  from  this  feat  of  reorganization,  is  one  of 
the  best  railroads  in  the  country,  doing  a  large  part  of  the 
transportation  business  of  the  Southern  states.  In  a  similar 
manner  Morgan's  firm  reorganized  the  West  Shore  Railroad  in 
1885,  and  sold  it  to  the  New  York  Central,  thereby  stopping  the 
fierce  competition  which  was  injuring  both  roads  ;  the  Read- 
ing Railroad  in  1886,  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  in  1888,  the 
Erie  Railroad  in  1895,  the  Lehigh  ATalley  Railroad  in  1897. 
As  far  back  as  1880  Mr.  Morgan's  firm  furnished  the  money, 
forty  million  dollars,  which  enabled  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad  to  build  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  in  1887  it  saved  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  from  insolvency  by  forming  a 
syndicate  to  provide  that  company  with  ten  million  dollars. 


582  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

However,  many  of  Mr.  Morgan's  reorganizations  are  criti- 
cised in  Wall  street  for  being  slow  in  paying  profits,  and  he  is 
accused  in  some  quarters  of  over-capitalizing  his  corporations, 
basing  the  stock  issue  on  the  most  favorable  and  promising 
aspects  of  the  business,  rather  than  on  an  average  accomplish- 
ment. Many  Wall  street  men  assert  that  the  new  Steel  Cor- 
poration has  thus  been  over-capitalized,  and  that  it  can  never 
earn  the  expected  dividends  on  so  large  a  capital.  This  view, 
however,  is  as  strenuously  combated  in  other  quarters. 

Mr.  Morgan's  most  noteworthy  achievements  have  been 
the  part  he  played  at  least  three  times  in  relieving  the  United 
States  Government  from  serious  financial  embarrassment. 
As  early  as  1876,  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Company  were  the  chief 
instruments  in  furnishing  the  cash  for  refunding  the  govern- 
ment debt,  and  placing  the  United  States  once  more  on  a  gold 
basis  after  the  years  of  stress  and  paper  money  following  the 
Civil  War.  The  part  that  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  played 
in  1895,  when,  after  the  panic  of  1893,  gold  began  to  flow  out 
of  the  country  until  it  threatened  the  stability  of  the  treasury, 
is  familiar  history.  At  that  time  Morgan  and  Belmont,  with 
other  bankers  whom  they  had  interested,  agreed  to  buy  two 
hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of  government  bonds,  to  pay 
for  them  in  gold,  and  to  prevent  gold,  as  nearly  as  possible, 
from  leaving  the  country.  It  was  one  of  the  greatest  finan- 
cial undertakings  ever  attempted.  In  effect  it  placed  all  the 
credit  of  the  private  money  interest  of  the  country  behind 
the  government,  and  it  saved  the  day.  For  this  service 
J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  and  associates  exacted  very  large 
pay,  and  when  roundly  abused  for  it  by  the  public  and  in 
Congress,  they  answered  that  their  profits  were  not  large  con- 
sidering the  magnitude  and  risk  of  the  undertaking.  In  the 
threatened  panic  of  the  next  year,  1896,  Mr.  Morgan  offered 
again  to  provide  gold  for  the  government,  but  when  the 
people  demanded  a  popular  loan,  he  immediately  wrote  to 
President  Cleveland  pledging  him  his  support. 

In  1899  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  took  the  lead  in  a  signifi- 
cant departure  in  American  finance.  Until  then  London  was 
the  world  money  center,  and  the  United  States  had,  therefore, 
been  a  borrower,  not  a  lender.  But  in  1899  Mr.  Morgan's  firm 
financed  the  first  foreign  loan  ever  negotiated  here.  With 
the  assistance  of  its  connections  in  Europe  the  entire  foreign 


J.   PIEEPONT  MORGAN.  583 

debt  of  Mexico,  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  ten  million 
dollars,  was  converted.  In  1900  the  firm  took  the  lead  in  help- 
ing to  supply  Great  Britain  with  war  money,  placing  twelve 
million  dollars  of  bonds  in  this  country,  and  since  then  it  has 
taken  part  of  several  other  foreign  loans. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  achievements  of  Mr.  Morgan 
and  his  firm.  A  history  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  for  the 
last  six  years  would  constitute  a  fairly  complete  history  of 
Wall  street,  and,  indeed,  of  finance  in  the  United  States. 

Business  by  no  means  absorbs  all  of  Mr.  Morgan's  energy. 
Perhaps  his  first  interest  outside  of  his  work  is  his  enthusi- 
asm as  a  collector  of  works  of  art.  He  is  the  possessor  of 
many  famous  paintings  and  is  interested  in  rare  china, 
Limoges  ware  particularly.  As  evidences  of  his  taste  he  has 
gathered  and  presented  a  collection  of  fabrics  to  Cooper 
Union,  of  rare  gems  to  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  of  Greek  ornaments  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
Art.  Yachting  is  his  diversion,  and  he  superintended  the 
building  of  his  steam  yacht  Corsair  in  every  detail.  For 
a  long  time  he  was  commodore  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club, 
to  which  he  recently  presented  the  land  for  a  new  club  house. 
After  a  hard  siege  at  business  Mr.  Morgan  goes  for  a  cruise, 
and  it  is  related  that  he  often  takes  with  him  a  mass  of 
papers,  and  that  when  his  friends  look  for  him  he  is  to  be 
found  below  deck  buried  deep  in  figures,  utterly  oblivious  to 
his  surroundings.  Fond  of  a  fine  dinner,  a  connoisseur  in 
wines,  and  a  judge  of  cigars,  he  is  temperate  in  all  these. 
Caring  little  for  society,  he  occasionally  enjoys  a  quiet  party, 
and  may  warm  into  talkativeness,  though  never  on  business 
subjects.  Anyone  who  has  seen  him  at  the  dinners  of  the 
New  England  Society  knows  that  he  enjoys  them.  There  he 
will  sometimes  join  in  the  singing,  but  it  is  very  rarely  that 
he  makes  a  speech.  None  of  his  few  intimate  friends  are 
among  his  business  associates.  The  outward  mark  of  esteem 
which  Mr.  Morgan  bestows  upon  a  man  is  to  present  him  with 
a  collie  dog  from  the  kennels  of  his  country  home.  A  mem- 
ber of  many  clubs,  he  is  too  busy  to  be  much  of  a  club  man, 
but  he  has  always  been  a  churchgoer,  and  what  is  more,  a 
church  worker,  being  a  vestryman  of  St.  George's  Church  in 
Stuyvesant  square,  and  the  unfailing  friend  and  helper  of  its 
rector,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Rainsford.  He  has  taken  especial  inter- 


584  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

est  in  the  boys  of  the  church,  has  helped  devise  means  to 
keep  them  off  the  street  and  to  teach  them  trades,  and  some- 
times he  attends  the  evening  sessions  of  their  club  and  talks 
to  them.  Two  of  his  known  philanthropies  have  been  the 
establishment,  at  a  cost  of  over  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
of  the  now  well  known  New  York  Trade  School  in  the  upper 
east  side  of  New  York,  and  the  founding  of  a  smaller  trade 
school  in  connection  with  St.  George's  Church. 

Mr.  Morgan  has  also  given  to  Harvard  University  for  the 
Medical  School  one  million  dollars  ;  for  a  great  lying-in 
hospital  near  St.  George's  Church,  one  million  three  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  •  for  St.  John's  Cathedral,  five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  ;  for  help  toward  paying  the  debts  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  ;  for  the  Loomis  Hospital  for  Consumptives,  some  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  for  a  library  in  Holyoke,  Massa- 
chusetts ( his  father's  birthplace ),  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  ;  for  preserving  the  Palisades  along  the  Hudson  river, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  ;  for  a  new 
parish  house  and  rectory  for  St.  George's  Church,  three  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  He  also  contributed  largely  to  the 
Queen  Victoria  memorial  fund  and  to  the  Galveston  relief 
fund  ;  he  presented  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London  with  a 
complete  electric  plant,  and  built  a  hospital  at  Aix-les-Bains, 
France. 

And  this  is  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  a  powerful  factor  in  one 
of  the  greatest  departments  of  human  activity,  a  man 
endowed  with  extraordinary  energy  and  capacity,  who  has 
trampled  forward  in  his  own  rough  way,  asking  neither 
sympathy  nor  advice  :  who  has  been  widely  trusted  and 
feared,  little  liked  and  much  abused  ;  who  has  attained  great 
wealth,  which  he  neither  needed  nor  desired,  except  as  a  tool 
to  carve  a  way  to  greater  achievements  ;•  who  has  worked 
prodigiously-- in  short,  a  man  who  has  lived  his  life  and 
fought  his  fight  to  the  limit  of  his  power. 

HOW   GREAT   THINGS   ARE   DONE. 

CERTAIN  French  preacher,  whenever  he  appears  in 
the  pulpit  of  Notre  Dame,  draws  all  the  elite  of  Paris 
to  hear  him  ;  so  fascinating,  eloquent,  and  polished  are 
his  discourses.     How  comes  he  to  acquire  this  power  ?    He 


MR.  J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN. 


PU> 


: 


HOW  GREAT  THINGS  ARE  DONE.  587 

delivers  but  five  or  six  sermons  in  the  year,  generally  in  the 
season  of  Lent,  and  then  retires  to  his  convent,  to  spend  the 
rest  of  the  year  in  reading  and  study,  and  in  preparing  his 
half  dozen  sermons  for  the  next  season. 

A  preacher  may  compose  fifty  sermons  in  the  year  ;  but 
then  there  will  not  be  a  masterpiece  among  them.  Dr.  AV ay- 
land  took  two  years  to  compose  his  famous  sermon  on  foreign 
missions  ;  but  then  it  is  a  masterpiece,  worth  a  ton  of  ordinary 
sermons.  An  eminent  lawyer  who,  without  any  uncommon 
oratorical  gifts,  won  nearly  every  case  in  which  he  was 
engaged,  upon  being  asked  how  he  did  it,  replied  :  "I  learn 
all  that  can  be  learned  of  each  case  before  it  comes  into 
court.1' 

After  dictating  an  argument  to  Boswell,  who  was  prepar- 
ing to  speak  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
Dr.  Johnson  said  very  wisely  to  him  :  "  This  you  must 
enlarge  on,  when  speaking  to  the  committee.  You  must  not 
argue  there  as  if  you  were  arguing  in  the  schools  ;  close  rea- 
soning will  not  fix  their  attention  ;  .you  must  say  the  same 
thing  over  and  over  again  in  different  words.  If  you  say  it 
but  once,  they  miss  it,  in  a  moment  of  inattention.  It  is 
unjust,  sir,  to  censure  lawyers  for  multiplying  words  when 
they  argue  ;  it  is  often  necessary  for  them  to  multiply  words." 

Perhaps  the  success  of  the  great  lawyers  is  largely  owing 
to  the  same  practice  as  that  of  the  great  preachers.  The  great 
aim  of  the  latter  is  to  make  their  point  clear,  and  impress  it  on 
the  minds  of  their  hearers  by  every  means  in  their  power. 
"All  great  preachers,"  says  Professor  Tucker,  "  succeed  by 
ceaseless  reiteration,  under  constantly  varying  forms,  of  a  few 
conceptions  that  have  become  supreme  in  their  experience." 

If  one  should  be  asked  to  give  an  example  of  a  man  of  gen- 
ius who,  from  want  of  steady  application  to  work,  failed  to 
produce  what  might  reasonably  be  expected  of  him,  he  would 
probably  be  at  a  loss,  for  a  moment,  which  among  many  ex- 
amples to  choose.  The  name  of  Coleridge  would  probably  come 
first  to  mind  ;  but  disease  and  opium  had  much  to  do  with  his 
sad  inactivity.  He  was  a  man  of  uncommon  genius  ;  every- 
thing he  has  written  bears  the  stamp  of  genius  ;  but  his  will  - 
aye,  that  had  nothing  of  the  character  of  genius  in  it  ;  his  will 
was  wretchedly  weak,  and  this  was  the  cause  of  all  his  trouble. 
He  planned  many  things,  but  accomplished  few.  He  would 


588  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

seldom  even  attempt  to  perform  what  he  planned  ;  yet  in  plan- 
ning he  was  inexhaustible — boundless  projects  with  very  little 
performance.  He  was  not,  however,  lacking  in  the  wrill  to 
talk,  and  his  famous  talks  at  Highgate  had  their  effect  on  the 
crowds  of  young  men  who  flocked  to  hear  him,  many  of  whom 
subsequently  attained  distinction.  How  often  it  thus  happens 
that  a  man  of  the  finest  intellectual  qualities  has  some  fatal 
defect  in  his  character  which  ruins  him  ! 

Perhaps  no  better  example  can  be  cited  than  that  of  a  con- 
temporary of  his,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  a  man  of  brilliant 
talents,  famous  for  one  or  two  splendid  speeches,  one  or  two 
finished  essays,  and  one  or  two  masterly  philosophic  disserta- 
tions. How  came  this  man  to  produce  so  little  ?  The  answer 
is  given  in  his  own  words,  merely  premising  that  in  his  youth 
he  had  been  allowed  to  do  as  he  pleased,  and  had  acquired  an 
indolent  habit  of  straying  aimlessly  from  one  subject  to 
another.  "No  subsequent  circumstance,"  he  says,  "could 
make  up  for  that  invaluable  habit  of  vigorous  and  methodical 
industry  which  the  indulgence  and  irregularity  of  my  school 
life  prevented  me  from  acquiring,  and  of  which  I  have  pain- 
fully felt  the  want  in  every  part  of  my  life."  Sir  James  lived 
till  near  threescore  and  ten  ;  and  yet,  though  a  man  of  rare 
gifts,  with  a  profound  knowledge  of  art  and  literature,  philos- 
ophy and  politics,  he  left  little  more  than  a  few  "precious 
fragments,"  which  simply  prove  what  he  might  have  done, 
had  hs  possessed  that  "invaluable  habit,''  the  want  of  which 
he  so  touchingly  deplores. 

A  dozen  such  examples  might  be  given,  but  it  is  not  nec- 
essary ;  it  has  already  been  shown  that  the  finest  genius  in 
the  world  has  done  what  it  has  done  mainly  by  industry  and 
patient  thought  :  and  the  fact  now  only  remains  to  be 
emphasized  that  no  habit  is  so  valuable,  no  love  of  anything 
in  the  world  so  precious,  as  the  love  of  labor,  of  constantly 
and  regularly  producing  something  useful.  Not  only  does  it 
conduce  to  success  in  life,  but  it  is  the  purifier  of  character, 
the  producer  of  sane  thoughts  and  of  a  sweet,  wholesome, 
contented  life.  For  "success  is  no  success  at  all  if  it  makes 
not  a  happy  mind."  A  diligent  workman,  let  him  be  ever  so 
ignorant,  is  a  far  better  man  than  the  most  cultivated  idler. 
This  is  something  that  is  never  considered  by  those  fathers 
and  mothers  who  want  their  sons  to  be  bank  clerks  and  Wall 


HOW  GREAT  THINGS  ARE  DONE.  589 

street  merchants.  Such  positions,  with  little  to  do  and  much 
to  get,  are  the  very  express  roads  to  perdition.  The  one  great 
mistake  that  General  Grant  made  was  getting  in  among  the 
Wall  street  sharks. 

No  man  who  values  his  character,  no  man  who  values  the 
true  welfare  of  his  children,  should  engage  or  cause  his  chil- 
dren to  engage  in  a  business  whose  main  object  is  to  make 
money,  not  to  earn  it  ;  to  grow  rich  without  labor  ;  to  rise  on 
the  ruin  of  others,  and  to  steep  the  senses  in  the  enjoyment 
of  material  wealth.  "  Wealth,"  says  some  one,  "can  never 
l)e  conjured  out  of  the  crucible  of  political  or  commercial 
gambling.  It  must  be  hewed  out  of  the  forest,  dug  out  of  the 
earth,  blasted  out  of  the  mine,  pounded  out  on  the  anvil, 
wrought  out  of  the  machine  shop,  or  worked  out  of  the  loom." 
That  is  why  Austria  is  such  a  wretchedly  poor,  bankrupt 
country  ;  one  of  its  chief  sources  of  revenue  (and  chief  cor- 
ruptions of  the  people)  is  its  state  lotteries,  by  which,  though 
nothing  is  produced,  everybody  expects  to  get  rich. 

"Of  all  the  work  that  produces  results,"  says  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  "nine  tenths  must  be  drudgery."  There  is  no  work, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  that  can  be  done  by  any  man 
who  is  unwilling  to  make  that  sacrifice.  Part  of  the  very 
nobility  of  the  devotion  of  the  true  workman  to  his  work 
consists  in  the  fact  that  he  is  not  daunted  by  finding  that 
drudgery  must  be  done  ;  and  no  man  can  really  succeed  in 
any  walk  of  life  without  a  good  deal  of  what  in  ordinary  Eng- 
lish is  called  pluck. 

"  Ah  !"  said  a  brave  painter  to  Mr.  Emerson,  "if  a  man 
has  failed,  you  will  find  he  has  dreamed  instead  of  work- 
ing. There  is  no  way  to  success  in  our  art  but  to  take  off 
your  coat,  grind  paint,  and  work  like  a  digger  on  the  railroad, 
all  day  and  every  day." 

This  is  the  secret  of  the  success  of  the  Germans  in  this 
country  ;  they  are  never  afraid  of  drudgery  ;  they  will  study 
and  learn  anything  to  succeed.  While  French  merchants,  for 
instance,  never  think  of  learning  any  language  but  their  own, 
the  Germans  learn,  when  required,  nearly  every  language  of 
Europe.  When  the  French  do  business  with  any  foreign 
country,  they  write  to  that  country  in  the  language  of  France  : 
but  the  Germans  write  in  the  language  of  the  country  with 
which  they  trade.  The  young  merchants  of  Germany  learn 


590  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

their  business  so  thoroughly  well  that  they  get  into  superior 
positions  wherever  they  go.  After  a  four  years'  course  in  a 
commercial  school,  they  serve  three  years  longer  in  business 
houses  without  pay.  The  Germans  strive,  in  fact,  after  thor- 
ough equipment  in  all  the  professions.  There  are  no  quacks 
or  halflings  in  Germany.  Such  people  are  not  tolerated.  The 
leading  merchants  of  France  have  found  this  out  by  experi- 
ence. When  the  writer  was  in  Paris,  in  1802,  he  found  that 
most  of  the  responsible  positions  in  mercantile  houses  were 
filled  by  young  Germans.  For  a  young  Frenchman  has  five 
hundred  thoughts  on  amour  for  one  on  any  other  subject. 

When  the  Parisians,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late  Franco- 
Prussian  war,  lost  their  heads  and  banished  the  Germans  from 
their  city,  they  sent  away  their  most  skillful  workmen  in  all 
those  fine  and  fancy  articles  for  which  they  had  become  fa- 
mous ;  and,  after  the  war,  the  Parisians  found  that  most  of 
their  trade  had  gone  with  the  workmen  to  Vienna.  They  had 
killed  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  eggs. 

The  law  of  progress  is  by  gradual  steps.  A  great  inven- 
tion is  usually  the  result  of  the  labors  of  three  or  four  men 
living  at  different  periods  ;  and  had  not  the  first  done  his 
part,  the  second  would  not  have  done  his,  nor  the  third  com- 
pleted it.  Galvani  gave  the  first  intimation  of  the  science 
which  bears  his  name,  galvanism  ;  Volta  showed  that  it  was 
a  source  of  power  of  incalculable  importance  ;  and  Humphry 
Davy,  from  the  application  of  the  galvanic  energy  to  the 
composition  and  decomposition  of  various  chemical  sub- 
stances, showed  that  the  power  called  chemical  affinity  is 
identical  with  that  called  electricity,  thus  creating  a  new 
science  called  electro-chemistry  ;  and  thence  he  proceeded,  in 
the  same  line  of  experiments,  until  he  made  his  grand  inven- 
tion, the  Safety  Lamp.  Torricelli  invented  the  barometer  ; 
but  he  had  no  idea  of  the  various  uses  to  which  it  was  to  be 
applied.  It  was  Pascal  who  showed  that  it  might  be  used  for 
measuring  the  height  of  any  place  to  which  it  could  be  car- 
ried ;  and  it  was,  I  think,  Priestley,  who  showed  its  various 
uses  in  physical  and  mechanical  researches.  Napoleon  sent 
Jacquard  to  study  the  models  of  machines  in  the  Paris 
Museum  of  Inventions,  and  Jacquard  found  there  the  model 
of  a  machine  which  gave  him  the  idea  for  constructing  his 
wonderful  carpet  pattern-weaving  loom.  The  Marquis  of 


HOW   GREAT  THINGS  ARE  DONE.  591 

Worcester  made,  in  1655,  a  machine  which,  by  the  expansive 
power  of  steam,  raised  water  to  the  height  of  forty  feet ;  then 
Thomas  Newcomen,  an  ingenious  mechanic,  constructed, 
about  half  a  century  later,  a  kind  of  steam  and  atmospheric 
engine,  which  was  used  for  working  pumps  ;  and  a  half  cen- 
tury after  this,  James  Watt,  while  still  working  as  a  mathe- 
matical instrument  maker,  hit  upon  the  ingenious  expedient, 
the  missing  link,  which  practically  made  the  steam  engine 
what  it  is,  the  greatest  invention  ever  made.  Thus  the  great 
inventors  and  discoverers  had  predecessors  who  indicated  or 
attempted  something  such  as  they  achieved  ;  thus  they  were, 
as  Dr.  Hodge  calls  them,  a  succession  of  great  bridge  builders 
—  men  who  spanned  the  chasm  between  the  beginning  and 
the  ending  of  great  inventions  and  discoveries. 

The  same  is  doubtless  true  of  the  great  creators  in  litera- 
ture and  art.  There  were  epic  poets,  no  doubt,  before  Homer, 
just  as  there  were  dramatists  before  Shakespeare ;  and  cer- 
tainly neither  Homer  nor  Shakespeare  could  have  achieved 
anything  such  as  they  did  achieve,  had  they  had  no  prede- 
cessors. We  know,  in  fact,  that  Shakespeare  first  essayed  his 
marvelous  power  of  dramatic  composition  by  retouching  and 
reviving  old  plays — literary  corpses  into  which  he  breathed 
the  breath  of  life  —  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  Homer  did  some 
inferior  \vork  before  he  rose  to  the  Iliad.  We  do  not  know 
that  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  are  the  greatest  epics  of  antiq- 
uity ;  we  know  only  that  they  are  the  greatest  that  have  come 
down  to  us. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  studies  and  labors  of  one  man  help  on 
the  studies  and  labors  of  another  ;  thus  it  is  that  thoughts 
produce  thoughts  ;  inventions  produce  inventions  ;  poems 
produce  poems ;  pictures  produce  pictures ;  laws  produce 
laws  :  and  thus  the  arts  and  the  sciences  are  carried  forward, 
link  after  link,  by  one  mind  after  another,  till  the  chain  be 
complete.  "Fo  man,"  says  Garfield,  "can  make  a  speech 
alone.  It  is  the  great  human  power  that  strikes  from  a  thou- 
sand minds  ;  this  acts  upon  him  and  makes  the  speech.'' 
Think  of  that,  young  man,  when  you  are  reading  Burke's 
or  Webster's  masterpieces  of  oratory  ;  think  of  that,  young 
•woman,  when  you  are  reading  Walter  Scott's  or  George 
Eliot's  masterpieces  of  fiction.  You  may  not  make  such 
speeches  or  write  such  stories  •  but  they  have  their  influence 


592  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

upon  you  ;  you  carry  away  something  from  them  ;  and  they 
will  help  you  to  make  good  speeches  or  to  write  good  stories 
of  your  own.  Any  other  kind  you  should  never  attempt  to 
make  or  to  write.  "A  man  who  writes  well/' says  Montes- 
quieu, "writes  not  as  others  write,  but  as  he  himself  writes  ; 
it  is  often  in  speaking  badly  that  he  speaks  well."  Chatham's 
speeches,  for  instance,  consisted  of  a  series  of  rugged,  broken 
sentences  ;  but  they  were  his  own,  full  of  significance,  charac- 
teristic, and  true,  and  they  carried  ten  times  as  much  weight 
as  the  smooth,  fluent,  and  well-worded  speeches  of  his  oppo- 
nents. 

A  brawny-armed  quarryman  strikes  forty  blows  with  a  big 
hammer  on  a  huge  block  of  granite,  all  apparently  in  vain. 
"  If  you  can't  break  that  block  in  ten  blows,"  remarked  a  by- 
stander, "  you  can't  do  it  in  a  hundred."  "  Oh,  yes,"  said  he, 
"  every  blow  tells."  This  is  a  good  illustration  of  all  successful 
work.  It  may  not  be  apparent,  but  every  conversation,  every 
speech,  every  sermon,  every  story,  every  experience  in  life, 
tells  in  making  up  the  man.  And  when  a  man,  in  some 
supreme  moment,  produces,  without  any  apparent  effort,  and 
without  any  previous  preparation,  a  masterpiece  of  oratory,  a 
grand  blaze  of  eloquence  like  Chatham's  answer  to  Lord 
Suffolk,  or  Webster's  reply  to  Hayne,  it  is  simply  the  outcome 
of  years  of  study  and  reflection,  the  product  of  a  mind  stored 
with  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  past  ages,  and  trained  to  success- 
ful effort  in  the  moment  of  necessity.  "  What  though  the 
fire  bursts  forth  at  length,"  says  Dr.  Dewey,  "like  volcanic 
fires,  with  spontaneous,  original,  native  force  ?  It  only 
shows  the  intenser  action  of  the  elements  beneath.  What 
though  it  breaks  like  lightning  from  the  cloud  ?  The  electric 
fire  had  been  collecting  in  the  firmament  through  .many  a 
silent,  calm,  and  clear  day." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


JOHN   WANAMAKER. 

ON    HOW    TO    SUCCEED DATE    AND    PLACE     OF     HIS      BIRTH PARENT- 

A  GE A  COUNTRY   BOY AT   SCHOOL EARLY  INDUSTRY ' '  EVERYBODY'S 

JOURNAL"  -SECRETARY  OF  Y.  M.  c.  A.  —  BEGINS  HIS  MERCANTILE  CAREER 

-STEADY    EXPANSION    OF    HIS    BUSINESS NEW    YORK  STORE IN  POLITICS 

-POSTMASTER    GENERAL    UNDER    HARRISON AS     A     CITIZEN  —  HIS     RELI- 
GIOUS   WORK OTHER     ENTERPRISES KEYNOTE    OF    HIS    SUCCESS AS    AN 

EXEMPLAR.       HOW    TO    FAIL. 


It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  the  boy  in  the  country  pos- 
sesses advantages  not  open  to  the  youth  growing  up  in  our 

great  cities.  The  lad  whose  introduction  to 
the  busy  world  about  him  occurs  amid  rural 
surroundings,  finds  his  horizon  not  limited 
by  the  countless  structures  of  God's  goodness 
to  man  as  exemplified  in  his  works  through 
bounteous  nature.  The  country  boy  has 
abundant  evidence  that,  among  the  honored 
men  of  the  nation,  many  have  had  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  youth  spent  amid  the  green 
fields  and  pleasant  surroundings  of  a  country 
life. 

The  many  benefits  of  a  health-giving  atmosphere  and 
wholesome  food  are  advantages  the  country  boy  possesses  in 
excess  of  the  boy  in  the  city.  Combined  with  these,  regular 
hours  of  sleep  and  rest  serve  to  perpetuate  the  "  sound  mind 
in  a  sound  body,"  so  necessary  for  those  who  would  attain  the 
highest  measure  of  usefulness  in  this  busy  world. 

Free  from  the  temptations  which  beset  the  city  youth  on 
every  side,  luring  him  on  to  dissipation  and  ruin,  the  country 
boy  finds  his  joy  and  recreation  in  rational  amusements, 
which  leave  no  aftermath  of  regret.  Thus  he  prepares  the 
foundation  of  a  vigorous  constitution  and  good  health  on 
which  to  build  his  life. 

I  would  say  to  the  young  fellows  who  have  succeeded  in 
opening  the  window  that  looks  out  into  the  world,  that  in 


594  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

order  to  keep  the  shutters  open  and  fastened  back  to  the  wall, 
the  chief  danger  in  almost  every  case,  whether  a  professional 
or  business  life  is  chosen, —  is  debt. 


IT  OHX  WANAMAKER  was  born  July  11,  1838,  in  a  rural 
district  in  the  southwestern  section  of  the  county  (now 
city)  of  Philadelphia. 

His  grandfather  was  John  Wanamaker  of  Hunterdon 
county,  New  Jersey,  who,  in  1815,  removed  to  Dayton,  Ohio, 
and  shortly  afterward  to  Kosciusko  county,  Indiana,  where 
he  died.  He  left  three  sons,  one  of  whom,  John  Nelson  Wana- 
maker, married  Elizabeth  D.  Kochersperger,  who  was  of 
Huguenot  lineage. 

John,  the  oldest  of  their  seven  children, was  a  country  boy. 
The  first  money  he  ever  earned  was  given  him  for  turning 
bricks  in  his  father's  brickyard.  His  opportunities  for  educa- 
tion were  exceedingly  limited,  as  the  public  school  system  of 
instruction  of  those  days  was  very  defective.  The  boys  were 
often  detained  after  school  hours  to  perform  some  unfinished 
task.  It  is  said  of  John  that  when  all  the  rest  of  the  class  had 
been  dismissed,  "  he  would  keep  the  master  in,  being  unwill- 
ing to  leave  until  the  knotty  problem  had  been  solved."  He 
published  a  little  paper  entitled  Everybody's  Journal,  in 
which  he  was  greatly  interested.  In  1852  he  obtained  employ- 
ment in  a  publishing  house  on  Market  street  near  Fifth  at 
81.25  per  week.  He  soon  found  a  better  situation  in  the  cloth- 
ing store  of  Barclay  Lippincott,  where  he  received  $1.50  per 
week.  From  there  he  went  to  Bennett's  Tower  Hall.  Men 
who  worked  with  him  say  he  was  bright,  willing,  accommo- 
dating, and  very  seldom  out  of  temper.  The  people  liked 
him,  Mr.  Bennett  liked  him,  and  when  he  began  to  sell  cloth- 
ing the  customers  liked  him.  He  was  considerate  of  their 
interests  ;  he  treated  them  in  such  a  manner  that  when  they 
came  again,  they  would  ask  :  "  Where  is  John  ?  " 


JOHN  WANAMAKEE.  595 

An  ambitious  young  man  like  John  Wanamaker  was  not 
content  to  sell  goods  all  his  days  for  other  people.  He  became 
the  first  paid  Secretary  of  the  Philadelphia  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  at  a  salary  of  $1,000  a  year.  He  was 
very  saving  even  while  a  boy,  denying  himself  many  a 
comfort,  that  he  might  take  as  much  as  possible  of  his  pay  to 
his  mother  at  the  end  of  the  week.  Colonel  Bennett  said  of  him  : 
"John  was  certainly  the  most  ambitious  boy  I  ever  saw.  I 
used  to  take  him  to  lunch  with  me  and  he  would  tell  me  how 
he  was  going  to  be  a  great  merchant.  He  was  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  temperance  cause  and  had  not  been  with  me  long 
before  he  had  persuaded  most  of  the  employees  to  join  a 
temperance  society.  He  was  always  organizing  something  ; 
he  seemed  to  be  a  natural  born  organizer."  Up  to  the  year 
1861  he  had  laid  by  $1,900,  when  he  began  business  with  his 
friend  Nathan  Brown  under  the  firm  name  of  Wanamaker  & 
Brown  in  a  small  store  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Sixth  and 
Market  streets.  The  partners  had  a  capital  of  only  $3,500.  The 
total  amount  of  the  sales  of  the  first  day  (April  15,  1861)  Avas 
$24.67  ;  the  business  for  the  first  year  amounting  to  $24,367. 

In  November,  1868,  Mr.  Brown  died,  and  in  December  a 
special  sale  was  inaugurated,  which  was  unprecedentedly  suc- 
cessful, enabling  Mr.  Wanamaker  to  purchase  his  partner's 
interest,  continuing  the  use  of  the  firm  name.  In  1869  a  store 
was  added  on  Chestnut  street,  and  soon  afterwards  a  store  on 
Market  street  above  Sixth  was  purchased.  Mr.  Wanamaker 
prosecuted  his  business  with  energy  and  close  application,  not 
taking  a  single  day's  recreation  until  the  summer  of  1869. 
In  1870  he  purchased  the  adjoining  buildings  at  Sixth  and 
Market  streets  ;  and,  in  June,  1871,  altered  into  one  large 
establishment  what  had  until  then  given  room  for  110  less  than 
forty-five  tenants. 

In  1875  Mr.  Wanamaker  purchased  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road freight  depot  at  Market  and  Thirteenth  streets,  which 
was  used  for  several  months  during  the  fall  and  winter  by  the 
great  evangelist,  D.  L.  Moody.  During  the  early  days  of  the 
Centennial  year  the  old  depot  was  remodeled  into  a  men's 
and  boys'  clothing  store,  and  again  enlarged  in  1877,  when, 
on  the  12th  of  March  of  that  year,  dry  goods,  notions,  and 
ladies'  and  misses'  wear  departments  were  added  to  the  lines 
already  established.  Additions  from  time  to  time  have  been 


596  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

made,  until  a  floor  space  of  fifteen  acres  is  utilized  under  the 
one  immense  roof,  exclusive  of  warerooms,  stables,  etc.,  cov- 
ering equally  as  great  an  area. 

Mr.  A.  T.  Stewart  once  remarked  to  Mr.  George  W.  Childs  : 
"  You  have  a  great  business  man  in  your  city.  I  refer  to 
Mr.  Wanamaker.  He  will  be  a  greater  merchant  than  I  ever 
have  been  or  ever  will  be.'' 

September  26,  1896,  New  York  read  a  new  sign  in  front  of 
the  beautiful  palace,  Broadway  and  Ninth  to  Tenth  streets 
—  ''John  Wanamaker,  successor  to  A.  T.  Stewart." 

And  now  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  century  this  great 
business,  managed  and  operated  as  one  establishment,  with 
one  store  in  Philadelphia  and  the  other  in  New  York,  gives 
employment  to  more  than  10,000  persons,  the  sales  of  a  single 
month  occasionally  reaching  over  a  million  dollars. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  was  for  several  years  the  President  of  the 
Philadelphia  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  it  was 
during  his  presidency  that  the  beautiful  building  at  15th  and 
Chestnut  streets  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $500,000,  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  of  which  was  contributed  by  himself. 

In  1865  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  great  Sanitary  Fail- 
held  in  Logan  square  for  the  benefit  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers  of  the  Civil  War.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Commission,  which  did  such  splendid  service  during  the  war. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Citizens'  Relief  Committee  and 
assisted  in  raising  funds  for  the  yellow  fever  sufferers  in  the 
South.  He  rendered  efficient  service  at  the  time  of  the  Irish 
famine,  also  later  on  assisting  in  securing  help  for  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  flood  sufferers  and  acting  as  chairman  of 
committee  for  the  relief  of  several  towns  that  had  been  visited 
by  fire.  Mr.  Wanamaker  held  a  responsible  position  on  the 
Finance  Committee  of  the  great  Centennial  Exposition  in  1876, 
and  gave  considerable  attention  to  the  celebration  of  the  200th 
anniversary  of  the  landing  of  William  Penn. 

In  1882  he  was  offered  the  Republican  nomination  for  con- 
gressman at  large,  but  declined  it,  and  in  1886  he  declined  to 
be  an  independent  candidate  for  mayor.  He  was  very  active 
in  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1888,  and  served  as  an  elector, 
devoting  much  time  and  energy  to  the  Republican  National 
Executive  Committee,  of  which  he  was  a  member. 

Mr.  Wanamaker's  interest  in  politics  was  always  keen,  but 


JOHN  WANAMAKER.  597 

his  view  was  from  the  standpoint  of  the  citizen  whose  duty  it 
was  to  work  for  the  good  of  the  government.  He  is  an  "  anti- 
machinist  "  in  politics,  and  does  not  train  well  under  the 
direction  of  bosses.  And  yet  he  has  done  an  enormous 
amount  of  strenuous  political  duty  in  accord  and  co-operation 
with  the  regular  Republican  organization.  If  all  citizens  of 
our  large  cities  would  give  the  same  personal  attention  to  city 
affairs  that  Mr.  Wanamaker  has  given  to  the  affairs  of  Phila- 
delphia, our  towns  would  be  better  governed  and  our  city 
scandals  fewer.  He  gave  a  great  amount  of  personal  atten- 
tion to  the  problem  of  a  satisfactory  water  supply  in  Phila- 
delphia. On  one  occasion  he  offered  to  purchase  the  gas  plant 
of  the  city  at  a  higher  price  than  the  city  was  about  to  accept 
for  it,  and  not  long  ago  he  offered  a  large  amount  in  excess  of 
the  price  paid  for  the  city's  street  railway  franchise. 

Mr.  Harrison,  on  his  election,  recognized  Mr.  Wanamaker's 
ability  and  worth,  and  appointed  him  Postmaster  General, 
which  office  he  filled  so  effectively  during  all  of  Mr.  Harrison's 
administration.  He  carried  with  him  into  his  new  sphere  the 
business  methods  which  brought  him  success  in  mercantile 
life  and  the  nation  reaped  the  benefit  of  his  magnificent 
experience. 

As  Postmaster  General  he  provided  quicker  transmission 
of  the  mails  by  pushing  the  railway  companies  to  new 
achievements  in  rapid  transportation.  He  established  Sea 
Post  Offices,  whereby  foreign  mail  is  made  up  aboard  ship  and 
is  ready  for  immediate  transmission  to  inland  cities  on  arrival 
at  port. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  has  been  no  less  active  in  his  religious 
than  in  his  secular  work.  During  the  great  revival  times  of 
1857  he  labored  diligently  among  the  volunteer  firemen,  hold- 
ing meetings  in  the  engine  and  hose  houses,  which  resulted 
in  many  hopeful  conversions.  He  was  an  earnest  worker  in 
the  long-to-be-remembered  noon-day  meeting  held  in  Jayne's 
Hall  in  1857  and  1858. 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1858,  Mr.  Wanamaker  began  the 
famous  Bethany  Mission  Sabbath  School  in  the  rooms  of  a 
cobbler  at  2135  South  street,  the  attendance  011  that  Sunday 
being  two  teachers  and  twenty-seven  scholars.  The  increase 
in  members  soon  demanded  more  room  and  a  tent  was  set  up 
on  a  vacant  lot  in  the  same  block,  which  was  replaced  by  a 


598  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

substantial  chapel  in  the  fall  of  that  year.  In  1864  these 
quarters  having  become  entirely  too  small  for  the  growing 
school  a  fine  stone  structure  was  erected  on  the  corner  of 
Twenty-second  and  Bainbridge  streets,  which  has  been  remod- 
eled and  enlarged  from  time  to  time  until  it  now  has  a  seat- 
ing capacity  of  something  over  3,000,  and  a  roll  of  about  2,700 
in  the  main  and  junior  departments,  with  a  Bible  Union  com- 
prising a  membership  of  2,300  adults  which  assembles  at  the 
same  hour,  2.30  o'clock,  in  the  church  auditorium. 

During  Mr.  Wanamaker's  administration  of  the  Post 
Office  Department  he  attended  this  Sabbath  School  punctually 
every  Sunday  (with  very  few  exceptions)  during  his  four 
years'  incumbency,  traveling  over  60,000  miles  for  this 
purpose. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  is  president  of  the  first  penny  savings 
bank,  an  institution  incorporated  under  special  laws  of  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania  and  organized  July,  1888,  in  one  of  the 
rooms  of  the  Bethany  Sabbath  School  Hall  by  members  of 
the  Bible  Union  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  poor  of  the 
community  to  save  something  for  a  "rainy  day,"  three  and  a 
half  per  cent,  being  allowed  on  deposits  ;  the  depositors  num- 
bering January  1,  1901,  over  10,000  and  the  amount  deposited 
being  $328,000. 

A  flourishing  night  school  (or  "  college  "),  for  young  people 
engaged  in  various  occupations  during  the  day,  who  have  not 
had  the  opportunity  of  securing  an  education  or  have  neg- 
lected the  advantages  of  earlier  youth,  is  now  in  course  of 
successful  progress. 

Almost  every  good  enterprise  of  a  Christian  character  in 
Philadelphia  in  the  past  forty  years  has  had  Mr.  Wana- 
maker's assistance.  He  has  also  been  connected  with  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  worthy  business  enterprises.  These 
relations  have  caused  him  to  be  better  known  to  the  people  of 
the  country  generally  than  any  other  citizen  of  the  Quaker 
City.  His  theory  of  life  and  business  is  well  described  in 
Peter  Cooper's  statement  about  himself  made  at  the  compli- 
mentary banquet  given  to  him  once  in  New  York.  Mr. 
Cooper  said:  "While  I  have  always  recognized  that  the 
object  of  business  is  to  make  money  in  an  honorable  manner, 
I  have  endeavored  to  remember  that  the  object  of  life  is  to  do 
good.  Hence  I  have  been  ready  to  engage  in  all  new  enter- 


JOHN   WANAMAKER. 


HOW  TO  FAIL.  601 

prises  and,  without  incurring  debt,  to  risk  the  means  which  1 
have  acquired  in  their  promotion,  provided  they  seemed  to 
me  calculated  to  advance  the  general  good." 

Mr.  Wanamaker's  terse  telegram  to  the  Bridgeton,  N.  J., 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  Anniversary  in  response  to 
its  secretary's  request  for  a  brief  sketch  of  his  life,  "Think- 
ing, trying,  toiling,  and  trusting  in  God  is  all  of  my  biog- 
raphy," gives  the  keynote  of  all  his  wonderful  success.  As  a 
merchant  he  has  brought  the  people  of  all  the  world  in  closer 
touch  with  each  other.  As  a  philanthropist  he  has  been  a 
blessing,  especially  to  the  young  men  of  many  lands  ;  as  a 
Christian  worker  he  has  inspired  thousands  to  lead  consistent 
and  beautiful  lives.  Mr.  Wanamaker  is  not  only  a  true  citi- 
zen of  a  great  nation,  but  he  is  a  statesman  and  a  patriot. 

Then  :  - 

Closer  bind  the  sympathetic  cord 

'Twixt  man  and  man  !     The  blessing  of  the  Lord 

Ever  rests  on  such  as  willing  share 

With  those  who  through  affliction  sadly  fare. 

Wait  then  not  the  coffin  lid  to  close 

O'er  those  we  love  when  in  their  last  repose ; 

Garlands  bring  of  flowers  while  life  is  warm, 

'T  will  help  our  brother  brave  the  fiercest  storm. 


HOW   TO   FAIL. 

HERE  is  inborn  in  every  man  an  earnest  wish  to  suc- 
ceed ;  to  reach  the  goal  at  which  he  will  find  power 
and  influence  ;  to  be  honored  by  the  world  and  looked 
up  to  by  men.  There  are  people  in  the  world  who  fear 
assignment,  business  failure,  more  than  they  fear  eternal 
perdition  ;  who  guard  their  dollars  with  infinitely  more  pains 
than  they  care  for  their  souls. 

Not  long  since,  a  well-known  minister  prepared  a  lecture 
on  this  subject,  derived  from  the  testimony  of  forty  men  of 
large  successes.  The  evidence  deduced  is  exceedingly  valua- 
ble, and  is  herewith  produced  in  connection  with  the  com- 
mentaries made  upon  it  for  the  benefit  of  every  young  man 
who  is  interested  in  the  general  subject  of  success.  It  will  be 
evident  that  in  a  general  line  of  argument  the  obverse  of  the 
general  causes  of  success  will  prove  to  be  the  general  causes 


602  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

of  failure.  Every  mainspring  of  success  is  a  mainspring  of 
failure  when  wound  around  the  other  way,  but,  in  addition  to 
that  general  line  of  argument,  a  large  number  of  definite, 
clear-cut,  undeniable  reasons  are  set  forth  by  these  corre- 
spondents, telling  with  cogency  and  power  just  how  a  young 
man  can  start  out  in  the  world  and  make  the  least  of  himself. 

These  correspondents  are  not  old  ladies  ;  they  are  not 
superannuated  ministers  ;  they  are  not  dealing  with  social 
goody-goodies  ;  they  are  not  theoretical  college  professors 
more  familiar  with  the  silver  question  at  Washington  than 
with  the  silver  dollars  in  their  own  pockets,  but  they  are  men 
who  stand  in  the  front  rank  of  the  men  of  action  in  the 
United  States  to-day  ;  most  of  them  are  quoted  with  large  fig- 
ures in  Bradstreet.  It  is  not  assumed  that  they  may  never 
make  an  assignment,  for  the  Lord  only  knows  what  a  day 
may  bring  forth ;  but  they  are  not  making  assignments  now, 
and  even  if  some  of  them  ever  should  it  would  in  no  wise 
vitiate  the  strength  of  their  words,  for  they  all  have  made  at 
least  one  assured  success  in  their  lives  —  a  success  which  the 
future  can  never  gainsay. 

The  question  propounded  was  :  "What  in  your  observa- 
tion are  the  chief  causes  of  the  failure  in  the  life  of  the  busi- 
ness or  professional  men,  barring,  of  course,  periods  of 
national  and  financial  depression  ? ':  In  the  first  place  it  may 
be  well  to  give  the  collection  of  reasons  that  are  assigned  in 
brief.  Many  of  the  correspondents  give  reasons  that  are 
expressed  in  very  few  words.  These  have  all  been  gathered 
together  in  one  long  list  ;  some  of  them  may  be  and  doubtless 
are  repetitions,  in  other  words,  of  other  statements,  but  they 
are  put  down  just  as  they  appeared  in  the  replies  of  the 
men.  As  they  are  canvassed,  look  at  them,  as  simply  a  list  of 
symptoms  of  a  socially  sick  man.  So  here  are  the  causes 
of  f  a'ilure  expressed  briefly  :  - 

Bad  habits  ;  bad  judgment ;  bad  luck  ;  bad  associates  ; 
carelessness  of  details  ;  constant  assuming  of  unjustifiable 
risks  —  desire  to  become  rich  too  fast  ;  drinking ;  dishonest 
dealings  ;  dislike  of  retrenchment  ;  dislike  to  say  "  No  "  at 
the  proper  time  ;  disregard  of  the  Golden  Rule  ;  drifting  with 
the  tide  ;  expensive  halbits  of  life  ;  extravagance  ;  envy  ;  fail- 
ure to  appreciate  one's  surroundings ;  failure  to  grasp  one's 
opportunities ;  frequent  changes  from  one  business  to  another  ; 


HOW  TO  FAIL.  603 

fooling  away  time  in  pursuit  of  the  so-called  good  time  ; 
gambling  ;  inattention  ;  incompetent  assistants  ;  incompe- 
tency  ;  indulgence  ;  jealousy. 

Then  comes  a  long  list  of  "  lacks  "  ;  study  them  carefully. 

Lack  of  attention  to  business  ;  of  application  ;  of  adapta- 
tion ;  of  ambition  ;  of  business  methods  ;  of  capital  ;  of  con- 
servatism ;  of  close  attention  to  business  ;  of  confidence  in 
self  ;  of  careful  accounting  ;  of  careful  observation  ;  of  defi- 
nite purpose  ;  of  discipline  in  early  life  ;  of  discernment  of 
character  ;  of  enterprise  ;  of  energy  ;  of  economy  ;  of  faith- 
fulness ;  of  faith  in  one's  calling  ;  of  industry  ;  of  integrity  ; 
of  judgment ;  of  knowledge  of  business  requirements  ;  of 
manly  character  ;  of  natural  ability  ;  of  perseverance  ;  of 
pure  principles  ;  of  proper  courtesy  toward  people  ;  of  pur- 
pose ;  of  promptness  in  meeting  business  engagements  ;  of 
system. 

Then,  too,  other  reasons  besides  lack  of  things  were  men- 
tioned ;  such  as  :  - 

Late  hours ;  living  beyond  one's  income  ;  leaving  too 
much  to  one's  employees  ;  neglect  of  details  ;  no  inborn  love 
for  one's  calling  ;  over-confidence  in  the  stability  of  existing 
conditions  ;  procrastination  ;  speculative  mania  ;  selfishness  ; 
self-indulgence  in  small  vices  ;  studying  ease  rather  than 
vigilance  ;  social  demoralization  ;  thoughtless  marriages  ; 
trusting  your  own  work  to  others  ;  undesirable  location  ; 
unwillingness  to  pay  the  price  of  success  ;  unwillingness  to 
bear  early  privations  ;  waste  ;  yielding  too  easily  to  dis- 
couragement. 

Young  men,  this  is  a  highly  significant  list  of  reasons  for 
failure  ;  who  is  there  among  us  who  can  look  into  this  list 
and  say,  "I  answer  up  to  none  of  these  things?"  If  there 
is  such  a  one  he  is  too  perfect  for  earth  ;  he  "  is  not  of  the 
earth  earthy."  When  we  take  up  the  great  mass  of  testi- 
mony furnished  by  these  forty  correspondents  in  respect  to 
reasons  for  failure,  we  not  only  find  in  this  foregoing  long  list 
the  specific  reasons,  but  when  we  sit  down  to  analyze  and 
dissect  this  testimony  we  find  that  there  are  certain  things 
which  seem  to  weigh  with  special  burden  upon  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  a  great  many  of  these  correspondents. 

A  statesman,  whose  name  is  known  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  says,  "Young  men  fail  by  reason  of  associations 


604  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

which  distract  men's  thoughts  from  what  should  be  the  main 
purpose  of  each  particular  life."  The  president  of  a  prominent 
bank  puts  the  same  thing  in  different  words  when  he  says  : 
"  Too  many  irons  in  the  fire, —  the  one-thing-I-do  sort  of  a  man 
is  the  one  that  surely  gets  there."  A  leading  merchant  puts 
the  matter  in  this  wise  :  "  Taking  up  the  business  of  which  one 
knows  nothing  and  changing  from  one  business  to  another 
because  of  slight  reverses."  In  almost  identical  words  a 
man  of  great  social  prominence  and  wealth  says  :  "In  many 
cases  I  think  failure  comes  from  not  sticking  to  one  thing ; 
too  many  changes  are  made." 

It  it  easily  observed  from  what  these  men  tell  us  that  con- 
centration means  collection  into  a  central  point  ;  compression 
into  a  narrow  space ;  it  means  a  state  of  being  brought  to  a 
point ;  when  the  divine  Man  tells  us   that  we  cannot  serve 
God  and  mammon,  he  means  concentration. 

These  are  days  of  keen  competition;  days  when  "forty 
winks  "  may  mean  failure.  Too  many  arrows  in  the  quiver 
may  mean  the  blunting  of  the  edges  of  them  all ;  too  many 
irons  in  the  fire  may  mean  a  cold  side  to  every  one  of  them. 
During  business  hours  where  are  all  your  thoughts?  There  is 
only  one  business  wherein  they  can  afford  to  go  wool-gather- 
ing and  that  is  the  wool  business. 

The  best  endeavors  are  killed  by  too  much  diversion  of 
thought,  trying  to  do  one  thing  faithfully  and  yet  thinking  of 
another  thing.  It  has  been  written  that  "a  young  man's  per- 
sonal letters  have  no  right  to  come  to  his  office  address,"  and 
it  may  be  added  that  a  young  man  is  treading  dangerous  ter- 
ritory who  is  afraid  to  have  his  mail  delivered  at  any  other 
place  ;  but  apart  from  this  a  man's  business  office  is  no  proper 
place  for  social  visiting.  By  it  there  will  come  weakness  to 
the  integrity  of  calm  business  thought.  This  is  common  sense  ; 
and  a  senator  of  the  United  States  writes  that  "  lack  of  com- 
mon sense  is  far  more  disastrous  than  lack  of  book  learning.'' 
The  treasurer  of  one  of  the  largest  corporations  in  the  country 
strikes  a  magnificent  note  when  he  says,  "Failure  often 
comes  from  the  desire  to  become  rich  too  fast,"  and  a  leading 
Eastern  capitalist  gives  a  significant  commentary  on  this 
thought  when  he  says,  "Also  the  very  ambitious  man  who 
risks  too  much,  extends  his  time  of  credit  too  far,  neglects  to 
pay  cash  or  at  any  rate  to  pay  as  first  agreed."  There  are 


HOW  TO  FAIL.  605 

some  things  that  this  will  lead  to  as  surely  as  day  will  lead  to 
night ;  and  one  of  them  is  speculation.  Speculation  is,  simply, 
who  is  going  to  get  the  wool,  you  or  the  other  fellow  ;  it  often 
happens  that  it  is  the  other  fellow. 

It  is  not  only  a  moral  and  spiritual  virtue  not  to  gamble  ; 
not  to  speculate  ;  but  it  is  a  safe  thing.  Everybody  knows 
this,but  the  trouble  is  that  so  many  think  that  they  will  be  the 
hundredth  lucky  fellow.  The  Athenians  had  their  altar  to 
the  "  Unknown  God  "  and  so  has  America.  He  is  a  treacher- 
ous deity  to  worship.  Keep  at  it  long  enough  and  you  will 
fail.  You  may  be  fond  of  indulging  in  "  flyers,"  but  many 
a  man's  "flyer  "  has  had  waxen  wings  that  melt  too  soon  and 
the  thing  becomes  a  "  tumbler  "  instead. 

Our  country  is  flooded  with  schemes  for  quickly  getting 
rich.  How  many  things  there  are  that  promise  to  give  a  man 
riches  for  a  few  dollars  !  And  the  thing  held  out  as  a  bait  is  a 
dividend  at  a  large  rate  per  cent.  But  they  all  like  to  be  hum- 
bugged, especially  if  the  bug  is  a  gold  one.  A  writer  puts  it 
very  tersely  when  he  says  :  "  Note  this  ;  that  no  man  will  give 
you  a  dollar  for  fifty  cents  unless  it  is  counterfeit.  Gold 
mines  never  go  begging  for  stockholders  ;  nor  anything  else 
that  is  gold.  A  fine  spring  chicken  on  your  plate  is  worth  a 
whole  flock  of  geese  on  the  wing.  Leave  speculation  to  the 
man  who  can  afford  to  lose  money."  But  there  are  hundreds 
of  young  men  who  for  years  to  come  will  have  no  temptation  to 
speculate  in  railroad  securities,  Western  mortgages,  grain, 
cotton  futures,  or  silver  holes  in  the  earth,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  they  will  not  have  money  enough  for  the  manipu- 
lators to  "let  them  in." 

Many  a  young  man  tries  to  add  to  his  income  by  the 
pool  room,  and  there  is  no  better  way  of  coaxing  failure  to 
come  and  sit  on  your  rooftree  than  to  frequent  the  pool  rooms 
of  our  great  cities.  Many  young  men  and  not  a  few  pro- 
fessional men  have  lived  blighted  lives  by  frequenting  the 
pool  room.  It  is  true,  not  much  money  is  required  ;  you  are 
not  obliged  to  be  a  millionaire  to  speculate  in  the  pool  room. 
Off  somewhere  a  few  fast  horses  will  be  trotting  a  race  and 
the  fast  horses  there  mean  fast  men  in  the  pool  room  ;  for  fast 
horses  make  fast  men,  though  it  is  a  shame  that  they  should. 
Nearly  every  prison  cell  has  had  an  occupant  who  was 
brought  there  by  trying  to  get  rich  too  fast  in  the  pool  room. 


606  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

If  you  want  to  surely  fail,  just  stick  to  that  sort  of  thing,  just 
forget  that  little  poem  of  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  which  runs 
like  this  : — 

«  WHO  BIDES  HIS  TIME. 

"  Who  bides  his  time,  and  day  by  day 

Faces  defeat  full  patiently, 
And  lifts  a  mirthful  roundelay, 

However  poor  his  fortunes  be, — 
He  will  not  fail  in  any  qualm 

Of  poverty  —  the  paltry  dime 
It  will  grow  golden  in  his  palm, 

Who  bides  his  time. 

"  Who  bides  his  time  -  —  he  tastes  the  sweet 

Of  honey  in  the  saltest  tear  ; 
And  though  he  fares  with  slowest  feet, 

Joy  runs  to  meet  him  drawing  near  ; 
The  birds  are  heralds  of  his  cause, 

And,  like  a  never-ending  rhyme, 
The  roadsides  bloom  in  his  applause, 

Who  bides  his  time. 

"  Who  bides  his  time,  and  fevers  not 

In  the  hot  race  that  none  achieves, 
Shall  wear  cool  wreathen  laurel,  wrought 

With  crimson  berries  in  the  leaves ; 
And  he  shall  reign  a  goodly  king, 

And  sway  his  hand  o'er  eveiy  clime, 
With  peace  writ  on  his  signet  ring, 

Who  bides  his  time." 

We  see  a  man  who  is  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  to  get  rich, 
things  come  too  slow  for  him  ;  as  some  correspondent  says, 
"  They  are  unwilling  to  pay  the  price  of  success,  which  price 
is  to  bear  early  privation."  So  what  next  ?  The  next  natural 
step  is  failure  ;  as  one  of  our  most  prominent  and  upright 
judges  says,  "Ambition  to  show  for  greater  force,  moneyed 
or  mental,  whatever  they  actually  have."  In  other  words  it  is 
a  case  of  the  peacock's  feathers  in  the  jackdaw's  tail.  Many 
other  correspondents  speak  of  the  same  thing,  living  beyond 
one's  means,  or,  as  a  prominent  merchant  puts  it,  "  spreading 
out  too  much  and  spending  more  than  one's  income."  Noth- 
ing under  Heaven  save  a  miracle  can  prevent  this  sort  of 


HOW   TO  FAIL.  607 

thing1  from  ending  in  a  total  smash-up  ;  to  spend  $2.00  when 
you  only  have  $1.00  legitimately,  means  either  a  business 
credit  that  will  some  day  be  lost,  or  gambling  to  make  up  for 
things, or  else  downright  theft  and  embezzlement. 

Over-display  is  not  only  risky,  but  it  is  in  bad  taste.  There 
are  too  many  plush  curtains  downstairs,  and  corn  husk  mat- 
tresses upstairs,  in  this  world  of  ours  ;  too  many  dollars 
spent  for  club  fees,  and  shillings  for  the  laundry  ;  too  many 
men  trying  to  pass  for  wise,  who  in  reality  are  only  half  wise  :" 
over-display  means  under-concealment  some  day.  It  is  far 
better  to  sail  with  ballast  and  center  board  than  to  leave  them 
behind  and  crowd  on  too  much  sail ;  you  may  not  go  so  fast, 
or  cut  so  much  of  a  dash,  but  you  are  more  likely  to  get  there 
dry. 

A  good  many  correspondents  speak  of  drink  as  a  prolific 
cause  of  failure.  Some  call  it  alcohol,  some  call  it  whisky, 
some  rum, —  but  they  all  mean  the  same  thing  ;  they  mean  the 
occasional  or  the  frequent  befuddling  of  the  brain  with  liquor. 

We  speak  of  this  now,  not  as  a  moral  issue,  nor  as  a  reli- 
gious issue,  but  simply  as  a  common  sense  issue,  since  success- 
ful men  say  that  it  leads  to  failure.  One  would  be  a  fool  to 
spend  his  time  at  any  certain  place  if  he  knew  that  by  remain- 
ing there  long  enough  he  would  contract  smallpox  ;  he  would 
be  a  fool  to  indulge  in  any  sport  that  would  in  due  time  tend 
to  make  him  blind  or  deaf.  Why  do  young  men  who  want  to 
get  on  in  the  world  fool  with  whisky?  Why  do  they  think 
they  can  dissipate  one  night  and  not  fall  under  the  average 
the  next  day?  It  is  a  rough  but  true  saying  that  "a  man  can- 
not drink  whisky  and  be  in  business." 

Then,  too,  another  great  enemy  of  business  success  is  so- 
called  "society"  ;  the  society  that  thinks  with  its  heels,  and 
takes  its  nourishment  out  of  a  bottle.  One  hour  of  that 
thing  at  night  breathes  mildew  over  every  three  hours  of 
work  the  next  day  ;  and  those  three  hours  are  either  squinting 
toward  success  or  failure.  Sleep  is  one  of  the  most  important 
ingredients  in  the  prescription  for  success;  "Sleep  is  only 
nature's  banking  system  of  principal  and  interest."  Squander 
it  unworthily,  and  every  time  you  do,  you  lessen  your  bank 
deposit,  and  have  less  to  draw  on  for  success.  Do  you 
want  a  great  lever  in  your  hand  for  success  ?  Then  find  it  in 
a  fresh  and  clear  brain.  Do  you  want  to  spike  down  a  tie 


508  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

across  the  rails  for  a  smash-up  ?  Then  come  to  your  daily 
work  with  an  aching  brain,  a  muddled  judgment,  and  trem- 
bling nerves.  It  will  only  be  a  question  of  time. 

Now  let  us  turn  again  to  our  great  budget  of  correspond- 
ence, to  see  what  else  our  forty  men  had  to  say  concerning 
the  matter  of  failure. 

A  man  who  sat  for  a  generation  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives wrote  that  it  often  came  "  from  an  unwise  or  unfor- 
tunate confidence  in  others.''  A  man  is  to  be  despised  who 
goes  through  the  world  holding  every  man  in  suspicion  ;  who 
thinks  with  the  old  cynic  that  "every  man  has  his  price." 
To  trust  nobody  is  to  prove  yourself  eminently  unworthy  of 
trust  ;  but  a  man  does  not  need  to  be  a  simpleton  in  order  to 
be  trustful  ;  we  simply  have  to  use  our  judgment.  And  a  lead- 
ing dry  goods  man  remarks  that  failure  often  comes  from 
poor  judgment  ;  from  an  inability  to  discern  the  character  of 
others. 

Some  have  spoken  upon  the  matter  of  thrift ;  as  a  certain 
millionaire  puts  it :  "  Unwillingness  to  economize  on  the  start, 
hoping  that  some  fortunate  turn  in  affairs  will  bring  fortune 
and  fame." 

Others,  realizing  that  this  lesson  may  be  over-learned,  see 
a  peculiar  but  a  true  reason  for  failure,  as  a  certain  prominent 
man  puts  it,  "  in  a  lack  of  ability  to  steer  between  the  Scylla 
of  spendthriftness  and  the  Charybdis  of  miserliness."  In 
other  words,  not  to  be  too  stingy  or  too  generous. 

This  is  a  hard  path  to  steer ;  no  man  is  so  despicable  as  the 
man  who  sponges  ;  who  gets  all  he  can  and  yields  up  nothing  ; 
who  saves  and  hoards,  and  says  with  the  leech,  "  Give,  give," 
but  gives  nothing  himself.  That  man  may  not  financially 
fail,  but  he  will  fail  in  every  other  way.  And,  after  all,  it  is 
not  all  of  life  to  "  have." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  over-generous  man  ; 
the  kind  man  that  will  take  the  shirt  off  his  back  to  give  to 
the  poor  ;  but  what  is  the  use  of  it,  after  all,  if  he  catches 
pneumonia  by  it  and  dies  ?  There  is  the  safe  middle  course, 
into  which  we  all  ought  to  try  to  steer. 

Yet  one  correspondent  seems  to  think  that  city  boys  are  in 
no  danger  of  steering  upon  the  rock  of  miserliness.  This 
gentleman,  the  proprietor  of  a  large  iron  industry,  says  : 
"  Much  failure  comes  from  non-attention  to  habits  of  saving, 


HOW  TO  FAIL.  609 

habits  that  are  usually  of  necessity  instilled  into  the  minds  of 
boys  brought  up  in  the  country ;  and  from  my  experience," 
he  says,  "  such  habits  are  almost  impossible  to  teach  the  city- 
bred  boys." 

Possibly  that  is  put  too  strongly  ;  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
heroism  in  a  fellow's  being  thrifty  when  he  has  to  be,  but  there 
is  more  virtue  in  a  fellow's  being  thrifty  when  he  thinks  it  is 
best  to  be.  Rusticity  almost  invariably  enforces  thrift ,  but 
in  a  city,  a  fellow  can  more  often  choose  for  himself  whether 
he  will  be  prodigal  or  miserly. 

Don't  let  us  think,  however,  that  it  is  impossible  to  teach 
thrift  to  a  city  boy.  Hundreds  of  young  men  are  learning 
and  practicing  this  lesson. 

But  there  is  one  thing  sure,  and  a  leading  capitalist  hits  the 
nail  on  the  head  when  he  says  :  "  Men  fail  when  they  are  not 
adapted  to  the  work  in  which  they  are  occupied.  The  truth 
is,  every  man  should  be  called  to  his  work,  as  was  Paul ; 
though  comparatively  few  are  called  to  the  same  work  as  was 
Paul."  True  enough  ;  and  yet  there  is  a  certain  luxurious 
sound  to  that,  is  there  not  ?  As  if  all  young  men  could  wait 
around  until  just  the  thing  for  which  they  think  themselves 
adapted  turns  up.  Yet  there  is  nothing  more  important  to 
you  than  to  try  to  find  out  the  thing  for  which  you  are  the 
best  adapted.  Find  out  the  thing  you  can  best  do,  and  make 
that  thing  the  order  of  your  life. 

But  this  may  take  some  time  ;  it  may  perhaps  take  you 
clean  up  to  your  majority  ;  what  then  ?  Shall  you  be  in  the 
meantime  idle,  earning  nothing,  just  hanging  round  living 
on  your  father,  waiting  for  the  revelation  of  an  adaptation  ? 
By  no  means ;  work  at  something,  study  at  something, 
redeem  the  time  ;  be  constantly  reading  along  some  given 
and  instructive  line,  and  in  due  time  you  will  see  a  vision 
'and  hear  a  voice  ;  and  that  vision  and  voice  will  guide  you 
on,  and  there  will  be  success  rather  than  failure  for  you. 

But  the  above  presupposes  some  mental  ability  and 
shrewdness  on  the  part  of  the  young  man  ;  and  we  are 
reminded  that  a  correspondent  gives  as  one  reason  for  failure, 
the  fact  of  one's  being  "born  without  ability,  or  brain  to 
acquire  it." 

It  looks  as  though  that  were  rather  a  polite  definition  of  a 
fool ;  one  born  without  ability,  or  brain  to  acquire  it.  But 


610  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

there  are  very  few  young  men  these  days  who  cannot  do  a 
great  deal  toward  making  up  for  early  deficiencies  if  they 
want  to  do  so. 

But  you  may  put  the  conundrum  :  "  Can  a  natural  born 
fool  ever  become  anything  else  ?':  And  to  give  an  honest 
and  candid  answer,  we  are  compelled  to  say,  no  ;  but  you 
may  press  further  than  that  :  you  may  ask  how  a  natural 
born  fool  would  act  ;  what  he  would  do  in  order  to  insure 
failure  to  himself  and  his  business  career. 

If  he  will  persist  in  being  foolish,  if  he  will  insist  on  invit- 
ing failure,  then  here  is  the  way  for  him  to  go  about  it  :  Form 
bad  habits,  and  keep  bad  associates  ;  let  him  drink  and  be 
dishonest,  and  forget  the  Golden  Eule  ;  let  him  fear  to  say 
"No, "and  drift  with  the  tide;  let  him  gamble  and  indulge 
himself  in  laziness  ;  let  him  have  a  lordly  disdain  for  applica- 
tion and  correct  business  methods  :  let  him  think  himself  to 
be  feeble,  incompetent,  worthless  ;  if  he  does,  everybody  else 
will, —  the  world  largely  takes  a  man  at  his  own  valuation  ; 
let  him  sneer  at  early  discipline,  laugh  at  holding  a  definite 
purpose,  and  think  that  economy  is  good  for  only  poor  people  ; 
let  him  think  that  there  is  no  especial  value  in  possessing  a 
manly  character,  and  in  having  everybody  think  well  of  him  ; 
let  him  go  through  the  world  careless  of  people's  feelings, —  a 
boor  in  society, —  a  trial  to  his  own  best  friends  ;  let  him  think 
that  it  makes  no  difference  if  he  keeps  his  engagements  ten 
minutes  late  ;  let  him  procrastinate, —  never  doing  to-day 
what  he  can  put  off  until  to-morrow,  and  never  doing  to-mor- 
row what  he  can  get  some  one  else  to  do  ;  let  him  drink  and 
swear  and  break  the  Sabbath  :  let  him  forget  or  trample  on 
the  laws  of  virtue  and  purity  ;  let  him  become  a  prodigal  son, 
and  live  in  open  sin,  trusting  that  somewhere  and  sometime 
there  is  a  stable  with  a  fattening  calf  in  it  waiting  for  him. 
Let  him  lead  that  kind  of  a  life,  and  follow  that  kind  of  a 
program!  What  are  these  things  ?  The  brand  of  Cain  ?  No  ; 
they  are  the  marks  of  a  fool ;  yes,  of  a  fool,  because  not  a 
single  one  of  them  is  necessary.  All  can  choose  just  the 
opposite  things  if  they  want  to  do  so.  It  is  merely  a  question 
of  choice  ;  merely  a  question  of  "  looking  diligently  lest  any 
man  fail." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THOMAS   ALVA   EDISON. 


WHAT    BRINGS    SUCCESS  —  BOYHOOD    OF    A  GENIUS NEWSBOY,   EDITOR, 

AND    CHEMIST    AT    FIFTEEN HEROIC    TUITION    FEE  NOT  A  PRIG AMONG 

TRAMP  TELEGRAPHERS IN  LOUISVILLE ASTONISHES  EASTERN  OPER- 
ATORS  FIRST  PATENT •  IN  NEW  YORK CAPACITY  FOR  WORK PER- 
SONAL APPEARANCE HIS  ESTIMATE  OF  THE  PATENT  PIRATE A  CLOSER 

VIEW    OF    EDISON INDIFFERENCE    TO    PLAUDITS AS    A     BUSINESS     MAN 

A      SENSITIVE      NATURE  --  PLACE      AMONG      SCIENTISTS  --  AT      WORK THE 

PHONOGRAPH  --  ECONOMIC  FEATURES  OF  HIS  INVENTIONS  --  NON-ELEC- 
TRICAL EXPERIMENTS HIS  PRINCIPAL  INVENTIONS ACHIEVEMENTS  OF 

THE    TWENTIETH    CENTURY EDISON    THE    MAN.       THE    VALUE    OF    AN    IDEA. 

I  never  did  anything  worth  doing,  by  accident,  nor  did  any 
of  my  inventions  come  indirectly  through   accident,    except 

the  phonograph.  When  I  have  fully  decided 
that  a  result  is  worth  getting,  I  go  ahead  on 
it  and  make  trial  after  trial  until  it  conies. 
Well  directed  ambition  and  perseverance  will 
accomplish  almost  everything. 

I  like  work.  Some  people  like  to  collect 
postage  stamps.  Anything  I  have  begun  is 
always  on  my  mind,  and  I  am  not  easy 
while  away  from  it  until  it  is  finished. 

I  have  always  kept  strictly  within  the 
lines  of  commercially  useful  inventions.  I 
have  never  had  any  time  to  put  on  electrical  wonders,  valu- 
able simply  as  novelties  to  catch  the  popular  fancy. 


612  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

F  one  were  to  ask  what  person  best  symbolized  the  indus- 
trial regeneration  for  which  we,  as  a  nation,  will  stand,  it 
would  be  marvelously  easy  to  answer,  Thomas  Alva 
Edison.  The  precocious  self-reliance  and  the  restless  en- 
ergy of  the  New  World  ;  its  brilliant  defiance  of  traditions ; 
the  immediate  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  ;  and,  above  all, 
the  distinctive  inventive  faculty  have  reached  in  him  their 
apogee. 

The  mere  mass  of  this  extraordinary  man's  work  gives  in 
itself  a  striking  idea  of  the  force  which  he  exerts  in  our 
material  progress.  Up  to  a  few  days  ago  the  government  had 
granted  Edison  no  less  than  seven  hundred  and  sixty-five 
patents,  while  he  had  in  addition  one  hundred  and  fifty  appli- 
cations on  file.  And  this  during  a  working  period  that  has 
not  yet  brought  him  within  many  years  of  the  grand  climac- 
teric, and  much  of  it  accomplished  in  the  face  of  discouraging 
financial  obstacles. 

Mr.  Edison  is  fifty-five  years  of  age  and  was  born  in  Milan, 
Erie  county,  Ohio.  He  comes  of  Dutch  parentage,  the  fam- 
ily having  emigrated  to  America  in  1730.  His  great  grand- 
father was  a  banker  of  high  standing  in  New  York.  When 
Mr.  Edison  was  but  a  child  of  seven  the  family  fortunes 
suffered  reverses  so  serious  as  to  make  it  necessary  that 
he  should  become  a  wage-earner  at  an  unusually  early  age, 
and  that  the  family  should  move  from  his  birthplace  to  Mich- 
igan. 

Only  four  years  later  the  boy  was  reading  Newton's 
"Principia"  with  the  entirely  logical  result  of  becoming 
deeply  and  permanently  disgusted  with  pure  mathematics. 
Indeed,  he  seems  to  have  displayed  all  the  due  precocity  of 
genius,  one  of  his  notable  feats  about  this  time  being  an 
attempt  to  read  through  the  entire  free  library  of  Detroit ! 

Nor  was  he  by  any  means  a  youthful  bookworm  and 
dreamer.  The  distinctly  practical  bent  of  his  character  was 
shown  in  his  operations  as  newsboy  on  the  Grand  Trunk  Rail- 
way—  especially  in  the  brilliant  coup  by  which  in  1869  he 
bought  up  on  "  futures"  a  thousand  copies  of  the  Detroit  Free 
Press  containing  important  war  news,  and,  gaining  a  little 
time  on  his  rivals,  sold  the  entire  batch  like  hot  cakes,  so  that 
the  price  reached  twenty-five  cents  a  paper  before  the  end  of 
his  route.  It  was  at  this  period,  too,  that  he  was  posing  as 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON.  613 

editor  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Herald,  a  weekly  periodical  of 
very  modest  proportions  issued  from  the  train  on  which  he 
traveled. 

He  had  also  begun  to  dabble  in  chemistry  and  fitted  up  to 
that  end  a  small  itinerant  laboratory.  During  the  progress  of 
some  occult  experiments  in  this  workshop  certain  complica- 
tions ensued  in  which  a  jolted  and  broken  bottle  of  sulphuric 
acid  attracted  the  attention  of  the  conductor.  He,  who  had 
been  long  suffering  in  the  matter  of  unearthly  odors,  promptly 
ejected  the  young  devotee  and  all  his  works.  His  incident 
would  have  been  only  amusing  had  it  not  been  rendered 
deplorable  from  the  lasting  deafness  which  resulted  from  a 
box  on  the  ear,  administered  by  the  irate  conductor  in  the 
course  of  the  young  scientist's  hegira. 

Edison  transferred  the  laboratory  to  his  father's  cellar,  and 
diligently  studied  telegraphy,  establishing  a  line  between  his 
home  and  a  boy  partner's  with  the  help  of  an  old  river  cable, 
sundry  lengths  of  stovepipe,  and  glass  bottle  insulators. 

Dramatic  situations  appear  at  every  turn  of  this  man's 
life,  though  temperamentally  he  would  be  the  last  to  seek 
them.  He  seems  to  be  continually  arriving  on  the  scene  at 
critical  moments  to  take  the  conduct  of  affairs  into  his  own 
hands.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions,  when  he  snatched  a 
station-master's  child  from  before  an  approaching  train,  that 
he  earned  his  first  lessons  in  telegraphy  from  the  father.  So 
apt  a  pupil  was  he  that  the  railroad  company  soon  gave  him 
regular  employment,  and  at  seventeen  he  had  become  one  of 
the  most  expert  operators  on  the  road. 

There  was  a  saving  human  quality  of  error  in  the  boy  to 
amply  redeem  him  from  the  colorless  perfection  of  the  story- 
book model.  One  is  almost  glad  to  hear  that  he  was  not  by 
any  means  a  paragon  as  an  operator,  and  that  he  played 
tricks  on  the  company  by  inventing  a  device  which  would 
automatically  send  in  the  signal  to  show  he  was  awake  at  his 
post,  what  time  he  comfortably  snored  in  the  corner.  Some 
such  boyish  mischief  soon  sent  him  in  disgrace  over  the  line 
to  Canada.  The  heavy  winter  had  cut  off  telegraphic  connec- 
tions and  all  other  means  of  communications  between  the 
place  in  which  he  was  sojourning  and  the  American  town 
of  Sarnia.  With  characteristic  promptness  and  originality 
Edison  mounted  a  locomotive  and  tooted  a  telegraphic  mes- 


614  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

sage,  again  and  again,  across  the  river  until  the  American 
understood  and  answered  in  kind. 

For  the  next  few  years  Edison  was  successively  in  charge 
of  important  wires  in  Memphis,  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans 
and  Louisville.  He  lived  in  the  free  and  easy  atmosphere  of 
the  tramp  operators  —  a  boon  companion  with  them,  yet 
absolutely  refusing  to  join  in  the  dissipations  to  which  they 
were  professionally  addicted.  He  has  always  been  a  total 
abstainer  and  a  singularly  moderate  man  in  everything  but 
work,  for  which  he  is  a  perfect  glutton.  Many  are  the  stories 
current  of  the  timely  aid  given  his  rollicking  colleagues  when 
their  potations  had  led  them  into  trouble.  It  was  their  cus- 
tom when  a  spree  was  on  the  tapis,  to  make  him  the  custodian 
of  those  funds  which  they  felt  obliged  to  save.  On  a  more 
than  usually  hilarious  occasion  one  of  them  returned  rather 
the  worse  for  wear  and  knocked  the  treasurer  down  on 
his  refusal  to  deliver  the  trust  money  ;  the  other  depositors, 
we  are  glad  to  say,  gave  the  ungentlemanly  tippler  a  sound 
thrashing.  But,  though  Edison  could  be  trusted  with  his  col- 
leagues' money,  he  was  himself  in  a  chronic  state  of  penury, 
since  he  devoted  every  cent,  regardless  of  future  needs,  to 
scientific  books  and  materials  for  experiments.  Nor  was  he 
in  any  great  favor  with  his  employers  ;  they  wanted  opera- 
tors, not  inventors,  so  they  —  not  unreasonably --said. 

At  one  time  he  was  in  such  straits  that  a  necessary  jour- 
ney from  Memphis  to  Louisville  had  to  be  performed  on  foot. 
At  the  Louisville  station  he  was  offered  excellent  chances  to 
put  his  extraordinary  skill  to  use.  He  had  perfected  a  style 
of  handwriting  which  would  allow  him  to  take  from  the  wire 
in  very  legible  long  hand  forty-seven  and  even  fifty-four 
words  a  minute.  As  he  was  but  a  moderately  rapid  sender, 
he  invented  an  automatic  help  which  enabled  him  to  record 
the  matter  at  leisure  and  send  it  off  as  fast  as  was  needed.  Of 
this  Louisville  stay,  one  of  his  biographers  says  :  — 

"  True  to  his  dominant  instincts,  he  was  not  long  in  gather- 
ing around  him  a  laboratory,  printing  office,  and  machine 
shop.  He  took  press  reports  during  his  whole  stay,  including 
on  one  occasion  the  presidential  message  and  veto  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  by  Andrew  Johnson,  and  this  at  one  sitting, 
from  3.30  P.M.  to  4.30  A.M.  He  then  paragraphed  the  matter 
received  over  the  wires  so  that  each  printer  had  exactly  three 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON.  615 

lines,  thus  enabling  a  column  to  be  set  up  in  two  or  three 
minutes'  time.  For  this  he  was  allowed  all  the  exchanges  he 
desired,  and  the  Louisville  press  gave  him  a  state  dinner." 

In  1868,  Edison  attracted  much  attention  by  a  device  utiliz- 
ing one  submarine  cable  for  two  circuits.  It  won  him  a  posi- 
tion in  the  Franklin  telegraph  office  of  Boston.  He  came 
East  with  no  ready  money,  and  in  a  rather  dilapidated  condi- 
tion. His  colleagues  were  tempted  by  his  "  hayseed  "  appear- 
ance to  "  salt "  him,  as  professional  slang  terms  the  process 
of  giving  a  receiver  matter  faster  than  he  can  record  it.  For 
this  purpose  the  new  man  was  assigned  to  a  wire  manipulated 
by  a  New  York  operator  famous  for  his  speed.  But  there  was 
no  fun  at  all.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  New  Yorker 
was  "in  the  game"  and  was  doing  his  most  speedy  "clip," 
Edison  wrote  out  the  long  message  accurately,  and,  when  he 
realized  the  situation,  was  soon  firing  taunts  over  the  wire  at 
the  sender's  slowness. 

A  year  later  Edison  received  his  first  patent  —  a  machine 
for  recording  votes,  and  designed  to  be  used  in  the  state  Leg- 
islature. It  was  an  ingenious  device,  by  which  the  votes 
were  clearly  printed  and  shown  on  a  roll  of  paper  by  a  small 
machine  attached  to  the  desk  of  each  member.  The  inven- 
tion was  never  used,  and  Mr.  Edison  tells  with  a  comical 
twinkle  in  his  eyes  how  amazed  he  was  to  hear,  on  present- 
ing it  to  the  authorities,  that  such  an  invention  was  out  of  the 
question  ;  that  the  better  it  worked  the  more  impossible  it 
would  be,  for  its  use  would  destroy  the  most  precious  right  of 
the  minority  —  that  of  filibustering.  The  inventor  thinks, 
however,  that  he  received  quite  the  worth  of  his  trouble  in 
the  lesson  taught  him  to  make  sure  of  the  practical  need  of 
and  demand  for  a  machine  before  spending  his  energies  on  it. 

In  this  same  year,  Edison  came  to  New  York  friendless 
and  in  debt  on  account  of  the  expense  of  his  experiments. 
For  several  weeks  he  wandered  about  the  town  with  actual 
hunger  staring  him  in  the  face.  It  was  a  time  of  great  finan- 
cial excitement,  and  with  that  strange  quality  of  opportunism 
which  one  would  think  had  been  woven  into  his  destiny,  he 
entered  the  establishment  of  the  Law  Gold  Reporting  Com- 
pany just  as  their  entire  plant  had  shut  down  on  account  of  an 
accident  in  the  machinery  that  could  not  be  located.  The 
heads  of  the  firm  were  anxious  and  excited  to  the  last  degree, 


616  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

and  a  crowd  of  the  Wall  street  fraternity  waited  about  for  the 
news  which  came  not.  The  shabby  stranger  put  his  finger  on 
the  difficulty  at  once,  and  was  given  lucrative  employment. 
In  the  rush  of  the  metropolis  a  man  finds  his  true  level  with- 
out delay,  especially  when  his  talents  are  of  so  practical  and 
brilliant  a  nature  as  were  this  young  telegrapher's.  It  would 
be  an  absurdity  to  imagine  an  Edison  hidden  in  New  York. 
Within  a  short  time  he  was  presented  with  a  check  for  $40,000, 
as  his  share  of  a  single  invention  —  an  improved  stock  printer. 
From  this  time  a  national  reputation  was  assured  him.  He 
was,  too,  now  engaged  on  the  duplex  and  quadruplex  systems, 
which  were  almost  to  inaugurate  a  new  era  in  telegraphy. 

"  Do  you  have  regular  hours,  Mr.  Edison  ?  "  was  asked  not 
long  ago.  "  Oh,"  he  said,  "  I  do  not  work  hard  now.  I  come 
to  the  laboratory  about  eight  o'clock  every  day,  and  go  home 
to  tea  at  six,  and  then  I  study  or  work  on  some  problem  until 
eleven,  which  is  my  hour  for  bed." 

"  Fourteen  or  fifteen  hours  a  day  can  scarcely  be  called 
loafing,"  was  suggested. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "for  fifteen  years  I  have  worked  on  an 
average  twenty  hours  a  day." 

That  astonishing  brain  has  been  known  to  puzzle  for  sixty 
successive  hours  over  a  refractory  problem,  its  owner  drop- 
ping quietly  off  into  a  long  sleep  when  the  job  was  done,  to 
awake  perfectly  refreshed  and  ready  for  another  siege.  Mr. 
Dickson,  a  neighbor  and  familiar,  gives  an  anecdote  told  by 
Edison  which  well  illustrates  his  untiring  energy  and  phe- 
nomenal endurance.  In  describing  his  Boston  experience 
Edison  said  he  bought  Faraday's  works  on  electricity,  com- 
menced to  read  them  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
continued  until  his  roommate  arose,  when  they  started  on 
their  long  walk  to  get  breakfast.  That  end,  however,  was 
entirely  subordinated  in  Edison's  mind  to  Faraday,  and  he 
suddenly  remarked  to  his  friend  :  "  Adams,  I  have  got  so 
much  to  do,  and  life  is  so  short,  that  I  have  got  to  hustle,"  and 
with  that  he  started  off  on  a  dead  run  for  his  breakfast." 

Mr.  Edison's  fine  gray  eye  is  the  clearest  ever  looked  into, 

'  and  his  fresh,  wholesome  complexion  and  substantial,  though 

not  by  any  means  corpulent,  figure,  are  not  better  described 

than  by  the  stock  phrase,   "the  picture  of  health."    There  is 

none  of  the  lean  and  hungry  look  of  the  overworked  student 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON.  617 

about  him.  His  face,  though  strongly,  even  magnificently 
chiseled,  is  almost  boyish  in  its  smoothness,  and  in  his  man- 
ner there  is  that  flavor  of  perfect  simplicity  and  cheery  good 
will  given  only  to  the  very  great.  He  is  one  of  the  most  acces- 
sible of  men,  and  only  reluctantly  allows  himself  to  be  hedged 
in  from  certain  interviewers  of  the  baser  sort.  "Mr.  Edison 
is  always  glad  to  see  any  visitor,"  said  a  gentleman  who  is 
continually  with  him,  "  except  when  he  is  hot  on  the  trail  for 
something  he  has  been  working  for,  and  then  it  is  as  much  as 
a  man's  head  is  worth  to  come  in  on  him." 

The  inventor  describes  himself  as  possessing  only  a  fair 
amount  of  manual  dexterity  in  the  manipulation  of  machinery. 
Yet  he  generally  controls  with  his  own  fingers  the  mechanism 
of  his  experiments.  There  have  been  associated  with  him 
during  his  working  history  two  or  three  gentlemen  who  have 
materially  aided  him,  where  a  second  brain  and  hand  are 
needed.  These  cooperative  experiments  have  been  carried  on 
in  a  very  pleasant  atmosphere  of  camaraderie. 

Mr.  Edison  waxes  eloquent  and  righteously  indignant  over 
the  treatment  which  the  inventor  is  only  too  apt  to  receive. 
He  thinks  that  it  is  flying  in  the  face  of  Providence  to  patent 
an  important  discovery  ;  for  a  race  of  professional  sharks  has 
arisen  to  dispute,  with  absolute  disregard  of  facts,  priority  of 
claim  to  valuable  patents.  The  better  known  the  patentee, 
the  more  liable'are  they  to  swarm  about  with  suborned  wit- 
nesses. Mr.  Edison  has  no  fault  to  find  with  the  patent  law 
in  this  matter,  but  condemns  strongly  the  practice  of  the 
United  States  circuit  court  in  issuing  injunctions  forbidding 
an  inventor  to  use  his  discovery  until  the  case  is  decided  —  a 
period  often  covering  years.  He  maintains  that  this  works 
great  injustice  to  the  honest  parties  to  a  suit,  and  that  there  is 
"no  protection  in  patents  at  all." 

Those  who  have  been  associated  with  Mr.  Edison  add  that 
he  has  been  fleeced  by  unscrupulous  lawyers  and  patent  sharks 
so  unmercifully  that  it  is  only  to  be  wondered  he  has  any 
faith  left  in  mankind.  This  is  surely  a  national  shame  when 
one  remembers  that  his  earnings  have  always  been  valued  by 
him  only  as  a  means  of  furnishing  laboratories  to  give  the 
world  newer  and  more  wonderful  mechanical  servants.  And 
there  is  partial  comfort  in  the  thought  that  the  great  inventor 
has  finally  been  able  to  surround  himself  —  first  at  Newark, 


618  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

then  at  Menlo  Park,  and  now  at  Orange  —  with  all  the  most 
elaborate  paraphernalia  of  his  magic,  with  the  most  delicate 
and  powerful  instruments  alike. 

Since  Mr.  Edison  has  begun  to  pose  as  a  capitalist  he  has 
broadened  the  borders  of  his  phylacteries  by  considerable 
investments  in  the  New  Jersey  lands  containing  magnetic  iron 
ore,  and  has  now  quite  a  mining  property  not  far  from  his 
workshop.  He  will  practically  found  a  new  industry  if  his 
experiments  in  ore  separating  succeed  —  an  attempt  for  new 
methods  that  will  so  reduce  the  work  of  extracting  the  ore 
from  the  dirt  and  stones  as  to  bring  on  a  paying  basis  num- 
bers of  mines  that  are  now.on  the  wrong  side  of  the  margin 
of  profit. 

Perhaps  no  one  is  in  a  position  to  give  a  truer  estimate  of 
the  inventor  as  he  appears  beyond  the  threshold  of  his  labora- 
tory than  Mr.  Edward  H.  Johnson,  who  was  associated  with 
him  in  the  disillusionizing  atmosphere  of  business  for  twenty 
years.  He  characterizes  Edison  as  genial  and  even  frolic- 
some, with  a  temperament  which  might  even  be  called  boy- 
ish. "In  the  whole  course  of  our  connection,"  says  Mr. 
Johnson,  "  and  notwithstanding  the  many  strains  on  his 
temper  and  the  injustices  which  he  suffered  from  unscru- 
pulous business  antagonists,  we  have  never  had  but  one 
'  difference.'  That  was  based  on  a  pure  misunderstanding 
and  has  long  since  died  a  natural  death.  My  association 
with  him  has  been  of  the  greatest  profit  and  pleasure  to  me.'' 

Though  Mr.  Edison  is  social  in  his  nature  even  to  the 
point  of  jollity,  he  is  thoroughly  averse  to  the  formulas  of  a 
conventional  society.  Can  we  expect  men  who  work  twenty 
hours  a  day  to  cultivate  the  more  elaborate  graces  ?  This 
is  in  some  sort  to  be  regretted,  especially  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  circles,  which,  if  he  were  otherwise  minded, 
would  be  open  to  him  ;  for  he  is  really  a  brilliant  conver- 
sationalist. But  while  society  loses  a  lion,  the  world  gains 
a  genius.  "  He  has  often  been  heard,"  continued  Mr.  Johnson, 
in  his  courteous  answers  to  questions,  "  to  express  con- 
tempt for  an  inventor  who,  having  produced  a  single  inven- 
tion, makes  a  tour  of  '  society '  to  receive  its  plaudits,  and, 
finding  the  life  so  agreeable,  pursues  it  permanently,  to  the 
destruction  of  his  further  ambition." 

It  is  told  that  in  the  halcyon  days  of  Mr.  Edison's  earlier 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON.  619 

manufactories  he  absolutely  refused  to  have  any  system  of 
bookkeeping,  and  even  kept  no  record  at  all  of  notes  to  be 
paid.  When  these  fell  due,  he  would  drop  everything  and 
scurry  around  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  —  this  on  the  prin- 
ciple, as  he  put  it,  that  the  notary's  fee  on  the  protested  note 
was  cheaper  than  keeping  books  !  He  has  learned  much  since 
then  in  the  stern  regime  of  the  business  world  ;  but  it  is  still 
the  unqualified  opinion  of  many  true  friends  that  both  the 
world  and  Mr.  Edison  would  have  been  gainers  if  he  had  left 
the  conduct  of  the  purely  business  side  of  his  affairs  to  asso- 
ciates of  special  commercial  training  and  instincts.  For  the 
inventor  has  an  intolerance  of  forms  in  business,  as  in  society. 
He  undertook  an  active  part  in  the  management  of  the  indus- 
tries he  had  created  in  consequence  of  his  disappointment  at 
the  slow  development  of  the  electric  lighting  venture.  Mr. 
Johnson  gives  him  credit  for  fertility  of  resource  and  bril- 
liancy of  conception  in  his  business  management,  but  easily 
shows  how  little  these  avail  in  the  exacting  world  of  com- 
merce when  not  backed  by  the  patient  pursuit  of  an  estab- 
lished order. 

This  natural  disregard  for  the  forms  and  minutiae  of  busi- 
ness affairs  has  led  to  anything  but  a  path  of  roses  for  Mr. 
Edison  in  his  financial  operations. 

"  He  is  frank  and  open  to  a  degree/'  said  Mr.  Johnson, 
"  and  despite  many  a  sad  experience,  as  well  as  oft-repeated 
expressions  of  cynicism  under  the  sense  of  injustice,  he  is 
always  ready  with  sympathy  and  an  open  hand.  When  he 
feels  himself  injured  he  is  bitter  for  a  time,  but  this  passes 
away  unless  fed  by  the  active  hostility  of  an  opponent. 

"  He  is  extremely  sensitive  to  criticism  of  his  motives, 
and  is  even  too  apt  to  interpret  a  light  remark  to  mean  a 
great  disparagement.  Whon  he  is  robbed  of  money  he  will 
easily  forget  it ;  but  if  attainted  in  any  moral  sense  he 
becomes  relentless." 

Edison's  achievements  cannot  be  separated  from  com- 
merce. He  is  an  inventor,  not  a  discoverer  of  underlying 
laws  and  mathematical  formulas.  The  keynote  of  his  work 
is  commercial  utility.  He  is  willing  to  make  mathematics, 
pure  science,  his  servant ;  but  as  an  end  in  itself,  he  has  no 
taste  for  it.  He  sees  in  every  idea  that  ever  taxed  his  brain  a 
direct,  immediate  worth  to  the  people  about  him,  though  it 


G20  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

may  not  be  within  the  limits  of  human  imagination  to  com- 
prehend the  extent  of  that  worth.  The  masses  of  his  fellows 
and  their  needs  are  regarded  in  every  test,  in  every  experi- 
ment, in  the  most  daring  new  conception,  and  in  the  most 
homely  improvement  alike.  He  asks  himself  when  a  new 
idea  is  suggested  :  "Will  this  be  valuable  from  the  industrial 
point  of  view  ?  Will  it  do  some  important  thing  better  than 
existing  methods?"  And  then,  if  the  answer  is  clearly 
affirmative,  "Can  I  carry  it  out?"  He  is  not  so  much  a 
seeker  after  truth  as  he  is  a  mighty  engine  for  the  application 
of  scientific  truths,  through  unexpected  and  marvelous  chan- 
nels, to  the  fight  we  are  making  "  in  the  patient,  modern 
way."  He  is  an  inventor  purely,  and  the  greatest  of  his  race. 
One  might  call  him  the  Democrat  of  Science. 

It  is  a  sign  not  to  be  passed  over  without  thought,  that  the 
first  chamber  the  visitor  enters  on  invading  Mr.  Edison's  work- 
shop at  Orange  contains  his  working  library  with  volumi- 
nous and  closely  packed  shelves.  It  is  the  sumptuous  room 
of  the  establishment.  Taken  in  connection  with  the  store  of 
volumes  at  his  home,  his  books  constitute  one  of  the  most 
costly  and  well  equipped  scientific  libraries  in  the  world  ;  the 
collection  of  writings  on  patent  laws  and  patents,  for  instance, 
is  absolutely  exhaustive.  It  gives  in  a  glance  an  idea  of  the 
breadth  of  thought  and  sympathy  of  this  man,  who  grew  up 
with  scarcely  a  common  school  education.  Nor  will  one  find 
this  self-taught  and  self-made  scientist  only  a  gigantic  spe- 
cialist. He  will  respond  to  any  topic  of  real  interest  and 
value,  will  talk  intelligently  and  quote  appositely. 

But  while  it  is  significant  to  note  that  Mr.  Edison's  sympa- 
thies have  not  been  dwarfed  by  his  early  limitations,  yet  it  is 
the  character  of  specialist,  after  all,  in  which  he  enchains  our 
attention  ;  a  more  profound  impression  of  him  comes  when  he 
stands  in  his  roomy  but  topsy-turvy  laboratory,  with  its  two 
well-hung  and  well-locked  doors,  or  when  he  is  directing  the 
assistants  and  skillful  workmen,  who  follow  his  behest  with 
something  nearly  akin  to  reverence.  In  the  huge  system  of 
electrical  manufactories  with  which  he  is  associated  not  a 
very  large  proportion  of  the  best  helpers  come  from  the  col- 
leges, so  many  of  which  now  have  special  courses  in  the  new 
profession.  The  college  training  has  the  danger  of  spoiling 
them  for  the  necessary  rough  manual  labor.  For  a  long  time 


THOMAS  ALVA   EDISON.  621 

a  test  was  applied  when  a  new  man  came  in.  He  was  told 
that  one  of  his  duties  would  be  to  sweep  the  floor  in  the  morn- 
ing—  this,  of  course,  only  to  try  him.  But  if  he  bridled  up 
and  resented  it  as  an  insult,  it  was  evident  that  he  could 
never  be  of  much  use  as  an  electrician. 

Two  centuries  ago  Edison  would  have  had  a  poor  chance 
to  escape  the  stake  if  the  good  people  of  Salem  had  taken  an 
awed  peep  at  the  uncanny  materials  of  his  stock  room.  In 
these  multitudinous  drawers  and  shelves  lurk  unearthly  relics 
of  birds,  beasts,  plants,  and  crawling  things.  The  skins  of 
snakes  and  fishes,  the  pelts  of  -an  extraordinary  number  of 
fur-bearing  animals,  some  of  them  exceedingly  rare,  the  hide 
and  teeth  of  sharks  and  hippopotami,  rhinoceros  horns,  the 
fibers  of  strange  exotic  plants,  all  manner  of  textile  sub- 
stances and  precious  stones  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth,  are  there  waiting  to  bridge  over  their  destined  gap  in 
some  important  machine.  Many  of  the  great  inventions  have 
awaited  a  laborious  trial  of  this  infinite  variety  of  material 
before  they  became  practical.  "That,"  said  Mr.  Edison, 
pointing  to  a  globe  inclosing  the  filament  of  the  incandescent 
light,  "  never  would  work  right,  no  matter  how  hard  we  tried, 
till  the  fiber  of  a  particular  kind  of  bamboo  was  put  in"  — the 
marvelously  delicate,  quivering  elastic  thread  which  we  have 
all  seen.  The  phonograph,  too,  was  only  perfected  after  find- 
ing the  value  of  the  hard  sapphire  stone  for  several  of  its  parts 
-  the  reproducing  ball,  the  recording  knife,  and  others. 

A  later  development  of  the  musical  phonograph  is  among 
the  last  devices  which  Mr.  Edison  has  perfected.  The  cylinders 
of  this  instrument  can  record  the  most  elaborate  musical  instru- 
mentation. It  is  hard  to  believe,  but  the  machine  has  been  so 
delicately  constructed  that  the  very  quality  of  tone  in  most 
instruments  was  preserved.  The  effect  is  its  special  value, 
which  Mr.  Edison  has  spent  much  work  in  attaining.  One 
feels  tempted  to  pinch  one's  self  to  break  the  dream  when  the 
violin's  long  drawn  notes  with  their  sympathy  and  pathos, 
the  'cello's  marvelous  tone,  the  firm,  clear,  reed  sounds  of  the 
flute,  and  the  cornet's  blare  are  ground  out  of  this  insignificant 
bundle  of  bolts  and  bars  —  the  whole  of  which  one  might 
almost  get  into  a  peck  measure. 

Perhaps  it  will  give  a  better  idea  of  what  Mr.  Edison's 
work  means  to  the  world  than  any  generalization  or  enumer- 


622  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ation  to  simply  state  that  the  duplex  and  quadruplex  systems 
of  telegraphy  begun  by  him  in  1869S  and  finished  after  six 
years  of  work,  have  saved  in  America  alone  the  enormous  sum 
of  $20,000,000.  By  the  duplex  system  two  currents  of  differ- 
ent degrees  of  strength  were  sent  over  the  wire  in  the  same 
direction,  thus  doubling  its  efficiency,  while  the  quadruplex 
arrangement  became  possible  when  it  was  discovered  that 
these  two  currents  could  be  sent  in  opposite  directions  at  the 
same  time  —  thus  enabling  one  wire  to  transmit  four  simulta- 
neous messages.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  Mr.  Edison  is  con- 
fident of  attaining  sextuplex  and  octuplex  systems. 

Through  the  mysterious  qualities  of  a  carbon  button,  Mr. 
Edison  has  been  able  to  construct  a  little  machine  called  the 
tasimeter,  which,  in  different  forms,  measures  degrees  of  heat, 
of  moisture,  and  —  in  the  odoroscope  and  microphone — of 
odors  and  sounds  so  small  that  it  is  difficult  for  the  human 
mind  to  grasp  the  situation.  The  tasimeter  will  show  a  sensi- 
ble deflection  at  the  one-millionth  of  a  degree  Fahrenheit. 
The  heat  from  the  human  body  standing  eight  feet  away  will 
be  accurately  registered  ;  a  lighted  cigar  held  at  the  same  dis- 
tance will  give  a  large  deflection,  as  will  the  heat  of  a  common 
gas  jet  one  hundred  feet  away.  When  it  was  arranged  to  be 
sensitive  to  moisture,  this  astonishing  instrument  was  deflected 
eleven  degrees  by  a  drop  of  water  held  on  the  finger  five 
inches  away.  The  microphone  multiplies  the  intensity  of 
sound  by  the  hundred  thousand,  making  the  passage  of  the 
tiniest  insect  sound  like  a  mighty,  deafening  roar. 

Edison's  experiments  have  extended  into  many  fields  out- 
side the  purely  electrical.  How  many  times  he  has  pursued 
the  will-o'-the-wisp  of  a  deluding  prospect  to  a  stern  recogni- 
tion of  an  unfruitful  end,  probably  he  alone  can  tell.  A 
devoted  student  of  chemical  science,  he  has  delighted  in  delv- 
ing in  this  fascinating  and  noble  domain. 

It  is  related  that  a  distinguished  scientist,  visiting  Edison 
within  the  year,  spoke  of  some  experiments  he  had  made  in  a 
direction  that  he  supposed  was  unknown  and  untried. 

"Did  you  try  this,"  inquired  Edison,  "and  did  you  get 
such  a  result?"  The  visitor  was  astonished.  Edison  had 
made  the  experiments  and,  with  a  sure  hand,  had  gone  direct 
to  the  heart  of  the  matter  and  had  reached  the  same  unique 
result. 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON.  623 

He  would  say  to  all  visiting  inventors  seeking  advice  and 
encouragement :  (i  I  will  listen  to  you,  but  one  thing  is 
barred — no  'perpetual  motion'  schemes  will  ever  be  con- 
sidered." 

Edison  has  probably  been  more  fortunate  in  combining  his 
versatile  inventive  ability  with  commercial  success  than  any 
other  inventor  living  or  dead.  Not  content  with  one  achieve- 
ment and  its  riches,  vast  sums  received  from  success  in  one 
line  are  expended  in  research  and  experiment  in  other  lines. 
His  private  laboratory  at  Orange,  N.  J.,  is  lavishly  planned 
and  stocked  with  every  known  tool,  with  chemical,  mineral, 
metallic,  and  organic  substances,  and  the  pay-roll  of  the  past 
ten  years  would  amount  to  a  king's  ransom.  With  natural 
bent,  genius,  unflagging  industry,  wonderful  discernment  and 
deliberate  selection  of  subject,  Edison  may  truly  be  said  to  be 
the  greatest  exponent  of  invention,  as  an  art,  the  world  has 
yet  known. 

To-day  the  world  is  waiting  for  the  practical  introduction 
of  what  may  prove  to  be  Edison's  greatest  commercial  suc- 
cess --the  storage  battery. 

Edison  was  recently  asked  to  name  his  principal  inven- 
tions. He  replied  characteristically  :— 

"  The  first  and  foremost  was  the  idea  of  the  electric  light- 
ing station  ;  then  —  let  me  see,  what  have  I  invented  ?  - 
well,  there  was  the  mimeograph,  and  the  electric  pen,  and  tne 
carbon  telephone,  and  the  incandescent  lamp  and  its  accesso- 
ries, and  the  quadruplex  telegraph,  and  the  automatic  tele- 
graph, and  the  phonograph,  and  the  kinetoscope,  and  -- 1  don't 
know,  a  whole  lot  of  other  things." 

When  asked  if  he  thought  the  achievements  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  would  surpass  those  of  the  one  just  closed,  he 
said  with  much  enthusiasm  : — 

"  They  certainly  will.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  more  of 
us  to  work,  and,  in  the  second  place,  we  know  more.  The 
achievement  of  the  past  is  merely  a  point  of  departure,  and 
you  know  that,  in  our  art,  '  impossible '  is  an  impossible 
word." 

Edison  is  a  true  captain  of  industry.  Work,  constant, 
enthusiastic  work,  has  ever  been  his  motto.  Idleness  has  no 
charms  for  him,  and  scarcely  has  recreation  or  things  that 
please  the  palate.  His  analytical,  questioning,  and  sanguine 
mind  is  ever  reaching  for  new  fields  of  endeavor.  His  con- 


624  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ception  is  keen  and  searching,  and  he  puts  the  impress  of 
progress  on  whatever  he  touches.  May  he  be  with  us  many 
years  !  His  achievements,  it  is  safe  to  say,  will  endure  to  the 
end. 

THE   VALUE   OF   AN   IDEA. 

DEAS,  not  gold,  govern  the  world.  Machines  do  much  of 
the  world's  work,  but  machines  are  born  of  ideas.  A 
human  worker  without  ideas  is  only  a  machine.  He  is 
content  to  serve  all  his  life,  doing  the  same  work  over  and 
over  again,  making  the  same  thing  year  after  year,  without 
progress,  ambition,  or  purpose.  It  is  the  thinking  man  who 
becomes  master  workman,  perhaps  proprietor.  Ideas  become 
to  him  an  inspiration  and  force.  They  rally  his  intellectual 
powers;  and  these  control  and  develop  his  physical  ability. 
Stupidity  becomes  a  machine  in  the  workshop  of  life,  but  ideas 
only  can  make  a  man. 

It  is  no  chance  system  that  returns  to  the  Hindu  citizen  a 
penny,  and  to  the  American  laborer  a  dollar  for  his  daily  toil ; 
that  makes  Mexico,  with  its  mineral  wealth,  poor,  and  New 
England,  with  its  granite  and  ice,  rich  ;  that  bids  the  elements 
in  one  country  become  subservient  to  the  wants  of  man, 
and  in  another  to  sport  idly  and  run  to  waste  ;  it  is  thought 
that  makes  the  difference.  Ideas  do  not  stir  the  Hindu  and 
Mexicans  as  they  do  the  American.  Here  they  beget  enter- 
prise and  invincible  courage  that  defy  difficulties  and  sur- 
mount obstacles.  They  assure  victory. 

Young  people  should  take  in  the  worth  of  an  idea,  for  this 
will  exert  great  influence  upon  the  occupation  they  choose, 
the  methods  they  adopt,  and  the  books  they  read.  Idealess 
occupations,  associates,  and  books  should  be  avoided,  since 
they  are  not  friendly  to  intelligent  manhood  and  womanhood. 
Ideas  make  the  wise  man  ;  the  want  of  them  makes  the  fool. 

Roger  Sherman,  a  poor  boy  in  Newton,  Massachusetts,  was 
apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker  for  his  board  and  clothes.  There 
was  every  prospect  that  the  poverty  of  his  father  would  be 
that  of  the  son,  and  that  he  would  never  rise  higher  than  the 
last  on  which  he  worked  and  the  pegs  he  drove.  But  early  in 
life  the  idea  took  possession  of  his  soul,  "  I  can  become  a  law- 
yer." How  it  could  be  done  was  not  quite  plain  to  him  ;  but 
from  the  time  the  idea  possessed  him,  he  said  that  it  must  be 
done. 


EDISON  IN  HIS  LABORATORY. 


rc" 


PUBJC  USuAi 


ASTOP,  L  AND 

*Uw^UAiiO«S 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEA.  627 

That  idea  was  the  making  of  him.  It  rallied  his  latent 
faculties,  and  bent  them  to  one  end.  To  become  a  lawyer 
was  the  dream  of  his  youth.  Obstacles  dwindled  away  before 
the  indomitable  spirit  which  that  one  idea  nursed  into  stal- 
wart life.  Every  leisure  moment  became  a  self-improving 
moment.  A  book  was  his  constant  companion.  Spare  time 
was  the  most  valuable  time  of  all,  for  it  was  used  to  improve 
his  intellect,  and  fit  him  for  the  duties  of  a  noble  manhood. 
His  occupation  became  a  teacher  to  him,  and  the  world  a 
school.  He  learned  from  everything  around  him  ;  and,  at 
thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  The 
dream  of  his  boyhood  was  realized.  The  idea  that  possessed 
him  at  twelve  years  of  age  lifted  him  out  of  the  dull  routine 
to  which  he  seemed  to  be  doomed  for  life,  and  placed  him  at 
once  higher  up  in  the  scale  of  being. 

Roger  Sherman  grew  greater  and  greater  as  long  as  he 
lived.  He  became  one  of  the  founders  of  our  republic.  He 
was  second  to  no  public  man  as  a  statesman  and  wise  coun- 
selor, and  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  draft  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  His  wisdom  and  ability  were 
leading  factors  in  the  direction  and  outcome  of  the  Revo- 
lution. Jefferson  wrote  of  him,  "  He  never  said  a  foolish 
thing  in  his  life."  It  might  have  been  said  of  him,  in  his 
age,  as  it  was  of  another,  "  He  was  so  loaded  with  laurels  that 
he  could  scarcely  stand  erect."  The  idea  of  his  boyhood,  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  was  worth  to  him  all  that  he  became 
worth. 

•  Gutenberg  was  a  thoughtful  young  man,  familiar  with 
manuscript  volumes,  of  which  the  age  in  which  he  lived  could 
furnish  but  few.  One  day,  when  he  was  in  a  meditative 
mood,  a  new  idea  flashed  upon  his  mind,  namely,  that  letters 
might  be  invented  with  which  to  print  books,  instead  of  writ- 
ing and  copying  them.  He  unfolded  his  idea  to  his  wife,  and 
she  indorsed  the  suggestion  heartily,  whereupon  the  inventor 
proceeded  at  once  to  reduce  his  idea  to  practice.  His  decided 
inventive  genius  soon  triumphed,  and  the  art  of  printing 
became  reality. 

Gutenberg,  who  had  been  a  skilled  lapidary,  now  turned 
his  attention  to  bookmaking,  since  which  time  the  value  of 
his  new  idea  to  the  world  has  been  illustrated  by  wonderful 
progress  in  the  art.  In  contrast  with  the  slow,  difficult,  and 


628  LEADERS   W  MEN. 


very  imperfect  method  of  making  books  by  Gutenberg's  let- 
ters, the  methods  of  our  day,  multiplying  volumes  like  the 
leaves  of  the  forest,  are  magical  indeed.  The  art  of  bookmak- 
ing  now  is  characterized  by  rapidity,  elegance,  and  cheapness. 
With  the  latest  improvement  in  the  printing  press,  it  is  possi- 
ble to  supply  the  demands  of  the  world  for  books  at  a  price 
that  brings  them  within  the  reach  of  even  the  poor.  The 
rapidity  with  which  books  are  multiplied  is  a  marvel  of  our 
times.  A  roll  of  paper,  containing  a  thousand  yards,  will  run 
through  a  Hoe  press  with  almost  incredible  speed,  printing 
sheets  enough  for  five  thousand  volumes  in  a  single  day.  In 
printing  newspapers,  a  roll  of  paper  at  one  end  of  the  press  is 
turned  out  at  the  other  end,  printed  on  both  sides,  and  folded 
ready  for  mailing,  at  the  rate  of  five  thousand  papers  an  hour. 
Equally  remarkable  has  been  the  progress  in  typesetting,  both 
by  hand  and  machinery,  and  it  is  all  the  outcome  of  Guten- 
berg's idea  of  making  letters.  The  inventor  set  in  motion  a 
train  of  influences  that  has  changed  the  secular  and  moral 
condition  of  mankind.  We  cannot  estimate  the  value  of 
Gutenberg's  idea. 

Nor  can  we  compute  the  value  of  Morse's  idea,  that  gave 
us  the  electric  telegraph.  Morse  was  coming  from  Havre 
to  New  York  city  on  board  the  ship  Sully.  Dr.  Charles  S. 
Jackson,  of  Boston,  was  on  board,  and  was  describing  an 
experiment  made  in  Paris  with  an  electro-magnet,  by  means 
of  which  electricity  had  been  transmitted  through  a  great 
length  of  wire  arranged  in  circles  around  the  walls  of  an 
apartment.  Morse,  who  was  a  painter,  and  had  just  com- 
pleted a  three  years'  residence  in  Europe  to  perfect  himself 
in  his  art,  excitedly  said,  when  Dr.  Jackson  finished,  "Then 
messages  may  be  transmitted  by  electricity." 

There  the  telegraph  was  born.  It  only  remained  to  test 
the  idea.  This  Morse  did,  surmounting  great  obstacles,  over- 
coming the  most  discouraging  difficulties,  making  progress 
slowly,  but  surely,  until  he  had  the  real  thing,  —  the  telegraph. 
Who  can  estimate  its  worth  to-day  ?  Ask  the  man  of  busi- 
ness who  communicates  by  telegraph  with  the  four  quarters 
of  the  globe.  The  recent  fire  in  New  York  which  destroyed 
the  headquarters  of  the  great  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany interrupted  the  business  of  the  whole  civilized  world  for 
a  day,  or  until  the  company  renewed  the  business  in  another 


THE   VALUE   OF  AN  IDEA.  629 

place.     Such  is  the  importance  of  the  telegraph  in  our  day, 
and  such  is  the  value  of  Morse's  idea  on  board  the  Sully. 

Patrick  Henry  is  another  illustration  of  our  theme.  In  his 
boyhood  he  appeared  to  think  more  of  a  fishing  rod  and  gun 
than  he  did  of  true  manhood,  or  a  good  name.  He  was  not  a 
machine,  but  was  devoid  of  laudable  ambition  and  enterprise. 
The  time  came,  however,  when  a  new  and  nobler  idea  flashed 
upon  him.  He  saw  that  he  might  become  an  honored  citizen. 
He  resolved  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  and  set  himself 
about  preparing  therefor  with  a  will.  In  an  almost  incredibly 
short  time,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  as  a  practitioner.  His 
success  was  phenomenal.  He  handled  the  first  case  of  impor- 
tance that  came  to  his  management  with  consummate  skill, 
and  exhibited  such  power  of  eloquence  that  his  most  intimate 
friends  were  astonished.  He  won  the  case  by  his  adroit  man- 
agement and  bewitching  oratory,  and  the  admiring  crowd 
bore  him  in  triumph  upon  their  shoulders  from  the  court 
room.  An  idea  did  it.  But  for  the  thought  that  awakened 
him  from  his  reverie  one  day,  in  early  manhood,  he  might  not 
have  outgrown  his  gun  and  fishing  rod.  "  I  can  do  something 
better  than  this,"  he  said ;  and  he  did.  The  idea  roused  his 
whole  being  to  begin  and  run  a  marvelous  race. 

The  worth  of  an  idea  is  illustrated  in  the  ordinary  walks  of 
life.  In  every  place,  and  at  all  times,  we  are  reminded  that  a 
single  thought  is  the  most  valuable  legacy  bequeathed  to  us. 
In  articles  of  furniture  that  make  our  homes  comfortable,  and 
the  utensils  of  the  kitchen  that  lighten  labor  and  administer 
to  human  wants,  we  find  much  to  magnify  the  worth  of  a 
thought.  Once  they  were  only  ideas  in  the  brain  of  the 
inventor. 

So  small  an  article  as  the  watch  which  we  carry  in  our  vest 
pocket  involves  principles  of  construction,  the  discovery  and 
development  of  which  have  brought  the  race  out  of  ages  of 
mental  gloom.  Yet  how  few  note  their  indebtedness  to  ideas 
when  they  consult  their  watches.  They  keep  time,  and  that 
is  enough  :  and  they  would  be  just  as  good  for  that  if  they  grew 
like  acorns. 

Says  another :  "  What  a  miracle  of  art,  that  a  man  can 
teach  a  few  brass  wheels  and  a  little  piece  of  elastic  steel  to 
out-calculate  himself  ;  to  give  him  a  rational  answer  to  one  of 
the  most  important  questions  which  a  being  traveling  toward 


630  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

eternity  can  ask.  What  a  miracle  that  a  man  can  put  within 
this  little  machine  a  spirit  that  measures  the  flight  of  time  with 
greater  accuracy  than  the  unassisted  intellect  of  the  pro- 
foundest  philosopher ;  which  watches  and  moves  when  sleep 
palsies  alike  the  hand  of  the  maker  and  the  mind  of  the  con- 
triver ;  nay,  when  the  last  sleep  has  come  over  them  both." 
And  the  author  of  all  this  was  a  solitary  idea  in  the  mind  of 
Galileo,  when  he  stood  watching  the  oscillation  of  a  lamp  in 
the  Metropolitan  Temple  of  Pisa.  A  clear,  vivid  idea  of  the 
correct  measurement  of  time  flashed  upon  his  mind,  and  his 
name  and  fame  became  immortal. 

Despise  not  an  idea ;  for  the  smallest  is  better  than  none. 
A  man  of  one  idea  is  sometimes  ridiculed.  Garrison  was  per- 
secuted for  his  anti-slavery  idea  ;  but  it  wrought  a  revolution. 
It  made  him  a  public  benefactor.  His  idea  was  worth  all  that 
liberty  was  worth.  The  youth  who  is  rich  in  ideas  will  never 
be  poor  in  reputation. 

Many  authors  of  good  ideas  have  failed  to  reduce  them  to 
practice.  They  lacked  the  practical  talent  necessary  to  reap 
the  profits  of  valuable  conceptions.  Hence,  many  inventors 
have  derived  no  pecuniary  advantage  from  their  inventions  ; 
other  parties  have  stepped  in  and  taken  the  profits.  They 
were  able  to  beat  the  bush,  but  others  caught  the  bird.  The 
discoverer  of  gold  at  Butter's  Mill,  California,  and  the  proprie- 
tor of  the  mill  never  got  rich  ;  both  died  poor.  They  could 
discover,  but  they  failed  to  appropriate  and  keep.  It  may 
require  less  tact,  industry,  and  perseverance  to  beget  a  valua- 
ble idea  than  to  reduce  it  to  practice  ;  for  greater  difficulties 
may  obstruct  the  way  of  the  latter,  and  more  complications, 
even,  may  attend  its  consummation.  Almost  without  excep- 
tion, the  successful  men,  who  have  made  the  best  practical 
use  of  their  ideas,  have  been  men  of  marked  courage,  appli- 
cation, tact,  and  determination.  Ordinary  difficulties  did  not 
cause  them  to  hesitate  for  a  moment  and  extraordinary  ones 
seemed  to  arouse  their  whole  being  to  almost  superhuman 
efforts. 

An  illustration  of  this  point  was  brought  to  the  attention 
of  the  American  people  when  Congress  voted  a  gold  medal  to 
Mr.  Joseph  Francis,  of  Washington,  for  "his  distinguished 
services  in  discovering  and  applying  scientific  principles  to 
inventions  for  saving  human  life  and  other  humane  pur- 


THE   VALUE  OF  AN  IDEA.  631 

poses."    The  medal  cost  six  thousand  dollars,  and  was  orna- 
mented with  designs  emblematic  of  the  recipient's  life  work. 

It  was  presented  to  him  by  President  Harrison.  This 
crowning  act  of  his  success  came  late  in  life  ;  nor  was  this 
distinction  gained  without  heroic  struggles  with  poverty, 
opposition,  and  ridicule,  as  the  following  brief  sketch  of  his 
life  proves  :  - 

Mr.  Francis  was  a  Boston  boy,  and  served  as  page  in  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature,  from  eleven  to  sixteen  years  of 
age.  In  1812,  when  he  was  twelve  years  old,  there  was  an 
unprecedented  number  of  destructive  shipwrecks,  and  the 
terrible  tales  of  horror  wrought  deeply  upon  the  sensitive 
nature  of  this  gifted  boy.  The  war  had  destroyed  his  father's 
property,  and  broken  up  a  family  of  seven  children,  so  that 
Joseph's  earnings  were  necessary,  to  the  last  cent,  to  aid  in 
the  support  of  his  brothers  and  sisters.  In  these  circum- 
stances, it  was  the  more  remarkable  that  he  should  conceive 
the  idea  of  a  lifeboat,  and  proceed  —  a  boy  of  twelve  years  - 
to  produce  a  model.  Every  moment,  when  he  was  not 
required  to  be  at  the  State  House,  he  spent  in  a  workshop  on 
Clark  street,  near  Hanover.  His  progress  was  slow  but  sure. 
With  pluck  and  hope  he  worked  on,  sometimes  baffled  and 
disappointed,  and  often  laughed  at,  but  never  yielding  to  dis- 
couragement. He  was  eighteen  years  old  when  his  lifeboat, 
with  all  its  life-saving  qualities,  was  completed,  and  was 
placed  on  exhibition  at  the  fair  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  in 
Boston,  in  1819.  He  crossed  the  Rubicon  when  his  lifeboat 
was  complete.  The  battle  of  his  life  was  won  by  that  early 
struggle.  What  manner  of  stuff  he  was  made  of  became 
manifest  then.  The  thought,  tact,  resolution,  and  force  of 
character  necessary  to  produce  the  lifeboat,  were  competent 
to  produce  more  and  greater  results. 

The  author  of  Thrift  accounts  for  the  failure  of  some 
men  to  derive  advantages  from  valuable  conceptions,  by  say- 
ing :  "  Some  of  the  best  and  noblest  of  men  are  wanting  in 
tact.  They  will  neither  make  allowance  for  circumstances, 
nor  adapt  themselves  to  circumstances  ;  they  will  insist  upon 
driving  their  wedge  the  broad  end  foremost  ;  they  raise  walls 
only  to  run  their  own  heads  against ;  they  make  such  great 
preparations,  and  use  such  great  precautions,  that  they 
defeat  their  own  object, —  like  the  Dutchman  mentioned  by 


632  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Washington  Irving,  who,  having  to  leap  a  ditch,  went  so  far 
back  to  have  a  good  run  at  it,  that  when  he  came  up  he  was 
completely  winded,  and  had  to  sit  down  on  the  wrong  side  to 
recover  his  breath." 

In  contrast  with  this,  we  see  how  Francis  went  to  work  in 
the  straightest  and  shortest  way  to  accomplish  his  purpose. 
He  was  not  only  competent  to  conceive,  but  having  cultivated 
those  manly  qualities  that  one  must  possess  in  order  to  win, 
he  was  equally  well  prepared  to  execute.  He  would  give 
practical  force  to  any  noble  conception. 

At  the  Mechanics'  Fair,  in  1819,  he  received  a  certificate  of 
merit  and  a  handsome  cash  prize  for  his  lifeboat ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  secured  the  lifelong  friendship  of  Henry  Grinnell, 
of  New  York,  and  Gen.  John  A.  Dix,  author  of  the  famous 
order,  "  Whoever  pulls  down  the  American  flag,  shoot  him  on 
the  spot."  Grinnell  said  to  him,  "Persevere;  you  are  an 
inventor  and  manufacturer,  and  your  improvements  are  but  a 
beginning  in  a  good  cause."  Young  Francis  profited  by  this 
friendly  counsel,  and  pressed  forward  until  he  fairly  earned, 
the  world  over,  the  honor  of  being  "Father  of  the  life-saving 


service.'1 


In  1838,  another  and  grander  conception  engaged  the  mind 
of  Francis  --  that  of  an  iron  ship.  Although  poor  and  needy, 
he  hastened  to  reduce  his  idea  to  practice.  Having  provided 
a  very  humble  home  for  his  family  in  the  country,  he  shut 
himself  up  in  a  workshop  on  Anthony  street,  New  York  city, 
to  produce  his  ideal  iron  vessel.  It  took  him  six  years  to  put 
his  conception  into  a  real  ship,  and  they  were  years  of  hard 
study,  and  harder  struggles  with  want  and  the  indifference  of 
friends. 

In  1847,  his  famous  metal  life  car  was  completed  ;  but  Con- 
gress repulsed  its  author,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
said  to  him  :  - 

"  There  is  no  means  known  under  Heaven,  nor  will  there 
ever  be,  of  saving  life  under  circumstances  such  as  you 
recount ;  besides,  the  government  cannot  afford  to  try  experi- 
ments. Try  your  life  car,  and,  if  it  will  do  anything  like  what 
you  represent,  you  may  rest  assured  the  government  will 
adopt  it." 

Francis  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  While  protesting  against 
the  attitude  of  the  government,  he  spent  the  next  two  years  in 


THE   VALUE  OF  AN  IDEA.  633 

proving  to  the  world,  at  his  own  expense,  the  great  value  of 
his  invention ;  and  his  success  spread  his  fame  over  both  con- 
tinents. From  that  time  his  life  was  a  succession  of  triumphs 
in  America  and  Europe.  Subsequent  to  1855,  he  spent  several 
years  in  Europe,  establishing  immense  factories  for  the  manu- 
facture of  his  iron  boats,  vessels,  and  life  cars,  floating  docks, 
pontoon  bridges  and  wagons,  for  five  of  the  leading  European 
governments.  Medals,  diplomas,  and  royal  honors  were  show- 
ered upon  him  from  the  highest  authorities.  Crowned  heads 
recognized  his  services  in  the  interests  of  humanity  ;  and  it  is 
claimed  that  no  American,  except  General  Grant,  was  ever 
more  kindly  received  and  honored  by  nobles  and  monarchs 
than  Mr.  Francis. 

This  is  a  remarkable  life,  with  its  lessons  for  every  reader. 
The  conception  of  the  great  idea  of  his  life  was  the  easiest  part 
of  it.  His  trials  and  exhausting  labors  came  when  he 
attempted  to  reduce  it  to  practice.  Had  he  been  no  more  res- 
olute and  invincible  than  the  average  American,  his  concep- 
tion never  would  have  attained  a  real  form.  He  would  have 
soon  found  excuse  for  abandoning  his  idea  in  the  poverty  that 
oppressed  him,  or  the  difficulties  that  beset  his  way.  But  his 
noble  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  served  him  better  than 
wealth.  They  won  success  for  him  without  private  or  public 
patronage. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

JOHN   DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER. 

ON    THE     IMPORTANT     ELEMENTS    OF    SUCCESS HIS    RANK    AMONG    THE 

CAPTAINS    OF     INDUSTRY--  HIS     GREAT    WEALTH PLACE    OF    HIS    BIRTH 

PARENTAL     QUALITIES     INHERITED HIS     BOYHOOD     MARKED    BY    INDUSTRY 

AND    ECONOMY REMOVED     TO     CLEVELAND INTEREST    IN    CHURCH    WORK 

-  EDUCATION  --  BEGINNING     OF      HIS     INDUSTRIAL     CAREER  --HIS     INTRO- 
DUCTION   TO    THE    OIL    INDUSTRY THE    STANDARD    OIL    COMPANY OTHER 

BUSINESS    ENTERPRISES HIS   PERSONALITY HOMES  AND  HOME    LIFE TO 

WHAT    HIS    WONDERFUL    SUCCESS    IS  DUE PHILANTHROPIES.       THE    LEDGER 

OF    ECONOMY. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  there  is  something  unfor- 
tunate in  being  born  in  a  city.  Most  young  men  brought  up 

in  New  York  and   other  large   centers  have 
not  had  the  struggle  which  come  to  us  who 
were  reared  in  the  country.     It  is  a  notice- 
able fact  that  the  country  men  are  crowding 
out  the  city  fellows  who  have  wealthy  fathers. 
They  are  willing  to  do  more  work,  and  to  go 
through  more  for  the  sake  of  winning  success 
in  the  end.     Sons  of  wealthy  parents  have  not 
a  ghost  of  a  show  in   competition  with  the 
fellows  who  come   from  the  country  with  a 
determination  to  do  something  in  the  world. 
What  benefited  me  the  most  was  the  new  insight  I  gained 
as  to  what  a  great  place  the  world  really  is.     I  had  plenty  of 
ambition,  and  saw  that  if  I  was  to  accomplish  much  I  would 
have  to  work  very,  very  hard  indeed. 

In  my  early  career  I  was  very  economical,  just  as  I  am 
economical  now.  Economy  is  a  virtue.  A  glance  through 
my  first  ledger  shows  me  how  carefully  I  kept  account  of  my 
receipts  and  disbursements.  I  only  wish  more  young  men 
could  be  induced  to  keep  accounts  nowadays.  It  would  go 
far  toward  teaching  them  the  value  of  money. 

My  advice  is  :  keep  a  little  ledger,  write  down  in  it  what 
you  receive,  and  do  not  be  ashamed  to  write  down  what  you 


na**mi<lBWMi> 


JOHN  DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER.  635 

pay  away.  See  that  you  pay  it  away  in  such  a  manner  that 
your  father  or  mother  may  look  over  your  book  and  see  just 
what  you  do  with  your  money.  It  will  help  you  to  save 
money,  and  that  you  ought  to  do. 

I  think  it  is  a  man's  duty  to  make  all  the  money  he  can, 
keep  all  he  can,  and  give  away  all  he  can.  I  have  followed 
this  principle  religiously  all  my  life.  But  always  live  within 
your  means.  One  of  the  swiftest  toboggan  slides  I  know  of  is 
for  a  young  fellow,  just  starting  out  into  the  world,  to  go  in 
debt. 

The  chief  thing  to  which  I  ascribe  my  business  success  is 
early  training,  and  the  fact  that  I  was  willing  to  persevere.  I 
do  not  think  there  is  any  other  quality  so  essential  to  success 
of  any  kind  as  the  quality  of  perseverance.  It  overcomes 
almost  everything,  even  nature. 

But  don't  make  the  mistake  that  the  struggle  for  success 
means  nothing  but  money.  Money  is  good  only  if  you  know 
how  to  use  it.  Some  have  all  the  money  they  need  to  provide 
for  their  wants,  and  still  are  poor.  Indeed,  the  poorest  man  I 
know  of  is  the  man  who  has  nothing  but  money  ;  —  nothing 
else  in  the  world  upon  which  to  fix  his  ambition  and  thought. 
That  is  the  sort  of  man  I  consider  to  be  the  poorest  in  the 
world. 


"MONG  the  American  captains  of  industry,  Mr.  John  D. 
Rockefeller  is  the  greatest.  He  combines  with  this 
position  that  of  a  master  of  finance,  and  it  may  be  that 
in  this  field  he  will  yet  prove  as  great  as,  or  greater  than,  Mr. 
Pierpont  Morgan.  But  as  this  one  is  first  of  all  a  financier,  so 
the  other  is  above  and  beyond  everything  a  master  in  the 
industrial  field.  It  is  surprising  how  very  much  is  told  of  Mr. 
Rockefeller,  and  how  very  little  is  known  concerning  him.  The 
material  for  a  book  has  been  published  in  the  newspapers,  and 
the  writers  have  vied  with  one  another  in  presenting  his  great 
wealth  in  the  most  bewildering  lights,  yet  it  is  a  positive  fact 
that  no  man  except  Mr.  Rockefeller  himself  knows  what  his 
wealth  amounts  to.  His  partners  in  various  enterprises,  and 
the  officers  of  the  many  companies  in  which  he  has  invested 


G3G  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

his  wealth,  all  know  something  about  his  means,  but  no  man 
knows  everything  about  them. 

It  is  to  be  doubted  whether  Mr.  Rockefeller  himself  knows 
how  much  he  is  worth,  and  if  he  knew  to-day,  the  fluctuations 
of  the  listed  stocks  on  the  exchange,  minute  and  like  the  trem- 
blings of  a  needle  though  they  are,  must  alter  the  sum  of  his 
wealth  with  every  hour  and  minute  of  each  working  day. 

We  read  a  great  deal  about  only  one  sort  of  change  in  his 
wealth  ;  the  steady  growth*  of  the  same  by  the  accretions  of 
interest.  These  are  always  published  upon  the  assumption 
that  Mr.  Rockefeller  is  the  richest  man  in  the  world,  and  that 
he  is  worth  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  This  is  set  down 
to  his  credit  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  has  testified  in  court 
that  he  does  not  know  within  ten  millions  of  dollars  what  his 
vast  fortune  amounts  to. 

John  Davisoii  Rockefeller  was  born  in  Richford,  Tioga 
County,  N.  Y.,  July  8,  1839.  His  father,  William  Avery,  was 
a  physician  and  business  man  as  well.  With  great  energy  he 
cleared  the  forest,  built  a  sawmill,  loaned  his  money,  and, 
like  his  noted  son,  knew  how  to  overcome  obstacles. 

The  mother,  Eliza  Davisoii,  was  a  woman  of  rare  common 
sense  and  executive  ability.  Self-poised  in  manner,  charita- 
ble, persevering  in  whatever  she  attempted,  she  gave  careful 
attention  to  the  needs  of  her  family,  but  did  not  forget  that 
she  had  Christian  duties  outside  her  home.  The  devotion  of 
Mr.  Rockefeller  to  his  mother  as  long  as  she  lived  was 
marked,  and  worthy  of  example. 

The  Rockefeller  home  in  Richford  was  one  of  mutual  work 
and  helpfulness.  All  were  taught  the  value  of  labor  and  of 
economy.  The  eldest  son,  John,  early  took  responsibility 
upon  himself.  Willing  and  glad  to  work,  he  cared  for  the 
garden,  milked  the  cows,  and  acquired  the  valuable  habit  of 
never  wasting  his  time.  When  about  nine  years  old  he  raised 
and  sold  turkeys,  and  instead  of  spending  the  money,  proba- 
bly his  first  earnings,  saved  it,  and  loaned  it  at  seven  per 
cent.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if  the  lad  ever  dreamed 
then  of  being,  perhaps,  the  richest  man  in  America. 

In  1853  the  Rockefeller  family  moved  to  Cleveland,  Ohio  ; 
and  John,  then  fourteen  years  of  age,  entered  the  high  school. 
He  was  a  studious  boy,  especially  fond  of  mathematics  and 
of  music,  and  learned  to  play  the  piano ;  he  was  retiring 


JOHN  DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER.  637 

in  manner,  and  exemplary  in  conduct.  When  between  four- 
teen and.fifteen  years  of  age,  he  joined  the  Erie  Street  Baptist 
Church  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  now  known  as  the  Euclid  Avenue 
Baptist  Church,  where  he  has  been  from  that  time  an  ear- 
nest and  most  helpful  worker.  The  boy  of  fifteen  did  not 
confine  his  work  in  the  church  to  prayer  meetings  and  Sun- 
day school.  There  was  a  church  debt,  and  it  had  to  be  paid. 
He  began  to  solicit  money,  standing  in  the  church  door  as  the 
people  went  out,  ready  to  receive  what  each  was  willing  to 
contribute.  He  gave  also  of  his  own  as  much  as  was  possible  ; 
thus  learning  early  in  life,  not  only  to  be  generous,  but  to 
incite  others  to  generosity. 

When  about  eighteen  or  nineteen,  he  was  made  one  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  church,  which  position  he  held  till  his 
absence  from  the  city  in  the  past  few  years  prevented  his  serv- 
ing. He  has  been  the  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  of 
the  Euclid  Avenue  Baptist  Church  for  about  thirty  years. 
When  he  had  held  the  office  for  twenty-five  years  the  Sunday 
school  celebrated  the  event  by  a  reception  for  their  leader. 
After  addresses  and  music,  each  one  of  the  five  hundred  or 
more  persons  present  shook  hands  with  Mr.  Rockefeller,  and 
laid  a  flower  on  the  table  beside  him.  From  the  first  he  has 
won  the  love  of  the  children  from  his  sympathy,  kindness,  and 
his  interest  in  their  welfare.  No  picnic  even  would  be  satis- 
factory to  them  without  his  presence. 

After  two  years  passed  in  the  Cleveland  high  school,  the 
school  year  ending  June,  1855,  young  Rockefeller  took  a  sum- 
mer course  in  the  Commercial  College,  and  at  sixteen  was 
ready  to  see  what  obstacles  the  business  world  presented  to  a 
boy.  He  found  plenty  of  them.  It  was  the  old  story  of  every 
place  seeming  to  be  full ;  but  he  would  not  allow  himself  to  be 
discouraged  by  continued  refusals.  He  visited  manufacturing 
establishments,  stores,  and  shops,  again  and  again,  determined 
to  find  a  position. 

He  succeeded  on  the  26th  of  September,  1855,  and  became 
assistant  bookkeeper  in  the  forwarding  and  commission  house 
of  Hewitt  &  Tuttle.  He  did  not  know  what  pay  he  was  to 
receive  ;  but  he  knew  he  had  taken  the  first  step  towards  suc- 
cess,—  he  had  obtained  work.  At  the  end  of  the  year,  for  the 
three  months,  October,  November,  and  December,  he  received 
fifty  dollars, —  not  quite  four  dollars  a  week. 


G38  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

The  next  year  he  was  paid  twenty-five  dollars  a  month,  or 
three  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  at  the  end  of  fifteen  months 
accepted  a  position  with  the  same  firm,  at  five  hundred  dol- 
lars, as  cashier  and  bookkeeper,  supplanting  a  man  who  had 
been  receiving  a  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars. 

Desirous  of  earning  more,  young  Rockefeller  after  a  time 
asked  for  eight  hundred  dollars  as  wages  ;  and,  the  firm 
declining  to  give  over  seven  hundred  dollars  a  year,  the  enter- 
prising youth,  not  yet  nineteen,  decided  to  start  in  business 
for  himself.  He  had  industry  and  energy  ;  he  was  saving  of 
both  time  and  money ;  he  had  faith  in  his  ability  to  succeed, 
and  the  courage  to  try.  He  had  managed  to  save  about  a 
thousand  dollars  ;  and  his  father  loaned  him  another  thou- 
sand, on  which  he  paid  ten  per  cent,  interest,  receiving  the 
principal  as  a  gift  when  he  became  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
This  certainly  was  a  modest  beginning  for  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Standard  Oil  Company. 

Having  formed  a  partnership  with  Morris  B.  Clark,  in  1858, 
in  produce  commission  and  forwarding,  the  firm  name  became 
Clark  &  Rockefeller.  The  closest  attention  was  given  to 
business.  Mr.  Rockefeller  lived  within  his  means,  and  worked 
early  and  late,  finding  little  or  no  time  for  recreation  or  amuse- 
ments, but  always  time  for  his  accustomed  work  in  the 
church.  There  was  always  some  person  in  sickness  or  sor- 
row to  be  visited,  or  some  stranger  to  be  invited  to  the  prayer 
meetings. 

The  firm  succeeded  in  business,  and  was  continued  with 
various  partners  for  seven  years,  until  the  spring  of  18G5. 
During  this  time  some  parts  of  the  country,especially  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Ohio,  had  become  enthusiastic  over  the  finding  of 
large  quantities  of  oil  through  drilling  wells.  The  Petroleum 
Age  for  December,  1881,  gives  a  most  interesting  account  of 
the  first  oil  well  in  this  country,  drilled  at  Titusville,  on  Oil 
creek,  a  branch  of  the  Allegheny  river,  in  August,  1859. 

Petroleum  had  long  been  known,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  under  various  names.  The  Indians  used  it  as  a 
medicine,  mixed  it  with  paint  to  anoint  themselves  for  war,  or 
set  fire  at  night  to  the  oil  that  floated  upon  the  surface  of  their 
creeks,  making  the  illumination  a  part  of  their  religious  cere- 
monies. In  Ohio,  in  1819,  when,  in  boring  for  salt,  springs  of 
petroleum  were  found,  Professor  Hildreth  of  Marietta  wrote 


JOHN  DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER.  639 

that  the  oil  was  used  in  lamps  in  workshops,  and  believed  it 
would  be  "a  valuable  article  for  lighting  the  street  lamps  in 
the  future  cities  of  Ohio."'  But  forty  years  went  by  before  the 
first  oil  well  was  drilled,  when  men  became  almost  as  deliri- 
ous with  excitement  as  when  they  rushed  to  California  for 
gold  in  1849. 

Several  refineries  were  started  in  Cleveland  to  prepare  the 
crude  oil  for  illuminating  purposes.  Mr.  Rockefeller,  the 
young  commission  merchant,  like  his  father  a  keen  observer 
of  men  and  things,  as  early  as  1860,  the  year  after  the  first 
well  was  drilled,  helped  to  establish  an  oil-refining  business 
under  the  firm  name  of  Andrews,  Clark  &  Co. 

The  business  increased  so  rapidly  that  Mr.  Rockefeller  sold 
his  interest  in  the  commission  house  in  1865,  and  with  Mr. 
Samuel  Andrews  bought  out  their  associates  in  the  refining 
business,  and  established  the  firm  of  Rockefeller  &  Andrews, 
the  latter  having  charge  of  the  practical  details. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  was  then  less  than  twenty-six  years  old ; 
but  an  exceptional  opportunity  had  presented  itself,  and  a 
young  man  of  exceptional  ability  was  ready  for  the  oppor- 
tunity. A  good  and  cheap  illuminator  was  a  world-wide 
necessity  ;  and  it  required  brain,  and  system,  and  rare  busi- 
ness ability  to  produce  the  best  product,  and  send  it  to  all 
nations. 

The  brother  of  Mr.  Rockefeller,  William,  entered  into  the 
partnership  ;  and  a  new  firm  was  established,  under  the  name 
of  William  Rockefeller  &  Co.  The  necessity  of  a  business 
house  in  New  York  for  the  sale  of  their  products  soon  became 
apparent,  and  all  parties  were  united  in  the  firm  of  Rocke- 
feller &  Co. 

In  1867  Mr.  Henry  M.  Flagler,  well  known  in  connection 
with  his  improvements  in  St.  Augustine,  Fla.,  was  taken  into 
the  company,  which  became  Rockefeller,  Andrews  &  Flagler. 
Three  years  later,  in  1870,  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of 
Ohio  was  established,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000,  Mr.  Rock- 
efeller being  made  president.  He  was  also  made  president  of 
the  National  Refiners'  Association. 

He  was  now  thirty-one  years  old,  far-seeing,  self-centered, 
quiet  and  calm  in  manner,  but  untiring  in  work,  and  compre- 
hensive in  his  grasp  of  business.  The  determination  which 
had  won  a  position  for  him  in  youth,  even  though  it  brought 


640  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

him  but  four  dollars  a  week,  the  confidence  of  his  ability, 
integrity,  and  sound  judgment,  which  made  the  banks  willing 
to  lend  him  money,  or  men  willing  to  invest  their  capital  in 
his  enterprise,  made  him  a  power  in  the  business  world  thus 

early  in  life. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  has  proved  himself  a  remarkable  organizer. 
His  associates  have  been  able  men  ;  and  his  vast  business  has 
been  so  systematized,  and  the  leaders  of  departments  held 
responsible,  that  it  is  managed  with  comparative  ease. 

The  Standard  Oil  Companies  own  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
acres  of  oil  lands,  and  wells,  refineries,  and  many  thousand 
miles  of  pipe  lines  throughout  the  United  States.  They  have 
business  houses  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  Old  World  as 
well  as  the  New,  and  carry  their  oil  in  their  own  great  oil 
steamships  abroad  as  easily  as  in  their  pipe  lines  to  the  Ameri- 
can seaboard.  They  control  the  greater  part  of  the  petroleum 
business  of  this  country,  and  export  much  of  the  oil  used 
abroad.  They  employ  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand  men  in 
this  great  industry,  many  of  whom  have  remained  with  the 
companies  for  twenty  or  thirty  years.  It  is  said  that  strikes 
are  unknown  among  them. 

With  such  power  in  their  hands,  instead  of  selling  their 
product  at  high  rates,  they  have  kept  oil  at  such  low  prices 
that  the  poorest  all  over  the  world  have  been  enabled  to  buy 
and  use  it. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  has  not  confined  his  business  interests  to 
the  Standard  Oil  Company.  A  very  large  proportion  of  his 
wealth  is  now  in  the  form  of  securities  and  properties  in  no 
way  connected  with  the  petroleum  business.  He  has  shown 
amazing  shrewdness  in  buying  mining  and  railroad  properties 
when  times  were  bad,  or  the  owners  of  these  stocks  were  will- 
ing, for  other  reasons,  to  sell  at  low  prices.  In  this  way  he 
has  come  to  own  stocks  and  bonds  in  seventeen  great  rail- 
roads. Other  large  sums  he  has  invested  in  sugar  trust,  Brook- 
lyn Union  gas,  Consolidated  gas  (New  York),  natural  gas  in 
Ohio,  Federal  steel,  coal  mines  in  Ohio,  copper  mines  in  Mon- 
tana, iron  mines  in  the  Lake  Superior  region,  lake  steamers  ; 
also  real  estate  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Buffalo,. and  several 
other  cities.  In  the  Standard  Oil  subsidiary  companies  alone 
he  is  said  to  be  a  larger  owner  than  in  Standard  Oil  itself  ;  at 
least  his  holdings  have  a  larger  value  than  those  in  the  parent 


JOHN  DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER.  641 

company.  He  is  reputed  to  control  vast  railway  systems,  to 
own  every  oil  car  in  the  land,  to  possess  twenty  thousand  miles 
of  oil  tubing,  two  hundred  steamers  and  seventy  thousand 
delivery  wagons.  He  employs  twenty-five  thousand  men,  and 
as  a  financier,  employer,  a  power  in  the  world,  he  knows  no 
rival. 

With  all  these  different  lines  of  business,  and  being  neces- 
sarily a  very  busy  man,  he  never  seems  hurried  or  worried. 
His  manner  is  always  kindly  and  considerate.  He  is  a  good 
talker,  an  equally  good  listener,  and  gathers  knowledge  from 
every  source.  Meeting  the  best  educators  of  the  country, 
coming  in  contact  with  leading  business  and  professional  men 
as  well,  and  having  traveled  abroad  and  in  his  own  country, 
Mr.  Rockefeller  has  become  a  man  of  wide  and  varied  intelli- 
gence. In  physique  he  is  of  medium  height,  hair  gray,  blue 
eyes,  and  pleasant  face. 

He  is  a  lover  of  trees,  never  allowing  one  to  be  cut  down 
on  his  grounds  unless  necessity  demands  it,  fond  of  flowers, 
knows  the  birds  by  their  song  or  plumage,  and  never  tires  of 
the  beauties  of  nature. 

He  is  as  courteous  to  a  servant  as  to  a  millionaire,  is  social 
and  genial,  and  enjoys  the  pleasantry  of  bright  conversation. 
He  has  great  power  of  concentration,  is  very  systematic  in 
business  and  also  in  his  everyday  life,  allotting  certain  hours 
to  work,  and  other  hours  to  exercise,  the  bicycle  being  one  of 
his  chief  outdoor  pleasures.  He  is  fond  of  animals,  and  owns 
several  valuable  horses.  A  great  St.  Bernard  dog,  white  and 
yellow,  called '•' Laddie,"  was  for  years  the  pet  of  the  house- 
hold and  the  admiration  of  friends.  When  killed  accidentally 
by  an  electric  wire,  the  dog  was  carefully  buried,  and  the 
grave  covered  with  myrtle.  A  pretty  stone,  a  foot  and  a  half 
high,  cut  in  imitation  of  the  trunk  of  an  oak  tree,  at  whose 
base  fern  leaves  cluster,  marks  the  spot,  with  the  words,  "  Our 
dog  Laddie  ;  died,  1895,"  carved  upon  a  tiny  slab. 

It  may  be  comparatively  easy  to  do  great  deeds,  but  the 
little  deeds  of  thoughtfulness  and  love  for  the  dumb  creatures 
who  have  loved  us,  show  the  real  beauty  and  refinement  of 
character. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  belongs  to  few  social  organizations,  his 
church  work  and  his  home  life  sufficing.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  New  England  Society,  the  Union  League  Club  of  New 


642  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

York,  and  of  the  Empire  State  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  as  his 
ancestors,  both  on  his  father's  and  mothers  side,  were  in  the 
Revolutionary  War. 

Besides  Mr.  Rockefeller's  summer  home  in  Cleveland,  he 
has  another  with  about  one  thousand  acres  of  land  at  Pocan- 
tico  Hills,  near  Tarrytown  on  the  Hudson.  The  place  is  pic- 
turesque and  historic,  made  doubly  interesting  through  the 
legends  of  Washington  Irving.  From  the  summit  of  Kaakoote 
mountain  the  views  are  of  rare  beauty.  Sleepy  Hollow  and 
the  grave  of  Irving  are  not  far  distant.  The  winter  home  in 
New  York  city  is  a  large  brick  house,  with  brownstone  front, 
near  Fifth  avenue,  furnished  richly  but  not  showily,  contain- 
ing some  choice  paintings  and  a  fine  library. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  will  be  long  remembered  as  a  remarkable 
financier  and  the  founder  of  a  great  organization,  but  he  will 
be  remembered  longest  and  honored  most  as  a  remarkable 
giver.  We  have  many  rich  men  in  America,  but  not  all  are 
great  givers ;  not  all  have  learned  that  it  is  really  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive  ;  not  all  remember  that  we  go  through 
life  but  once,  with  opportunities  to  brighten  the  lives  about 
us,  and  to  help  to  bear  the  burdens  of  others. 

Mr.  Rockefeller's  private  charities  have  been  almost 
numberless.  He  has  aided  young  men  and  women  through 
college,  sometimes  by  gift  and  sometimes  by  loan.  He  has 
provided  the  means  for  persons  who  were  ill  to  go  abroad  or 
elsewhere  for  rest.  He  does  not  forget,  when  his  apples  are 
gathered  at  Pocantico  Hills,  to  send  hundreds  of  barrels  to  the 
various  charitable  institutions  in  and  near  New  York,  or,  when 
one  of  his  workingmen  dies,  to  continue  the  support  to  his 
family  while  it  is  needed.  Some  of  us  become  too  busy  to 
think  of  the  little  ways  of  doing  good.  It  is  said  by  those  who 
know  him  best,  that  he  gives  more  time  to  his  benevolences 
and  to  their  consideration  than  to  his  business  affairs.  He 
employs  secretaries,  whose  time  is  given  to  the  investigation 
of  requests  for  aid  and  attending  to  such  cases  as  are  favora- 
bly decided  upon. 

When  we  come  to  consider  his  mere  opinions  of  wealth, 
they  are  at  once  sensible  and  surprising.  He  holds  that,  since 
no  man  is  so  rich  that  there  is  not  another  man  who  is  richer, 
the  riches  of  man  only  bring  discontent  and  make  him  feel 
poor.  Then  again,  a  man's  wealth  must  be  determined  by  the 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLEH. 


THE  LEDGER  OF  ECONOMY.        645 

relation  of  his  desires  and  expenditures  to  his  income.  If  he 
feels  rich  on  ten  dollars  and  has  everything  else  he  desires,  he 
really  is  rich.  But  a  man's  expenses  usually  increase  with 
his  income  and  nearly  always  bear  the  same  relation  to  it ; 
therefore,  whether  he  have  five  thousand  or  five  million,  he 
is  never  very  much  better  off.  A  man's  desires  expand  to  an 
extent  wholly  disproportioned  to  his  acquisitions,  he  says, 
and  many  men  have  felt  much  poorer  when  they  have  accum- 
ulated a  fortune  of  five  million  than  they  did  when  they  had 
but  a  million. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  is  scarcely  past  middle  life,  with,  it  is 
hoped,  many  years  before  him  in  which  to  carry  out  his  great 
projects  of  benevolence.  He  is  as  modest  and  gentle  in  man- 
ner, as  unostentatious  and  as  kind  of  heart,  as  when  he  had 
no  millions  to  give  away.  He  is  never  harsh,  seems  to  have 
complete  self-control,  and  has  not  forgotten  to  be  grateful  to 
the  men  who  befriended  and  trusted  him  in  his  early  business 
life. 

His  success  may  be  attributed  in  part  to  industry,  energy, 
economy,  and  good  sense.  He  loved  his  work,  and  had  the 
courage  to  battle  with  difficulties.  He  had  steadiness  of 
character,  the  ability  to  command  the  confidence  of  business 
men  from  the  beginning,  and  gave  close  and  careful  attention 
to  the  matters  intrusted  to  him. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  will  be  remembered,  not  so  much  because 
he  accumulated  millions,  but  because  he  gave  away  millions, 
thereby  doing  great  good,  and  setting  a  noble  example. 

THE   LEDGER   OF   ECONOMY. 

'AKE  this  book  and  keep  an  accurate  account  of  your 
expenses,"  said  Mr.  H.  to  his  son  about  leaving  for 
Exeter  Academy,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  would 
prepare  for  college. 

"What  good  will  that  do?"  responded  the  son,  as  if  his 
father  were  requiring  him  to  do  a  "  little  thing  "  too  small  for 
an  aspirant  for  college  honors  to  be  troubled  about. 

"  What  good  !  "  exclaimed  the  father,  somewhat  surprised 
by  the  spirit  in  which  his  suggestion  was  received.  "It  is 
one  of  the  things  that  will  help  make  a  man  of  you,  if  such  a 
thing  be  possible.  You  may  think  it  is  a  small  matter  to  put 
down  every  cent  that  you  spend  ;  but  I  assure  you  that  it  will 


LEADEES  OF  MEN. 

have  much  to  do  with  your  habits  twenty  years  from  now. 
You  want  to  know  where  your  pocket  money  goes  —  a  little 
matter,  you  may  think  ;  but  it  will  do  much  to  incline  you  to 
virtue  instead  of  vice  in  manhood." 

This  father  was  not  a  fussy  man  ;  he  did  not  attach  too 
much  importance  to  the  expense  book;  nor  was  the  son 
an  exception  among  boys  in  regarding  it  unimportant,  small. 
Young  people  of  both  sexes  are  apt  to  class  it  with  the  "  little 
things  "  that  are  of  no  account.  Hence,  few  of  them  know 
where  the  pocket  money  goes.  The  pennies  vanish,  and  the 
nickels,  and  their  allowance  disappears  much  sooner  than 
they  expect.  Where  it  is  gone  is  well-nigh  a  mystery  to 
them. 

Right  here  is  the  evil  of  not  keeping  an  expense  book.  If 
one  is  not  kept  in  youth,  it  is  probable  that  it  will  not  be  kept 
in  manhood  and  womanhood.  That  business  man  of  whom 
it  is  said,  "  He  does  not  know  the  worth  of  a  dollar,"  did  not 
keep  an  expense  book  in  his  boyhood.  He  did  not  know  then 
where  his  money  went,  and  he  does  not  know  now.  That 
woman  "who  keeps  her  husband's  nose  to  the  grindstone" 
continually  by  her  wasteful  habits,  never  thought  of  an 
expense  book  in  her  young  days.  She  spent  all  she  could  get 
hold  of  then,  and  she  spends  all  she  can  get  hold  of  now  • 
and  she  does  not  know  any  more  about  where  it  goes  now 
than  she  did  then. 

An  expense  book  accurately  and  conscientiously  kept,  helps 
young  people  to  know  themselves.  Many  have  scarcely 
scraped  an  acquaintance  with  themselves.  They  do  not  see 
how  prone  they  are  to  spend  money  for  useless  and  worse  than 
useless  things ;  confections,  goodies,  knickknacks,  fun,  and 
so  on  ad  mfinitum.  The  expense  book  will  show  what' they 
are  on  this  line.  They  can  see  themselves  in  it,  as  others  see 
them.  There  is  the  unmistakable  record  of  their  weakness 
It  stares  them  in  the  face ;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  denying- 
it,  or  getting  around  it. 

To  the  thoughtful  and  wise  youth,  the  expense  book  becomes 
a  good  teacher,  and  its  lesson  is  never  forgotten.  It  lasts  as 
long  as  life  lasts. 

A  young  merchant,  who  was  doing  a  thriving  business  was 
generous  and  jolly.  He  was  wont  to  keep  a  box  of  cigars  upon 
his  desk  for  his  own  use,  and  the  use  of  his  customers  and 


THE  LEDGER   OF  ECONOMY.  647 

perhaps,  his  employees.  It  was  the  duty  of  one  of  the  clerks  to 
keep  the  box  of  cigars  replenished ;  and  he  took  it  into  his 
head  to  keep  an  account  of  the  number  of  cigars  he  put  into 
the  box  in  three  months.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  asked 
1he  merchant  if  he  had  any  idea  of  the  number  and  cost  of  the 
cigars  used  in  three  months. 

"Not  the  least  whatever,''  the  merchant  replied.  "It  is 
possible  five  or  six  hundred  cigars  have  been  used.  Perhaps 
not  so  many." 

"You  will  be  surprised,  then,  if  I  tell  you,"  added  the  clerk, 
"  that  over  two  thousand  cigars  have  been  put  into  that  box  in 
three  months,  at  a  cost  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars." 
The  merchant  was  surprised,  and  could  scarcely  believe 
the  statement,  for  he  kept  no  account  of  the  cigars  used,  hav- 
ing never  kept  an  account  of  these  little  expenses.     He  kept 
no  expense  book  when  he  was  a  boy,_and  so  never  thought 
about  keeping  one  when  he  becamgg  an'(^  huncKl}7  should  he  ? 
Is  not  the  boy  "father  of  tb^  owe  their  claims  to  distm^on  to 
Whether  the  yo]iiesSj  supplemented  by  the  discipline  of  lei- 
faithful  to  keer>evo£e(j  ^o  reading  or  study.  William  B.  Spooner, 
of  one  boymost;  accomplished  and  honored  merchants  Boston 
exPens.S,d,  never  went  to  an  academy  after  he  was  sixteen.    Yet 
came  One  of  the  most  intelligent,  and  even  gifted,  men  of 
England.    Business  was  a  school  to  which  he  went  every 
pday,  never  absent,  nor  tardy.     He  early  determined  to  make  it 
more  than  a  college  curriculum  to  himself ;  and  he  did  achieve 
through  it  the  highest  elements  of  manhood,  which  were  of 
more  value  to  him  and  the  world  than  his  large  fortune  that 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course.     The  writer  once  called  at  Mr. 
Spooner's  office,  when  the  latter  showed  him  three  elaborate 
reports  which  he  had  prepared  for  that  week.     One  of  them 
was  to  be  presented  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  of  which  he  was 
president ;  another  to  the  directors  of  a  bank,  of  which  he  was 
also  president ;  and  the  third  to  a  benevolent  society,  whose 
president  he  was,  also.     He  prepared  all  such  papers  with  as 
much  ability  as  a  college  graduate  ;  and  business  did  it.     True, 
he  improved  his  leisure  moments,  which  were  few,  in  reading 
and  attending    lectures ;    and    this,    without    doubt,   had  its 
decided  influence  in  his  rise  and  progress.     But,  after  all,  his 
business  was  his  school,  and  here  his  powers  were  developed 
and  trained.     A  business  run  by  industry,  tact,  honesty,  per- 


648  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

11  For  want  of  a  nail,  the  shoe  of  the  aid-de-camp's  horse 
was  lost ;  for  want  of  the  shoe,  the  horse  was  lost ;  for 
want  of  the  horse,  the  aid-de-camp  himself  was  lost,  for  the 
enemy  took  him  and  killed  him ;  and  for  want  of  the  aid- 
de-camp's  intelligence,  the  a-rmy  of  his  general  was  lost ;  and 
all  because  a  little  nail  had  not  been  properly  fixed  in  the 
horse's  shoe,"  -  a  good  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  an 
evil  habit  of  youth,  though  small  in  itself,  may  grow  and 
curse  the  whole  future  life. 

So  far  as  money  is  concerned,  the  expense  book  is  designed 
to  guard  against  such  a  result. 

Amos  Lawrence  presented  to  one  of  his  sons  on  his  twelfth 
birthday,  an  expense  book,  with  the  following  written  on  the 
first  page  :  — 

"  MY  DEAR  Sox  :  —  I  give  you  this  little  book,  that  you  may 

write  in  it  how  much  money  you  receive,  and  how  you  use  it. 

It  is  of  much  i*~  ~°  not  K  in  forming  your  early  character,  to 

•k^ve  cor"x--nse  book  in  his  Direct  regard  to  truth  in  all  you 

where^nis  money  went,  and  he  does^W,! to  cneat  yourself  by 

woman  "who  keeps  her  husband's  nose  to  !?,end  mone7  for 

continually  by  her  wasteful    habits,   never  thoVyouTall  it 

expense  book  in  her  young  days.     She  spent  all  she  ciye  is  One 

3ld  of  then,  and  she  spends  all  she  can  get  hold  of  ^^ect 

and  she  does  not  know  any  more  about  where  it  goes  nosay 

than  she  did  then.  -n 

An  expense  book  accurately  and  conscientiously  kept  helus 

young  people    to  know    themselves.     Many  have    scarcely 

scraped  an  acquaintance  with  themselves.     They  do  not  see 

how  prone  they  are  to  spend  money  for  useless  and  worse  than 

useless  things ;   confections,  goodies,  knickknacks,  fun,  and 

so  on  admfinitum.     The  expense  book  will  show  what  they 

are  on  this  line.     They  can  see  themselves  in  it,  as  others  see 

them.     There  is  the  unmistakable  record  of  their  weakness 

It  stares  them  m  the  face;  there  is  no  such  thing  as  denying 

it,  or  getting  around  it. 

To  the  thoughtful  and  wise  youth,  the  expense  book  becomes 
a  good  teacher,  and  its  lesson  is  never  forgotten.  It  lasts  as 
long  as  life  lasts. 

A  young  merchant,  who  was  doing  a  thriving  business,  was 
generous  and  jolly.  He  was  wont  to  keep  a  box  of  cigars  upon 
his  desk  for  his  own  use,  and  the  use  of  his  customers,  and, 


THE  LEDGER  OF  ECONOMY.        649 

who  spends  all  he  gets,  is  on  the  way  to  beggary  ;"  "  Time 
lost  cannot  be  regained  ;  "  "  Let  industry  and  economy  be  the 
habits  of  your  lives  ;"  "  Lay  by  something  for  a  rainy  day." 
These  mottoes  were  reminders  and  teachers  to  his  work  peo- 
ple, as  the  expense  book  reminds  and  teaches  a  boy  or  girl. 
They  reformed  the  habits  of  some  employees  by  causing  them 
to  reflect.  Getting  a  good  idea  into  their  heads  from  one  of 
them,  changed  the  current  of  their  lives. 

The  expense  book  is  an  idea,  and  it  suggests  an  idea  to  the 

owner.     Nor  is  it  an  ephemeral  idea.     It  takes  possession  of 

the  mind  for  life.     It  comes  to  stay.     It  speaks  of  character, 

-  how  to  make  or  mar  it.    It  lures  to  virtue  and  hinders  vice. 

Many  persons,  young  and  old,  think  of  education  as  belong- 
ing only  to  the  schools.  This  is  a  grave  mistake.  If  the  school 
alone  can  give  culture,  such  men  as  Henry  Clay  and  Abraham 
Lincoln  never  would  have  been  known,  for  their  best  teachers 
were  outside  the  schoolroom.  Scores  and  hundreds  of  scholars, 
even,  have  become  such  and  owe  their  claims  to  distinction  to 
the  culture  of  business,  supplemented  by  the  discipline  of  lei- 
sure moments  devoted  to  reading  or  study.  William  B.  Spooner, 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  honored  merchants  Boston 
ever  had,  never  went  to  an  academy  after  he  was  sixteen.  Yet 
he  became  one  of  the  most  intelligent,  and  even  gifted,  men  of 
New  England.  Business  was  a  school  to  which  he  went  every 
day,  never  absent,  nor  tardy.  He  early  determined  to  make  it 
more  than  a  college  curriculum  to  himself ;  and  he  did  achieve 
through  it  the  highest  elements  of  manhood,  which  were  of 
more  value  to  him  and  the  world  than  his  large  fortune  that 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  writer  once  called  at  Mr. 
Spooner's  office,  when  the  latter  showed  him  three  elaborate 
reports  which  he  had  prepared  for  that  week.  One  of  them 
was  to  be  presented  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  of  which  he  was 
president ;  another  to  the  directors  of  a  bank,  of  which  he  was 
also  president ;  and  the  third  to  a  benevolent  society,  whose 
president  he  was,  also.  He  prepared  all  such  papers  with  as 
much  ability  as  a  college  graduate  ;  and  business  did  it.  True, 
he  improved  his  leisure  moments,  which  were  few,  in  reading 
and  attending  lectures ;  and  this,  without  doubt,  had  its 
decided  influence  in  his  rise  and  progress.  But,  after  all,  his 
business  was  his  school,  and  here  his  powers  were  developed 
and  trained.  A  business  run  by  industry,  tact,  honesty,  per- 


650  LEADEES  OF  MEN. 

severance,  and  philanthropy  will  make  a  noble  man  of  the 
proprietor  in  any  age  and  anywhere.  Webster  defines  educa- 
tion to  be  "that  series  of  instruction  and  discipline  which  is 
intended  to  enlighten  the  understanding,  correct  the  temper, 
and  the  manners  and  habits  of  youth,  and  fit  them  for  useful- 
ness in  their  future  stations.''  Hence,  there  may  be  education 
without  the  schoolroom.  It  is  possible  for  a  youth  to  be  more 
truly  educated  out  of  college  than  in  it.  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  better  educated  than  half  the  graduates  of  Harvard  and 
Yale.  Proof  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  he  was  fitted  for 
"usefulness  in  his  station."  The  farm,  shop,  and  warehouse 
teach  eminently  practical  lessons.  They  teach  much  even 
about  science  and  art.  The  successful  man  of  business  knows 
more  about  philosophy,  mathematics,  and  psychology,  after  he 
has  amassed  a  fortune,  than  he  d  id  before.  Experience  is  a  good 
schoolmaster.  When  Edison  had  wrought  his  first  invention, 
he  had  acquired  ability  to  bring  out  a  half  dozen  others.  The 
discipline  of  one  year's  business  enables  a  man  to  do  better 
work  next  year.  He  is  more  of  a  man  at  the  close  of  a  year's 
work  if  he  has  been  true  to  himself.  His  mind  is  constantly 
on  the  alert  to  discover  the  reason  of  things,  and  so  he  is  con- 
stantly improving  and  acquiring  power.  When  Schiller  was 
a  boy,  the  inquisitive  characteristic  of  his  mind  in  manhood 
was  foreshadowed  as  follows  :  during  a  terrific  thunder  shower 
his  father  missed  him,  and  ran  out  of  doors  to  learn  his  where- 
abouts, when  he  discovered  him  perched  in  the  top  of  a  tree 
which  the  storm  was  rocking  like  a  cradle.  Much  frightened 
at  the  peril  of  the  boy,  the  father  called  out,  "What  are  you 
there  for?"  Promptly  the  answer  came  back,  "I  want  to  see 
where  the  lightning  comes  from."  The  lad  had  a  reason  for 
being  there,  and  a  good  one,  too. 

The  inquiring  mind  which  led  him  to  ascertain  where 
lightning  comes  from  was  the  secret  of  his  manhood's  suc- 
cess ;  and  the  same  would  have  been  true  of  him  had  he  been 
a  merchant  instead  of  a  scholar. 

The  late  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  who  was  known  through- 
out our  land  as  a  wealthy  merchant  and  Christian  philan- 
thropist, derived  all  the  advantage  he  ever  had  from  schools 
before  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  At  that  age  his  distinc- 
tively business  life  began  in  New  York  city, —  a  school  that 
was  in  session  as  long  as  he  lived.  Like  Mr.  Spooner,  he 


THE  LEDGER  OF  ECONOMY.        651 

determined  that  manhood  should  stand  for  more  than  wealth 
with  him, —  that  everything  about  his  time  and  business 
should  contribute  strength  to  his  personal  character.  Conse- 
quently, his  business  was  his  university.  In  it  he  had  his 
daily  drill.  Both  his  head  and  heart  were  disciplined  by  the 
duties  of  his  warehouse.  The  standard  he  set  up  made 
industry,  tact,  honesty,  and  economy  absolutely  indispensable. 
He  grew  mentally  and  morally  here.  It  was  public  school 
and  Sunday  school  together,  exerting  a  powerful  influence 
upon  his  life.  Mr.  Dodge's  career  illustrates  what  an  Eng- 
lish journal  recently  said  :  "  There  can  be  no  question  nowa- 
days that  application  to  work,  absorption  in  affairs,  contact 
with  men,  and  all  the  stress  which  business  imposes  on  us, 
gives  a  noble  training  to  the  intellect,  and  splendid  oppor- 
tunity for  discipline  of  character.  The  perpetual  call  on  a 
man's  readiness,  self-control,  and  vigor  which  business  makes, 
the  constant  appeal  to  the  intellect,  the  stress  upon  the  will, 
the  necessity  for  rapid  and  responsible  exercise  of  judgment, 
—  all  constitute  a  high  culture."  Hence  the  most  successful 
men  have  been  those  who  began  the  world  in  their  shirt  sleeves. 
James  Harper,  founder  of  the  publishing  house  known  as 
Harper  Brothers,  of  New  York,  began  his  business  life  in 
that  city  at  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  began  in  a  printing 
office  in  Franklin  square.  He  commenced  with  the  resolu- 
tion to  make  the  most  out  of  the  business  possible,  and,  by 
doing  that,  to  make  the  most  of  himself.  He  applied  himself 
so  closely  to  his  work,  declining  to  engage  in  pleasures,  which 
ethers  sought,  as  to  draw  down  upon  himself  the  ridicule  of 
his  companions.  They  laughed  at  his  clothes,  his  awkward 
gait,  and  his  large  and  homely  shoes.  Finally,  one  day,  a 
fellow  workman  said  to  him,  "Give  us  your  card."  Forget- 
ting himself  for  a  moment,  Harper  kicked  the  young  scamp 
downstairs,  exclaiming,  "  That  is  my  card  ;  take  it !"  In  five 
minutes  he  was  very  sorry  for  the  act  and  made  an  apology, 
adding,  "  When  I  get  to  doing  business  for  myself,  I  will  let 
you  have  work."  In  thirty  years  Harper  was  a  wealthy  pub- 
lisher, and  mayor  of  the  city,  and  among  his  employees  was 
the  scapegrace  whom  he  kicked  downstairs.  The  latter  came 
to  him  in  a  miserable  plight,  and  he  gave  him  a  job  to  keep 
him  from  starving.  It  is  one  thing  to  make  business  a  school, 
but  quite  another  thing  to  make  it  the  road  to  ruin. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

JAMES   JEROME    HILL. 

WHERE     OPPORTUNITY'     LIES --BORN     IN     CANADA ANCESTRAL     STOCK 

-  HOW     EDUCATED  -  -  FROM     COUNTY     CLERK     TO     RAILROAD    PRESIDENT  - 

KKORGANIZATION    OF    THE    ST.    PAUL     AND    PACIFIC     RAILROAD TRANSFOR- 
MATION    OF     THE'  NORTHWEST --FORTUNE    FAIRLY     EARNED THE     GREAT 

NORTHERN     OF     TO-DAY -- HIS     METHODS THE     TRAINING    OF    YOUNG    MEN 

MR.    HILL     A     MANY-SIDED     MAN HIS     HOME     AT     ST.    PAUL INTEREST 

IN  AGRICULTURAL    PURSUITS PHILANTHROPIES SOMETHING  OF    HIS    PER- 
SONAL   ACHIEVEMENTS.       VICTORY    IN    DEFEAT. 


The  railroad  interests  in  this  country  are  not  the  greatest, 
after  all.      The   agricultural    interests  are  most  important. 

They  represent  one  half  the  population  of 
the  United  States,  one  half  the  capital,  and 
about  all  the  patriotism,  religion,  and  feel- 
ing there  is. 

The  country  rules  the  cities.  I  should  be 
sorry  to  see  the  time  come  when  the  city 
interests  controlled  the  country.  At  present 
they  do  not.  Whenever  a  situation  comes 
up  where  the  integrity  of  the  country  is  at 
stake,  the  agricultural  interests  rise  up  in  a 
body  and  sweep  the  obstacle  aside.  It  is  the 


man  who  owns  the  land,  the  area  upon  which  we  live,  who  is 
the  strongest  factor  in  affairs,  and  he  is  bound  to  continue  so. 
He  it  is  who  possesses  all  the  potential  qualities  that  produce 
success  anywhere,  and  safeguards  the  common  interests  of 
our  country. 


^c 


AMES  JEROME  HILL,  president  of  the  Great  Northern 
Railroad,  is,  in  many  respects,  the  most  interesting  of  all 
the  captains  of  industry  who  are  now  at  the  head  of 
affairs  in  this  country.     He  was  born  in  Guelph,  Wel- 
lington county,  Canada,  in  1838,  and  is  therefore  about  sixty- 


JAMES  JEROME  HILL.  653 

four  years  of  age.  On  his  father's  side  he  is  descended  from 
sturdy  Irish  stock,  while  from  his  Scotch  mother  he  inherited 
the  noble  traits  of  the  Dunbar  line.  He  is  a  typical  John 
Bull  in  his  build,  being  short,  square,  and  powerful.  His 
head  is  massive,  his  features  are  large,  his  hair  is  heavy,  and 
his  manner  calm,  but  alert.  He  is  always  closely  watchful, 
and  under  ordinary  circumstances  bland. 

Unlike  most  American  millionaires,  Mr.  Hill  was  ham- 
pered in  the  task  of  self-creation  by  a  thorough  education. 
Of  a  dreamy  temperament  as  a  child,  he  preferred  a  book  and 
the  woods  to  the  play  of  other  boys.  For  such  a  nature  there 
was,  at  that  time,  no  opening  but  the  ministry  or  medicine. 
To  fit  him  for  the  latter  profession  his  parents  sent  him  to  the 
Rockwood  Academy,  where  he  received  a  thorough  ground- 
ing in  mathematics,  Latin,  and  the  sciences,  and  acquired 
that  thirst  for  knowledge  which  has  characterized  his  whole 
life. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  his  father's  death  threw  him  upon  his 
own  resources,  and  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  his  coveted 
profession  and  to  seek  employment  in  a  country  store.  When 
about  eighteen  he  came  to  St.  Paul,  then  a  straggling  village 
on  the  hem  of  civilization,  and  secured  employment  as  ship- 
ping clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Dubuque  and  St.  Paul  Packet 
Company.  At  that  time  the  Mississippi  offered  almost  the 
only  opportunity  for  the  study  of  problems  of  transportation, 
and  to  this  he  devoted  his  attention.  He  successively  enlarged 
the  scope  of  his  activity,  to  include  the  sale  of  fuel,  and  the 
agencies  for  the  Northwestern  Packing  Company  and  the  St. 
Paul  and  Pacific  Railroad.  He  was  the  first  to  bring  coal  to 
St.  Paul,  and  he  opened  the  first  communication  between  St. 
Paul  and  Winnipeg,  then  Fort  Gary.  The  latter  was  accom- 
plished in  1872,  when  he  consolidated  his  interests  with 
Norman  W.  Kittson,  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  who  was 
then  operating  steamboats  between  Moorheacl  and  Winnipeg 
—  thus  gradually  reaching  out. 

He  next  undertook  the  reorganization  in  detail  of  the  St. 
Paul  and  Pacific  Railroad.  When  that  sickly  infant  crept 
haltingly  out  upon  the  trackless  prairies  to  die,  Mr.  Hill  was 
the  only  one  to  see  in  it  promise  of  life.  The  road  then  con- 
sisted of  eighty  miles  of  indifferent  construction  extending 
from  St.  Paul  to  St.  Cloud,  two  hundred  and  sixteen  -miles 


654  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

from  St.  Paul  to  Breckenridge,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of 
another  hundred  miles  of  track  not  connected  with  either  of 
these  lines. 

In  addition  to  being  $33,000,000  in  debt,  the  road  was 
utterly  discredited  on  both  continents.  Mr.  Hill  persuaded 
Mr,  Donald  Smith  and  Mr.  George  Stephen  to  undertake,  with 
him,  its  purchase  and  reorganization.  In  1879  the  transaction 
was  completed,  and  the  road  was  reincorporated  under  the 
name  of  the  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba  Kailroad.  Mr. 
George  Stephen,  now  Lord  Mount-Stephen,  was  the  first  presi- 
dent, and  Mr.  Hill  the  general  manager.  Mr.  Hill  was  after- 
ward elected  vice-president,  and  in  1883  he  became  president, 
which  position  he  still  holds.  Since  that  time  his  achieve- 
ment has  been  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  railroad 
worldt  He  has  built  and  equipped  a  system  of  6,000  miles  — 
with  the  exception  of  the  original  400  miles  —  entirely  with- 
out state  or  government  land-grant  or  subsidy  ;  at  a  capitali- 
zation in  stocks  and  bonds  of  about  $30,000  a  mile,  and  at  the 
rate  of  nearly  a  mile  a  day  for  every  day  of  his  control. 
While  other  transcontinental  roads  have  collapsed  and  gone 
into  the  hands  of  receivers,  the  Great  Northern  has  never 
once  defaulted  the  interest  on  its  bonds  or  passed  a  dividend. 

Figures  give  no  adequate  idea  of  the  economic  significance 
of  such  an  artery  of  commerce.  Because  James  J.  Hill  con- 
ceived and  successfully  carried  out  his  project,  it  may  be  that 
men  and  women  who  never  even  heard  of  the  United  States, 
much  less  of  the  Great  Northern  Railroad,  have  been  saved 
from  death  by  starvation.  It  may  be  that  sometime  the  frui- 
tion of  the  idea  born  in  the  mind  of  this  railroad  man  will 
serve  to  avert  a  nation's  famine.  The  opening  and  develop- 
ing of  the  great  wheat  raising  states  of  the  Northwest  have 
had  their  part  in  determining  the  question  of  war  or  peace,  and 
will  have  again.  It  has  promoted  ententes  cordiales.  It  has 
shared ,  with  blood  ties  and  diplomacy  as  a  factor,  in  the 
relations  of  this  country  with  Great  Britain,  and  consequently 
the  relations  of  Great  Britain  with  other  nations.  ''Wheat 
Across  the  Sea"  may  be  equally  potent  with  "Hands  Across 
the  Sea."  Each  of  the  520,000,000  bread  eaters  of  the  world  is 
a  shareholder  in  the  Great  Northern  Railroad.  For  twenty 
cents  the  Minnesota  farmer  may  send  a  bushel  of  wheat  or  its 
equivalent  in  bread  to  Western  Europe. 


JAMES  JEROME  HILL.  655 

When  Mr.  Hill  first  mooted  the  project  of  a  railroad  from 
Puget  sound  to  the  Great   Lak*e  waterway,  passing  through 
what  was  virtually  "An  Undiscovered  Country,"  he  had  to 
face  the   knowledge  that  his  road  would  parallel   and   run 
between,  at  no  tremendous  distances  in  this  big  continent,  two 
already  existing  lines,  neither  of  which  had  proved  successful. 
The  Northern  Pacific  had  been  constructed  at  enormous  cost, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  its  record 
had  been  a  series  of  failures.     The  Canadian  Pacific  had  had 
behind  it  the  resources  of  the  British  Empire  ;  to  build  it,  half 
a  continent  had  been  put  in  pawn.     Wise  men  pointed  these 
things  out  to  Mr.  Hill.     They  said  :     "Even   if  he  can  build 
two  thousand  miles  of  railroad  through  new  country,  without 
governmental  aid  or  subsidy,  cui  bono  ?    What  doth  it  profit 
a  man  if  he  build  a  whole  railroad  and  lose  his  yearly,  divi- 
dends ?  "     But  Mr.  Hill  saw  with  a  clearer  vision.     He  went 
ahead  with  that  confidence  which  is  possessed  only  by  great 
men  and  fools.     Steadily,  inch  by  inch,  rod  by  rod,  mile  by 
mile,  the  shining  rails  stretched  westward  through  "the  land 
of  sky-blue  water,"  passing  innumerable  sparkling  Minnesota 
lakes,    skirting  one,  bridging  another,  pushing  on  through 
forests  and  natural  parkways,  crossing  the  line  into  the  newer 
Dakota,    chasing  the  limpid   waters    of  the  Red  river,  and 
plunging  into  the  trackless  ocean  prairie  —  direct,  almost,  as 
the   crow  flies,  across  the  billowy  fields  to  the   confines  of 
another  state  ;  running  beside  the  turbid  Missouri,  bombard- 
ing and  overcoming  the  Rockies,  shimmering  through  canon, 
diving  through  tunnel,  climbing  over  trestle,  ever  westward, 
until  at  last  they  rested  by  the  waters  of  the  Pacific.     Purely 
as  a  matter  of  construction,  it  was  a  gigantic  feat,  rapidly, 
safely,  and  cleanly  accomplished.     Then  came  the  rub  —  the 
material  but  no  less  important  question,  from  every  point  of 
view,  of  making  it  pay ;  and  another  phase  of  Mr.  Hill's  gen- 
ius was  called  into  requisition.     That  he  succeeded  is  a  matter 
of  railroad  history.     To  the  knowledge  of  a  man  who  knows 
his  business  to  the  minutest  detail,  the  determination  of  one 
who  will  not  be  defeated,  the  daring  of  a  pioneer,  Mr.  Hill 
must  have  added  an  instinctive  perception  which  bordered  on 
the  gift  of  prophecy. 

Following  a  railroad  come  population,  trade,  civilization. 
A  railroad,  even  through  unarable  country,  brings  some  set 


656  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

tiers  along  its  line ;  a  railroad,  however  poorly  managed, 
causes  some  movement  of  trade.  How  much  more  is  this  true 
of  a  pioneer  road  through  a  country  every  mile  of  which  is  pos- 
sible of  settlement,  and  great  tracts  of  which  are  as  fertile  as 
any  on  earth  !  Following  the  track  layers  come  the  settlers. 
Following  the  settlers  come  the  hamlets,  villages,  towns,  cit- 
ies, the  mills,  factories,  and  all  the  concomitants  of  trade. 
The  building  of  the  depot  causes  the  construction  of  the  school- 
house,  and  the  upraising  of  the  church  spires  to  the  sky.  It 
is  hardly  possible  to  overestimate  the  effect  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Great  Northern  upon  the  development,  physical 
and  sociological,  of  a  great  part  of  our  Northwest.  The 
shriek  of  the  locomotive  whistle  evoked  the  spirit  of  progress. 
Village  and  town  sprang  up  along  the  line.  Dwellings  and 
granaries  dotted  the  prairies.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres 
of  previously  non-productive  land  were  put  under  cultivation. 
Desolate  prairies  began  to  bloom.  The  grain  elevator,  like  a 
lighthouse  in  a  yellow  sea,  uplifted  itself  above  the  fields  of 
waving  wheat. 

That  there  should  have  come  an  outlet  for  these  magnifi- 
cent possibilities  seems  now  almost  inevitable  ;  but  in  this 
case  the  credit  must  go  to  James  J.  Hill.  The  state  of  Minne- 
sota alone  produces,  approximately,  about  80,000,000  bushels 
of  wheat,  or  about  one  thirty-seventh  of  the  total  production 
of  the  world.  Of  this  she  is  able  to  export  two  thirds.  Of  the 
Dakotas,  not  having  begun  to  reach  their  limit  of  productive- 
ness, North  Dakota  raised,  in  1898,  55,000,000  bushels,  and  South 
Dakota  42,000,000.  Oregon  produced  24,000,000  bushels.  The 
modern  farming  methods  in  the  Northwest  challenge  the 
admiration  of  the  world.  Steam  and  electricity  are  made  to 
serve  the  farmer's  purpose.  He  plows,  reaps,  thrashes  by 
machinery.  He  telephones  from  his  farmhouse  to  his  gran- 
aries. Sometimes  he  receives  the  latest  grain  quotations  over 
a  private  telegraph  wire  in  his  dwelling.  Often  the  acreage  of 
his  farm  is  expressed  in  the  thousands,  sometimes  in  five  fig- 
ures. He  comes  from  the  poor  places  of  the  earth  and  finds  a 
home  and  self-respect.  He  sends  his  products  to  Europe,  Asia, 
Japan,  even  China.  He  furnishes  a  traffic  that  provides  work 
for  tens  of  thousands  of  employees  of  transportation  lines.  He 
keeps  a  procession  of  grain  ships  moving  to  the  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  Canal,  which  makes  the  "  Soo"rank  ahead  of  far-famed 


JAMES  JEROME  HILL.  657 

Suez  in  point  of  tonnage.  Moreover,  he  is  furnishing  bone 
and  sinew  for  this  great  country  of  ours  which  cannot  be 
expressed  in  figures.  And  much  of  this  is  due  to  the  Great 
Northern  Railroad. 

Unlike  other  "Napoleons  of  Finance"  and  "Railway 
Kings  "  who  have  preyed  upon  the  interests  confided  to  their 
care,  Mr.  Hill  has  accepted  no  salary,  profited  by  the  ruin  of 
no  man's  fortune,  depending  for  his  reward  upon  the  natural 
increase  in  the  value  of  his  investment.  While  he  has  built 
up  for  himself  and  other  shareholders  of  the  road  a  constantly 
accruing  fortune,  he  has  created  for  the  settlers  along  his  line 
$1,000,000,000  of  wealth  in  real  property.  The  reduction  in 
rates  of  transportation  has  given  the  shippers  along  the  road 
practically  $67,000,000,  thus  diminishing  the  company's  rev- 
enues by  that  amount. 

Nevertheless,  in  fourteen  years,  from  the  beginning  of  Mr. 
Hill's  stewardship  to  1893,  the  company  had  paid  to  stock  and 
shareholders  between  $15,000,000  and  $16,000,000,  while  em- 
ployees had  received  for  their  share  $79,000,000.  Owing  to  its 
economy  in  operation,  constantly  increasing  business  and 
earning  capacity,  the  Great  Northern  has  made  a  steady 
decrease  in  freight  rates.  Last  year  the  president  suggested 
a  new  schedule  of  grain  rates,  which  meant  a  reduction  of 
$1,500,000  to  the  company. 

The  Great  Northern  to-day  comprises  a  system  of  roads 
giving  in  all  6,000  miles  of  excellent  construction,  extending 
in  a  network  from  Puget  sound  on  the  west  to  St.  Paul  on  the 
east,  from  Duluth  on  the  north  to  Yankton  on  the  south.  The 
headquarters  is  at  St.  Paul,  where  are  located  the  general 
offices  and  operating  staff.  During  the  season  of  navigation, 
Duluth  and  Superior  are,  however,  the  practical  terminals, 
where  the  road  connects  with  its  own  steamers  of  the  North- 
ern Steamship  Company  for  Buffalo.  Passengers  are  offered 
the  perfection  of  travel,  via  the  Northtvest  or  Northland, 
two  of  the  most  luxurious  steamers  of  the  world.  The  restful 
journey  over  inland  seas,  varied  with  rivers,  charming  resorts, 
and  locks,  is  attracting  tourists  to  the  full  capacity  of  the 
boats. 

In  addition  to  the  passenger  steamers,  a  fleet  of  six  freight 
vessels  off ers  formidable  competition  to  other  transcontinental 
lines.  For  the  Great  Northern  has  thus  2,000  miles  of  railroad 


658  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

from  the  Pacific  Coast,  with  the  added  1,000  miles  of  cheap 
waterway,  as  against  the  3,000  miles  entirely  by  rail  of  the 
other  roads.  The  shipping  from  Duluth  and  Superior  is  far 
beyond  belief  to  the  casual  observer.  In  1898  there  were 
received  at  these  ports  86,000,000  bushels  of  grain  ;  sawmills 
on  the  harbor  manufactured  324,000,000  feet  of  lumber  ;  iron 
ore  shipments  reached  6,000,000  gross  tons  ;  flour  mills  about 
the  bay  manufactured  2,000,000  barrels  of  flour.  From  these 
figures,  and  the  fact  that  the  Great  Northern  handles  05  per 
cent,  of  the  business,  will  be  seen  the  change  which  has  been 
wrought  in  diverting  traffic  of  the  Central  West  from  Chicago 
and  other  more  southerly  lake  ports. 

As  in  the  conception,  construction,  and  extension  of  the 
road,  so  in  his  methods  of  operation,  Mr.  Hill's  achievement 
is  unique.  He  has  the  genius  which  in  a  military  age  would 
have  made  a  Napoleon. 

He  has  made  the  road  ;  —  he  is  its  head,  its  hand,  its  con- 
science. He  has  risen  through  successive  stages  and  grown 
with  the  road's  growth.  He  has  studied,  assimilated,  taught, 
—  and  moved  on.  Wherever  he  left  a  department  he  shed  a 
system.  In  his  rise  he  has  carried  with  him  a  staggering 
weight  of  detail.  He  knows  every  inch  of  the  country 
through  which  his  road  runs  —  in  its  geography,  topography, 
fauna,  flora,  minerals,  water,  air,  population,  resources,  and 
portable  products.  He  knows  the  road  in  its  sleepers,  rails, 
spikes,  ballast,  engines,  shops,  sidings,  and  stations.  He 
knows  exactly  what  pressure  every  part  of  every  engine  can 
endure,  what  work  it  is  capable  of  performing,  and  how  long 
it  should  last.  So  close  a  touch  has  he  on  every  detail  that  he 
feels  the  slightest  jar  in  the  vast  machine,  and  his  finger  falls 
instantly  upon  the  disturbing  cause.  He  seems  omniscient 
and  omnipresent,  appearing  unexpectedly  at  remote  mountain 
stations, —  from  no  one  knows  where, —  and  vanishing  as  mys- 
teriously as  he  came. 

There  is  no  filtering  of  authority  through  vice-president, 
general  manager,  or  chief  clerk,  with  the  consequent  shift- 
ing of  responsibility  ;  the  enlightenment,  reproof,  or  dismissal 
comes  on  the  spot,  warmed  with  Mr.  Hill's  personality.  As  a 
result  of  this  close  relationship  between  him  and  his 
employees,  the  Great  Northern  has  been  singularly  free  from 
the  strikes,  agitations,  and  annoyances  which  have  beset 


JAMES  JEROME  HILL.  659 

other  roads.  The  only  strike  of  any  consequence  was  in 
1894.  It  grew  out  of  the  fact  that  the  prevailing  business 
depression  of  1893  had  made  necessary  a  reduction  in  the  pay 
roll  of  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  Company,  and  this  was 
brought  about  in  part  by  reducing  the  salaries  of  its  officers 
and  the  rates  of  pay  of  its  employees. 

During  the  winter,  representatives  of  the  American  Rail- 
way Union,  formed  in  1892,  had  been  active  in  the  work  of 
organization  on  the  lines  of  several  railroads,  among  others 
the  Great  Northern.  The  work  was  conducted  with  great 
secrecy,  and  none  of  the  officers  of  the  company  had  knowl- 
edge of  it.  The  company,  for  years  having  recognized  the  old 
unions,  had  no  knowledge  of  complaints,  or  of  any  consider- 
able dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  its  employees,  who  at  that 
time  numbered  about  eight  thousand. 

When  the  cloud  finally  broke,  there  were  many  miscon- 
ceptions, therefore,  to  be  cleared  away  ;  and  it  was  not  for 
some  two  weeks  that  Mr.  Hill  and  the  strike  organizers  came 
to  understand  each  other.  When  they  did  the  whole  trouble 
was  promptly  and  finally  settled  by  arbitration.  Through 
the  whole  incident  Mr.  Hill's  was  the  guiding  mind  in  every 
detail,  and  his  clear  head,  tact,  firmness,  and  fairness  were 
successful  in  bringing  to  a  happy  issue  a  matter  which  might 
have  had  permanently  unfortunate  results  in  the  hands  of  a 
man  of  less  generous  mould. 

In  connection  with  the  general  offices,  there  has  been 
established  a  school  of  railroading,  where  young  men  are 
given  a  thorough  knowledge  of  every  department.  When  a 
new  branch  road  is  organized,  or  a  department  is  created,  the 
man  needed  for  its  head  is  immediately  forthcoming  ;  for  at 
the  same  time  Mr.  Hill  foresaw  the  future  need  he  foresaw 
the  man  for  the  place,  and  began  to  train  the  boy.  The  motto 
of  the  Great  Northern  road  should  be,  ' '  The  child  is  father  to 
the  man  "  ;  for  Mr.  Hill  believes  that  strength  and  swiftness 
are  in  the  feet  of  young  men.  His  son,  James  N.  Hill,  is  pres- 
ident of  the  Spokane  &  Northern  Division,  and  third  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  general  system.  His  son,  Louis  Hill,  is  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  Eastern  Minnesota  Division.  Both  are  young  men 
of  great  promise,  who  have  served  their  apprenticeship  in  every 
branch  of  railroading ;  and  upon  them  Mr.  Hill  is  gradually 
unloading  the  enormous  burden  which  he  has  carried  so  long. 


660  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

During  those  years  of  apprenticeship  in  the  steamboat 
office  he  was  preparing  himself  to  fill  in  the  canvas  which 
then  contained  but  the  sketchy  outlines  drawn  by  his  imag- 
ination. Days  filled  with  labor  were  succeeded  by  nights  of 
unremitting  study.  The  subjects  devoured  were  so  far  apart 
in  interest,  so  abstruse  and  apparently  impractical  in  applica- 
tion, that  nothing  but  the  preparation  of  an  encyclopaedia 
would  seem  to  justify  his  selection.  This  omnivorous  appetite 
for  reading,  joined  to  a  phenomenal  memory,  makes  his  learn- 
ing prodigious.  Question  him  on  almost  any  subject  and  you 
are  overwhelmed  by  a  steady  flow  of  information,  detail,  sta- 
tistics, until  the  finite  mind  reels.  No  man  is  so  versed  in  his 
own  specialty  that  Mr.  Hill  cannot  teach  him  something 
therein.  This  course  of  study  was  to  prepare  him  not  only 
for  a  successful  business  career,  but  also  to  provide  resources 
of  enjoyment  for  his  dearly-bought  leisure.  He  may,  like 
Carlyle,  be  described  as  a  sledge  hammer  with  an  seolian- 
harp  attachment  ;  for,  while  his  knotted  muscles  are  batter- 
ing away  for  the  world's  commerce,  his  delicately  strung 
sensibilities  never  fail  to  give  answering  music  to  each  wan- 
dering wind  of  beauty  or  fancy.  He  is  essentially  domestic 
and  lives  amid  his  regal  surroundings  a  life  of  rugged  sim- 
plicity. 

Mrs.  Hill,  who  was  Miss  Mary  Mahegan,  is  a  woman  of 
beautiful  face  and  more  beautiful  character,  and  is  universally 
beloved.  She  possesses  a  rare  combination  of  quiet  humor,  tact 
and  executive  ability.  To  these  qualities,  and  the  consequent, 
thrift,  discipline,  and  comfort  in  their  domestic  affairs,  Mr. 
Hill  ascribes  no  small  measure  of  his  success  in  life.  A  fam- 
ily of  nine  interesting  and  gifted  children  have  grown  up 
about  them.  To  each  has  been  given  the  best  preparation 
which  America  offers  educationally  to  fit  them  for  the  wide 
opportunities  of  their  lives. 

Several  years  ago  Mr.  Hill  built  in  St.  Paul  one  of  the  hand- 
somest houses  in  America.  It  is  baronial  in  style,  massively 
built  of  brownstone,  and  contains  every  interior  perfection 
known  to  science.  With  his  characteristic  love  of  detail  he 
spent  a  fortune  on  plumbing,  heating,  lighting,  and  ventila- 
tion. The  interior  finish  is  simple  and  ricli  as  the  exterior. 
The  house  is  filled  with  the  rarest  and  costliest  of  art  treasures, 
tapestries,  rugs,  vases,  wood-carving,  antique  furniture ;  all 


JAMES  JEROME  HILL.  661 

are  of  the  choicest  selection  and  of  quiet  taste.  His  art  gallery 
ranks  second  or  third  among  the  private  collections  of  the 
United  States.  He  has  a  fondness  for  French  art,  and  among 
the  gems  are  some  of  the  best  specimens  of  the  modern  paint- 
ing of  that  country.  Some  of  the  notable  ones  are  Corot's 
"Biblis,"  Ribot's  "Descent  from  the  Cross,"  Diaz's  "Storm," 
Rousseau's  "  Mont  Jean  de  Paris."  Added  to  these  are  some  of 
the  masterpieces  of  Millet,  Delacroix,  Deschamps,  Troyon, 
Bouguereau,  Henner,  Laurens,  and  Jules  Breton.  Of  every 
picture  Mr.  Hill  will  give  you  the  conception,  the  technical  and 
artistic  value,  as  no  one  but  a  painter  can  do,  as  well  as  every 
fact  of  interest  concerning  each  artist.  His  adeptness  as  an 
art  critic  is  equaled  only  by  his  skill  as  a  lapidary ;  he  has 
one  of  the  choicest  private  collections  of  jewels  in  America, 
and  can  detect  at  a  touch  any  flaw,  however  obscure.  These 
jewels  he  collects  for  the  pleasure  he  takes  in  their  perfection, 
as  the  members  of  his  family  seldom  wear  them.  All  these 
treasures  of  their  superb  home  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hill  enjoy  and 
share  without  ostentation  or  vanity —  a  constant  object  lesson 
and  benignant  influence  to  those  about  them. 

One  of  Mr.  Hill's  dearest  ambitions  was  to  be  a  soldier, 
and  it  was  a  bitter  blow  at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  that, 
owing  to  a  defect  in  his  vision,  he  was  not  accepted  for  serv- 
ice. Upon  this  fact,  doubtless,  his  whole  career  hinged.  In 
hardships  and- hairbreadth  escapes,  traveling  by  dog  sledge 
and  on  foot,  he  sought  to  forget  this  disappointment  in  fight- 
ing his  country's  battles  against  wilderness,  desert,  and 
mountain. 

Mr.  Hill's  order  of  intellect  does  not  permit  him  a  recrea- 
tion that  is  purposeless ;  every  pastime  develops  into  a 
science.  Thus  his  farming,  which  he  began  as  a  relaxation, 
has  developed  an  experimental  station.  His  North  Oaks 
farm,  within  easy  driving  distance  of  St.  Paul,  contains  5,500 
acres,  inclosed  by  a  single  fence.  The  land  is  wooded  or 
under  cultivation,  and  seven  lakes  are  included  within  its 
limits.  The  buildings  are  unpretentious  and  simple,  like 
those  of  the  surrounding  farms,  but  so  numerous  as  to  form  a 
good  sized  village.  They  consist  of  a  house  for  the  family, 
another  for  the  workmen,  horse  and  cow  stables,  pigsties, 
hay-barns,  extensive  greenhouses,  a  marble-fitted  and  refrig- 
erated dairy,  a  bowling  alley  and  boathouse.  In  the  interior 


662  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

arrangement,  the  highest  degree  of  sanitation  and  comfort  is 
secured.  Here  he  has  collected,  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
the  best  breeds  of  horses  and  cattle,  whose  feeding,  training, 
and  marketing  he  personally  oversees  to  the  minutest  detail. 
He  has  a  strong  love  for  horses,  and  seldom  sells  any  of  those 
he  has  raised.  Upon  an  island  in  the  largest  lake  he  is  pre- 
serving a  herd  of  elk.  In  another  pasture  he  has  a  large  herd 
of  buffalo  —  among  the  last  of  their  vanishing  race. 

Near  Crookston,  Minn.,  he  has  a  grain-farm  of  35,000 
acres.  This  is  carried  on  in  the  same  manner  as  the  large 
farms  in  Dakota,  with  all  externals  of  the  plainest,  but  with 
the  latest  labor-saving  machinery. 

In  his  farming,  as  in  his  home  life,  Mr.  Hill's  aim  is  to  be  a 
helpful  neighbor ;  the  result  of  all  his  experiments  he  shares 
with  those  about  him.  The  value  of  his  agricultural  and 
stock-raising  knowledge  to  the  settlers  along  the  line  of  his 
road  is,  in  consequence,  incalculable.  He  is  constantly  giv- 
ing talks  and  addresses  at  state  and  county  fairs,  stock- 
grower's  conventions,  and  before  legislatures.  It  is  largely 
through  his  influence  that  the  Red  River  Valley  settlers  have 
been  induced  to  take  up  diversified  farming  instead  of 
depending,  as  formerly,  upon  wheat  alone  ;  and,  in  conse- 
quence, having  to  face  starvation  with  every  crop  failure.  In 
this,  as  in  all  his  advocated  reforms,  he  does  not  stop  with 
"  talk."  Following  his  instruction,  he  has  scattered  along  the 
line  of  his  road,  for  free  use  of  the  farmers,  500  blooded  bulls 
and  3,500  boars.  The  result  of  this  foresight  has  been  a  com- 
plete transformation  of  the  "  scrub  "  stock  of  the  Northwest. 

One  of  Mr.  Hill's  most  notable  philanthropies  is  the  St. 
Paul  Theological  Seminary,  a  school  of  preparation  for  the 
priesthood,  dedicated  in  1895.  Unlike  most  philanthropists, 
and  with  characteristic  modesty,  Mr.  Hill  refuses  to  allow  this 
institution  to  bear  his  name,  but  gives  that  honor  to  the  city 
of  his  residence.  The  buildings,  erected  through  the  gift  of 
$500,000,  are  six  severely  handsome  structures  of  pressed  brick 
built  in  the  English  university  form  of  a  quadrangle.  The 
site,  upon  the  high,  wooded  bluff  of  the  Mississippi  river, 
offers  a  quiet  retreat,  perfectly  fitted  for  study  and  thought. 
No  expense  was  spared  in  internal  equipment,  affording  an 
opportunity  for  comfort,  health,  and  the  highest  culture. 
Each  student  is  provided  with  a  study  and  sleeping  room, 


JAMES  JEROME  HILL.  663 

with  access  to  the  bath.  A  gymnasium  gives  opportunity  for 
physical  development,  so  often  overlooked  in  such  institu- 
tions. The  seminary  offers  unrivaled  opportunities  for  theo- 
logical research,  as  well  as  a  broad  culture  in  science  and 
literature,  not  usually  joined  to  a  theological  course.  While 
the  seminary  is  intended  principally  for  the  ecclesiastical 
province  of  St.  Paul,  and  draws  its  students  from  the  dioceses 
comprised  in  this  province,  still  it  is  open  to  students  of  all 
sections  of  the  country,  and  from  the  first  its  fullest  capacity 
has  been  tested.  The  Right  Reverend  Monsignor  Caillet,  a 
pioneer  in  Minnesota  religious  life,  was  its  first  rector.  On 
his  death  the  Very  Reverend  Patrick  R.  Heffron,  a  young 
man  of  unusual  attainments  and  brilliancy,  became  its  rector. 

Two  Protestant  colleges  in  the  environs  of  St.  Paul  owe, 
in  a  large  measure,  their  prolonged  activity  to  Mr.  Hill's  gen- 
erosity —  Macalester,  a  Presbyterian  institution,  and  Ham- 
line,  of  the  Methodist  denomination.  Indeed,  scarcely  a 
church  of  St.  Paul  has  appealed  to  'Mr.  Hill  in  vain  in  its 
financial  crises ;  and  many  towns  along  the  lines  of  his  road 
show  with  pride  some  church,  educational,  or  philanthropic 
institution  which  he  has  built  or  helped  to  build. 

In  Mr.  Hill  we  have  the  seer,  with  all  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury improvements.  In  him  the  highest  imagination  is  yoked 
to  the  lowliest  common  sense ;  the  vision  is  followed  by  the 
deed.  Mountains,  seas,  continents,  wars,  and  empires  are 
pawns  in  his  game  ;  but  each  spike  which  holds  his  rails  is 
considered  as  carefully  as  though  it  were  to  serve  for  the  axis 
of  the  universe. 

His  imagination  is  not  of  the  lawless  order  which  runs  riot 
to  no  purpose  ;  it  is  the  masterful  architect,  which  directs  his 
nimble  intellect  as  it  builds.  His  mind's  eye  is  telescopic, 
looking  far  beyond  the  range  of  ordinary  human  vision,  and 
seeing  things  not  so  much  as  they  are,  but  rather  as  they  may 
be.  He  saw  the  great  Northwest,  lying  imprisoned  like  the 
prince  in  the  Arabian  Nights,  half  man  and  half  marble,  and 
has  set  it  free  in  its  own  proper  shape,  with  all  its  possibilities 
restored.  His  faith,  moving  mountains,  both  literally  and 
figuratively,  has  led  the  world's  superfluous  population  into 
the  wilderness,  to  behold  and  to  work  miracles.  They  have 
felled  the  forests,  tilled  the  soil,  dug  mines,  built  houses, 
banks,  churches,  and  colleges,  under  the  delusion  that  these 


664  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

enterprises  were  of  their  own  suggestion  ;  but,  like  Alice  and 
the  red  chessman  in  "  Wonderland,"  they  are  merely  acting 
a  part  in  the  White  King's  dream. 


THE   VICTORY   IN   DEFEAT. 

R  EARLY  a  hundred  thousand  Romans  are  assembled  in 
the  Colosseum  to  see  the  hated  Christians  struggle  for 
their  lives  with  the  wild  beasts  of  the  amphitheater. 
The  grand  spectacle  is  preceded  by  a  duel  between  two  rival 
gladiators,  trained  to  fight  to  the  death  to  amuse  the  populace. 
When  a  gladiator  hit  his  adversary  in  such  contests,  he  would 
say  "  Hoc  habet"  (  He  has  it),  and  look  up  to  see  whether  he 
should  kill  or  spare.  If  the  people  held  their  thumbs  up,  the 
victim  would  be  left  to  recover  ;  if  down,  he  was  to  die.  If  he 
showed  the  least  reluctance  in  presenting  his  throat  for  the 
death  blow,  there  would  rise  a  scornful  shout :  "Recipe  fer- 
rum  "  ( Receive  the  steel).  Prominent  persons  would  sometimes 
go  into  the  arena  and  watch  the  death  agonies  of  the  van- 
quished, or  taste  the  warm  blood  of  some  brave  hero. 

The  two  rival  gladiators,  as  they  entered,  had  shouted  to 
the  emperor  :  "Ave,  Ccesar,  morituri  te  salutant "  ( Hail,  Csesar, 
those  about  to  die  salute  thee).  Then  in  mortal  strife  they 
fought  long  and  desperately,  their  faces  wet  with  perspiration 
and  dark  with  the  dust  of  the  arena.  Suddenly  an  aged  stran- 
ger in  the  audience  leaps  over  the  railing,  and,  standing  bare- 
headed and  barefoot  between  the  contestants,  bids  them  stay 
their  hands.  A  hissing  sound  comes  from  the  vast  audience, 
like  steam  issuing  from  a  geyser,  followed  by  calls  of  "Back, 
back,  old  man."  But  the  gray-haired  hermit  stands  like  a 
statue.  "Cut  him  down,  cut  him  down,"  roar  the  spectators, 
and  the  gladiators  strike  the  would-be  peacemaker  to  earth, 
and  fight  over  his  dead  body. 

But  what  of  it  ?  What  is  the  life  of  a  poor  old  hermit  com- 
pared with  the  thousands  who  have  met  their  deaths  in  that 
vast  arena  ?  The  unknown  man  died,  indeed,  but  his  death 
brought  Rome  to  her  senses,  and  no  more  gladiatorial  contests 
disgraced  the  Colosseum,  while  in  every  province  of  the 
empire  the  custom  was  utterly  abolished,  to  be  revived  no 
more.  The  vast  ruin  stands  to-day  a  monument  to  the  victory 
in  the  hermit's  defeat. 


JAMES  J.  HILL. 


THE   VICTORY  IN  DEFEAT.  667 

No  man  fails  who  does  his  best,  for,  if  the  critical  world 
ignore  him,  his  labor  is  weighed  in  the  scales  of  Omniscient 
Justice.  As  there  is  no  effect  without  cause,  no  loss  of  energy 
in  the  world,  so  conscientious  persistence  cannot  fail  of  its 
ultimate  reward. 

One  of  the  first  lessons  of  life  is  to  learn  how  to  get  victory 
out  of  defeat.  It  takes  courage  and  stamina,  when  mortified 
and  embarrassed  by  humiliating  disaster,  to  seek  in  the  wreck 
or  ruins  the  elements  of  future  conquest.  Yet  this  measures 
the  difference  between  those  who  succeed  and  those  who  fail. 
You  cannot  measure  a  man  by  his  failures.  You  must  know 
what  use  he  makes  of  them.  What  did  they  mean  to  him  ? 
What  did  he  get  out  of  them  ? 

I  always  watch  with  great  interest  a  young  man's  first 
failure.  It  is  the  index  of  his  life,  the  measure  of  his  success- 
power.  The  mere  fact  of  his  failure  does  not  interest  me 
much  ;  but  how  did  he  take  his  defeat  ?  What  did  he  do 
next  ?  Was  he  discouraged  ?  Did  he  slink  out  of  sight  ? 
Did  he  conclude  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  his  calling, 
and  dabble  in  something  else  ?  Or  did  he  up  and  at  it  again 
with  a  determination  that  knows  no  defeat  ? 

"1  thank  God  I  was  not  made  a  dexterous  manipulator," 
said  Humphry  Davy,  "  for  the  most  important  of  my  dis- 
coveries have  been  suggested  to  me  by  failures." 

'*'  God  forbid  that  I  should  do  this  thing,  and  flee  away 
from  them,"  said  Judas  Maccabseus,  when,  with  only  eight 
hundred  faithful  men,  he  was  urged  to  retire  before  the 
Syrian  army  of  twenty  thousand.  "  If  our  time  be  come,  let 
us  die  manfully  for  our  brethren,  and  let  us  not  stain  our 
honor." 

"  Sore  was  the  battle,"  says  Miss  Yonge  ;  "as  sore  as  that 
waged  by  the  three  hundred  at  Thermopylae,  and  the  end  was 
the  same.  Judas  and  his  eight  hundred  were  not  driven  from 
the  field,  but  lay  dead  upon  it.  But  their  work  was  done. 
The  moral  effect  of  such  a  defeat  goes  farther  than  many  a 
victory.  These  lives,  sold  so  dearly,  were  the  price  of  free- 
dom for  Judea.  Judas's  brothers,  Jonathan  and  Simon,  laid 
him  in  his  father's  tomb,  and  then  ended  the  work  that  he 
had  begun  ;  and  when  Simon  died,  the  Jews,  once  so  trodden 
on,  were  the  most  prosperous  race  in  the  East.  The  temple 
was  raised  from  its  ruins,  and  the  exploits  of  the  Maccabees 


668  LEADEES  OF  MEN. 

had  nerved  the  whole  people  to  do  or  die  in  defense  of  the 
holy  faith  of  their  fathers." 

After  a  long  and  desperate  but  vain  struggle  to  free  his 
country  from  the  iron  rule  of  Rome,  Vercingetorix  surrendered 
himself  to  Caesar  on  condition  that  his  army  should  be  allowed 
to  return  home  without  molestation.  He  was  held  a  prisoner 
for  six  years,  then  dragged  in  chains  over  the  cold  stones  of 
Rome  to  grace  an  imperial  triumph,  and  killed  in  his  dungeon 
the  following  night.  Yet  no  one  would  think  of  naming  any 
one  else  if  asked  who  was  the  bravest  and  noblest  among  the 
Gallic  leaders. 

"Be  of  good  comfort,  Master  Ridley,  and  play  the  man,'' 
said  Latimer,  as  he  stood  with  his  friend  at  the  stake  ;  "we 
shall  this  day  light  such  a  candle  by  God's  grace  in  England 
as  I  trust  shall  never  be  put  out ;"  and  every  word  had  more 
influence  than  would  the  preaching  of  a  hundred  sermons 
against  the  intolerance  of  the  age.  So  incensed  did  the  people 
become  that,  besides  Cranmer,  burned  two  years  later,  very 
few  others  were  sacrificed  ;  and  of  these  it  is  said  that  they 
were  secretly  tried  and  burned  at  night,  surrounded  by  sol- 
diers, for  fear  of  riots  by  the  populace  enraged  at  such  injus- 
tice and  cruelty. 

There  is  something  grand  and  inspiring  in  a  young  man 
who  fails  squarely  after  doing  his  level  best,  and  then  enters 
the  contest  again  and  again  with  undaunted  courage  and 
redoubled  energy.  I  have  no  fears  for  the  youth  who  is  not 
disheartened  at  failure. 

"  It  is  defeat,"  says  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  "  that  turns 
bone  to  flint,  and  gristle  to  muscle,  and  makes  men  invincible, 
and  formed  those  heroic  natures  that  are  now  in  ascendency 
in  the  world.  Do  not,  then,  be  afraid  of  defeat.  You  are 
never  so  near  to  victory  as  when  defeated  in  a  good  cause." 

Failure  becomes  the  final  test  of  persistence  and  of  an  iron 
will.  It  either  crushes  a  life,  or  solidifies  it.  The  wounded 
oyster  mends  his  shell  with  pearl. 

"Failure  is,  in  a  sense,"  says  Keats,  "the  highway  to 
success,  inasmuch  as  every  discovery  of  what  is  false  leads  us 
to  seek  earnestly  after  what  is  true,  and  every  fresh  experi- 
ence points  out  some  form  of  error  which  we  shall  afterward 
carefully  avoid." 

"We  mount  to  heaven,"  says  A.  B.  Alcott,  "mostly  on 


THE   VICTORY  IN  DEFEAT.  669 

the  ruins  of  our  cherished  schemes,  finding  our  failures  were 
successes." 

No  man  is  a  failure  who  is  upright  and  true.  No  cause  is 
a  failure  which  is  in  the  right.  There  is  but  one  failure,  and 
that  is  not  to  be  true  to  the  best  that  in  us. 

Of  what  avail  would  it  be  for  a  man  without  a  kingdom, 
without  an  army,  to  oppose  the  most  powerful  monarch  of 
Europe  ?  William  the  Silent  was  a  learned  philosopher,  an 
accomplished  linguist,  of  good  family  and  great  wealth,  and 
a  lover  of  peace.  Yet,  as  a  mere  citizen  of  little  Holland,  on 
what  could  he  rely  should  he  attempt  to  wage  war  against 
overwhelming  odds,  except  the  justice  of  his  cause  and  the 
weight  of  his  character  ? 

Philip  II.  was  a  nephew  of  the  emperor  of  Germany,  hus- 
band of  the  queen  of  England,  and  ruler  in  his  own  right  of 
Spain,  Holland,  Belgium,  and  most  of  Italy,  Oran,  Tunis,  the 
Cape  Verde,  Canary,  and  Philippine  Islands,  the  Antilles,  Mex- 
ico, and  Peru.  While  his  neighbors  were  weakened  by  quar- 
rels, his  resources  were  unrivaled.  His  cause  was  supported 
by  the  arms,  wealth,  glory,  genius,  and  religion  of  Europe. 

Philip  determined  to  establish  the  Inquisition  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  William  resolved  to  consecrate  himself  to  the 
defense  of  the  liberties  of  his  country. 

The  struggle  was  prodigious.  At  last  William  died,  but 
Philip  was  not  a  victor.  Holland,  indeed,  was  without  a 
leader,  but  the  vast  Spanish  monarchy  was  tottering  to  its 
fall.  From  the  beginning  of  the  contest,  "the  figure  of  the 
king  becomes  smaller  and  smaller  until  it  finally  disappears, 
while  that  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  grows  and  grows,  until  it 
becomes  the  most  glorious  figure  of  the  century."  Proscribed, 
impoverished,  calumniated,  surrounded  by  assassins,  often  a 
fugitive,  and  finally  a  lifeless  lump  of  clay,  William  had 
maintained  throughout  a  solidity  of  character  against  which 
beat  in  vain  the  waves  of  corrupt  wealth  and  injustice.  Char- 
acter is  power. 

Raleigh  failed,  but  he  left  a  name  ever  to  be  linked  with 
brave  effort  and  noble  character.  Kossuth  did  not  succeed, 
but  his  lofty  career,  his  burning  words,  and  his  ideal  fidelity 
will  move  men  for  good  as  long  as  time  shall  last.  O'Connell 
did  not  win  his  cause,  but  he  did  achieve  enduring  fame  as  an 
orator,  patriot,  and  apostle  of  liberty. 


670  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  retreat  of  Xenophon's  Ten  Thou- 
sand outshines  the  conquests  of  Alexander ;  and  the  retreat  of 
Sir  John  Moore  to  Corunna  was  as  great  as  the  victories  of 
Wellington. 

"  Gentlemen,  apply  to  my  young  friend,  Mr.  Whitney,  he 
can  make  anything,"  said  the  widow  of  General  Greene,  when 
some  officers  who  had  served  under  her  husband  in  the  Revo- 
lution said  it  was  impossible  to  extend  the  culture  of  cotton, 
on  account  of  the  trouble  and  expense  of  separating  the  seed 
from  the  fiber.  Eli  Whitney  had  gone  from  his  Massachu- 
setts home,  in  1792,  to  teach  in  Georgia. 

Mrs.  Greene,  at  whose  house  he  was  visiting,  introduced 
Mr.  Whitney  to  the  officers  and  some  planter  guests,  and 
recommended  him  as  a  young  man  of  great  integrity  and 
ingenuity.  The  young  teacher  said  that  he  had  never  seen 
cotton  or  cotton  seed,  but  promised  to  see  what  he  could  do. 
He  found  a  little  in  Savannah,  and  shut  himself  up  in  a  base- 
ment to  experiment.  He  had  to  make  his  own  tools,  and  even 
draw  his  wire,  as  none  could  then  be  bought  in  Savannah. 
He  hammered  and  tinkered  all  winter,  but  at  last  his  machine 
was  successful. 

Mr.  Miller,  who  had  recently  married  Mrs.  Greene,  offered 
to  become  an  equal  partner  with  Mr.  Whitney,  furnishing 
funds  for  perfecting,  patenting,  and  making  the  machines. 
People  came  to  see  the  wonderful  device,  but  Mr.  Miller 
refused  to  show  it,  as  it  was  not  yet  patented. 

Some  of  the  visitors  broke  open  the  building  by  night  and 
carried  off  the  gin.  Soon  the  partners  found  that  machines 
that  infringed  upon  theirs  were  upon  the  market.  Mr.  Whit- 
ney established  a  manufactory  in  New  Haven,  but  was  ham- 
pered greatly  by  a  long  sickness,  while  suits  to  defend  the 
patent  swallowed  all  the  money  of  the  partners.  Again  Whit- 
ney was  sick,  and  had  but  just  recovered  when  his  manufac- 
tory burned,  with  all  his  machines  and  papers,  leaving  him 
bankrupt.  Just  then  came  the  news  that  British  manufac- 
turers rejected  cotton  cleaned  by  his  machine,  saying  that  the 
process  was  injurious.  He  went  to  England  and  at  last  over- 
came this  prejudice,  when  his  cotton  gin  was  again  in  demand. 
A  suit  against  an  infringer  was  decided  against  him  by  a 
Georgia  jury,  although  the  judge  charged  in  his  favor.  The 
market  was  flooded  with  infringements.  Not  until  1807,  the 


THE   VICTORY  IN  DEFEAT.  671 

last  year  of  his  patent,  was  a  suit  decided  in  his  favor,  Judge 
Johnson  saying  :  — 

"  The  whole  interior  of  the  Southern  states  was  languish- 
ing and  its  inhabitants  emigrating  for  want  of  some  object  to 
engage  their  attention  and  employ  their  industry,  when  the 
invention  of  this  machine  at  once  opened  views  to  them  which 
set  the  whole  country  in  active  motion.  From  childhood  to 
age,  it  has  presented  to  us  a  lucrative  employment.  Individ- 
uals who  were  depressed  with  poverty  and  sunk  in  idleness 
have  suddenly  risen  to  wealth  and  respectability.  Our  debts 
have  been  paid  off.  Our  capitals  have  increased,  and  our  lands 
have  trebled  themselves  in  value." 

Whitney  was  obliged  to  engage  in  another  kind  of  busi- 
ness to  gain  a  livelihood,  on  account  of  the  injustice  of  his 
fellow  countrymen,  yet  one  of  the  world's  greatest  victories 
grew  out  of  his  apparent  defeat.  Instead  of  a  pound  of 
cleaned  cotton  as  the  result  of  a  day's  work  of  an  able-bodied 
man,  he  had  made  it  possible  for  him  to  clean  hundreds  of 
pounds.  His  invention  increased  the  production  of  cotton  in 
the  South  more  than  a  thousandfold,  and  was  worth,  accord- 
ing to  conservative  men,  more  than  a  thousand  millions  of 
dollars  to  the  United  States.  What  an  inspiration  there  is  in 
this  career  for  discouraged  souls  in  life's  great  battle  ! 

"  No  language,"  says  E.  P.  Whipple,  "  can  fitly  express  the 
meanness,  the  baseness,  the  brutality,  with  which  the  world 
has  ever  treated  its  victims  of  one  age  and  boasts  of  them  in 
the  next.  Dante  is  worshiped  at  that  grave  to  which  he  was 
hurried  by  persecution.  Milton  in  his  own  day  was  '  Mr. 
Milton,  the  blind  adder,  that  spit  his  venom  on  the  king's  per- 
son ' ;  and  soon  after,  '  the  mighty  orb  of  song.'  These  absurd 
transitions  from  hatred  to  apotheosis,  this  recognition  just  at 
the  moment  when  it  becomes  a  mockery,  sadden  all  intellec- 
tual history." 

"Even  in  this  world,"  says  Mrs.  Stowe,  "they  will  have 
their  judgment  day  ;  and  their  names,  which  went  down  in  the 
dust  like  a  gallant  banner  trodden  in  the  mire,  shall  rise  again 
all  glorious  in  the  sight  of  nations." 

What  cared  Garrison  or  Phillips  for  the  rotten  eggs,  the 
jeers  and  hisses  in  Faneuil  Hall  ?  What  did  Demosthenes, 
Curran,  or  Disraeli  care  for  the  taunts  and  hisses  that  drove 
them  from  the  rostrum  ?  They  felt  within  the  power  of  great- 


672  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

ness,  and  knew  that  the  time  would  come  when  they  would 
be  heard.  Mortified  by  humiliation  and  roused  by  defeat, 
they  were  spurred  into  a  grander  eloquence.  Those  apparent 
defeats  which  would  have  silenced  forever  men  of  ordinary 
mould,  only  excited  in  these  men  a  determination  which,  like 
the  waters  of  the  Hellespont,  "  ne'er  felt  retiring  ebb."  Who 
can  estimate  the  world's  debt  to  weak,  deformed,  and  appar- 
ently defeated  men,  whose  desperate  struggles  to  redeem 
themselves  from  perpetual  scorn  have  made  them  immortal  ? 
It  was  Byron's  clubfoot  and  shyness  which  caused  him  to 
pour  forth  his  soul  in  song.  It  was  to  Bedford  jail  that  we 
owe  the  finest  allegory  in  the  world.  Bunyan  wrote  nothing 
of  note  before  or  after  his  twelve  years'  imprisonment. 

Death  wins  no  victory  over  such  men.  Regulus  might  be 
destroyed  bodily  by  cruel  torture,  but  his  spirit  animated 
Borne  to  blot  Carthage  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Win- 
kelried  did  indeed  fall  beneath  the  Austrian  spears,  but 
Switzerland  is  free.  Wallace  was  quartered  :  Scotland  never. 
Lincoln  became  the  victim  of  an  assassin,  but  none  the  less 
his  work  went  forward.  Never  was  martyr  yet  whose  death 
did  not  advance  the  cause  he  advocated  tenfold  more  than 
could  possibly  have  been  accomplished  by  his  voice  or  pen. 

He  who  never  failed  has  never  half  succeeded.  The  defeat 
at  Bull  Run  was  really  the  greatest  victory  of  the  Civil  War, 
for  it  sent  the  cowards  to  the  rear  and  the  politicians  home. 
It  was  the  lightning  flash  in  the  dark  night  of  our  nation's 
peril  which  gave  us  glimpses  of  the  weak  places  in  our  army. 
It  was  the  mirror  which  showed  us  the  faces  of  the  political 
aspirants. 

"  The  angel  of  martyrdom  is  brother  to  the  angel  of  vic- 
tory." What  cared  Savonarola  though  the  pope  excommuni- 
cated him  because  he  could  not  bribe  him  ?  What  cared  he 
for  the  live  coals  on  his  feet  ?  He  would  still  tell  the  Italian 
people  of  their  terrible  sins,  and  he  knew  that  though  they 
should  burn  him  at  the  stake,  his  ashes  would  plead  for  him 
and  speak  louder  than  his  tongue  had  ever  done.  He  shrank 
not  from  telling  the  dying  Lorenzo  to  restore  liberty  to  Flor- 
ence and  return  what  he  had  stolen  from  the  people,  before 
he  would  grant  him  absolution.  Though  the  prince  turned 
his  face  to  the  wall,  rather  than  purchase  forgiveness  on  such 
terms,  Savonarola  was  inflexible,  and  the  monarch  died 


THE  VICTORY  IN  DEFEAT.  673 

unabsolved.  On  the  way  to  the  scaffold  the  bishop  said,  "I 
separate  thee  from  the  Church  militant  and  triumphant." 
Savonarola  corrected  him,  saying,  "  Not  triumphant,  that  is 
not  yours  to  do." 

"  Heaven  is  probably  a  place  for  those  who  have  failed  on 
earth.  The  world  will  be  blind  indeed,  if  it  does  not  reckon 
among  its  great  ones  such  martyrs  as  miss  the  palms  but  not 
the  pains  of  martyrdom,  heroes  without  laurels  and  conquer- 
ors without  the  jubilations  of  triumph." 

Uninterrupted  successes  at  the  beginning  of  a  career  are 
dangerous.  Beware  of  the  first  great  triumph.  It  may  prove 
a  failure.  Many  a  man  has  been  ruined  by  overconfidence, 
born  of  his  first  victory.  The  mountain  oak,  tossed  and 
swayed  in  the  tempest  until  its  proud  top  sweeps  the  earth,  is 
all  the  stronger  for  its  hundred  battles  with  the  elements  if  it 
only  straighten  up  again.  The  danger  is  not  in  a  fall,  but  in 
failing  to  rise.  All  the  great  work  of  the  world  has  been  accom- 
plished by  courage,  and  the  world's  greatest  victories  have 
been  born  of  defeat.  Every  blessing  that  we  enjoy — personal 
security,  individual  liberty,  and  constitutional  freedom  —  has 
been  obtained  through  long  apprenticeships  of  evil.  The  right 
of  existing  as  a  nation  has  only  been  accomplished  through 
ages  of  wars  and  horrors.  It  required  four  centuries  of  mar- 
tyrdom to  establish  Christianity,  and  a  century  of  civil  wars 
to  introduce  the  Reformation. 

"  There  are  some  whom  the  lightning  of  fortune  blasts, 
only  to  render  holy,"  says  Bulwer.  "  Amidst  all  that  humbles 
and  scathes  —  amidst  all  that  shatters  from  their  life  its  ver- 
dure, smites  to  the  dust  the  pomp  and  summit  of  their  pride, 
and  in  the  very  heart  of  existence  writeth  a  sudden  and 
strange  defeature,  they  stand  erect  —  riven,  not  uprooted,  a 
monument  less  of  pity  than  of  awe  !  There  are  some  who 
pass  through  the  lazar  house  of  misery  with  a  step  more  august 
than  a  Csesar's  in  his  hall.  The  very  things  which,  seen  alone, 
are  despicable  and  vile,  associated  with  them  become  almost 
venerable  and  divine  ;  and  one  ray,  however  dim  and  feeble, 
of  that  intense  holiness  which,  in  the  infant  God,  shed  maj- 
esty over  the  manger  and  the  straw,  not  denied  to  those  who, 
in  the  depth  of  affliction,  cherished  his  patient  image,  flings 
over  the  meanest  localities  of  earth  an  emanation  from  the 
glory  of  Heaven! " 


674  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

Even  from  the  dreary  waste  and  desolation  of  his  bereave- 
ment at  Fordham,  the  stricken  soul  of  Edgar  A.  Poe  blos- 
somed in  those  matchless  flowers  of  funeral  song,  the  delicately 
ethereal  dirges,  "Ulalume"  and  "Annabel  Lee,"  which  alone 
would  immortalize  their  author. 

To  know  how  to  wring  victory  from  defeat,  and  make  step 
ping  stones  of  our  stumbling-blocks,  is  the  secret  of  success. 

What  matters  it  - 

"  If  what  shone  afar  so  grand 
Turned  to  ashes  in  the  hand  ? 
On  again,  the  virtue  lies 
In  the  struggle,  not  the  prize." 

Raphael  died  at  thirty-seven,  in  the  very  flush  of  young 
manhood,  before  he  had  finished  his  "Transfiguration."  Yet 
he  had  produced  the  finest  picture  in  the  world,  and  it  was 
carried  in  his  funeral  procession,  while  all  Rome  mourned 
their  great  loss. 

Even  the  defeat  of  death  found  victorious  voice  in  the 
unequaled  requiem  of  Mozart. 

There  is  something  sublime  in  the  resolute,  fixed  purpose 
of  suffering  without  complaining,  which  makes  disappoint- 
ment often  better  than  success.  Constant  success  shows  us 
only  one  side  of  the  world ;  for  as  it  surrounds  us  with  friends 
who  tell  us  only  of  our  merits,  so  it  silences  those  enemies 
from  whom  only  can  we  learn  our  defects. 

Columbus  was  carried  home  in  chains,  on  his  third  voyage, 
from  the  world  he  had  discovered.  Although  the  indignant 
people  remonstrated,  and  his  friend  the  queen  had  him  set 
free,  persecution  followed  him  when  he  again  crossed  the 
Atlantic  westward.  At  the  age  of  seventy,  after  the  "  long 
wandering  woe  "  of  this  fourth  and  final  voyage,  he  was  glad 
to  reach  Spain  at  last.  He  hoped  for  some  reward  --  at  least, 
enough  to  keep  soul  and  body  together.  But  his  appeals  were 
fruitless.  He  lived  for  a  few  months  after  his  return,  poor, 
lonely,  and  stricken  with  a  mortal  disease.  Even  towards 
his  death  he  was  a  scarcely  tolerated  beggar.  He  had  to  com- 
plain that  his  frock  had  been  taken  and  sold,  that  he  had  not 
a  roof  of  his  own,  and  lacked  wherewithal  to  pay  his  tavern 
bill.  It  was  then  that,  with  failing  breath,  he  uttered  the 
words,  sublime  in  their  touching  simplicity,  "  I,  a  native  of 


THE   VICTORY  IN  DEFEAT.  675 

Genoa,  discovered  in  the  distant  West,  the  continent  and  isles 
of  India.''  He  expired  at  Valladolid,  May  20,  1506,  his  last 
words  being,  "  Lord,  I  deliver  my  soul  into  thy  hands.''  Thus 
Columbus  died  a  neglected  beggar,  while  a  pickle-dealer  of 
Seville,  whose  highest  position  was  that  of  second  mate  of  a 
vessel,  gave  his  name  to  the  greatest  continent  on  the  globe. 
But  was  the  Genoese  mariner  a  failure  ?  Ask  more  than  a 
hundred  millions  of  people  who  inhabit  the  world  he  found  a 
wilderness.  Ask  the  grandest  republic  the  sun  ever  shone 
upon  if  Columbus  was  a  failure. 

Joan  of  Arc  was  burned  alive  at  Rouen,  without  even  a 
remonstrance  from  Charles  VII.,  who  owed  her  his  crown. 
Was  the  life  of  Joan  of  Arc  a  failure  ?  Ask  a  nation  besprin- 
kled with  her  bronze  and  marble  statues  if  the  memory  of  the 
Maid  of  Orleans  is  not  enshrined  in  every  Frenchman's  heart. 

"  A  heroic  Wallace,  quartered  upon  the  scaffold,"  said 
Carlyle,  "  cannot  hinder  that  his  Scotland  become,  one  day,  a 
part  of  England ;  but  he  does  hinder  that  it  become,  on 
tyrannous,  unfair  terms,  a  part  of  it ;  commands  still,  as  with 
a  god's  voice,  from  his  old  Valhalla  and  Temple  of  the  brave, 
that  there  be  just,  real  union  as  of  brother  and  brother,  not  a 
false  and  merely  semblant  one  as  of  slave  and  master." 

Leonidas  and  his  three  hundred  may  perish  after  defend- 
ing a  little  mountain  pass  against  a  vast  Persian  army  for 
three  days  in  hand  to  hand  conflict  ;  but  their  defeat  shall 
prove  a  nation's  victory,  and  they  shall  live  in  song  and 
story  when  Xerxes  and  his  vast  horde  will  be  remembered 
only  because  they  were  repulsed  at  Thermopylae  and  van- 
quished at  Salamis  and  Platsea. 

When  it  was  ascertained  that  the  troop-laden  English  ship 
Birkenhead  was  foundering  in  stress  of  weather,  the  officer  in 
charge  of  the  battalion  ordered  his  men  to  stand  at  "parade 
rest "  while  the  boats  rowed  away  with  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. They  kept  their  places  as  the  water  swashed  higher 
and  higher  around  their  feet,  and,  when  it  reached  their  waists, 
unstrapped  their  belts  and  held  aloft  their  cartridge-boxes 
until  with  a  wild  lurch  the  wreck  went  down.  Think  you 
there  was  no  victory  in  this  apparent  defeat  ?  Character  is 
power  and  triumphs  over  physical  weakness. 

"  A  man,  true  to  man's  grave  religion,"  says  Bulwer,  "  can 
no  more  despise  a  life  wrecked  in  all  else,  while  a  hallowing 


676  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

affection  stands  out  sublime  through  the  rents  and  chinks  of 
fortune,  than  he  can  profane  with  rude  mockery  a  temple  in 
ruins  —  if  still  left  there  the  altar." 

The  exertion  of  all  your  strength  of  mind  or  body  may 
result  in  nothing  but  failure  in  the  eyes  of  a  critical  world, 
but  what  you  have  done  is  already  weighed  in  the  scales  of 
Omniscient  Justice,  and  can  in  no  way  avoid  its  legitimate 
reward.  Your  deed  is  registered - 

"  In  the  rolls  of  Heaven,  where  it  will  live, 

A  theme  for  angels  when  they  celebrate 
The  high-souled  virtues  which  forgetful  earth  has  witnessed." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


CHARLES    MICHAEL   SCHWAB. 

ON    THE    FUNDAMENTAL     ELEMENTS     OF     SUCCESS HIGHEST    SALARIED 

MAN    IN    THE    WORLD IN    THE    PRIME    OF    LIFE BIRTHPLACE BOYHOOD 

-  HOW    EDUCATED BEGINS      LIFE     AS    A    CLERK     IN     A    GROCERY    STORE  - 

STAKE-DRIVER EARLY  PROMOTIONS HEAD  OF  STEEL  WORKS AN  ILLUS- 
TRATIVE ANECDOTE  HOW  HE  WORKS SECRET  OF  HIS  POWER  INTER- 
ESTED IN  YOUNG  MEN  --  HOW  HE  REGARDS  ORGANIZED  LABOR NOT  A 

TYRANT.         MANNERS    AND    DRESS. 


My  success  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  the  first  place  I  stood 
on  my  own  feet  —  always  relied  on  myself.  It  is  really  a  det- 
riment to  have  anyone  behind  you.  When 
you  depend  on  yourself  you  know  that  it  is 
only  on  your  own  merit  that  you  succeed. 
Then  you  discover  your  latent  powers,  awake 
to  your  manhood,  and  are  on  your  mettle  to 
do  your  uttermost.  It  is  a  very  good  motto 
to  depend  on  yourself.  I  am  a  great  believer 
in  self-reliant  manliness,  which  is  manhood 
in  its  noblest  form. 

No  man  ever  made  a  success  of  his  life  by 
luck,  or  chance,  or  accident.  When  you 
come  across  one  of  that  vast  majority  who  have  failed  because 
they  "  never  had  a  chance,"  you  '11  take  notice  that  he  lacks 
that  indefinable,  subtle  something  that  stands  for  success ; 
and  sometimes  I  'm  inclined  to  believe  the  mysterious  some- 
thing is  simply  a  capacity  and  a  disposition  for  hard  work. 

The  rich  man's  son  enters  life's  race  with  a  handicap.  Not 
only  the  handicap  which  a  fortune  is,  because  it  deprives  him 
of  the  necessity  to  progress  and  expand,  but  the  handicap  of 
never  being  able  to  appreciate  what  he  's  got.  For  everything 
in  life  that 's  worth  while  is  ten  times  more  worth  while  when 
we  yearn  and  work  and  climb  for  it. 

The  first  great  blessing  in  my  life  was  being  born  poor. 
The  fundamental  principles  that  founded  my  character  were 


678  LEADERS   OF  MEN. 

the  lessons  wrung  out  of  early  hardships,  and  privations,  and 
self-denials.  I  would  not  give  up  the  experience  of  a  boyhood 
barren  of  luxuries  and  paved  with  obstacles  for  any  amount 
of  money.  It  would  be  like  pulling  the  foundation  out  of  a 
building. 

At  an  age  when  boys  of  to-day  are  petted  and  pampered,  I 
learned  the  size  and  value  of  a  dollar.  I  learned  all  that  it 
stood  for  in  comforts  and  in  working  principle,  and  I  learned 
all  the  labor  it  stood  for.  And  incidentally  I  realized  that 
every  one  of  those  dollars  that  figured  in  my  life  would  mean 
just  so  much  honest  labor  on  my  part. 

Fortunately  I  realized,  too,  that  the  plan  worked  both 
ways  ;  that  every  dollar's  worth  of  work  I  executed  would  be 
paid  for  in  coin  of  the  realm,  whether  it  was  overtime,  whether 
it  was  bargained  for,  whether  it  came  out  of  this  employer's 
pocket  or  the  next  one,  or,  indeed,  whether  the  present 
employer  knew  of  it  at  all. 

Some  employer.  I  knew,  would  pay  me  full  value  for  every 
hour's  work  I  put  in,  for  I  was  stowing  away,  as  a  stock  in 
trade,  every  moment's  work,  and  its  subsequent  knowledge 
and  experience.  I  am  a  hearty  believer  in  the  law  of  compen- 
sation. I  don't  believe  an  honest  effort  ever  goes  unrewarded, 
though  sometimes  the  reward  is  a  long  time  coming. 

There  are  many  reasons  why  men  are  always  working  and 
not  always  succeeding.  Sometimes  they  belong  to  the  class 
who  cultivate  the  appearance  of  working,  doing  anything. 
Sometimes  they  spend  their  lives  working,  bemoaning  the 
fact  that  it 's  all  effort  and  no  reward,  and  lay  down  the  scythe 
just  before  the  harvest  ripens. 

Hope  and  faith  and  courage  are  just  as  essential  to  success 
as  the  necessary  effort.  Many  a  man  has  lain  down  just  this 
side  of  his  laurels  and  neither  he  nor  the  world  ever  knew 
how  near  he  came  to  accomplishment. 

Then  there  are  men  who  work  conscientiously,  persever- 
ingly,  hopefully  ;  but  they  're  working  on  the  wrong  tack.  I 
believe  that  such  men  realize  they  're  out  of  place  and  out  of 
tune,  and  will  never  strike  the  harmonious  chord  which 
accomplishment  is.  But  they  resolve  they've  got  a  little 
start  and  don't  want  to  lose  it.  These  men  form  part  of  the 
army  that  fails. 

I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  normal  man  living  who  has  not 


CHARLES  MICHAEL  SCHWAB.  679 

a  capacity  for  some  one  line,  who  could  not  excel  in  that  line 
if  he  pursued  it.  The  first  essential  in  a  boy's  career  is  to 
find  out  what  he 's  fitted  for,  what  he 's  most  capable  of  doing 
and  doing  with  a  relish. 

The  second  essential  is  to  go  to  work  and  do  it,  no  matter 
the  cost,  no  matter  the  obstacles,  no  matter  the  sacrifices. 
And  if  he 's  going  to  stand  out  among  men  he  's  got  to  resolve 
to  do  the  particular  thing  he 's  fastened  on  better  than  any- 
one else. 

Every  one 's  got  it  in  him,  if  he  '11  only  make  up  his  mind 
and  stick  at  it.  None  of  us  is  born  with  a  stop-valve  on  his 
powers  or  with  a  set  limit  to  his  capacities.  There  's  no  limit 
possible  to  the  expansion  of  each  one  of  us. 

It  all  depends  upon  our  will  and  the  power  of  our  resolu- 
tion. Our  capacities  expand  and  enlarge  with  exercise,  just 
as  the  muscles  of  our  bodies  enlarge  and  grow  strong. 

That 's  the  way  character  is  formed  —  doing  calisthenic 
feats  with  obstacles  and  adversities.  I  tell  you  the  hard 
knocks  are  the  nest  eggs  of  our  fortunes.  The  men  that  are 
not  made  of  the  right  stuff  go  under  with  them  and  are  never 
heard  of  again. 

And  there  are  the  others  who  are  soured  and  embittered 
by  them,  and  they  're  heard  from  eternally.  They  have  n't 
a  good  word  to  say  for  the  world's  plan,  because  when  it  got 
a  trifle  complicated  it  baffled  them. 

Those  are  the  men  who  do  more  harm  to  the  youth  of  civ- 
ilization than  its  vices.  Then  there  are  those  who  start  out, 
sometimes  with  bare  feet  and  holes  in  their  trousers,  bravely 
resolving  never  to  let  circumstances  crush  them,  never  to 
harbor  bitterness  over  defeat,  but  to  save  their  energies  for 
the  next  encounter. 

These  are  the  men  hard  knocks  don't  hurt.  They  toughen 
them  ;  they  help  them  get  ready  for  the  next  encounter.  To 
these  men,  it 's  only  a  question  of  sufficient  hardship,  and 
sacrifice,  and  battle,  to  make  them  proof  against  any  on- 
slaught. These  are  the  soldiers,  the  victors. 

Did  you  ever  find  a  successful  soldier  who  had  n't  seen  a 
fight  ?  That 's  why  I  say  the  rich  man's  son  is  born  with  a 
handicap,  and  it 's  why  I  think  the  man  with  a  million  and  a 
son  should  keep  the  two  a  long  way  apart. 

Heaven  forbid  that  money  should  be  the  only  thing  to 


680  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

strive  for.  Beyond  a  certain  point  of  requirement,  money  is 
useless  to  the  individual.  A  vast  fortune  cannot  do  its  full 
duty  in  the  life  of  one  man  who  inherits  or  makes  it ;  it  is 
destined  to  better  the  lives  of  hundreds. 

What  satisfaction  can  there  be  in  piling  up  vast  wealth  for 
the  sake  of  wealth  itself  ?  The  only  part  that  money  plays  in 
success  is  as  a  reward.  Money  is  the  standard  of  value.'  It 
is  the  equivalent  of  merit.  Money  is  the  only  coin  in  which 
we  can  pay  for  hard  work  or  for  genius,  and  so  it  is  the  equiv- 
alent of  accomplishment. 

But  the  men  who  reap  success  are  not  the  men  who  aim  to 
accumulate  millions  ;  they  are  the  men  who  aim  to  do  one 
thing  ;  to  do  it  better  than  anyone  else  can  do  it ;  to  take  it 
up  from  the  very  beginning  and  push  it  through  to  the  end. 
That  is  what  makes  success,  and  success  means  money. 

For  my  own  part  I  am  more  interested  in  my  work  than 
its  mere  money  value.  Millions  of  money  can  never  give  me 
the  pleasure  I  found  in  learning  the  intricate  workings  of  a 
steel  plant.  Hitting  upon  a  new  device  which,  when  applied 
to  a  machine  with  my  own  fingers,  had  a  desired  effect  upon 
its  workings,  gave  me  the  keenest  possible  satisfaction. 


O  the  great  majority  of  his  admiring  countrymen,  Mr. 
Charles  M.  Schwab  is  known,  chiefly,  by  the  unimpor- 
T'  tant  circumstance  that  he  draws  the  largest  salary  in 
the  world.  The  public  has  a  way  of  seizing  upon  trivi- 
alities like  this  and  ignoring  the  solid  merits  that  are  a  man's 
real  title  to  fame. 

Suppose  Mr.  Schwab  does  receive  the  highest  salary  in  the 
world  -  -  what  of  it  ?  The  essential  questions  are,  does  he  earn 
it  ?  and  if  so,  how  ?  Mr.  Schwab  does  earn  it,  and,  moreover, 
he  was  earning  it  for  a  good  many  years  before  the  public 
heard  anything  about  him.  When  he  became  president  of  the 
Carnegie  Steel  Company,  in  February,  1897,  his  salary  was 
fixed  at  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year,  with  an  interest  in  the 
business.  When  the  company  was  absorbed  by  the  United 


CHARLES  MICHAEL  SCHWAB.  681 

States  Steel  Corporation  four  years  later,  the  value  of  that 
interest  was  estimated  at  over  twenty-eight  million  dollars. 
That  is  equivalent  to  a  salary  of  seven  million  dollars  a  year 
for  the  four  years.  Compared  with  that,  the  largest  estimates 
of  the  figures  opposite  Mr.  Schwab's  name  on  the  pay  roll  of 
the  steel  trust  seem  modest.  This  amiable,  smooth-faced 
young  man  has  done  much,  and  is  likely  to  do  more.  He  is 
forty  years  old  now — just  the  age  of  President  Butler,  of  Co- 
lumbia, and  a  little  younger  than  President  Roosevelt  and  the 
Emperor  William.  He  had  what  he  himself  calls  the  indis- 
pensable inheritance  of  poverty. 

Back  in  the  mid-seventies,  on  almost  any  day  when  there 
was  mail  or  a  stray  passenger  to  go,  a  rickety  old  stage  might 
have  been  heard  creaking  down  from  the  little  town  of 
Loretto,  Penn.,  to  the  railroad  station  at  Cresson  and  back, 
with  a  freckle-faced  boy  of  about  twelve  on  the  driver's  seat, 
—  a  newcomer  to  the  quaint  little  mountain  town.  The 
freckled  boy  —  could  he  jump  the  quarter  century — would 
scarcely  know  the  multi-millionaire,  unless  he  could  drive 
him  over  those  four  hilly  miles  and  some  one  should  whisper 
him  into  awe  of  his  passenger.  But  the  man  remembers  the 
boy,  and  is  proud  of  him.  After  all,  does  it  matter  much  to 
either  of  them  whether  it  is  a  stagecoach  at  Loretto  or  an 
octopus  in  the. great  world  that  they  are  controlling,  so  long 
as  they  hold  the  reins  of  power  ? 

But  to  go  back  to  the  boy.  Loretto,  as  every  one  knows, 
was  the  place  where  Demetrius  Gallitzen,  the  prince-priest, 
kin  to  the  present  ruling  house  in  Russia,  brought,  over  a 
hundred  years  ago,  the  Catholic  faith,  to  what  was  then  an 
unknown  country,  and  the  friars  of  St.  Francis's  College  still 
carry  on  the  work  he  began.  To  them  the  boy  went  for  his 
education,  and  learned  something  of  engineering,  which  he 
liked  better  than  anything  else  they  taught.  At  eighteen  he 
had  finished  his  course,  and  must  earn  a  living.  He  could 
find  no  task  exactly  to  his  liking.  His  people  were  poor,  and 
he  took  the  first  thing  at  hand, —  a  clerkship  in  a  country 
grocery  at  Braddock.  A  few  months  had  passed,  when  one 
day  Mr.  Jones,  of  the  Edgar  Thomson  Steel  Works,  happened 
into  the  store  and  the  boy  behind  the  counter  surprised  him 
by  asking  for  a  place.  Mr.  Jones  thought  a  moment  and 
then  asked  : — 


682  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

"  Can  you  drive  spikes  ?  " 

"I  can  drive  anything,"  said  the  boy.  Perhaps  he  was 
thinking  of  the  weather-beaten  stage  at  Loretto. 

"At  a  dollar  a  day  ?" 

"At  any  price," 

And  so  he  began.  Six  dollars  a  week  was  better  than  two 
and  a  half,  his  grocery  store  stipend,  and  it  was  an  opportu- 
nity. In  six  months  he  was  chief  of  the  engineering  corps  with 
which  he  had  begun  work.  Then  it  was  that  he  ceased  being 
"Charlie  "  and  became  Mr.  Schwab.  From  that  time  his  story 
is  an  exceedingly  simple  one, —  as  all  great  things  are  simple. 

There  were  blast  furnaces  to  be  constructed,  and  he  super- 
intended the  work.  The  rail  mill  department  must  be 
enlarged  ;  he  enlarged  it  until  it  had  the  largest  output  in  the 
world.  Competition  was  close,  there  must  be  economy  in 
production,  and  he  made  improvements  which  sent  the  Pitts- 
burg  product  all  over  the  world,  and,  with  the  late  Captain 
W.  R.  Jones,  developed  the  famous  "metal  mixer,"  which 
reduced  costs  to  a  minimum.  In  1887  the  Homestead  Steel 
works  needed  a  new  superintendent,  and  Mr.  Schwab  took 
the  place.  Reconstruction  was  needed,  and  he  made  the  plant 
the  largest  of  its  sort  in  the  world.  The  United  States  wanted 
armor  plate,  and  after  long  experiment  and  over  many  obsta- 
cles, he  gave  it  to  them.  Captain  Jones  died  in  1889,  and  Mr. 
Schwab  went  back  to  the  Edgar  Thomson  Works  as  superin- 
tendent, only  to  take  control  of  both  the  Homestead  and 
Thomson  works  in  1892. 

The  following  anecdote  illustrates  his  character  :  After  he 
had  risen  to  be  general  manager  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany, an  English  manufacturer  offered  him  mere  than  fifty 
thousand  dollars  a  year  to  be  manager  of  his  factory.  Mr. 
Schwab  refused,  but  did  not  tell  Mr.  Carnegie.  Some  months 
later  Mr.  Carnegie  heard  of  it,  and  took  pains  to  say  to  Mr. 
Schwab  "that  he  must  not  think  of  it." 

"  It  is  not  what  I  want,"  he  replied. 

"  What  is  it  you  do  want  ?"  asked  Mr.  Carnegie. 

"  To  be  a  partner  in  your  company,"  said  Mr.  Schwab. 

He  became  one,  and  in  1896  was  elected  president. 

The  young  man  had  worked  and  learned  and  bided  his 
time.  In  1896  he  became  its  president,  being  preferred  by  Mr. 
Carnegie  to  an  older  official,  when  it  became  a  matter  of 


CHARLES  MICHAEL  SCHWAB.  683 

choice  ;  and  now  that  Mr.  Carnegie  has  stepped  out  and  the 
greater  steel  company  has  been  consummated,  Mr.  Schwab  is 
its  president  and  active  head.  And  so  the  boy  became  the 
man  merely  because  he  had  something  to  do  and  did  it. 

No  man  at  the  immense  works  is  as  busy  as  its  head. 
Every  morning  early,  some  portion  of  the  works  is  inspected, 
and  at  ten  he  is  in  his  office.  Then  the  day  moves  on  like 
clock  work.  The  mail  which  needs  his  personal  attention  is 
read  and  comprehended  quickly --for  quickness  to  see  and 
decide  is  part  of  his  secret.  With  his  secretary  he  answers 
every  communication  that  can  expect  reply.  Every  appli- 
cation for  place  is  scrupulously  attended  to.  Then  there 
are  conferences  with  heads  of  departments,  and  visits  to 
various  parts  of  the  great  plant  during  the  remainder  of  the 
day.  He  personally  inspects  the  entire  works  during  each 
week. 

On  Saturday  the  heads  of  the  departments,  most  of  them 
young  men  like  himself,  lunch  with  him  socially.  Absolutely 
no  business  conversation  is  allowed  at  the  table.  The  meal 
over,  conference  begins,  and  suggestions  and  plans  are  dis- 
cussed carefully.  Every  important  word  spoken  is  taken  by 
stenographers  present,  to  be  referred  to  at  will  afterward. 
On  Monday  each  of  his  superintendents  lunches  with  his 
associates  in  the  same  way,  and  the  results  are  likewise  noted. 
Thus  Mr.  Schwab  becomes  the  very  center  of  the  pulsing 
body  of  men  and  machines.  He  knows  both  thoroughly  and 
controls  them  —  even  while  he  is  planning  such  stupendous 
things  as  billion-dollar  combinations.  And  all  the  men  asso- 
ciated with  him  —  for  Mr.  Schwab  has  no  one  under  him  — 
respect  and  love  him.  He  is  their  master,  not  by  chance  but 
by  superior  knowledge  and  capacity  —  yet  he  is  their  fellow, 
for  he  has  done  all  their  tasks,  realizes  all  their  difficulties. 
He  knows  the  mechanic's  smallest  tool  as  well  as  the  com- 
pany's bank  account.  And  he  gives  each  man  his  chance. 
A  bit  of  system  will  illustrate. 

A  new  product  is  planned  for.  Expense  is  figured  most 
accurately  and  closely  by  the  heads  in  conference.  The  exact 
cost  of  production  is  settled  upon.  Then  the  matter  is  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  department  which  must  make  the  article. 
It  must  produce  at  the  figure  decided  upon.  If  the  man  in 
charge  can  cheapen  its  productive  cost,  he  can  pocket  the 


684  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

difference.      All  that  the  company  exacts  of  him  is  the  speci- 
fied article  at  the  specified  cost  price. 

Mr.  Schwab  believes  in  work,  just  enough  work,  but  no 
more.  At  night  he  tries  to  free  himself  from  the  day's  cares. 
He  enjoys  his  home;  he  has  a  fine  library  of  books  — not  a 
library  of  fine  books  ;  the  theater  attracts  him  ;  he  loves 
music.  From  these  he  gets  his  rest  and  change.  Often  he 
will  spend  spare  moments  with  his  violin,  and  he  still  plays 
the  piano,  just  as  he  used  to  for  the  friars  at  Loretto.  His 
handsome  home  is  hung  with  chef-d'ceuvres  which  he  has 
chosen,  not  because  they  are  well  known,  but  because  he  likes 
them.  He  is  sincere  here  as  at  his  desk. 

He  is  just  the  common  man  among  men,  keen,  practical 
man  of  business,  careful  though  daring  man  in  the  game  of 
finance,  but  socially  considering  himself  distinctly  one  of  the 
people,—  and  this,  too,  is  part  of  his  secret.  The  man  appears 
on  the  surface  :  a  stocky  figure  dressed  like  the  clean-cut, 
sensible  man  that  he  is  ;  a  full,  young-looking  face,  with  a 
pair  of  keen  brown  eyes  that  take  in  everything  at  a  glance  ; 
quick,  tense  walk,  and  frank,  quiet  speech,  gentle  and  courte- 
ous in  manner,  but  with  a  distinct  impression  of  decision  and 
firmness  in  reserve. 

Mr.  Schwab  is  interested  in  the  young  men.  He  is  a  young 
man  himself,—  and  he  understands  them.  He  is  very  demo- 
cratic —  a  thorough  good  fellow  when  business  is  out  of  the 
way.  He  is  a  clean  man.  He  uses  neither  tobacco  nor  liquors 
to  any  extent.  In  fact,  he  does  n't  have  time.  That  is  another 
of  his  secrets -- that  he  has  time  only  for  the  necessary 
things.  He  perhaps  cannot  be  called  an  actively  religious 
man,  and  yet  he  is  building  two  churches,  one  for  his  mother 
at  Loretto,  and  one  for  his  wife's  mother  at  Braddock ;  has 
given  largely  to  the  convent  at  Cresson,  and  has  built  a 
monument  at  Loretto  to  Prince  Gallitzen.  The  amount  of 
money  he  has  donated  to  charities  it  would  be  difficult  to  esti- 
mate. He  has  given  very  widely  and  largely,  but  he  does  it 
quietly,  just  as  he  does  everything  else,  with  no  ostentation. 
And  his  feelings  regarding  his  gifts  were  voiced  in  a  remark 
he  made  in  a  speech  at  the  laying  of  the  Braddock  Church 
corner  stone. 

"It  is  a  small  thing,"  he  said,   "for  a  man  to  sign  his 
name  to  a  check  while  there  is  money  in  the  bank." 


CHARLES  MICHAEL  SCHWAB.  685 

He  represents  the  highest  development  of  the  salaried 
employee.  Other  men  comparable  with  him  as  generals  of 
industry  have  soon  graduated  from  the  pay  roll  to  work  for 
themselves.  Rockefeller,  Hill,  Spreckles,  Mills.  Stanford, 
Huntington,  Hopkins,  and  Carnegie  all  hegan  poor,  but  all 
turned  their  energies  to  putting  themselves  into  a  position  in 
which  everything  amassed  by  their  brains  would  go  into  their 
own  bank  deposits.  Schwab  alone  has  been  content  to  remain 
a  glorified  wage  earner,  cheerfully  putting  ten  millions  into 
the  pockets  of  his  employers  for  every  million  retained  by 
himself. 

It  is  as  such  a  wage  earner  that  he  is  of  such  peculiar  sig- 
nificance. Technologists  may  grow  enthusiastic  over  his 
work  in  connection  with  Captain  Jones  in  perfecting  the 
"metal  mixer,"  by  which  melted  iron  instead  of  cold  pig  is 
used  in  steel  making,  and  the  whole  industry  is  transformed. 
They  may  admire  the  bold  ingenuity  of  the  devices  by  which 
a  boy  enabled  his  employers  to  undertake  the  manufacture  of 
armor  plate  in  competition  with  rivals  who  had  spent  years 
and  millions  in  constructing  the  gigantic  special  plant  then 
considered  necessary.  But  the  real  value  of  Mr.  Schwab's 
career  is  in  the  light  it  throws  upon  the  possibilities  open  to 
those  vast  wage-earning  masses,  of  which  he  has  chosen  to 
remain  a  member. 

It  is  generally  understood  that  Mr.  Schwab  does  not  believe 
in  trades  unions,  as  usually  managed.  Plenty  of  men  who 
have  worked  their  way  from  poverty  to  wealth  hold  similar 
views.  Their  standpoint  is  purely  selfish.  When  they  were 
making  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  week,  they  would  have 
been  glad  of  a  union  to  help  them  to  make  more.  When  they 
are  pocketing  hundreds  of  thousands  a  year,  they  see  no  need 
for  a  union  to  help  anybody  else.  They  oppose  the  union  for 
its  merits.  Just  in  so  far  as  it  helps  the  workers,  they  object 
to  it. 

If  this  were  Mr.  Schwab's  position,  it  would  not  be  worth 
notice.  But  his  idea  is  something  very  different.  His  objec- 
tion to  the  union  policy  is  that  it  discourages  ability.  He 
wishes  to  leave  the  way  open  for  every  worker  to  win,  if  he 
can,  a  success  like  his  own.  He  sees  that  possibility  in  the 
new  organization  of  industry. 

To  his  mind,  the  trades  union  of  the  future  is  the  trust.    He 


686  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

sees  in  that  the  solution  of  the  whole  problem  of  capital  and 
labor,  and  of  the  problem  of  national  prosperity  as  well.  His 
theory  was  explained  by  himself  some  time  ago  in  these 
words  :  - 

"  The  larger  the  output,  the  smaller,  relatively,  is  the  cost 
of  production.  This  is  a  trade  axiom.  It  holds  good  whether 
the  output  consists  of  pins  or  of  locomotives.  It  is  much 
more  economical,  proportionately,  to  run  three  machines 
under  one  roof  than  it  is  to  run  one.  It  is  cheaper  to  run  a 
dozen  than  it  is  to  run  three,  and  cheaper  still  to  run  a  hun- 
dred. Therefore,  the  larger  plant  has  an  undoubted  supe- 
riority over  the  small  plant,  and  this  advantage  increases 
almost  indefinitely  as  the  process  of  enlargement  continues. 
.  .  .  The  well  managed  combination  is  a  direct  gain  to  the 
state.  Anyone  who  doubts  this  need  only  consult  the  foreign 
newspapers.  Everywhere,  he  will  find  a  cry  of  industrial 
alarm  leveled,  not  at  the  individual  American  manufacturer, 
but  at  the  American  nation.  This  is  because  the  combination 
has  done  for  the  American  state  what  the  individual  was 
never  able  to  do  —  put  it  in  industrial  control  of  the  world. 
.  .  .  The  capitalist  and  the  laborer  are  equal  sharers  in 
the  advantages  the  new  scheme  offers.  Capital  finds  itself 
more  amply  protected,  and  labor  finds  an  easier  route  to  a 
partnership  with  capital.  To  the  workingman,  the  combina- 
tion offers  the  most  feasible  scheme  of  industrial  cooperation 
ever  presented." 

Mr.  Schwab  is  a  socialist  in  disguise.  He  recalls  the  diffi- 
culty a  worker  found  under  the  old  individualistic  system  in 
securing  a  foothold  in  business  for  himself.  His  savings 
would  not  buy  a  factory,  or  a  partnership  in  one.  The  excep- 
tional man  could  save  enough  to  start  a  little  workshop, 
and  he  could  add  to  his  business  from  day  to  day,  until  with 
good  luck  he  had  built  up  a  great  industry,  but  the  average 
wage  earner  could  never  hope  to  be  his  own  employer.  Now, 
a  man  with  any  thrift  at  all  can  buy  a  share  of  stock.  A  little 
later  he  can  buy  another  share.  Before  he  knows  it,  he  is 
perceptibly  a  partner  in  the  business  that  employs  him.  This 
Mr.  Schwab  believes  to  be  the  direction  in  which  evolution  is 
going  to  carry  our  industrial  system.  He  has  given  his  views 
a  dazzling  illustration  in  his  own  person.  In  his  case  it  has 
been,  not  merely  the  purchase  of  one  share  at  a  time  out  of 


CHARLES  MICHAEL  SCHWAB.  687 

weekly  savings,  but  the  acquisition  of  blocks  of  stock  as  a 
reward  for  conspicuous  ability.  The  Carnegie  idea  has  been 
to  give  an  interest  in  the  business  to  the  ablest  brains  in  the 
service  of  the  company.  That  has  been  also  one  of  the  ideas 
through  which  young  Mr.  Harmsworth,  of  England,  has  been 
enabled  to  pile  up  a  million  for  every  year  of  his  life.  If  we 
ever  come  to  the  Cooperative  Commonwealth,  perhaps  a  statue 
of  Schwab  maybe  found  along  with  the  effigies  of  Rockefeller, 
Morgan,  and  Carnegie  in  its  Westminster  Abbey.  These 
nationalizes  and  internationalizers  of  industry  are  wiping 
out  the  competitive  system,  not  only  in  the  United  States,  but 
in  the  whole  world.  For  the  present,  their  work  has  its  ugly, 
selfish  side,  but  they  are  toiling,  some  of  them  perhaps  un- 
consciously, but  some  with  undoubted  appreciation  of  the 
meaning  of  their  efforts,  toward  the  creation  of  a  gigantic 
industrial  organism,  in  which  every  human  atom  will  be  har- 
moniously related  with  every  other. 

Bellamy's  ideal  was  a  community,  the  products  of  whose 
industry  should  be  equally  divided  among  all  its  members. 
Schwab's  is  a  community  in  which  every  man  can  get  what  he 
earns,  and  in  which  earning  possibilities  are  unlimited.  Like 
Napoleon,  he  would  open  a  career  to  talent.  He  would  have 
a  basis  of  well-paid,  comfortable  labor,  but  he  would  have  no 
laboring  class.  He  would  have  every  position  in  the  indus- 
trial world  open  to  any  man  with  the  capacity  to  reach  it,  and 
he  would  put  no  brakes  on  any  man's  progress.  There  would 
be  no  speed  limit  for  automobiles  on  his  industrial  highway. 
Thus  he  would  reconcile  the  aspirations  of  ambitious  workers 
with  the  need  for  the  intelligent  direction  of  industry.  Instead 
of  having  a  business  policy  directed  by  unsympathetic  labor 
delegates  from  outside,  he  would  promote  the  ablest  of  those 
laborers,  and  have  them  direct  the  business  sympathetic- 
ally from  the  inside.  It  would  be  an  interesting  plan,  even 
in  the  head  of  an  impecunious  professor.  It  is  especially  inter- 
esting as  the  program  of  a  man  that  controls  a  business  with 
a  capital  of  one  billion  five  hundred  million  dollars,  and  a 
yearly  income  of  over  one  hundred  million. 

Charles  M.  Schwab  is  a  living  refutation  of  the  theory  that 
a  driver  of  workmen  must  be  a  hard,  unfeeling  tyrant.  He  is 
bubbling  over  with  sympathy  and  good  humor,  but  he  keeps 
a  huge  industrial  army  on  edge  by  the  force  of  infectious 


688  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

energy  and  of  perfect  organization.  A  hard  overseer  may 
make  his  men  afraid  to  shirk  —  Mr.  Schwab  has  learned  the 
nobler  and  more  profitable  art  of  encouraging  every  man  to 
do  his  best. 

MANNERS   AND    DRESS. 

T  is  well  for  young  men  to  obtain,  at  the  very  start  of  their 
career,  some  idea  of  the  value  of  politeness.  Some  can- 
not be  otherwise  than  urbane.  They  are  born  so.  One 
can  kick  them  roundly  and  soundly,  and  they  will  not 
refuse  to  smile,  if  it  be  done  good-naturedly.  They  escape  all 
corners  by  a  necessity  of  their  nature.  If  their  souls  had  only 
corporeal  volume,  we  could  see  them  making  their  way 
through  a  crowd,  like  little  spaniels,  scaring  nobody,  running 
between  nobody's  legs,  but  winding  along  shrinkingly  and 
gracefully,  seeing  a  master  in  every  man,  and  thus  flattering 
every  man's  vanity  into  good  nature  ;  but  really  spoiling  their 
reputation  as  reliable  dogs,  by  their  undiscriminating  and  uni- 
versal complaisance.  There  is  a  self-forgetfumess  which  is  so 
deep  as  to  be  below  self-respect,  and  such  instances  as  we  meet 
with  should  be  treated  compassionately. 

Puppyism  is  not  politeness.  The  genuine  article  is  as  nec- 
essary to  success,  and  particularly  to  any  enjoyable  success, 
as  integrity,  or  industry,  or  any  other  indispensable  quality. 
All  machinery  ruins  itself  by  friction,  without  the  presence  of 
a  lubricating  fluid.  Politeness,  or  civility,  or  urbanity,  or 
whatever  we  choose  to  call  it,  is  the  oil  which  preserves  the 
machinery  of  society  from  destruction.  We  are  obliged  to 
bend  to  one  another  —  to  step  aside  and  let  another  pass,  to 
ignore  this  and  that  peculiarity,  to  speak  pleasantly  when  irri- 
tated, and  to  do  a  great  many  things  to  avoid  abrasion  and 
collision.  In  other  words,  in  a  world  of  selfish  interests  and 
pursuits,  where  every  man  is  pursuing  his  own  special  good, 
we  must  mask  our  real  designs  in  studied  politeness,  or  mingle 
them  with  real  kindness,  in  order  to  elevate  the  society  of 
men  above  the  society  of  wolves.  Young  men  generally 
would  doubtless  be  thoroughly  astonished  if  they  could  com- 
prehend at  a  single  glance  how  greatly  their  personal  happi- 
ness, popularity,  prosperity,  and  usefulness  depend  on  their 
manners. 

I  know  young  men  who,  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties, 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB. 


MANNERS  AND  DEESS.  691 

imagine  that  if  they  go  through  with  a  literal  performance, 
they  are  doing  all  that  they  undertake  to  do.  You  will  never 
see  a  smile  upon  their  faces,  nor  hear  a  genial  word  of  good- 
fellowship  from  their  lips  ;  and,  from  the  manner  in  which 
their  labor  is  performed,  you  would  never  learn  that  they 
were  engaged  in  intercourse  with  human  beings.  They  carry 
the  same  manner  and  the  same  spirit  into  the  countingroom 
that  they  do  into  the  dog  kennel  or  the  stable.  Everyone 
hates  such  men  as  these,  and  recoils  from  all  contact  with 
them.  If  he  has  business  with  them,  he  closes  it  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  gets  out  of  their  presence.  A  man  who,  hav- 
ing got  his  vessel  under  headway  on  the  voyage  of  life,  takes 
a  straight  course,  caring  or  minding  nothing  for  the  huge 
man-of-war  which  lies  in  his  path,  or  the  sloop  which  crosses 
his  bow,  or  the  fishing  smacks  that  find  work  where  he  seeks 
nothing  but  a  passage,  or  interposing  shoals,  rocks,  or  islands, 
will  be  very  sure  to  get  terribly  rubbed  before  he  gets  through, 
if  he  even  happens  to  get  through  at  all. 

Servility  is  to  be  despised,  but  true  and  uniform  politeness 
is  the  glory  of  any  young  man.  It  should  be  a  politeness  full 
of  frankness  and  good  nature,  unobtrusive  and  constant,  and 
uniform  in  its  exhibition  to  all  classes  of  men.  The  young 
man  who  is  overwhelmingly  polite  to  a  celebrity  or  a  nabob, 
and  rude  to  a  poor  man,  because  he  is  a  poor  man,  deserves  to 
be  despised.  That  style  of  manners  which  combines  self- 
respect  with  respect  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others, 
especially  if  it  be  warmed  up  by  the  fires  of  a  genial  heart,  is 
a  thing  to  be  coveted  and  cultivated  ;  and  it  is  a  thing  that 
produces  a  good  return,  alike  in  cash  and  comfort. 

The  talk  of  manners  introduces  us  naturally  to  dress  and 
personal  appearance.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  men,  young  and 
old,  to  make  their  persons,  as  far  as  practicable  or  possible, 
agreeable  to  those  with  whom  they  are  thrown  into  associa- 
tion. By  this  is  meant  that  they  shall  not  offend  by  singu- 
larity, nor  by  slovenliness.  Let  no  man  know  by  your  dress 
what  your  business  is  ;  you  dress  your  person,  not  your  trade. 
You  are  —  if  you  know  enough  to  mould  the  fashion  of  the  time 
to  your  own  personal  peculiarities  — to  make  it  your  servant, 
and  not  allow  it  to  be  your  master.  Never  dress  in  extremes. 
Let  there  always  be  a  hint  in  your  dress  that  you  know  the 
prevailing  style,  but,  for  the  best  of  reasons,  disregard  its 


692  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

more  extreme  demands.  The  best  possible  impression  that 
you  can  make  by  your  dress  is  to  make  no  separate  impres- 
sion at  all ;  but  so  to  harmonize  its  material  and  shape  with 
your  personality,  that  it  becomes  tributary  to  the  general 
effect ;  and  so  exclusively  tributary,  that  people  cannot  tell 
after  seeing  you  what  kind  or  color  of  clothes  you  wear. 
They  will  only  remember  that  you  look  well  and  dress 
becomingly. 

We  may  like  it  or  not,  but  we  are  judged  in  this  world  first 
for  what  we  are,  but  also  as  we  look ;  and  a  young  man's 
common  sense  should  teach  him  that  it  is  always  wise  to 
create  a  good  impression.  It  does  much  for  him  and  he  can- 
not afford  to  ignore  it.  Good  clothes  cannot  make  a  young 
man,  but  they  are  a  help  ;  and  when  carving  'out  a  career  it  is 
only  pure  justice  to  himself  that  he  should. take  advantage  of 
every  point  offered  him.  In  other  words,  it  is  a  duty  which 
every  young  man  owes  himself  to  be  well  dressed.  But  to  be 
well  dressed  does  not  necessarily  imply  the  highest  priced 
clothes,  cut  according  to  the  latest  patterns.  It  is  just  as  pos- 
sible to  be  well  attired  in  clothes  of  moderate  cost,  so  long  as 
they  are  not  "  loud  "  or  "  showy,"  but  quiet  and  neat. 

The  average  young  fellow  undoubtedly  errs  in  this  matter 
of  dress.  With  his  tastes  unfixed,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
he  goes  to  either  one  of  two  extremes  :  he  either  dresses 
shabbily  because  he  claims  he  cannot  afford  to  do  otherwise, 
or  he  goes  to  the  other  extreme  and  tries  to  imitate  the  styles 
affected  by  the  extremists  in  dress,  and  necessarily  makes 
himself  an  object  of  ridicule. 

Clothes  are  moderate  enough  in  price  nowadays  to  make  it 
possible  for  every  young  man,  no  matter  how  humble  his 
income,  to  be  neatly  attired.  The  secret  of  a  neat  appear- 
ance in  dress  does  not  depend  upon  the  number  of  suits  he 
may  have,  but  upon  the  manner  in  which  even  a  single  suit  is 
taken  care  of  and  how  it  is  worn.  Many  a  young  man  with  a 
wardrobe  of  but  two  suits  of  clothes  looks  neater  than 
another  who  has  five  or  six  suits  with  which  to  alternate. 
The  art  of  looking  well  depends,  first,  upon  the  choice  of  a 
suit ;  and,  second,  upon  how  it  is  taken  care  of.  If  a  young  man 
has  a  moderate  income  he  should  make  it  a  point  to  select 
only  the  quiet  patterns  of  dark  colors."  Not  only  is  this  more 
economical,  but  it  is  in  better  taste  than  are  the  lighter  and 


MANNERS  AND   DRESS.  693 

more  conspicuous  clothes.  If  a  young  man  will  look  around 
him  a  bit,  he  will  find  that  the  successful  men  of  the  day  are 
always  the  most  quiet  dressers.  Their  clothes  are  never  con- 
spicuous ;  they  detract  rather  than  attract  attention.  It  is 
only  the  fop  of  shallow  mind  who  invites  attention  by  his 
dress.  There  is  a  certain  class  of  pictures  that  requires 
elaborate  gilt  frames  in  order  to  set  off  the  little  merit  they 
possess  ;  and  likewise  are  there  scores  of  men  who  must  dress 
conspicuously  in  order  to  gain  even  the  most  meager  atten- 
tion. Men  who  are  least  certain  of  their  position  always  dress 
the  showiest.  Hence  if  a  young  man  dresses  quietly  and 
neatly  he  pursues  not  only  the  best  but  the  only  wise  course. 
His  dress  is  a  pretty  accurate  reflection  of  his  character,  and 
very  often  he  is  judged,  to  a  certain  extent,  by  the  taste  which 
he  shows  in  his  clothes. 

But  while  a  young  man  injures  himself  by  showy  dressing, 
he  has  no  business  to  dress  shabbily.  Shabby  clothes  are  no 
longer  an  eccentricity  of  genius.  There  are  men  of  genius 
who  have  achieved  deserved  fame  and  substantial  success 
who  are  absolutely  indifferent  to  their  appearance.  And  the 
world  overlooks  and  forgives  it.  But  this  is  only  possible 
with  men  of  commanding  genius  who  are  established ;  and 
the  young  man  who  takes  these  men  as  models  so  far  as  attire 
goes  makes  a  sorry  mistake.  It  is  given  to  men  of  high 
position  and 'of  established  success  to  follow  a  great  many 
little  eccentricities  which  are  not  overlooked  in  a  young  man 
struggling  for  a  career. 

Aside  from  the  aspect  of  mere  appearance,  neatness  in 
dress  is  undoubtedly  a  great  inner  and  outer  factor  in  a  young 
man's  success.  A  well-fitted  suit  of  clothes  communicates 
a  sense  of  neatness  to  the  body,  and,  in  turn,  this  sense  of 
neatness  of  the  person  is  extended  to  the  work  in  hand.  As 
we  feel,  so  unquestionably  do  we  work.  Our  clothes  unmis- 
takably affect  our  feelings,  as  any  man  knows  who  has 
experienced  the  different  sensation  that  comes  to  him  when 
attired  in  a  new  suit  from  the  feeling  when  wearing  old 
clothes.  No  employer  expects  his  clerks  of  moderate  incomes 
to  dress  in  the  immediate  fashion  ;  but  he  likes  to  see  them 
neat  in  appearance.  It  commends  them  to  his  attention.  We 
all  have  an  inner  consciousness  that  a  young  man  who  keeps 
himself  looking  neat  and  clean  is  more  worthy  of  our  con- 


694  LEADERS  OF  MEN. 

fidence  than  he  who  is  regardless  of  his  appearance  and 
looks  soiled  and  shabby.  Neatness  always  attracts,  just  as 
shabbiness  invariably  repulses. 

The  value  of  clean  linen  to  a  young  man  should  be  partic- 
ularly emphasized.  There  is  no  earthly  excuse  why  any 
young  fellow  should  wear  soiled  collars  or  cuffs.  Soap  and 
water  are  within  the  reach  of  the  smallest  purse,  and  the 
home  or  the  outer  laundry  is  accessible  to  all.  No  single  ele- 
ment of  his  dress  cuts  more  of  a  figure  in  a  young  man's 
success  than  his  linen.  However  worn  may  be  his  clothes, 
his  appearance  always  invites  closer  proximity  when  his  linen 
is  clean. 

We  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  making  too  much  of 
dress  as  a  factor  in  a  young  man's  life.  But  it  is  sufficiently 
important  to  justify  the  statement  that  no  young  fellow 
anxious  for  his  self-betterment  can  afford  to  slight  his  appear- 
ance. No  fair  computation  can  be  offered  as  to  what  percent- 
age of  his  income  he  should  expend  on  his  dress.  That 
depends  altogether  too  much  on  circumstances.  But  he 
should  be  strongly  counseled  to  dress  as  well  as  his  means 
allow ;  no  better,  but  no  worse.  Money  spent  on  a  neat 
appearance  is  never  wasted  with  a  man.  be  he  young  or  old. 
The  chief  danger  which  the  young  man  has  to  battle  with  is 
dressing  beyond  his  means.  A  tendency  towards  extravagance 
is  never  justifiable,  no  matter  what  may  be  his  income.  Extrav- 
agance is  always  wasteful.  But  neither  must  he  economize 
too  closely.  In  a  word,  he  should  strive  always  to  look  neat ; 
to  present  the  best  appearance  he  can. 

The  extreme  styles  presented  in  men's  clothes  are  like  the 
extreme  styles  fashioned  for  women  :  they  should  be  left  for 
those  who  have  large  wardrobes.  The  young  man  of  limited 
wardrobe  cannot  afford  to  have  anything  in  it  which  is  in  the 
immediate  style  one  year  and  out  of  fashion  the  next  year. 
Quiet  patterns  in  clothes,  in  cravats,  in  shoes,  and  in  linen 
are  always  in  style.  The  marvelous  combinations  we  see  in 
young  men's  clothes,  of  extreme  long  coats,  of  light  cloths, 
and  large  patterns  in  suitings,  of  pink  shirts,  white  collars, 
and  blue  cravats,  are  generally  worn  by  extremists  in  dress, 
or  by  those  of  mediocre  tastes  whose  exhibition  of  those  tastes 
always  keeps  them  in  the  lower  stations  of  life.  These  styles 
should  never  be  affected  by  the  young  man  who  wishes  to 


MANNERS  AND  DRESS.  695 

gain  the  confidence  of  his  superiors  in  business,  or  the  respect 
of  the  people  in  social  life  whose  friendship  will  be  of  value 
and  benefit  to  him.  A  young  man,  so  far  as  this  matter  of 
dress  is  concerned,  cannot  do  better  than  always  to  remember 
this  one  inflexible  rule  :  that  the  best  dressers  among  men 
follow  the  same  method  as  do  the  best  dressers  among  women 
—  they  dress  well,  but  quietly.  And  quiet  dressing  is  always 
in  good  taste. 


OCT  1  3  1931