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[Illustration: JOYS OF HOME]


LITTLE VISITS WITH GREAT AMERICANS

Or

Success
Ideals and
How to
Attain Them

Edited by

Orison Swett Marden

Author of “Pushing to the Front,” etc., etc., etc.







The Success Company
New York
1905

Copyright, 1903
By
The Success Company
New York

Copyright, 1904
By
The Success Company
New York

All Rights Reserved




XXXIV

A “Printer’s Devil” Whose Perseverance Wins Him Well-Earned Reputation
as a Fun-Maker.


THE felicity of F. Opper’s caricatures is marvelous. His drawings for
the Dinkelspiel stories, by George V. Hobart, in the New York “Morning
Journal” have drawn to him the pleased attention of those whom he has
caused to laugh at the happy expressions of his characters,—at the
ridiculous expressions of the characters,—during Mr. Dinkelspiel’s
“gonversationings,” particularly at Mr. Dinkelspiel’s earnest look.

He is a caricaturist of the “first water,” and in this connection I may
say that a caricature too carefully drawn often loses its humor. Still
Mr. Opper has proved his ability to finish a drawing smoothly. Those
familiar with the back numbers of “Puck” will concede this and much
more.

His life is an example of determination. I called, by appointment, at
his house in Bensonhurst (near Bath Beach), a pretty suburb within the
precincts of Greater New York. We stepped into his library.

He drew my attention to the pictures on the four walls of the room.
“Those are all ‘originals,’ by contemporaries,” he said, “and there is
one by poor Mike Woolf. We were intimate friends, and I attended his
funeral.”


STUDIES OUT HIS IDEAS.

The conversation turned toward Mr. Opper himself, and I asked:—

“How is it you can conceive so many ridiculous ideas and predicaments?”

“It is a matter of study,” he replied. “I work methodically certain
hours of the day, but very seldom at night. We will say it is a
political cartoon on a certain occurrence that I am to draw. I
deliberately sit down and study out my idea. When it is formed, I begin
to draw. I never commence to draw without a conception of what I am
going to do.”

“And when did you first put pencil to paper?” I asked.

“Almost as soon as I could creep. I was born in Madison, Ohio, in
1857, and as far back as I can remember, I had a determination to
become an artist. My path often swerved from my ambition, on account
of necessity, but my determination was back of me, and whenever an
obstacle was removed I advanced thus much farther toward my goal.

“I went to the village school till I was fourteen years of age, and
then I went to work in the village store. Both at school and in the
store, every spare moment found me with pencil and paper, sketching
something comical; so much so, indeed, that I became known for it.”


A PRINTER’S DEVIL.

“I remained in the store for a few months, and then went to work
on the weekly paper, and acted the part of a ‘printer’s devil.’
Afterward, I set type. In about a year, the idea firmly possessed me
that I could draw, and I decided that it was best to go to New York.
But my self-esteem was not so great as to rate myself a full-fledged
artist. My idea was to obtain a position as a compositor in New York,
to draw between times, and gradually to land myself where my hopes
all centered. So my disappointment was great when, on arriving in
the city, I discovered that, to become a compositor, I must serve
an apprenticeship of three years. I was in New York, in an artistic
environment, and had burned my bridges; accordingly I looked for a
place, and obtained one in a store. One of my duties there was to make
window cards, to advertise the whole line, or a particular lot of
goods. I decorated them in my best fashion.”


GOOD USE OF LEISURE TIME.

“All the leisure I had to myself, evenings and holidays, I spent in
making comic sketches, and I took them to the comic papers,—to the
‘Phunny Phellow,’ and ‘Wild Oats.’ I just submitted rough sketches.
Soon the editors permitted me to draw the sketches also, which was
great encouragement. I met Frank Beard, and called on him, by request,
and he proposed that I come into his office. So I left the store,
after having been there eight or nine months, and ceased drawing
show-cards for the windows. I drew for ‘Wild Oats,’ ‘Harper’s Weekly,’
‘Frank Leslie’s,’ and the ‘Century,’ which at that time was Scribner’s
publication; and later for ‘St. Nicholas.’”

It was then that Mr. Opper had an offer from “Leslie’s” to work on the
staff at a salary, which he accepted.

“I was only a little over twenty years of age,” he continued. “I was
a humorous draughtsman, and a special artist, also; going where I was
directed to make sketches of incidents, people and scenes.”

Six years before, Mr. Opper had left the village school with a burning
determination to become an artist. It can be seen how well he sailed
his bark,—tacking and drifting, and finally beating home with the wind
full on the sails. This shows what determination will do.


HIS CONNECTION WITH “PUCK.”

“Three years later,” said Mr. Opper, “I had an offer from the
publishers of ‘Puck’ to work for them,—a connection which I severed
not long ago, although I still hold stock in the company. I not
only made my own drawings, but furnished ideas for others. I have
always furnished my own captions, inscriptions and headings. Indeed,
they are a part of a cartoon, or other humorous work. I think that
I may say that ‘Puck’ owes some of its success to me, for I labored
conscientiously.”

Mr. Opper walked over to a mantelpiece for two books of sketches, which
he handed me to look at. They contained sketches of the country places
he had visited on his summer wanderings.

“And you use these?” I asked.

“Yes; if I want a farmer leaning over a fence with a cow in the
distance. I can use that barnyard scene And that bit of a country road
can be made useful. So can that corncrib with the tin pans turned
upside down on the posts supporting it, to keep the rats off. That old
hay-wagon, and that farmer with a rake and a large straw hat can all be
worked in. I always carry a sketch-book with me, no matter where I go.”


THE “SUBURBAN RESIDENT.”

On “Puck,” Mr. Opper was the originator of the “suburban resident,” who
has since been the subject of much innocent merriment,—the gentleman
with the high silk hat, side whiskers, glasses, an anxious expression,
and bundles, and always on the rush for a train.

“I enjoyed those,” said Mr. Opper, with a laugh, “before I became a
suburban myself.”




XXXV

“A Square Man in a Round Hole” Rejects $5,000 a Year and Becomes a
Sculptor.


“MY LIFE?” repeated F. Wellington Ruckstuhl, one of the foremost
sculptors of America, as we sat in his studio looking up at his
huge figure of “Force.” “When did I begin to sculpture? As a child
I was forever whittling, but I did not have dreams then of becoming
a sculptor. It was not till I was thirty-two years of age. And
love,—disappointment in my first love played a prominent part.”

“But as a boy, Mr. Ruckstuhl?”

“I was a poet. Every sculptor or artist is necessarily a poet. I was
always reaching out and seeking the beautiful. My father was a foreman
in a St. Louis machine shop. He came to this country in a sailing ship
from Alsace, by way of the Gulf, to St. Louis, when I was but six years
old. He was a very pious man and a deacon in a church. One time, Moody
and Sankey came to town, and my father made me attend the meetings. I
think he hoped that I would become a minister. But I decided that ‘many
are called, but few are chosen.’ Between the ages of fourteen and
nineteen, I worked in a photographic supply store; wrote one hundred
poems, and read incessantly. I enlarged a view of the statue of Nelson
in Trafalgar Square, London, into a ‘plaster sketch,’ ten times as
large as the picture, but still I did not know my path. I began the
study of philosophy, and kept up my reading for ten years. My friends
thought I would become a literary man. I wrote for the papers, and
belonged to a prominent literary club. I tried to analyze myself. ‘I
am a man,’ I said, ‘but what am I good for? What am I to make of this
life?’ I drifted from one position to another. Every one was sorry to
part with my services, for I always did my duties as well as they can
be done. When I was twenty-five years of age, the girl to whom I was
attached was forced by her mother to marry a wealthy man. She died a
year afterward, and I ‘pulled up stakes,’ and started on a haphazard,
reckless career. I went to Colorado, drifted into Arizona, prospected,
mined and worked on a ranch. I went to California, and at one time
thought of shipping for China. My experiences would fill a book. Again
I reached St. Louis. For a year I could not find a thing to do, and
became desperate.”


MADE HIS FIRST SKETCH AT TWENTY-FIVE.

“And you had done nothing at art so far?” I asked.

“At that time I saw a clay sketch. I said to myself, ‘I can do as well
as that,’ and I copied it. My second sketch admitted me to the St.
Louis Sketch Club. I told my friends that I would be a sculptor. They
laughed and ridiculed me. I had secured a position in a store, and at
odd times worked at what I had always loved, but had only half realized
it. Notices appeared in the papers about me, for I was popular in the
community. I entered the competition for a statue of General Frank R.
Blair. I received the first prize, but when the committee discovered
that I was only a bill clerk in a store, they argued that I was not
competent to carry out the work, although I was given the first prize
medal and the one hundred and fifty dollars accompanying it.”

“But that inspired you?”

“Yes, but my father and mother put every obstacle in the way possible.
I was driven from room to room. I was not even allowed to work in
the attic.” Here Mr. Ruckstuhl laughed. “You see what genius has to
contend with. I was advanced in position in the store, till I became
assistant manager at two thousand dollars a year. When I told the
proprietor that I had decided to be a sculptor, he gazed at me in blank
astonishment. ‘A sculptor?’ he queried, incredulously, and made a few
very discouraging remarks, emphasized with dashes. ‘Why, young man,
are you going to throw up the chance of a lifetime? I will give you
five thousand dollars a year, and promote you to be manager if you will
remain with me.’”


HE GAVE UP A LARGE SALARY TO PURSUE ART.

“But I had found my life’s work,” said Mr. Ruckstuhl, turning to me. “I
knew it would be a struggle through poverty, till I attained fame. But
I was confident in myself, which is half of the battle.”

“And you went abroad?”

“Yes, with but two hundred and fifty dollars,” he replied. “I traveled
through Europe for five months, and visited the French Salon. I said
to myself, ‘I can do that, and that,’ and my confidence grew. But
there was some work that completely ‘beat’ me. I returned to America
penniless, but with a greater insight into art. I determined that I
would retrace my steps to Paris, and study there for three years, and
thought that would be sufficient to fully develop me. My family and
friends laughed me to scorn, and I was discouraged by everyone. In four
months, in St. Louis, I secured seven orders for busts, at two hundred
dollars each, to be done after my return from France. That shows that
some persons had confidence in me and in my talent.

“O, the student life in Paris! How I look back with pleasure upon those
struggling, yet happy days! In two months, I started on my female
figure of ‘Evening,’ in the nude, that now is in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. I finished it in nine months, and positively sweat blood
in my work. I sent it to the Salon, and went to Italy. When I returned
to Paris, I saw my name in the paper, with honorable mention. I suppose
you can realize my feelings; I experienced the first flush of victory.
I brought it to America, and exposed it in St. Louis. Strange to
say, I rose in the estimation of even my family. My father actually
congratulated me. A wealthy man in St. Louis gave me three thousand
dollars to have my ‘Evening’ put into marble. I returned with it to
Paris, and in a month and a quarter it was exhibited in the Salon. At
the world’s Fair at Chicago, it had the place of honor, and received
one of the eleven grand medals given to American sculptors. In 1892,
I came to New York. This statue of ‘Force’ will be erected, with my
statue of ‘Wisdom,’ on the new Hall of Records in New York.”

We gazed at it, seated and clothed in partial armor, of the old Roman
type, and holding a sword across its knees. The great muscles spoke of
strength and force, and yet with it all there was an almost benign look
upon the military visage.

“There is force and real action there, withal, although there is
repose,” I said in admiration.


THE INSPIRATION THAT COUNTS.

“Oh,” said Mr. Ruckstuhl, “that’s it, and that is what it is so hard to
get! That is what every sculptor strives for; and, unless he attains
it, his work, from my point of view is worthless. There must be life
in a statue; it must almost breathe. In repose there must be dormant
action that speaks for itself.”

“Is most of your work done under inspiration?” I asked.

“There is nothing, and a great deal, in so-called inspiration. I
firmly believe that we mortals are merely tools, mediums, at work here
on earth. I peg away and bend all my energies to my task. I simply
accomplish nothing. Suddenly, after considerable preparatory toil,
the mist clears away; I see things clearly; everything is outlined
for me. I believe there is a conscious and a subconscious mind. The
subconscious mind is the one that does original work; it cannot be
affected by the mind that is conscious to all our petty environments.
When the conscious mind is lulled and silenced, the subconscious one
begins to work. That I call inspiration.”

“Are you ever discouraged?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Continually,” replied Mr. Ruckstuhl, looking down at his hands,
soiled with the working clay. “Some days I will be satisfied with what
I have done. It will strike me as simply fine. I will be as happy
as a bird, and leave simply joyous. The following morning, when the
cloths are removed, I look at my precious toil, and consider it vile.
I ask myself: ‘Are you a sculptor or not? Do you think that you ever
will be one? Do you consider that art?’ So it is, till your task is
accomplished. You are your own critic, and are continually distressed
at your inability to create your ideals.”

Mr. F. Wellington Ruckstuhl is fifty years of age; neither short nor
tall; a brilliant man, with wonderful powers of endurance, for his work
is more exacting and tedious than is generally supposed.

“I have simply worked a month and a quarter on that statue,” he said.
“Certain work dissatisfied me, and I obliterated it. I have raised that
head three times. My eyes get weary, and I become physically tired. On
such occasions I sit down and smoke a little to distract my thoughts,
and to clear my mind. Then my subconscious mind comes into play again,”
he concluded with a smile.

Mr. Ruckstuhl’s best known works are: “Mercury Teasing the Eagle of
Jupiter,” which is of bronze, nine feet high, which he made in Paris;
a seven-foot statue of Solon, erected in the Congressional Library at
Washington; busts of Franklin, Goethe and Macaulay, on the front of the
same library; and the eleven-foot statue of bronze of “Victory,” for
the Jamaica soldiers’ and sailors’ monument. In competition, he won
the contract for an equestrian statue of General John F. Hartranft,
ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, which he also made in Paris. It is
considered the finest piece of work of its kind in America. Besides
this labor, he has made a number of medallions and busts.

“Art was in me as a child,” he said; “I was discouraged whenever it
beckoned me, but finally it claimed me. I surrendered a good position
to follow it, whether it led through a thorny road or not. A sculptor
is an artist, a musician, a poet, a writer, a dramatist, to throw
action, breath and life, music and a soul into his creation. I can pick
up an instrument and learn it instantly; I can sing, and act, so I am
in touch with the sympathies of the beings that I endeavor to create.
You will find most sculptors and artists of my composite nature.

“There,” said Mr. Ruckstuhl, and he stretched out his arm, with his
palm downward, and moved it through the air, as he gazed into distance,
“you strive to create the imagination of your mind, and it comes to you
as if sent from another world.

“You strive. That is the way to success.”




XXXVI

During Leisure Hours He “Found Himself” and Abandoned the Law for Art.


THERE is a charming lesson in the way Henry Merwin Shrady, the
sculptor, “found himself.” A few years ago, this talented artist, whose
splendid buffalo and moose ornamented the entrance of the Pan-American
Exposition at Buffalo, was employed as an assistant manager in the
match business of his brother-in-law, Edwin Gould. It was by attempts
at self-improvement through painting in oil, during leisure hours, that
he discovered his capacity for art, and, finally, for sculpture of a
high order of merit.

“I always secretly wished,” he said modestly, “to become a great
painter, and, with that in view, dabbled in oils from childhood. My
family wished me to study medicine, but my nature revolted at the
cutting of flesh; so, after a course at Columbia University, I studied
law. An attack of typhoid fever, caught at a Yale-Harvard boat race,
after my graduation, incapacitated me for work for a year. Then I went
into the match business, instead of practicing law.

“After business hours and on holidays, I taught myself painting. I have
never taken a lesson in drawing, in painting, or in sculpture, in my
life. I joined the Bronx Zoölogical Society, that I might the better
study animals, and it was at these gardens that I made the sketches for
my buffalo and moose.”

Mr. Shrady taught himself the art of mixing oils, and then, in spare
hours, called on William H. Beard, at his studio, for the delineator of
“The Bulls and Bears of Wall Street” to criticise his sketches. Once
Mr. Beard said, prophetically, “Some day you will forsake all for art.”


A PET DOG HIS FIRST PAINTING.

The young artist had, at his home, a fox-terrier, of which he was very
fond. He painted a picture of the dog, and his wife, thinking it an
excellent piece of work, offered it clandestinely for exhibition at the
National Academy of Design. It was accepted. Great was his astonishment
when he recognized it there. It was sold for fifty dollars. His next
serious attempt was caused by a little rivalry. His sister brought from
abroad an expensive painting of some French kittens. He instantly took
a dislike to the kittens, and said he would paint her some Angora ones.
To make satisfactory sketches, he carried a sketch-book in his pocket,
on his walks to and from his office, pausing on the pavements before
the different fanciers’ windows to sketch the kittens within. This
picture was also accepted by the National Academy of Design. But he
refused an offer to sell it, as he had promised it to his sister, Mrs.
Gould, for a Christmas present.

“It was on account of the almost impossible feat of getting colorings
at night,” he said, “that I turned to modeling in clay. I wanted to do
something to improve as well as amuse me. I modeled a battery going
into action, but did not finish it till persuaded to do so by Alvin S.
Southworth, a special correspondent of a New York paper in the Crimean
War, and friend of my father, Dr. Shrady. It was to gratify him that
I finished it. A photograph of it, reproduced in ‘The Journalist,’
attracted a gentleman in the employ of the firm of Theodore B. Starr.
He called upon me, and encouraged me to have it made in Russian bronze.
That house purchased it, and advised me to enter the field, as they saw
prospects for American military pieces.”

Mr. Shrady sketched the gun-carriage and harness for his battery in the
Seventh Regiment armory, to which regiment he has belonged for seven
years; and his own saddle horse was his model for the horses of the
battery.

One day Carl Bitter, the sculptor, dropped in at Starr’s, while Mr.
Shrady was there. He noticed the small bronzes,—the buffalo and the
moose. “I think we can use them at the Buffalo Exposition,” he said.
Mr. Bitter offered the sculptor the use of his studio, in Hoboken, and,
in six weeks, by rising at half past five in the morning, and working
ten hours a day, he enlarged his buffalo to eight feet in height, and
his moose, a larger animal, to nine feet. Then glue molds were taken of
both of them, with the greatest care.

“I had never enlarged, or worked in plaster of Paris before,” said Mr.
Shrady. “They gave me the tools and plaster, and told me to go to work.
I didn’t know how to proceed, at first, but eventually learned all
right. I think I could do such work with more ease now,” he added, “for
that was practical experience I could not get in an art school.”

Since then, Mr. Shrady has made a realistic cavalry piece, “Saving the
Colors,”—of two horsemen, one shot and falling, and the other snatching
the colors; also, “The Empty Saddle,”—of a cavalry horse, saddled and
bridled, and quietly grazing at a distance from the scene of the death
of his rider. This was exhibited at the Academy of American Artists.
The Academy of Fine Arts, of Philadelphia, requested Mr. Shrady to
exhibit at its exhibition in January, 1902.

The youthful sculptor has the gift of giving life, expression and
feeling to his animals, which, some say, is unsurpassed.


A UNIQUE EXPERIMENT WITH A HORSE.

“I do not believe,” said he, “in working from an anatomical figure,
or in covering a horse with skin and hair after you have laid in his
muscles. You are apt to make prominent muscles which are not really
prominent. Once I soaked a horse with water, and took photographs of
him, to make a record of the muscles and tendons that really show.
They are practically few, except when in active use. In an art school
you learn little about a horse. The way which I approve is to place
a horse before you, study him and know him, and work till you have
reproduced him. No master, standing over your shoulder, can teach you
more than you can observe, if you have the soul. Corot took his easel
into the woods, and studied close to nature, till he painted truthfully
a landscape. Angelo’s best work was that done to suit his personal view.

“Talent may be born, but it depends upon your own efforts whether
it comes to much. I believe that if your hobby, desire, or talent,
whichever you wish to call it, is to paint or model, you can teach
yourself better than you can be taught, providing you really love your
work, as I do.”

Thus did Mr. Shrady desert a mechanical life he disliked, and start
on a promising career. He is still young, slight, and with delicate
features. His heart is tender toward animals, and he refuses to
hunt. His chief delight is in riding the horse which has figured so
prominently in his work. His success proves two things: the value of
leisure moments, and the wisdom of turning a hobby into a career.




XXXVII

Deformed in Body, His Cheerful Spirit Makes Him the Entertainer of
Princes.


A SCORE of years ago, seated on a bench in Bryant Park, a hungry lad
wept copious tears over his failure to gain a supper or a night’s
lodging. A peddler’s outfit lay beside him. Not a sale had he made that
day. His curiously diminutive body was neatly clad, but his heart was
heavy. He was dreadfully hungry, as only a boy can be.

“Oh, see the funny little man!” exclaimed a quartet of little girls, as
they trooped past the shrinking figure. “Mamma! Come and buy something
from him!”

Down the steps of a brown stone mansion came a young matron, curiosity
shining out of her handsome eyes. The boy looked up and smiled. The
lady did not buy anything, but her mother’s heart was touched, and
before she hurried home with her little girls, she gave him five cents.

Last winter, two members of the Lamb’s Club were about to part on the
club steps. One was “The Prince of Entertainers and the Entertainer of
Princes,” Marshall P. Wilder. The other was a distinguished lawyer.

“Come and dine with me to-night, Mr. Wilder,” said the latter. “You
have never accepted my hospitality, but you have no engagements for
to-night, so come along.”

Ten minutes later, the great entertainer was presented to the wife of
his host and to four beautiful young women.

A curious thrill passed over the guest as he looked into those charming
faces. They seemed familiar. A flash of memory carried him back to that
scene in the park. He turned to the hostess:—

“Do you remember,”—his voice trembled,—“a little chap in the park years
ago, to whom you were kind,—‘a funny little man,’ the children called
him, and you gave him five cents?”

“Yes, yes, I do remember that,—and you—?”

“I am the funny little man.”

It was indeed true. The hungry boy had not forgotten it, though wealth
and fame had come to him in the meanwhile. In a little private diary
that no one sees but himself, he has five new birth dates marked, those
of the mother and her four daughters. “Just to remember those who have
been kind to me,” is the only explanation on the cover of the book.

What a brightly interesting story is Wilder’s, anyway! Who else in
all this great, broad land has made such a record,—from a peddler’s
pack to a fortune of one hundred thousand dollars,—and all because
he is merry and bright and gay in spite of his physical drawbacks.
His nurse dropped him when he was an infant, but for years the injury
did not manifest itself. At three he was a bright baby, the pride of
the dear old father, Doctor Wilder, who still survives to enjoy his
son’s popularity in the world of amusement-makers. It was no fault of
the doctor that Marshall was obliged to go hungry in New York. Doctor
Wilder lived and practiced in Hartford, where his son ought to have
stayed, but he didn’t. At five he was handsome and well formed, but
at twelve he stopped growing. The boys began to tease him about his
diminutive stature.

“I don’t think I’ve grown very much since,—except in experience,” he
said the other day in the course of a morning chat in his handsome
bachelor apartments. “I thought, by leaving home, I might at least grow
up with the country.”

“But you didn’t grow, after all?”

“No, I haven’t found the country yet that can make me grow up with it.
I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with being a plain expansionist.”
[Mr. Wilder is nearly as broad as he is long.]

“How did you happen to choose the amusement profession?” I asked.


NATURE’S LAW OF COMPENSATION.

“I was always a good mimic,” he replied, “and I found my talents lay
in that direction. I created a new business, that of story-teller,
imitator of celebrated people, and of sleight-of-hand performer, all
without the aid of costumes, depending solely on my facial expression
to give point to the humor. Nature had certainly tried to make amends
for her frowns by giving me facial power,—the power to smile away dull
care. There is a niche in life for everyone, a place where one belongs.
Society is like a pack of cards. Some members of it are kings and
others are knaves, while I,—I discovered that I was the little joker.”

Mr. Wilder is a bubbling fountain of wit, whose whimsicalities are
no less entertaining to himself than to his hearers. As he quaintly
expresses it, they are “ripples from the ocean of my moods which have
touched the shore of my life.” His disposition is so cheery that
children and dogs come to him instantly. Eugene Field has the same
trait.


HOW HE TOOK JOSEPH JEFFERSON’S LIFE.

His first appearance on any stage was made in “Rip Van Winkle,” when
he was a boy. Joseph Jefferson carried him on his back as a dwarf.
The great “Rip” has remained his steadfast friend ever since. Only a
few years ago, Wilder left New York to fulfil a church entertainment
engagement in Utica. He got there at three in the afternoon. Mr.
Jefferson’s private car was on the track, containing himself, William
J. Florence, Mrs. John Drew, Viola Allen, and Otis Skinner. They
hailed him instantly and induced him to pass the afternoon in the car
and to take dinner with them. His church engagement was over at half
past eight, and at Mr. Jefferson’s invitation he occupied a box at the
opera house. The house happened to be a small one, while the church had
been crowded to the doors. After the theater, the Jefferson party again
entertained the humorist in the car, keeping him until his train left,
half an hour after midnight. As Mr. Wilder was leaving, Mr. Jefferson
pretended to get very angry and said: “What do you think, my friends?
Here we have entertained this ungrateful young scamp all the afternoon,
and invited him to dinner. Then he goes up to town and plays to a big
audience, leaving me only a very poor house. Then he comes down here,
partakes of our hospitality again, and before leaving takes my life!”
Suiting the action to the word, Mr. Jefferson handed the young man a
copy of his “Life and Recollections.”

His first attempt at wit was at a little church in New York, where he
was one of the audience. A tableau was being given of “Mary, Queen of
Scots,” and in order to make it realistic they had obtained a genuine
butcher’s block and a cleaver. As the executioner stood by, the lights
all turned low, and his dreadful work in progress, a shrill voice arose
from the darkened house:—

“Save me a spare-rib.”

His readiness in an emergency was shown at Flint, Michigan, when he
was before an unresponsive audience. As luck would have it, the gas
suddenly went out.

“Never mind the gas,” he called to the stage manager. “They can see the
points just as well in the dark.” After that he was _en rapport_.

The greatest gift God ever made to man, he admitted to me in strict
confidence, is the ability to laugh and to make his fellowmen laugh.
This more than compensates, he adds, for the reception he gets from
some of the cold audiences in New Jersey.

I asked him what was the funniest experience he had ever had.

“In a lodge room one night with Nat Goodwin,” he replied. “It was,
or ought to have been, a solemn occasion, but there was a German
present who couldn’t repeat the obligation backward. Nat stuffed his
handkerchief into his mouth. I bit my lip trying to keep from laughing.
I knew what an awful breach of decorum it would be if we ever gave way
to our feelings. We had almost gained perfect control of ourselves,
and the beautiful and impressive ceremony was half over, when that
confounded Dutchman was asked once more to repeat the oath backward. He
made such work of it that I yelled right out, while Nat had a spasm and
rolled on the floor. Did they put us out? Well, I guess they did. It
took seven or eight apologies to get us back into that lodge.”

Equally funny was his experience in London. It was on the occasion
of the visit of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, of Boston. A big
dinner was to be given, and the American ambassador and the Prince of
Wales were to be there. I asked Wilder to tell me the story of his
visit.

“I received an invitation,” he began, “through my friend, B. F. Keith,
who was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, and who
happened to be in London. The uniforms were something gorgeous. The
members stood in two long lines, awaiting the coming of the prince, who
is always punctual. I was dressed in my usual boy-size clothes, a small
American flag stuck in my Tuxedo coat. I walked around restlessly.
The major-domo was a very grand personage, with a bearskin hat on one
end and long boots on the other. He must have been eight or ten feet
high. He chased me to the rear of the room several times,—evidently
not knowing who I was,—but every time he turned his back I would bob
out again, sometimes between his legs. The prince came, and almost the
first thing he did was to walk across the floor to me and say: ‘Hullo,
little chap. I am very glad to see you.’ I had met him before. Then
Henry Irving bore down on me and shook my hand, and so did Mr. Depew
and others. By this time the major-domo had shrunk in size.

“Who the Dickens is that little chap, anyway?” he asked.

“‘Sh! He belongs to the American army,’ was the answer. ‘He’s a great
marshal or something over there!’”

Wilder is big-hearted. “The biggest fee I ever received,” he stated
in reply to my inquiry, “was the satisfaction I saw depicted on a
poor man’s face. It was on a railway train. A life-prisoner was being
taken, after a long man-hunt in Europe and America, out to Kansas
City. I never saw so dejected a face. I devoted four or five hours to
brightening him up, and when I left he was smiling all over. I had
succeeded in making him forget his misery for at least four hours!”

A wealthy gentleman of New York pays Mr. Wilder a stated sum every year
to “cheer up” the inmates of hospitals and similar institutions.




XXXVIII

Energy and Earnestness Win an Actor Fame.


“WHO will play the part?” asked A. M. Palmer, anxiously, looking over
the members of his “Parisian Romance” company one night when the actor
who had been playing ‘Baron Cheval’ failed to appear.

“I will,” spoke up an obscure young player, a serious, earnest man who
had been “utility” for the company only a short time.

It was Richard Mansfield, and the part was given him. It had not been
a conspicuous part up to that hour, but that night Mr. Mansfield made
it a leading one. He saw in it opportunities for a deeper dramatic
portrayal, for an expression of intense earnestness, and for that
finished acting which ennobles any part in a play, however humble.
Before the performance was over, he had opened the eyes of the company
and the public to the fact that a new actor of great talent had come to
the front at a bound.

In his beautiful home in New York, the other day, I found him
surrounded by the evidences of wealth and artistic taste.

“So you represent SUCCESS,” he exclaimed. “Well, I am pleased to have
you call. Success pays few calls, you know. Ordinarily, we have to
pursue it and make great efforts to keep it from eluding us.”

Mr. Mansfield made this remark with a quizzical, yet half-tired smile,
as if he had himself found the chase exhausting.


HOW TO FIND SUCCESS.

“Yes,” he went on, “success is a most fleet-footed—almost a
phantom—goddess. You pursue her eagerly and seem to grasp her, and then
you see her speeding on in front again. This is, of course, because one
is rarely satisfied with present success. There is always something yet
to be attained. To speak personally, I never worked harder in my life
than I am working now. If I should relax, I fear that the structure
which I have built up would come tumbling about my ears. It is my
desire to advance my standard every year,—to plant it higher up on
the hill, and to never yield a foot of ground. This requires constant
effort. I find my reward, not in financial returns, for these are
hardly commensurate with the outlay of labor; nor in the applause of
others, for this is not always discriminative or judicious; but in the
practice of my art. This suggests what, it seems to me, is the true
secret of success.

“Love your work; then you will do it well. It is its own reward,
though it brings others. If a young man would rather be an actor than
anything else, and he knows what he is about, let him, by all means,
be an actor. He will probably become a good one. It is the same, of
course, in many occupations. If you like your work, hold on to it, and
eventually you are likely to win. If you don’t like it, you can’t be
too quick in getting into something that suits you better.”


HE BEGAN AS A DRY GOODS CLERK.

“I began as a dry goods clerk in Boston, and was a very mediocre clerk.
Afterward I became a painter in London, and was starving at that.
Finally, like water, I found my level in dramatic art.”

The thing about Mr. Mansfield which most inspires those who come
in contact with him is his wonderful store of nervous energy. It
communicates itself to others and makes them keen for work.

“I cannot talk with him five minutes,” said his business
representative, “before I want to grab my hat and ‘hustle’ out and do
about three days’ work without stopping. For persons who have not, or
cannot absorb, some of his own electric spirit, he has little use. He
is a living embodiment of contagious energy.”

His performances before audiences constitute a comparatively small
portion of his work. It is in his elaborate and painstaking preparation
that the labor is involved, and it is to this—to the minute preliminary
care that he gives to every detail of a production,—that his fine
effects and achievements before the footlights are, in considerable
measure, due.


HE GIVES INFINITE ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

The rehearsals are a vital part of the preparatory work, and to them
Mr. Mansfield has devoted a great deal of time. For weeks, between the
hours of eleven in the morning and four in the afternoon, he remains
on the stage with his company, seated in a line four or five deep on
either side of him, like boys and girls at school, deeply engrossed
in impressing upon the minds of individual members of the company his
own ideas of the interpretation and presentation of the various parts.
Again and again, until one would think he himself would become utterly
weary of the repetition, he would have an actor repeat a sentence. Not
until it is exactly right is Mr. Mansfield satisfied. Nothing escapes
his scrutiny. At dress rehearsals he may see, to mention a typical
case, a tall man and a small one of no special importance in the play
standing together, and the tall one may be made up to have a sallow
complexion and beard. Mr. Mansfield glances at them quickly. Something
is wrong. He hastens up to the smaller one and suggests that, for the
sake of contrast, he make himself up to look stout and to have a smooth
face. The improvement is quite noticeable. Mr. Mansfield carefully
notes the effect of light and shadow on the scenery; and sometimes,
at the last moment, will seize the brush and add, here and there, a
heightening or a softening touch.

An incident of his early youth will tend to illustrate his spirit
of self-reliance. His mother was an eminent singer who frequently
appeared before royal families in Europe, and usually had little
Richard with her. On one occasion, after her own performance before
royalty in Germany, the little Crown Prince, who was about the same
age as Richard, and an accomplished boy, played a selection on the
piano, and played it well. When he had left the piano, the company was
very much surprised to see Master Richard Mansfield take his place,
without an invitation, and play the same music, but in a considerably
better manner than had the Crown Prince. When the boy had become a
youth, he was compelled to support himself; and, having come to this
country, he obtained a position as a clerk in the Jordan & Marsh
establishment in Boston. Meanwhile, he was devoting all his spare time
to studying painting. He afterward tried to make a living at it in
London, and failed. He was finally given an opportunity as a comedian
in “Pinafore.” He had the small part of Joseph. It was but a short time
afterward when he entered the employ of Mr. Palmer and got the chance
of his lifetime.




XXXIX

A Father’s Common Sense Gives America a Great Bandmaster.


KIPLING essayed to write verses at thirteen, and John Philip Sousa
entered his apprenticeship in a military band at the age of twelve. The
circumstances, which he related to me during a recent conversation,
make it clear, however, that it was not exactly the realization of
any youthful ambition. “When I was a youngster of twelve,” said the
bandmaster, “I could play the violin fairly well. It was in this
memorable year that a circus came to Washington, D. C., where I then
lived, and remained for two days. During the morning of the first day,
one of the showmen passed the house and heard me playing. He rang the
bell, and when I answered it, asked if I would not like to join the
show. I was at the age when it is the height of every boy’s ambition
to join a circus, and was so delighted that I readily agreed to his
instructions that I was to take my violin, and, without telling anyone,
go quietly to the show grounds late the next evening.

“I couldn’t, however, keep this stroke of good fortune entirely to
myself, so I confided it to my chum, who lived next door. The effect
was entirely unanticipated. He straightway became so jealous at
the thought that I would have an opportunity to witness the circus
performance free that he told his mother, and that good woman promptly
laid the whole matter before my father.”


IN THE MARINE BAND.

“At the time I was, of course, ignorant of this turn of affairs; but
early the next morning my father, without a word of explanation, told
me to put on my best clothes, and, without ceremony, bundled me down to
the office of the Marine Band, where he entered me as an apprentice.
The age limit at which admission could be gained to the band corps
was fourteen years, and I have always retained the two years which my
father unceremoniously added to my age at that time.”

Sousa is of Spanish descent, his father having emigrated from Spain to
Portugal by reason of political entanglements. Thence came the strange
fact that, during the recent war, American troops marched forward to
attack Spaniards to the music of marches written by this descendant
of their race. The director’s remark that his family was one of the
oldest in Spain was supplementary to an amused denial of that pretty
story which has been so widely circulated to the effect that the
bandmaster’s name was originally John Philipso, and that when, after
entering the Marine Band, he signed it with the “U. S. A.” appended,
some intelligent clerk divided it into John Philip Sousa.


HIS FIRST SUCCESSFUL WORK.

In discussing his opera, “El Capitan,” which, when produced by De
Wolf Hopper several seasons ago, achieved such instantaneous success,
the composer remarked that it was the sixth opera he had written, the
others never reaching the dignity of a production.

As Sousa is preëminently a man of action, so his career and
characteristics are best outlined by incidents. One in connection
with his operatic composition strikingly illustrates his pluck and
determination. Before he attained any great degree of prominence in the
musical world, Sousa submitted an opera to Francis Wilson, offering to
sell it outright for one thousand five hundred dollars. Wilson liked
the opera, but the composer was not fortified by a great name, so he
declined to pay more than one thousand dollars for the piece. The
composer replied that he had spent the best part of a year on the work,
and felt that he could not take less than his original demand. Wilson
was obdurate, and Sousa ruefully put the manuscript back into his
portfolio.

Some time afterward a march which the bandmaster sent to a well-known
publishing house caught the public favor. The publishers demanded
another at once. The composer had none at hand, but suddenly thought of
the march in his discarded opera, and forwarded it without waiting to
select a name.

While he was pondering thoughtfully on the subject of a title, Sousa
and a friend one evening went to the Auditorium in Chicago, where
“America” was then being presented. When the mammoth drop curtain,
with the painted representation of the Liberty Bell was lowered, the
bandmaster’s companion said, with the suddenness of an inspiration:
“There is a name for your new march.” That night it was sent on to the
publishers.

Up to date, this one selection from the opera for which Francis
Wilson refused to pay fifteen hundred dollars has netted its composer
thirty-five thousand dollars.


A MAN WHO NEVER RESTS.

Sousa has practically no vacations. Throughout the greater part of
the autumn, winter and spring, his band is _en tour_ through this
country and Canada, giving, as a rule, two concerts each day, usually
in different towns. During the summer, his time is occupied with daily
concerts at Manhattan Beach, near New York. Despite all this, he
finds time to write several marches or other musical selections each
year, and for several years past has averaged each year an operatic
production. Any person who is at all conversant with the subject knows
that the composition of the opera itself is only the beginning of the
composer’s labor, and Sousa has invariably directed the rehearsals with
all the thoroughness and attention to detail that might be expected
from a less busy man.

The bandmaster is a late riser, and in that, as in other details,
the routine of his daily life is the embodiment of regularity
and punctuality. In reply to my question as to what produces his
never-failing good health, he said: “Absolute regularity of life,
plenty of sleep, and good, plain, substantial food.”

His idea of the most valuable aids, if not essentials to success, may
be imagined. They are “persistence and hard work.” The “March King”
believes that it is only worry, and not hard work, that kills people,
and he also has confidence that if there be no literal truth in the
assertion that genius is simply another name for hard work, there is at
least much of wisdom in the saying.

Many persons who have seen Sousa direct his organization make the
assertion that the orders conveyed by his baton are non-essential,—that
the band would be equally well-off without Sousa. This never received
a fuller refutation than during a recent concert in an eastern city.
Two small boys in seats near the front of the hall were tittering, but
so quietly that it would hardly seem possible that it could be noticed
on the stage, especially by the bandmaster, whose back was, of course,
toward the audience. Suddenly, in the middle of a bar, his baton fell.
Instantly, every sound ceased, not a note having been sounded after
the signal, which could not have been anticipated, was given. Wheeling
quickly, the leader ordered the troublesome youngsters to leave the
hall, and almost before the audience had realized what had happened,
the great organization had resumed the rendition of the selection,
without the loss of a chord.


HOW SOUSA WORKS.

In answer to my inquiry as to his methods of work, the director of
America’s foremost band said:—

“I think that any musical composer must essentially find his periods
of work governed largely by inspiration. A march or a waltz depends
perhaps upon some strain that has sufficient melody to carry the entire
composition, and it is the waiting to catch this embryo note that is
sometimes long.

“Take my experience with ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever.’ I worked
for weeks on the strain that I think will impress most persons as the
prettiest in the march. I carried it in my mind all that time, but I
could not get the idea transferred to paper just as I wanted. When
I did accomplish it, there was comparatively little delay with the
remainder.”

When I asked him about his future work, Mr. Sousa said:—

“I of course have commissions to write several operas, and I am at work
on a musical composition which I hope to make the best thing that I
have ever attempted.”

His temperament is well illustrated by an incident on a western
railroad. The Sousa organization, which had been playing in one of the
larger cities, desired to reach a small town in time for a matinée
performance, but, owing to the narrow policy of the railway officials,
the bandmaster was obliged to engage a special train, at a cost of $175.

In the railway yard stood the private coach of the president of the
system, and just before the Sousa train pulled out, the discovery was
made that the regular train, to which it had been intended to attach
the president’s car, was three hours late. A request was made of the
bandmaster that he allow the car to be attached to his train; but
Sousa, with that twinkle in his eye which every person who has seen
him must have noticed, simply smiled, and, with the most extravagant
politeness, replied: “I am sorry, gentlemen, but, having chartered this
train for my especial use, I am afraid I shall have to limit its use to
that purpose.”




XL

Blind, Deaf, and Dumb, Patient Effort Wins for Her Culture and Rare
Womanhood.


“I AM trying to prove that the sum of the areas of two similar
polygons, constructed on the two legs of a right triangle, is equal to
the area of a similar polygon constructed on the hypotenuse. It is a
very difficult demonstration,” she added, and her expressive face, on
which every passing emotion is plainly written, looked serious for a
moment, as she laid her hand upon the work about which I had asked.

Helen Keller, the deaf and blind girl, whose intellectual attainments
have excited the wonder and admiration of our most prominent educators,
is well known to all readers, but Helen Keller, the blithesome,
rosy-cheeked, light-hearted maiden of nineteen, whose smile is a
benediction, and whose ringing laugh is fresh and joyous as that of a
child, is not, perhaps, so familiar.


HELEN KELLER AT HOME.

By kind permission of her teacher, Miss Sullivan, I was granted the
privilege of an interview with Miss Keller at her residence on Newbury
street, Boston, where she was busily at work preparing for the entrance
examinations to Radcliffe College.

After a cordial greeting, Miss Sullivan, whose gracious, kindly manner
makes the visitor feel perfectly at home, introduced me to her pupil.
Seated on a low rocking-chair, in a large, sunny bay-window, the young
girl, fresh as the morning, in her dainty pink shirt-waist over a dress
of plain, dark material, with the sunshine glinting through her waving
brown hair, and kissing her broad white forehead and pink cheeks, made
a picture which one will not willingly forget. On her lap was a small
red cushion, to which wires, representing the geometrical figures
included in the problem on which she was engaged, were fastened. Laying
this aside at a touch from Miss Sullivan, she arose, and, stretching
out her hand, pronounced my name softly, with a peculiar intonation,
which at first makes it a little difficult to understand her words, but
to which the listener soon becomes accustomed. Of course, her teacher
acted as an interpreter during our conversation, though much of what
Helen says is perfectly intelligible even to the untrained ear.

“Yes,” she said, “it is a very difficult problem, but I have a little
light on it now.”


HER AMBITION.

“What will your ambition be when your college course is completed?” I
asked.

“I think I should like to write,—for children. I tell stories to
my little friends a great deal of the time now, but they are not
original,—not yet. Most of them are translations from the Greek, and
I think no one can write anything prettier for the young. Charles
Kingsley has written some equally good things, like ‘Water Babies,’ for
instance. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a fine story, too, but none of them
can surpass the Greek tales.”

Many of our advanced thinkers are fond of advancing the theory that the
medium of communication in the future will not be spoken words, but
the more subtle and genuine, if mute, language of the face, the eyes,
the whole body. Sarah Bernhardt forcibly illustrates the effectiveness
of this method, for even those who do not understand a word of French
derive nearly as much pleasure from the great actress’s performances
as those who are thoroughly familiar with the language. Helen Keller’s
dramatic power of expression is equally telling.

She is enthusiastic in her admiration of everything Greek. The
language, the literature, the arts, the history of the classic land
fascinate and enthrall her imagination.

“Oh, yes,” she exclaimed, eagerly, in answer to my query if she
expected to go to Greece sometime, “it is one of my air castles. Ever
since I was as tall as that,” (she held her hand a short distance from
the floor) “I have dreamed about it.”

“Do you believe the dream will some day become a reality?”

“I hope so, but I dare not be too sure,”—and the sober words of wisdom
that followed sounded oddly enough on the girlish lips,—“the world is
full of disappointments and vicissitudes, and I have to be a little
conservative.”

“Which of your studies interest you most?”

“Latin and Greek. I am reading now Virgil’s ‘Eclogues,’ Cicero’s
‘Orations,’ Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey,’” she said, and ran rapidly
over a list of classic books which she likes.

Her readiness to perceive a joke and her quickness to detect the
least carelessness in language are distinguishing traits, which she
illustrated even during our brief conversation. Commenting on her love
of everything pertaining to Greece, I remarked that a believer in the
doctrine of metempsychosis might imagine that she possessed the soul
of an old Greek. Instantly she noticed the little slip, and, laughing
gayly, cried: “Oh, no, not the soul of an _old_ Greek, the soul of a
_young_ Greek.”

Helen’s merriment was infectious, and we all joined heartily in
the laugh, Miss Sullivan saying, “She caught you there,” as I was
endeavoring to explain that, of course, I meant the soul of an ancient
Greek.

While taking so deep an interest in matters intellectual, and living
in a world of her own, penetrated by no outward sight or sound, Miss
Keller’s tastes are as normal as those of any girl of nineteen. She
is full of animal spirit, dearly loves a practical joke, is fond of
dancing, enjoys outside exercise and sport, and has the natural desire
of every healthy young maiden to wear pretty things and look her best.

In answer to a question on this latter subject, she said:—

“I used to be very fond of dress, but now I am not particularly so;
it is such a bother. We ought to like dress, though, and wear pretty
things, just as the flowers put on beautiful colors. It would be fine,”
she continued, laughing gleefully, “if we were made with feathers and
wings, like the birds. Then we would have no trouble about dress, and
we could fly where we pleased.”

“You would fly to Greece, first, I suppose?”

“No,” she replied, and her laughing face took on a tender, wistful
look, “I should go home first, to see my loved ones.”


HEREDITY AND CHILDHOOD.

Miss Keller’s home is at Tuscumbia, Alabama, where she was born on
June 27, 1880. Some of the best blood of both the north and the south
flows in her veins, and it is probable that her uncommon mental powers
are in no small degree due to heredity. Her father, Arthur H. Keller,
a polished southern gentleman, with a large, chivalrous nature, fine
intelligence and attractive manners, was the descendant of a family
of Swiss origin, which had settled in Virginia and mixed with some
of the oldest families in that state. He served as a captain in the
Confederate army during the Civil War, and, at the time of Helen’s
birth, was the owner and editor of a paper published at Tuscumbia. On
the maternal side she is descended from one of the Adams families of
Massachusetts, and the same stock of Everetts from which Edward Everett
and Reverend Edward Everett Hale sprang.

Helen Keller was not born deaf and blind, although, at the age of
eighteen months, when a violent fit of convulsions deprived her of the
faculties of seeing and hearing, she had not attempted to speak. When
a child, she was as notable for her stubbornness and resistance to
authority as she is to-day for her gentleness and amiability. Indeed,
it was owing to an exhibition of what seemed a very mischievous spirit
that her parents sought a special instructor for her. Having discovered
the use of a key, she locked her mother into a pantry in a distant
part of the house, where, her hammering on the door not being heard by
the servants, she remained imprisoned for several hours. Helen, seated
on the floor outside, felt the knocking on the door, and seemed to be
enjoying the situation intensely when at length jailer and prisoner
were found. She was then about six years old, and, after this escapade,
Mr. and Mrs. Keller felt that the child’s moral nature must be reached
and her mental powers cultivated, if possible.


HELEN’S FIRST TEACHER.

On the recommendation of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the
telephone, Michael Anagnos, director of the Perkins Institute for the
Blind at South Boston, sent Miss Annie Mansfield Sullivan to Tuscumbia
to undertake the difficult task of piercing the veil behind which the
intelligence of the little girl lay sleeping. How well this noble and
devoted teacher has succeeded in her work is amply evidenced by the
brilliancy and thoroughness of her pupil’s attainments.

Miss Sullivan’s method of instruction was similar to that adopted
by Dr. Samuel G. Howe in teaching Laura Bridgman. She used the
manual alphabet, and cards bearing, in raised letters, the names
of objects. At first, the pupil violently resisted the teacher’s
efforts to instruct her, and so determined was her opposition, Miss
Sullivan declares, that, if she had not exercised physical force and a
determination even more strenuous than that of her refractory pupil,
she would never have succeeded in teaching her anything. Night and day
she was at her side, watching for the first gleam of conscious mind;
and at length, after seven weeks of what she says was the hardest
work she had ever done, the faithful teacher received her reward in
the sudden dawning of the child’s intelligence. All at once, the
light seemed to burst in upon her wondering soul; she understood then
that the raised letters which she felt on the cards and the groups
of manual signs on her hands, represented words, or the names of
familiar objects. The delight of the pupil and teacher was unbounded,
and from that moment Helen’s education, though still demanding the
greatest patience and loving care on the part of her teacher, was a
comparatively easy matter.

With the awakening of her intellectual faculties, she seemed literally
to have been “born again.” The stubborn, headstrong, self-willed,
almost unmanageable child became patient, gentle and obedient; and,
instead of resisting instruction, her eagerness to learn was so great
that it had to be restrained. So rapid was her progress that, in a few
weeks, anyone who knew the manual alphabet could easily communicate
with her, and in July, 1887, less than a year from the time Miss
Sullivan first saw her, she could write an intelligent letter.


PREPARING FOR COLLEGE.

In September, 1896, accompanied by her teacher, Miss Keller entered
the Cambridge School for Girls, to prepare for Radcliffe College, and
in June, 1897, passed the examinations of the first preparatory year
successfully in every subject, taking “honors” in English and German.
The director of the school, Arthur Gilman, in an article in “American
Annals of the Deaf,” says: “I think that I may say that no candidate
in Harvard or Radcliffe College was graduated higher than Helen in
English. The result is remarkable, especially when we consider that she
had been studying on strictly college preparatory lines for one year
only. She had, it is true, long and careful instruction, and she has
had always the loving ministration of Miss Sullivan, in addition to
the inestimable advantage of a concentration that the rest of us never
know. No other, man or woman,” he adds, “has ever, in my experience,
got ready for those examinations in so brief a time.”

Mr. Gilman, in the same article, pays the following well-deserved
tribute to Miss Sullivan, whose work is as worthy of admiration as that
of her pupil:—

“Miss Sullivan sat at Helen’s side in the classes (in the Cambridge
School), interpreting to her, with infinite patience, the instruction
of every teacher. In study hours, Miss Sullivan’s labors were even
more arduous, for she was obliged to read everything that Helen had
to learn, excepting what was prepared in Braille; she searched the
lexicons and encyclopedias, and gave Helen the benefit of it all.
When Helen went home, Miss Sullivan went with her, and it was hers to
satisfy the busy, unintermitting demands of the intensely active brain;
for, although others gladly helped, there were many matters which
could be treated only by the one teacher who had awakened the activity
and had followed its development from the first. Now, it was a German
grammar which had to be read, now a French story, and then some passage
from ‘Cæsar’s Commentaries.’ It looked like drudgery, and drudgery it
would certainly have been had not love shed its benign influence over
all, lightening each step and turning hardship into pleasure.”

Miss Keller is very patriotic, but large and liberal in her ideas,
which soar far beyond all narrow, partisan or political prejudices.
Her sympathies are with the masses, the burden-bearers, and, like all
friends of the people and of universal progress, she was intensely
interested in the Peace Congress.

Speaking on the subject, she said: “I hope the nations will carry out
the project of disarmament. I wonder which nation will be brave enough
to lay down its arms first!”

“Don’t you hope it will be America?”

“Yes, I hope so, but I do not think it will. We are only just beginning
to fight now,” she went on, sagely, “and I am afraid we like it. I
think it will be one of the old, experienced nations, that has had
enough of war.”


HER IDEAL OF A SUCCESSFUL CAREER.

I asked Miss Keller what she considers most essential to a successful
career.

She thought a moment, and then replied, slowly, “Patience, perseverance
and fidelity.”

“And what do you look upon as the most desirable thing in life?”

“Friends,” was the prompt reply to this broad general question; and, as
she uttered the word, she nestled closely to the friend who has so long
been all in all to her.

“What about material possessions?” I asked; “for instance, which would
you place first,—wealth or education?”

“Education. A good education is a stepping-stone to wealth. But that
does not imply that I want wealth. It is such a care. It would be
worse than dressing. ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me
contentment,’” she quoted, with a smile.

The future of this most interesting girl will be followed with closest
attention by educators, psychologists, and the public generally. There
is little doubt that the time and care spent on her education will
be amply justified; and that she will personally illustrate her own
ideal of a successful career,—“To live nobly; to be true to one’s best
aspirations,”—is the belief of all who know her.




XLI

Jay Gould’s Chum Chooses “High Thinking, not Money Making,” and Wins
Success Without Riches.


WHEN I visited the hill-top retreat of John Burroughs, the
distinguished lover of nature, at West Park, New York, it was with
the feeling that all success is not material; that mere dollars are
nothing, and that the influential man is the successful man, whether
he be rich or poor. John Burroughs is unquestionably both influential
and poor. On the wooden porch of his little bark-covered cabin I
waited, one June afternoon, until he should come back from the woods
and fields, where he had gone for a ramble. It was so still that
the sound of my rocker moving to and fro on the rough boards of the
little porch seemed to shock the perfect quiet. From afar off came the
plaintive cry of a wood-dove, and then all was still again. Presently
the interpreter of out-door life appeared in the distance, and, seeing
a stranger at his door, hurried homeward. He was without coat or vest,
and looked cool in his white outing shirt and large straw hat. After
some formalities of introduction, we reached the subject which I had
called to discuss, and he said:—

“It is not customary to interview men of my vocation concerning
success.”

“Any one who has made a lasting impression on the minds of his
contemporaries,” I began, “and influenced men and women——”

“Do you refer to me?” he interrupted, naively.


DIFFERENT WAYS OF BEING SUCCESSFUL.

I nodded and he laughed. “I have not endowed a university nor made a
fortune, nor conquered an enemy in battle,” he said.

“And those who have done such things have not written ‘Locusts and Wild
Honey’ and ‘Wake, Robin.’”

“I recognize,” he said, quietly, “that success is not always where
people think it is. There are many ways of being successful, and I do
not approve of the mistake which causes many to consider that a great
fortune acquired means a great success achieved. On the contrary, our
greatest men need very little money to accomplish the greatest work.”

“I thought that anyone leading a life so wholly at variance with the
ordinary ideas and customs would see success in life from a different
point of view,” I observed. “Money is really no object with you?”

“The subject of wealth never disturbs me.”

“You lead a very simple life here?”

“Such as you see.”

The sight would impress anyone. So far is this disciple of nature
away from the ordinary mode of the world that his little cabin, set
in the cup-shaped top of a hill, is practically bare of luxuries and
the so-called comforts of life. His surroundings are of the rudest,
the very rocks and bushes encroaching upon his back door. All about,
the crest of the hill encircles him, and shuts out the world. Only the
birds of the air venture to invade his retreat from the various sides
of the mountain, and there is only a straggling, narrow path, which
branches off a dozen times before it takes the true direction. In his
house are no decorations but such as can be hung upon the exposed wood.
The fireplace is of brick, and quite wide; the floor, rough boards
scrubbed white; the ceiling, a rough array of exposed rafters, and his
bed a rudely constructed work of the hand. Very few and very simple
chairs, a plain table and some shelves for books made the wealth of the
retreat and serve for his ordinary use.

“Many people think,” I said, “that your method of living is an ideal
example of the way people ought to live.”

“There is nothing remarkable in that. A great many people are very
weary of the way they think themselves compelled to live. They are
mistaken in believing that the disagreeable things they find themselves
doing, are the things they ought to do. A great many take their idea of
a proper aim in life from what other people say and do. Consequently,
they are unhappy, and an independent existence such as mine strikes
them as ideal. As a matter of fact, it is very natural.”


A WORTHY AIM IN LIFE.

“Would you say that to work so as to be able to live like this should
be the aim of a young man?”

“By no means. On the contrary, his aim should be to live in such a
way as will give his mind the greatest freedom and peace. This can be
very often obtained by wanting less of material things and more of
intellectual ones. A man who achieved such an aim would be as well off
as the most distinguished man in any field. Money-getting is half a
mania, and some other ‘getting’ propensities are manias also. The man
who gets content comes nearest to being reasonable.”

“I should like,” I said, “to illustrate your point of view from the
details of your own life.”

“Students of nature do not, as a rule, have eventful lives. I was
born in Roxbury, New York, in 1837. That was a time when conditions
were rather primitive. My father was a farmer, and I was raised among
the woods and fields. I came from an uncultivated, unreading class of
society, and grew up amid surroundings the least calculated to awaken
the literary faculty. Yet I have no doubt that daily contact with the
woods and fields awakened my interest in the wonders of nature, and
gave me a bent toward investigation in that direction.”

“Did you begin early to make notes and write upon nature?” I questioned.

“Not before I was sixteen or seventeen. Earlier than that, the art of
composition had anything but charms for me. I remember that while at
school, at the age of fourteen, I was required, like other students,
to write ‘compositions’ at stated times, but I usually evaded the duty
one way or another. On one occasion, I copied something from a comic
almanac, and unblushingly handed it in as my own. But the teacher
detected the fraud, and ordered me to produce a twelve-line composition
before I left school. I remember I racked my brain in vain, and the
short winter day was almost closing when Jay Gould, who sat in the
seat behind me, wrote twelve lines of doggerel on his slate and passed
it slyly over to me. I had so little taste for writing that I coolly
copied that, and handed it in as my own.”


JAY GOULD WAS HIS CHUM.

“You were friendly with Gould then?”

“Oh, yes; ‘chummy,’ they call it now. His father’s farm was only a
little way from ours, and we were fast friends, going home together
every night.”

“His view of life must have been considerably different from yours.”

“It was. I always looked upon success as being a matter of mind, not
money; but Jay wanted the material appearances. I remember that once
we had a wrestling match, and as we were about even in strength, we
agreed to abide by certain rules,—taking what we called ‘holts’ in the
beginning and not breaking them until one or the other was thrown. I
kept to this in the struggle, but when Jay realized that he was in
danger of losing the contest, he broke the ‘holt’ and threw me. When I
remarked that he had broken his agreement, he only laughed and said, ‘I
threw you, didn’t I?’ And to every objection I made, he made the same
answer. The fact of having won (it did not matter how), was pleasing to
him. It satisfied him, although it wouldn’t have contented me.”

“Did you ever talk over success in life with him?”

“Yes; quite often. He was bent on making money and did considerable
trading among us schoolboys,—sold me some of his books. I felt then
that my view of life was more satisfactory to me than his would have
been. I wanted to obtain a competence, and then devote myself to high
thinking instead of to money-making.”

“How did you plan to attain this end?”


HE BEGAN WRITING AT SIXTEEN.

“By study. I began in my sixteenth or seventeenth year to try to
express myself on paper, and when, after I had left the country school,
I attended the seminary at Ashland and at Cooperstown, I often received
the highest marks in composition, though only standing about the
average in general scholarship. My taste ran to essays, and I picked up
the great works in that field at a bookstore, from time to time, and
filled my mind with the essay idea. I bought the whole of Dr. Johnson’s
works at a second-hand bookstore in New York, because, on looking into
them, I found his essays appeared to be of solid literature, which I
thought was just the thing. Almost my first literary attempts were
moral reflections, somewhat in the Johnsonian style.”

“You were supporting yourself during these years?”

“I taught six months and ‘boarded round’ before I went to the seminary.
That put fifty dollars into my pocket, and the fifty paid my way at
the seminary. Working on the farm, studying and teaching filled up the
years until 1863, when I went to Washington and found employment in the
Treasury Department.”

“You were connected with the Treasury, then?”

“Oh, yes; for nearly nine years. I left the department in 1872, to
become receiver of a bank, and subsequently for several years performed
the work of a bank examiner. I considered it only as an opportunity to
earn and save up a little money on which I could retire. I managed to
do that, and came back to this region, where I bought a fruit farm. I
worked that into a paying condition, and then gave all my time to the
pursuit of the studies I like.”

“Had you abandoned your interest in nature during your Washington life?”

“No; I gave as much time to the study of nature and literature as I had
to spare. When I was twenty-three, I wrote an essay on ‘Expression,’
and sent it to the ‘Atlantic.’ It was so Emersonian in style, owing to
my enthusiasm for Emerson at that time, that the editor thought some
one was trying to palm off on him an early essay of Emerson’s which he
had not seen. He found that Emerson had not published any such paper,
however, and printed it, though it had not much merit. I wrote off and
on for the magazines.”

The editor in question was James Russell Lowell, who, instead of
considering it without merit, often expressed afterward the delight
with which he read this contribution from an unknown hand, and the
swift impression of the author’s future distinction which came to him
with that reading.


WHAT NATURE STUDY REALLY MEANS.

“Your successful work, then, has been in what direction?” I said.

“In studying nature. It has all come by living close to the plants
and animals of the woods and fields, and coming to understand them.
There I have been successful. Men who, like myself, are deficient in
self-assertion, or whose personalities are flexible and yielding, make
a poor show in business, but in certain other fields these defects
become advantages. Certainly it is so in my case. I can succeed with
bird or beast, for I have cultivated my ability in that direction. I
can look in the eye of an ugly dog or cow and win, but with an ugly man
I have less success.

“I consider the desire which most individuals have for the luxuries
which money can buy, an error of mind,” he added. “Those things do
not mean anything except a lack of higher tastes. Such wants are not
necessary wants, nor honorable wants. If you cannot get wealth with
a noble purpose, it is better to abandon it and get something else.
Peace of mind is one of the best things to seek, and finer tastes and
feelings. The man who gets these, and maintains himself comfortably,
is much more admirable and successful than the man who gets money and
neglects these. The realm of power has no fascination for me. I would
rather have my seclusion and peace of mind. This log hut, with its bare
floors, is sufficient. I am set down among the beauties of nature, and
in no danger of losing the riches that are scattered all about. No one
will take my walks or my brook away from me. The flowers, birds and
animals are plentifully provided. I have enough to eat and wear, and
time to see how beautiful the world is, and to enjoy it. The entire
world is after your money, or the things you have bought with your
money. It is trying to keep them that makes them seem so precious. I
live to broaden and enjoy my own life, believing that in so doing I do
what is best for everyone. If I ran after birds only to write about
them, I should never have written anything that anyone else would have
cared to read. I must write from sympathy and love,—that is, from
enjoyment,—or not at all. I come gradually to have a feeling that I
want to write upon a given theme. Whenever the subject recurs to me, it
awakens a warm, personal response. My confidence that I ought to write
comes from the feeling or attraction which some subjects exercise over
me. The work is pleasure, and the result gives pleasure.”

“And your work as a naturalist is what?”

“Climbing trees to study birds, lying by the waterside to watch the
fishes, sitting still in the grass for hours to study the insects, and
tramping here and there, always to observe and study whatever is common
to the woods and fields.”

“Men think you have done a great work,” I said.

“I have done a pleasant work,” he said, modestly.

“And the achievements of your schoolmate Gould do not appeal to you as
having anything in them worth aiming for?” I questioned.

“Not for me. I think my life is better for having escaped such vast and
difficult interests.”

The gentle, light-hearted naturalist and recluse came down the long
hillside with me, “to put me right” on the main road. I watched him
as he retraced his steps up the steep, dark path, lantern in hand.
His sixty years sat lightly upon him, and as he ascended I heard
him singing. Long after the light melody had died away, I saw the
serene little light bobbing up and down in his hand, disappearing and
reappearing, as the lone philosopher repaired to his hut and his couch
of content.


WHY HE IS RICH WITHOUT MONEY.

It must not be inferred that Mr. Burroughs has no money. As an author,
he has given us such delightful books, dear to every lover of nature,
as “Wake, Robin,” “Winter Sunshine,” “Locusts and Wild Honey,” “Fresh
Fields,” “Indoor Studies,” “Birds and Poets,” “Pepacton,” “Signs and
Seasons,” “Riverby,” “Whitman,” and “The Light of Day,” published by
Houghton, Mifflin & Company.

His writings produce goodly sums, while his vineyards and gardens
produce as much as he needs; but the charm of it all is, he knows not
the unrest of eagerly seeking it. His is one of the very infrequent
instances in which a man knows when he has enough, and really and
truthfully does not care for more. Nor is he a “hayseed” in the popular
application of that expressive term. When he goes to the city, as he
occasionally does (just to reassure himself that he prefers life in the
country), he is not met at the station by gentlemen in loud checked
suits; he carries no air of the rustic with him. As an Irish wit
recently put it, “When in Paris, he does as the parasites do,” and he
conducts himself and clothes himself as a well regulated citizen should.

So John Burroughs is rich, not in money, but in thought, in simplicity,
in the knowledge that he is making the best of life. He has found out
that money is not everything, that all the money in the world will not
buy a light heart, or a good name,—that there is a place for every
one, and in that place alone can a man be of service to himself or
others,—that there alone can he be successful; there only can he be
“rich without money!”




XLII

A Millionaire’s Daughter Makes Inherited Wealth a Blessing to Thousands.


MISS HELEN MILLER GOULD has won a place for herself in the hearts of
Americans such as few people of great wealth ever gain. She is, indeed,
one of the best known and most popular young women of New York, if not
in the world. Her strong character, common sense, and high ideals, have
made her respected by all, while her munificence and kindness have won
her the love of many.

Her personality is charming. Upon my arrival at her Tarrytown home,
I was made to feel that I was welcome, and everyone who enters her
presence feels the same. The grand mansion, standing high on the hills
overlooking the Hudson, has a home-like appearance that takes away any
awe that may come over the visitor who looks upon so much beauty for
the first time.

Chickens play around the little stone cottage at the grand entrance,
and the grounds are not unlike those of any other country house, with
trees in abundance, and beautiful lawns. There are large beds of
flowers, and in the gardens all the summer vegetables were growing.

Miss Gould takes a very great interest in her famous greenhouses, the
gardens, the flowers, and the chickens, for she is a home-loving woman.
It is a common thing to see her in the grounds, digging and raking and
planting, for all the world like some farmer’s girl. That is one reason
why her neighbors all like her; she seems so unconscious of her wealth
and station.


A FACE FULL OF CHARACTER.

When I entered Lyndhurst, she came forward to meet me in the
pleasantest way imaginable. Her face is not exactly beautiful, but has
a great deal of character written upon it, and is very attractive,
indeed. She held out her hand for me to shake in the good old-fashioned
way, and then we sat down in the wide hall to talk. Miss Gould was
dressed very simply. Her gown was of dark cloth, close-fitting, and
her skirt hung several inches above the ground, for she is a believer
in short skirts for walking. Her entire costume was very becoming.
She never over-dresses, and her garments are neat, and, naturally, of
excellent quality.


HER AMBITIONS AND AIMS.

In the conversation that followed, I was permitted to learn much of
her ambitions and aims. She is ambitious to leave a great impression
on the world,—an impression made by good deeds well done, and this
ambition is gratifying to the utmost. She is modest about her work.
“I cannot find that I am doing much at all,” she said, “when there is
so very much to be done. I suppose I shouldn’t expect to be able to
do everything, but I sometimes feel that I want to, nevertheless.”
Her good works are numerous and many-sided. For a number of years,
she has supported two beds in the Babies’ Shelter, connected with the
Church of the Holy Communion, New York, and the Wayside Day Nursery,
near Bellevue Hospital, has always found in her a good friend. Once a
year she makes a tour through the day nurseries of New York, noting
the special needs of each, and often sending checks and materials for
meeting those needs.


A MOST CHARMING CHARITY.

One of her most charming charities is “Woody Crest,” two miles from
Lyndhurst, a haven of delight where some twoscore waifs are received
at a time for a two-weeks’ visit. She has a personal oversight of
the place, and, by her frequent visits, makes friends with the wee
visitors, who look upon her as a combination of angel and fairy
godmother. Every day, a wagonette, drawn by two horses, takes the
children, in relays, for long drives into the country. Amusements are
provided, and some of those who remain for an entire season at Woody
Crest are instructed in different branches. Twice a month some of the
older boys set the type for a little magazine which is devoted to Woody
Crest matters. There are several portable cottages erected there,
one for the sick, one for servants’ sleeping rooms, and a third for a
laundry.

[Illustration: DOMESTIC TRIALS]

Miss Gould’s patriotism is very real and intense, and is not confined
to times of war. Two years ago, she caused fifty thousand copies of
the national hymn, “America,” to be printed and distributed among the
pupils of the public schools of New York.

“I believe every one should know that hymn and sing it,” she declared,
“if he sings no other. I would like the children to sing it into their
very souls, till it becomes a part of them.”

She strongly favors patriotic services in the churches on the Sunday
preceding the Fourth of July, when she would like to hear such airs as
“America,” “Hail Columbia,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and see the
sacred edifices draped in red, white and blue.


UNHERALDED BENEFACTIONS.

Miss Gould has a strong prejudice against letting her many gifts and
charities be known, and even her dearest friends never know “what
Helen’s doing now.” Of course, her great public charities, as when she
gives a hundred thousand dollars at a time, are heralded. Her recent
gift of that sum to the government, for national defense, has made her
name beloved throughout the land; but, had she been able, she would
have kept that secret also.

I tried to ascertain her views regarding the education of young
women of to-day, and what careers they should follow. This is one of
her particular hobbies, and many are the young girls she has helped to
attain to a better and more satisfactory life.


HER MEANS OF EDUCATION.

“In the first place,” she said, “I believe most earnestly in education
for women; not necessarily the higher education about which we hear so
much, but a good, common school education. As the years pass, girls are
obliged to make their own way in the world more and more, and to do so
they must have good schooling.”

“And what particular career do you think most desirable for young
women?”

“Oh, as to careers, there are many that young women follow, nowadays. I
think, if I had my own way to make, I should fit myself to be a private
secretary. That is a position which, I think, attracts nearly every
young woman; but, to fill it, she must study hard and learn, and then
work hard to keep the place. Then I think there are openings for young
women in the field of legitimate business. I’ve always held that women
know as much about money affairs as men, only most of them haven’t had
much experience. In that field there are hundreds of things that a
woman can do.”


THE EVIL OF IDLENESS.

“But I don’t think it matters much what a girl does so long as she is
active, and doesn’t allow herself to stagnate. There’s nothing, to my
mind, so pathetic as a girl who thinks she can’t do anything, and is
of no use to the world. Why, it’s no wonder there are so many suicides
every day!”

She is consulted by her agents in regard to all her affairs. “I have
no time for society,” she said, “and indeed I do not care for it at
all. It is very well for those who like it,” she added, for she is a
tolerant critic.

Her life at Tarrytown is an ideal one. She runs down to the city at
frequent intervals, to attend to business affairs, for she manages all
her own property; but she lives at Lyndhurst. She entertains but few
visitors, and in turn visits but seldom.

I will not attempt to specify the numerous projects of charity that
have been given life and vigor by Miss Gould. I know her gifts in
recent years have passed the million-dollar mark.

Would you have an idea of her personality?

If so, think of a good young woman in your own town, who loves her
parents and her home; who is devoted to the church; who thinks of the
poor on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas; whose face is bright and manner
unaffected; whose dress is elegant in its simplicity; who takes an
interest in all things, from politics to religion; whom children love
and day-laborers greet by fervently lifting the hat; and who, if she
were graduated from a home seminary or college, would receive a bouquet
from every boy in town. If you can think of such a young woman, and
nearly every community has one, (and ninety-nine times out of a hundred
she is poor,) you have a fair idea of the impression made on a plain
man from a country town in Indiana by Miss Gould.

Helen Miller Gould is just at the threshold of her beautiful career.
What a promise is there in her life and work for the coming century!

She has given much of her fortune for the Hall of Fame on the campus
of the New York University, overlooking the Harlem River. It contains
tablets for the names of fifty distinguished Americans, and proud will
be the descendants of those whose names are inscribed thereon.

The human heart is the tablet upon which Miss Gould has inscribed
her name and her “Hall of Fame” is as broad and high as the Republic
itself.




XLIII

A Self-made Merchant Solves the Problem of Practical Philanthropy


LATE one afternoon, I stopped to converse with a policeman in Central
Park. Another policeman came up. Nathan Strauss was mentioned. “Well, I
tell you,” said the first policeman, stamping his foot, “there is a man!

“Charities! He’s the only man in New York City who gives real
charities. Why, when others want to give, they go to him, and have
him do it for them. He knows what’s what. I tell you, he’s the most
respected man in New York City;” and the other said, “That’s right.”

Go on the east side, and ask about Nathan Strauss, and you will hear
what is as pleasant as it is rare,—the poor giving a rich man unstinted
praise. But do not speak to Mr. Strauss about his work as charity; he
dislikes to have it called by that name.


PRACTICAL BENEFICENCE NOT MERE CHARITY.

The greatest blessing that he has conferred on New York, is helping the
poor to get pure, sterilized milk. No work of beneficence ever before
showed such surprising results. It has reduced the death rate of
infants over fifty per cent. Formerly, almost seventy-five per cent. of
the children of the very poor died.

It was in the summer of 1893 that Mr. Strauss opened his first milk
depot, at which milk was sold for four cents a quart; one and one-half
cents a bottle for sterilized pure milk; one cent a bottle (six
ounces,) for modified milk, and one cent a glass for pure milk.

It was a loss to the benefactor, but he established other depots
throughout the unhealthy portions of the city and in the parks. Doctors
received blanks to fill out for milk for those unable to purchase, and
to such it was given free. A doctor’s prescription was honored. What
followed? The death rate was reduced.

At the instigation of his son,—who died from a cold contracted in
distributing coal,—coal yards had been established on the docks and
elsewhere. The dealers at that time were retailing coal at ten cents
and fourteen cents a basket, which made the price from twelve dollars
to sixteen dollars per ton. At Mr. Strauss’ depots, five-cent tickets
procured twenty and twenty-five pounds; ten-cent tickets, forty and
fifty pounds, and so on. Most of the coal was carried in baskets on
the shoulders and backs of those who, in some cases, had walked miles
to obtain it. During the last financial panic, grocery stores were
started, where five cents procured a large amount of food. Lodging
houses were opened, while a clean bed and a breakfast of coffee and
bread could be procured for five cents, and lunch rooms where two cents
purchased bread and coffee and corned beef.

The great financier, J. Pierpont Morgan, asked Mr. Strauss to be
permitted to assist him in the grocery stores, and a large central
depot was rented at 345 Grand street, for which Mr. Morgan furnished
the money and Mr. Strauss acted as manager.

Although all these charities in which Mr. Strauss has been interested
have entailed a steady loss, a great number of those he benefited and
benefits are under the impression that he does not sustain a loss, and
that they merely buy for less than they would pay elsewhere.


HE DOES NOT WOUND THEIR SELF-RESPECT.

This is exactly the impression he desires them to possess, in his own
words:—

“I do not wish to make a single one feel that he is receiving charity,
or is in any way a pauper. Such an impression is harmful, and lowers
the standard of those who have a right to consider that they are the
sinews of the country. I wish them to feel only that they are buying at
low prices. Suppose that those who buy five cents’ worth of groceries
and trudge a distance for them, are able to pay a little more. The
mere fact that they walk far to save a few cents, proves that their
hard-earned pennies are precious, and that there is the necessity of
getting all that can be obtained for their money.”


HE IS A KEEN, ENERGETIC MANAGER.

Such is the keynote of Mr. Strauss’ love for humanity: He is not a
“lord bountiful,” but a generous man, unsolicitous of thanks. There are
many records of him having helped individuals. Two young men in his
employ were threatened with an early death from consumption. He sent
them to a sanitarium in the Adirondacks for a year, when they returned
sound in health. During their absence, their salaries were paid to
their families.

In business, Mr. Strauss is a strict disciplinarian. He believes that
every man should attend strictly to duty, and this is the fundamental
secret of his success. In his own words, “Any man, with the ordinary
amount of business instinct, can succeed. To succeed, you must be
honest, believe in your own ability, and, after having selected your
path in life, stick to it through thick and thin. With ordinary mental
endowments, there is no reason why any young man should fail.

“Do I think the chances of to-day are as great as some years ago?
They are greater. The thing is to take advantage of opportunities and
utilize them to the best of your ability. Chances, or opportunities,
come to everyone, often, in a lifetime. They should be recognized.
Never let one slip; but weigh the possibilities. The great trouble
is, a great many young men do not bestir themselves. They fall into
a rut, and lack ‘ginger.’ This is a bustling world, and every young
man should be wide-awake and on the lookout, constantly giving
conscientious attention to duty. Duty, integrity and energy are the
watchwords, and will direct you on the road to success. Remember, the
opportunities of to-day are as great as ever!”


ONWARD, EVER; UPWARD, ALWAYS.

But though Mr. Strauss is a tireless worker, he finds time for a little
recreation. He is one of the best gentleman drivers in New York, and he
delights to race on the speedway. Still, the background of his life is
charity. For many years, he desired to establish a sterilizing plant
on Randall’s Island, for the benefit of waifs and foundlings taken
there. The death rate was very high. At length he gained his point, and
a recent unsolicited letter from the matron contained the gratifying
statement “that the death rate, since the installation of the plant,
has been reduced fully fifty per cent.”

In such deeds, Nathan Strauss delights. His life is one of perpetual
attention to duty and to business, and he encourages others who would
succeed, by saying: “Go at it with a will, and stick to your ambitious
aspirations through thick and thin!”

Mr. Strauss himself is an excellent example of the success of the
principle which he urges upon others as a rule of life. His whole
career has been distinguished by tireless energy and industry, and
the interests which are under his control have never suffered for any
lack of careful and thorough attention. He has always been deliberate
and consistent in adopting and adhering to any policy, public or
private, and never deserts those whom he has seen fit to honor with his
confidence, save on absolute proof of their unworthiness.




XLIV

A Varied Career Develops the Resourceful Head of a Great Institutional
Church and College.


IT was misfortune that proved the fortunate turning-point for Dr.
Russell H. Conwell, the pastor of the largest church in America, and
president of Temple College, which has upward of 8,000 students. He had
not been unsuccessful prior to his ordination to the ministry; on the
contrary, he had been a successful newspaper man and lawyer, and had
served with distinction in the Civil War. But, in the panic of 1873, he
lost most of his investments. I quote his own words:—

“I then wondered,—being always of a religious temperament,—why I should
make money my goal.”

We sat in his study, and he spoke thus of his interesting life:—

“I was born at South Worthington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts,
February 15, 1843, on my father’s farm, called the ‘Eagle’s Nest,’ on
account of its high and rocky surroundings. At an early age, I went to
school, and, when I grew older, worked on the farm. I was sometimes
laughed at because I always carried a book around with me, studying
and memorizing as I worked. Yet I was dull and stupid, never stood high
in my classes, and could not grasp a subject as quickly as others. But
I would stick to it. I am just as dull now, but I preserve my old habit
of stick-to-it-iveness. If I am driving a tack and it goes in crooked,
I lift it out, straighten it, and send it home. That is one of my
golden rules that I force myself to obey.”


HE ENLISTED AT EIGHTEEN.

“I went to Wilbraham, and, in 1861, entered Yale College, taking
up law, but the breaking out of the war interrupted my studies. I
enlisted, but, being only eighteen years of age, my father made me
‘right about face’, and come home. If I could not fight, I could speak,
and I delivered orations all over my native state, and was in some
demand in Boston. Finally, in 1862, I could stand the strain no longer,
and my father, already greatly interested in the war, permitted me to
go to the field.

“I returned a colonel, suffering from a wound, campaigns and
imprisonment, and entered the law school of the Albany University, from
which I was graduated in 1865.

“I married and moved to the great far west, to the then small town
of Minneapolis. There I suffered the usual uphill experiences and
privations of a young lawyer trying to make his way single-handed. I
opened a law office in a two-story stone building on Bridge square. My
clients did not come, and poverty stared my wife and me in the face. I
became an agent for Thompson Brothers, of St. Paul, in the sale of land
warrants.

“Fortune favored me in business, and I also became the Minneapolis
correspondent of the St. Paul ‘Press.’ I acquired some real estate, and
took part in politics. Having once dipped into journalism, I started a
paper of my own called ‘Conwell’s Star of the North.’ Then the sheriff
made his appearance, and turned the concern over to a man with more
capital. Next, I brought the Minneapolis daily ‘Chronicle’ to life. It
united with the ‘Atlas,’ and the combined papers formed the foundation
for the great journal of Minneapolis, the ‘Tribune.’”


HOUSEKEEPING IN TWO SMALL ROOMS.

“I continued to practice law. My wife and myself lived in two small
rooms. The front one was my office, and the back one, kitchen, parlor,
sitting room and bedroom. I had never fully recovered from my wound
received in the war. I knew Governor Marshall, and it was he who
appointed me emigration commissioner for the state of Minnesota. My
duties, of course, took me to Europe.”

When Dr. Conwell arrived in Europe, his health, that had been breaking
down, gradually gave way, and he gave up his place as commissioner.
For awhile, he rested; then, for several months, he attended lectures
at the University of Leipsic. That pilgrimage was followed by a number
of other journeys across the Atlantic to the principal countries of
Europe, and to northern Africa.

“In 1870,” continued Dr. Conwell, “I made a tour of the world as
special correspondent for the New York ‘Tribune’ and the Boston
‘Traveler.’ I then exposed the iniquities of Chinese contract
immigration. I next returned to Boston and law, and became editor of
the Boston ‘Traveler.’”

“But, doctor, had you never entertained a desire to enter the
ministry?” I asked.

“All my life I studied theology. The question was before me always:
Shall it be law or the ministry? The change came after I had lost
considerable money in the panic of 1873. Then came death into my home,
and the loss of my first wife. I turned to missionary work in Boston.
As time rolled on, I became more interested. But the turning-point
was really brought about by a law case. There was a meeting house
in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1877, dilapidated and old. The
congregation had left it, so the few old persons who remained decided
that it should be sold. They wished to consult a lawyer, and called me
to Lexington. Standing on the platform, I asked the few present to vote
upon the question. The edifice had been dear to some of them, and they
hemmed and hawed, and couldn’t decide.

“At length, I suggested that they put new life into the place. But
interest in the building as a place of worship seemed to have departed,
although they did not care to see it torn down.”


HOW HE ENTERED THE MINISTRY.

“On the spur of the moment, I said that, if they would gather there the
following Sunday morning, I would address them. A few came at first,
then more. We had to rent a hall in another place. I suggested that
they should get a pastor.

“To my surprise, they replied that if I would be their pastor, they
would erect a new church.

“I studied for the ministry. One day, I startled the quaint village
of Lexington by demolishing the little old church with an axe. The
people were aroused by my spirit, and gave donations for a new
church. I worked with the men we hired to construct it, and afterward
attended the Newton Theological Seminary. Seventeen years ago, I came
to Philadelphia as pastor of this church, which then worshipped in a
basement some squares away.”

“But Temple College, Doctor; how was that started?”

“About fourteen years ago a poor young man came to me to ask my advice
how to obtain a college education. I offered to be his teacher. Then
others joined until there were six. The number was gradually enlarged
to forty, when the idea came to me to found a people’s college.
Certain gentlemen became interested, and we erected Temple College,
which was then connected with this church, but now is a separate and
distinct institution. We hope shortly to have it like the New York
University. We have rented a number of outside buildings, and have
a law school and a seminary. About four thousand attend the evening
classes, while four thousand attend the special day classes.”


HE IS ALWAYS STUDYING SOMETHING.

“How do you manage to keep up in all the studies?” I asked. “Do you
carry text-books around with you in your pockets?”

“Yes, and I always have. I study all the time. I have acquired several
languages in that way.”

“When do you prepare your sermons?”

“I have never prepared a lecture or a sermon in my life, and I have
lectured for thirty-seven years. I seldom use even notes. When in the
pulpit, I rivet my attention on preaching, and think of nothing else.

“Application in the most severe form, and honesty, are the means by
which true success is attained. No matter what you do, do it to your
utmost. You and I may not do something as well as someone else, but
no stone should be unturned to do it to the best of our individual
ability. I have had a varied life, and many experiences, and I
attribute my success, if you are so pleased to call it, to always
requiring myself to do my level best, if only in driving a tack in
straight.”




XLV

An Inspiring Personality Wins a Noted Preacher Fame.


ONE of the brightest examples of early success in life is Frank W.
Gunsaulus, D.D., one of the sincerest friends of young men striving
to climb upward, that America has produced. Chicago has helped him,
and he has helped Chicago, to do great things. During his six years of
ministry in that city, before he left the pulpit and became president
of Armour Institute, he founded two notable institutions and raised
over $7,000,000 in money for charitable purposes. On the stormiest of
Sunday evenings, after a newspaper announcement that he will speak, an
audience two thousand five hundred strong will gather to hear him. It
was not an uncommon sight, during one of his series of winter sermons,
for men anxious to hear the splendid orator, to be lifted through
windows of Central Music Hall, when no more could get in at the doors.
His most conspicuous labor has been the founding of the famous Armour
Institute of Technology, which now has twelve hundred students, and of
which he is the president.


CAN A PREACHER BE A POWER?

I found him in the president’s office of Armour Institute.

“Do you think,” I said, “that it is more difficult for a preacher to
become a power in a nation than it is for a merchant, a lawyer, or a
politician?”

“Rather hard to say,” he answered. “There are prejudices against and
sympathies in favor of every class and profession. I think, however,
that a preacher is more like a doctor in his career. He is likely
to make a strong local impression, but not apt to become a national
figure. Given powerful convictions, an undertaking of things as they
are to-day, and steady work in the direction of setting things right,
and you may be sure a man is at least heading in the direction of
public favor, whether he ever attains it or not.”

“How did you manage to do the work you have done, in so short a time?”

“In the first place, I don’t think I have done so very much; and, in
the second place, the time seems rather long for what I have done. I
have worked hard, however.

“I thought to be a lawyer in my youth, and did study law and oratory.
My father was a country lawyer at Chesterfield, Ohio, where I was born,
and was a member of the Ohio Legislature during the war. He was a very
effective public speaker himself and thought that I ought to be an
orator. So he did everything to give me a bent in that direction, and
often took me as many as twenty miles to hear a good oration.”


MEN WHO INFLUENCED HIM.

“I admired Fisher Ames, to begin with, and, of course, Webster. I think
Wendell Phillips and Bishop Matthew Simpson, whom I heard a few times,
had the greatest influence on me. I considered them wonderful, moving
speakers, and I do yet. Later on, Henry Ward Beecher and Phillips
Brooks attracted my admiration.”

“Did you have leisure for study and time to hear orations when you were
beginning life?”

“In early years I attended the district school. From the twelfth to
my eighteenth year, I worked on the farm and studied nights. For all
my father’s urgings toward the bar, I always felt an inward drawing
toward the ministry, because I felt that I could do more there.
My father was not a member of any church, though my mother was an
earnest Presbyterian. Without any prompting from my parents, I leaned
toward the ministry, and finally entered it of my own accord. I was
fortunate enough to find a young companion who was also studying for
the ministry. We were the best of friends and helped each other a great
deal. It was our custom to prepare sermons and preach them in each
other’s presence. Our audience in that case, unlike that of the church,
never hesitated to point out errors. The result was that some sermons
ended in arguments between the audience and the preacher, as to facts
involved.”


HE DID NOT PRETEND TO PIETY.

“I was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan Seminary in debt. I had no
reputation for piety, and I don’t remember that I pretended to any.
I had convictions, however, and a burning desire to do something, to
achieve something for the benefit of my fellowmen, and I was ready for
the first opportunity.”

“Was it long in coming?”

“No, but you would not have considered it much of an opportunity. I
took charge of a small church at Harrisburg, Ohio, at a salary of three
hundred and twenty dollars a year. In preaching regularly I soon found
it necessary to formulate some kind of a theory of life,—to strive for
some definite object. I began to feel the weight of the social problem.”


ARE THE DICE OF LIFE LOADED?

“One important fact began to make itself plain, and that was that the
modern young man is more or less discouraged by the growing belief that
all things are falling into the hands of great corporations and trusts,
and that the individual no longer has much chance. My father had been
more or less of a fatalist in his view of life, and often quoted
Emerson to me, to the effect that the dice of life are loaded, and fall
according to a plan. My mother leaned to the doctrine of Calvin,—to
predestination. I inherited a streak of the same feeling, and the
conditions I observed made me feel that there was probably something
in the theory. I had to battle this down and convince myself that we
are what we choose to make ourselves. Then I had to set to work to
counteract the discouraging view taken by the young people about me.”

“You were a Methodist, then?”

“Yes, I was admitted to preach in that body, but it was not long before
I had an attack of transcendentalism, and fell out with the Methodist
elder of my district. The elder was wholly justified. He was a dry old
gentleman, with a fund of common sense. After one of my flights, in
which I advocated perfection far above the range of humankind, he came
to me and said: ‘My dear young man, don’t you know that people have to
live on this planet?’ The rebuke struck me as earthly then, but it has
grown in humor and common sense since.

“I left voluntarily. I knew I was not satisfactory, and so I went away.
I married when I was twenty. I preached in several places, and obtained
a charge at Columbus, Ohio.”


A MINISTER’S TRUE IDEAL.

“When did you begin to have a visible influence on affairs, such as you
have since exercised?”

“Just as soon as I began to formulate and follow what I considered to
be the true ideal of the minister.”

“And that ideal was?”

“That the question to be handled by a preacher must not be theological,
but sociological.”

“How did this conviction work out at Columbus?”

“The church became too small for the congregation, and so we had to
move to the opera house.

“My work there showed me that any place may be a pulpit,—editorial
chair, managerial chair, almost anything. I began to realize that a
whole and proper work would be to get hold of the Christian forces
outside the ecclesiastical machine and get them organized into
activity. I was not sure about my plan yet, however, so I left Columbus
for Newtonville, Massachusetts, and took time to review my studies.
There I came under the influence of Phillips Brooks. When I began once
more to get a clear idea of what I wanted to do, I went to Baltimore,
on a call, and preached two years at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church.

“I came to Chicago in 1872. Plymouth Church offered an absolutely
free pulpit, and an opportunity to work out some plans that I thought
desirable.”


HIS WORK IN CHICAGO.

“How did you go about your work in this city?”

“The first thing that seemed necessary for me to do was to find a
place where homeless boys of the city who had drifted into error and
troubles of various kinds could be taken into the country and educated.
I preached a sermon on this subject, and one member gave a fine farm
of two hundred and forty acres for the purpose. Plymouth Church
built Plymouth Cottage there, and the Illinois Training School was
moved there, and other additions were made, gradually adding to its
usefulness.”

“The church grew under your ministration there, did it not?”

“You can leave off that about me. It grew, yes, and we established a
mission.”

“Was there not a sum raised for this?”

“Yes; Mr. Joseph Armour gave a hundred thousand dollars to house this
mission, and the church has since aided it in various ways.”

“This Armour Institute is an idea of yours, is it not?”

“Well, it is in line with my ideas in what it accomplishes. It is the
outcome of Mr. Armour’s great philanthropy.”

“Do you find, now that you have experimented so much, that your ideals
concerning what ought to be done for the world were too high?” I asked.

“On the contrary,” answered Dr. Gunsaulus, “I have sometimes felt that
they were not high enough. If they had been less than they are, I
should not have accomplished what I have.”

“What has been your experience as to working hours?”

“I have worked twelve and fourteen, at times even eighteen hours a day,
particularly when I was working to establish this institution, but I
paid for it dearly. I suffered a paralytic stroke which put me on my
back for nine months, and in that time you see I not only suffered,
but lost all I had gained by the extra hours.”


HOW TO MEET GREAT EMERGENCIES.

“You believe in meeting great emergencies with great individual energy?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any way out of it. A man must work hard,
extra hard, at times, or lose many a battle.”

“You have mingled in public affairs here in Chicago, also, have you
not?”

“Yes, I have always tried to do my share.”

“You believe the chances for young men to-day are as good as in times
gone by?”

“I certainly do. That is my whole doctrine. The duties devolving on
young men are growing greater, more important, more valuable all the
time. The wants of the world seem to grow larger, more urgent every
day. What all young men need to do is to train themselves. They must
train their hands to deftness, train their eyes to see clearly, and
their ears to hear and understand. Look at the call there is going
to be upon young men when this country will be organizing its new
possessions and opening up new fields of activity. What the world needs
is young men equipped to do the work. There is always work to be done.”

“You think, in your own field, there is a call for energetic young men?”

“It never was greater. A young preacher who looks around him, studies
the conditions, finds out just a few of the ten thousand important
things that are going begging for someone to do them, and then proceeds
to work for their accomplishment, will succeed beyond his wildest
dreams.

“The world looks for leaders, it looks for men who are original, able
and practical; and all I have got to say to a young man is simply to
find out clearly all about a need in a certain direction, and then lead
on to the alleviation of it. Money, influence, honor, will all follow
along after, to help.”




XLVI

From the Forge to the Pulpit, a Life of Devotion and Application.


“SO you want me to tell you of myself,—to ‘blaw my ain harn,’ as
we used to say in old Yorkshire. Well, I’m not in love with the
undertaking, for what we call a self-made man usually shows that he
has made a pretty poor fist of it when he begins to describe the job
himself. However, if an outline of my life be of service, I give it
gladly. The beginning was in the hamlet of Ilkley, Yorkshire, England,
seventy-five years ago. I was born well; that is, I was born of simple,
hard-working folk who inspired in me very early a hearty respect for
work. My mother was a noble woman. I can see the old home now,—the bit
of grass in front, the plum tree, the whitewashed walls, and within,
the two rooms with floor of flags, the old prints on the walls, the
highly polished chairs and bureau, the tall clock that was always too
fast at bedtime and in the morning, and always too slow at mealtime,
the little shelf of books,—Bunyan, ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ Goldsmith, and
the Bible, full of pictures. Until I was eight years old, I went to
school to old Willie Hardie, who tried to find in me the spring of
what we called the humanities in the same way that they used to try to
locate a spring of water, namely: with a hazel rod.”


THE RIVALS: BOOKS AND THE MAIDEN.

“All the schooling I ever had under the master was finished in my
eighth year, when I went to earn my own living in a linen factory.
There was an article of faith in our good home creed about which both
my father and mother were of one mind,—the boys must learn a trade.
So, after six years in the factory, I was apprenticed to the village
blacksmith. I was a hard-working, conscientious boy, but full of
mischief and fond of fun. I had, however, a ravenous appetite for
books. I remember once, when quite small, I stood for a long time
before a shop window with a big English penny in my hand, debating
whether I should spend it for a particular kind of candy, of which I
was very fond, or for a little paper-covered book of travels. At length
I went in and bought the book. At meals I used to read, and even when I
was courting the lass whom I made my wife, I read all the books in her
father’s house. I am surprised she did not give me the mitten, and it
would have served me right, too.

“Books were not only pleasing to me, but were my passion. Give a young
man or maiden a passion for anything,—for books, business, painting,
teaching, farming, mechanics or music, I care not what, and you give
him or her a lever with which to lift their world, and a patent of
nobility, if the thing they do is noble. So I call my reading my
college course. It was not an adequate college nor an adequate course,
and there have been times when I felt a trifle sad that there should
have been no chance for me at a good, all-round education. But there
is a chance in the everlasting hunger to read books, and it is with
reading as it is with eating,—you grow choice when there is a plenty.
You instinctively learn to distinguish what is sweet and wholesome and
what is neither, and then you read as you eat,—only the best.

“A great sorrow came to me in 1849. As a result of it, I found my way
into a Methodist meeting house, and began to express what I felt. From
a few words, uttered standing by my seat in the meeting, I began to
preach at irregular intervals; and when I did, it became the custom,
after a while, for some one to go through the village, ringing a bell
and calling out: ‘The blacksmith is going to preach this morning.’
The working people came to hear me because I was one of themselves.
Then they would have me preach regularly,—at nothing a Sunday and find
myself.

“Sometimes I would forget the flight of time and preach for two
hours or more. As I look back upon the poor mortals who sat under my
ministrations for such a length of time, I am reminded of the judge
who, when asked how long a sermon ought to last, replied: ‘About twenty
minutes, with leanings to the side of mercy.’”


THE LIGHT THAT LED OVER THE SEA.

“My only worldly ambition was to make my way as a blacksmith, but
one day there came to me in a flash the thought that I must go to
America, where I would have to bow to no class, but would be as good
a man as any. Many times in my life these sudden burstings of light,
half thought, half feeling, have come to me; and, when they do come, I
cease to reason about the matter. I simply obey the impulse with all
the power of my will. It would have taken tremendous difficulties to
have kept me from embarking for this country after the flash came, and
so, one fine spring morning in 1850, I and my little family, with our
small store of worldly goods, went aboard the old ship ‘Roscius,’ made
ourselves as comfortable as we could in the steerage, and a month later
were in New York.

“I had made up my mind to settle in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and
there I soon found work at the anvil. It was lucky I did, for, when we
reached our destination, my whole capital amounted to only about twenty
dollars. We made ourselves a little home, and I worked at my trade for
the next nine years, except during the panic of 1857, when I carried
the hod and broke stone on the turnpike for a dollar a day. Meanwhile,
I was preaching o’ Sundays, again at nothing a Sunday. In 1859, I was
asked to devote myself altogether to preaching,—to go to Chicago as
a minister to the poor. Well, I went. I said good-by forever to the
anvil, in whose ringing voice I had heard so many years the old sermon
on the nobility of work.”


GENIUS IS DEVOTION AND APPLICATION.

“Before I had been in Chicago a great while, some people got together
and built a church, and appointed me pastor of it, hardly so much as
saying to me ‘by your leave.’ It was named the Unity Church, and I
remained in charge of it till 1879, when I came to New York to preach
in the Church of the Messiah.

“Here I have since remained. My life, you see, is divided into two
sections,—forty years in the pulpit, twenty-one years at the anvil. I
have worked on long lines, and I will say to young men that, when your
homes and your schools have done all they can for you, and you begin
the work of life, you must take hold with a will and be content to work
hard on long lines. People say that such and such a person has genius
for what he or she takes in hand, and that is the secret of the success
attained. But I say that genius means strong devotion and steadfast
application. You may imagine that you can go from the bottom to the top
of the ladder at one jump, but it is not true. Going up the ladder at
one jump is like the toy monkey that goes up at a jump and comes down
head first. The men and women who achieve true success are all hard
climbers. They work in one direction. Our course must not be like a
cow-path, all over the pasture and into the woods, for that may mean
through the woods into the wilderness.

“I want to say, too, that, if we expect to do well in this life, we
must keep well, by all the means in our power;—eat well, and sleep
well eight hours out of the twenty-four. Young men should choose, as
early as they can, a good and true woman for a wife, and look forward
to a noble family of children. My ambition was to have seven, and
the all-wise Father gave me nine. If a young man has good mental and
physical health and works hard, his life will be sweet and clean. He
will do his day’s work well and his life’s work well, and at the end he
will be able to say, with Adam in the play:—

    “‘Though I look old, yet am I strong and lusty,
      For in my youth I never did apply hot and rebellious liquors to
          my blood,
      And did not with unbashful forehead woo
      The means of weakness and debility.
      Therefore my age is lusty winter, frosty, but kindly.’”




XLVII

Canada’s Leading Conservative Extols “the Country of the Twentieth
Century.”


THOUGH he lost his fight against Sir Wilfrid Laurier for the
Premiership of Canada in the general election of 1904, Robert Laird
Borden is still one of the Dominion’s important figures.

He is in the prime of life. He has conspicuous ability, remarkable
energy and an indomitable will. What a man with this combination of
qualities sets his mind upon he usually obtains. Mr. Borden freely
acknowledges his ambition to reach the top notch of political success,
and there are a great many Canadians who believe that he will yet be
Premier.

His party, in spite of his defeat, has strong faith in him, and his
opponents, now triumphant, admit that he is formidable—a menace to
their continuing success. They feel that under the scrutiny of Borden,
who is notably quick to detect weak spots in the armor of the enemy,
and to drive home strong thrusts, they must put their best foot front.
Thus, even in defeat, Mr. Borden is a power.

My first impression of him was obtained in Montreal. He was walking
through a hotel rotunda with the long, swift strides that bespeak
much physical energy. His head was bowed and his eyes were knit. He
struck me at the moment as being a personification of determination and
concentration. It was a little later, in his room, that I had my talk
with him. Mr. Borden’s head is large. His brow rises straight up from
heavy brows and eyes which are deep-set and rather small, and twinkle
with shrewdness and good nature. The lower part of his face is heavy,
indicating the strength of will and purpose which have carried him to
the front in Canadian politics.

“I am much interested in success,” he said with a smile. “Indeed, the
air in Canada nowadays is charged with it. We have a feeling that a far
larger part of the success of Canada lies in the future rather than
in the past. While the United States developed more in the nineteenth
century than any other country in the world, we believe that Canada
will show similar industrial advances within the next quarter of a
century. We entertain the idea that ours will prove to be the country
of the twentieth century. It is not yet as widely known as it should
be that we have a somewhat larger area in land than the United States
and that this land is not rendered sterile by the winter reign of the
mythical personage called ‘our lady of the snows,’ but is capable of
remarkable productivity.

“We are looking forward and not backward, and therefore I am not
particularly interested in the unimportant events of long ago; but
if you must know, I will say that I was born in the village of Grand
Pre, in Nova Scotia, in 1854. Some of my ancestors had lived in the
United States. One of them, my great-grandfather, was the law partner
of Pierpont Edwards, in New Haven, Conn. They had one of the largest
practices in that section of the country, but when the Revolutionary
War broke out my forefather remained loyal to King George. He migrated
with his family to Nova Scotia, and there the family has since remained.

“Yes, my village is the one which Longfellow has described in his poem
‘Evangeline’; and yet, taking full advantage of his poetical license,
Longfellow put much in his picture that is purely imaginary. It is,
however, a little community whose inhabitants lead the simple life,
acquire robust physiques, and strong opinions of right and wrong.

“I know of no better environment than one like this for the passing
of the days of early youth. The impressions stamped on the mind of
a boy by such people and surroundings never forsake him. However
different from the simple beliefs of these villagers his standpoint may
eventually become, these first teachings remain what might be called
the oak rafters of his philosophy.

“I feel that not a little of whatever I have achieved is due to
the fact that the years of my boyhood and youth were spent in an
environment of simplicity. I was an industrious student, and when I
was about fourteen I was made a teacher in the Acadia Villa Academy
in my native country. It was in this school that I had obtained my
preliminary education, and I presume I did right in returning to the
institution as teacher the modicum of knowledge I had acquired. When
I was still in my teens I went to the United States and became an
instructor in Glenwood Institute in New Jersey. This proved to be
excellent training for me. I think that an experience of this kind is
one of the best things in the world for a young man, for the reason
that the necessity in it to command others teaches him the more easily
to command himself. It increases his dignity, self-reliance and
self-respect.

“I decided, however, that I did not care to make teaching my life work,
and so I returned to Nova Scotia in 1874 and began the study of law in
the offices in Halifax of the firm of Weatherby & Graham. In 1878 I was
called to the bar and a few months afterwards was offered a partnership
by J. P. Chapman, of Kentville, now a county court judge.

“Together we worked up quite a large practice, but owing to certain
circumstances I entered the firm of Thompson, Graham & Tupper. It
was not long afterward that the senior member of the firm, Sir John
Thompson, became judge of the Supreme Court, and in the course of time
Sir Charles Tupper, one of the other members, was called to the cabinet
of Sir John A. McDonald. Subsequently Mr. Graham, the third member of
the firm, became Judge in Equity for the Province of Quebec.

“I believe that a large part of anything I have achieved has been due
to the fact that I was associated with able men during the impressible
period of young manhood. While I did not realize it at that time, I
have often thought since that one of the most fortunate circumstances
in my life was my close contact with these men. By this means I not
only absorbed a greater knowledge of the law than otherwise would have
been the case, but also became imbued with certain principles that I
have always retained.

“The calling of these gentlemen to high places under the Government
left me to the position of senior partner, and the firm name eventually
became Borden, Ritchie, Parker & Chisholm. We did a large business,
and on the strength of this I was elected and held for several years
the position of president of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society. It
was in 1896 that I first entered politics, representing Halifax as the
Conservative party’s candidate for the Dominion Parliament.”

“To what in particular, Mr. Borden,” I inquired, “do you attribute the
fact that you speedily arose to leadership of your party in Parliament?”

Mr. Borden pondered a moment, and then said:

“I can hardly answer that question, but I will say that perhaps the
influence I have been able to gain in Parliament has been due to the
fact that I have had very strong convictions on all public questions,
and have let slip few opportunities to express them. I am usually able
to maintain the positions I take in argument, for the reason that I am
always careful to fortify myself with facts and with as extensive a
general knowledge of the subject as possible before going into a debate
or going before the House on any particular issue.

“I believe I have the reputation of being a hard worker. However
this may be, I will say that I have always made it a rule to give
painstaking attention to seemingly unimportant details in my legal
cases, and have frequently won them on this account. This habit,
acquired in my youth, of looking after small matters, has made it much
easier for me to take care of the large affairs of my clients and of my
party since I have entered politics. I know of no surer road to both
general and political success than the obvious highway of hard work,
coupled, of course, with common sense.

“While the law is the profession which most naturally leads the young
man into the political arena, I always like to see the farmer in
politics, for the reason that the latter usually has a certain strong
simplicity and a degree of sense that often discounts and renders
weak in comparison the learning and polish of the professional man.
The farmers will be the dominating class in the development of the
Northwest, and I hope to see more and more of them in politics.”

In his contact with his fellow-men Mr. Borden’s manner is marked by a
quiet dignity and cordiality that has won him many friends. While he
has numerous political enemies, there are few men in the Dominion who
are as popular personally. Mr. Borden likes to meet and exchange views
with the average citizen. A little story is told of him in his recent
campaign which is characteristic. It seems that he was on a night
journey on a train and could not sleep. A like wakefulness afflicted
a young man in the same car, and at midnight they found themselves
together in the smoking compartment. Talk began at once, and throughout
the dragging hours these two discussed the great questions of the
day. The young man, who had just returned from the States, did not
recognize his companion, and the next morning in Montreal he remarked
to his friends upon his very interesting fellow-traveler of the night
before. He said that they had chiefly talked politics and that his
acquaintance had been so convincing that he had been won over to the
Conservative party. He described his fellow-passenger, and very much to
his astonishment was informed that the latter was Mr. Borden himself.




XLVIII

An Eminent Scholar Advocates the Union of Canada and the United States.


CANADA’S “grand old man” is Professor Goldwin Smith. With all his
opinions Canadians do not agree, but they are united in their
admiration for his qualities as a man and a scholar. A mention of his
name brings an expression of liking and pride to the face of every
intelligent resident of the Dominion. A mention of his well-known
belief that Canada and the United States will eventually be one brings
a smile which well expresses the average Canadian’s feeling that their
leading philosopher’s idea of the union of the great commonwealths is
too abstract and remote to arouse alarm in the patriotic breast.

In spite of this difference of opinion the people of the Dominion
highly appreciate Professor Smith’s notable attainments as a student
and a writer. They realize that from his vantage point of long
residence in both England and the United States, as well as in Canada,
and from his careful and enlightened study of the problems of these
countries, his outlook is perhaps broader than that of any other man
in Canada. Professor Smith, now in his eighty-first year, lives in
an ideal way in his Toronto residence, The Grange. It was here that I
called on him.

The Scotch lodgekeeper and his wife, in their quaint little home at
the gate, were quite in keeping with the air of dignified calm which
enfolds The Grange. The house, standing well back in the grounds, is
representative of the best architecture of a century ago. It suggests
reminiscence and contemplation. It has the mellow atmosphere of the
past. When approaching it along the gravel walk you feel that you have
left behind the hurly burly of everyday life; that this is a most
fitting abode for one who stands apart from the crowd to watch the
currents of life flow by.

As the house is, so is the man. Tall, slender and a trifle bent in
figure, with a thin ascetic face, Professor Smith impressed me as a man
who contemplates calmly and critically, but with a very kindly eye, as
from high ground, the agitations and excitements of the times. I made a
remark to him as to the quietude of his surroundings.

“Yes, I am very fond of the old place,” he replied, his eyes kindling
with interest. “I am proud of it. You have noticed that all of the
woodwork is black walnut, which was the prevailing mode in interior
decorations in the early part of the nineteenth century. I have
permitted nothing to be changed. I am fond of old things, perhaps,
because I am old myself.”

“Your activities make it rather difficult to believe that statement,” I
said.

“Well, I have always tried to retain a youthful spirit,” answered
Professor Smith, with the engaging smile which is characteristic of
him, “and I have been able to keep a fair amount of physical vigor by
means of plenty of exercise and regularity in my mode of living. I have
always been very fond of walking, and have done a great deal of it.
While I am not as industrious in this respect as I used to be, I make
a point of driving out in my carriage every afternoon. I rarely let
anything interfere with this, because it has a tendency to give me new
vitality both in spirit and body.”

“While your house is old, Professor Smith,” I remarked, “this country
in which you live, Canada, is young.”

“Yes, we have not progressed as rapidly as the United States; we are
yet, in many respects, a people of beginnings. Canadians look forward
to the future with very optimistic spirit. We see possibilities of
great industrial and agricultural development.”

“The average Canadian does not look as far into the future as you do
yourself.”

“No, perhaps not,” smilingly replied Professor Smith. “I believe that
the great majority of our people are not at all in sympathy with my
opinion that Canada will eventually become a part of the United States.
I have, however, long held this belief. It has been my idea for many
years that the whole continent of North America should be, and will be
eventually, given up to republican institutions. It has been said of me
that I left Great Britain in order to be able to live in the republican
atmosphere of the New World. While this is not altogether true, I am
wonderfully interested in the great experiment of a government by the
people which is now being tried by the United States.

“I think the experiment will prove a success, and that in the end
all of the commonwealths on this side of the Atlantic will come
sufficiently under the influence of this form of government to embrace
it. The Old World powers are by degrees losing their dependencies in
the New World. I long ago said, for example, that Spain’s hold upon
Cuba was becoming weaker and weaker, and would sooner or later become
altogether relaxed. I believe that this is likewise true of Great
Britain in her relationship with Canada. A wide ocean divides the
mother country from her great colony in North America, while merely an
artificial boundary line divides us from the powerful republic to the
South.

“The bond between Canada and the United States is gradually becoming
closer in spite of the little intervening frictions which from time
to time arise. I am aware that many Canadians express an antipathy
for the United States, but this amounts to little more than talk.
Young Canadians have been for many years seeking opportunities in the
United States, and at the present time many thousands of agriculturists
from the Western States are annually migrating into our Northwest to
take advantage there of the productivity of the virgin soil. Numerous
American capitalists are investing their money on our side of the line,
and thus the commercial connection is constantly becoming closer.

“As a matter of fact, there is in some particulars more intimate
union between Canada and the United States than between some of our
own provinces. I have often said to my friends that the beginning of
wisdom in regard to Canada is the realization of the fact that the
natural avenues of traffic and communication lie north and south rather
than east and west. We must remember that between various parts of
the Dominion nature has set up very formidable barriers, great lakes,
high mountains, and wide expanses of uncultivated territory. We must
not forget, furthermore, that there are two distinct races in Canada,
different in religion, sympathies and general characteristics. Thus
it will be seen that without compactness in territory and without a
homogeneous spirit among the people, Canada is not a united country.
She needs the United States and, by the same token, the United States
needs Canada. While I don’t expect to see it in my own time, I feel
justified in prophesying that the passing years of the twentieth
century will bring an equal union between our country and the States.
Together they will rise to greater heights of power, influence and
civilization than any nation has yet attained.

“I like to see Canadians go to the United States and I like to see
young Americans come to Canada. A young man should always have courage
to seek the fields which seem to be most promising for him. I am
inclined to think that a changed environment is a stimulus to his
energy and ambition. A knowledge of the different sections certainly
gives him a broader outlook and adds materially to his equipment for
the battle of life.”




XLIX

After Failure as a Grocer, He Becomes the Ablest Administrator Quebec
Has Ever Had.


“THE busiest man in Canada,” exclaimed a friend in close touch with
the government, when I told him that I desired to meet the Hon. S. N.
Parent, Premier of the Province of Quebec.

“Parent, you know,” continued my informant, “is not only Premier of
the Province, but is also mayor of the City of Quebec, minister of
lands, mines and fisheries, president of the company that is building
a seven-million-dollar bridge across the St. Lawrence, director in the
Quebec Railway Light and Power Company, director in the Grand Trunk
Railway, and a lawyer with the largest practice in the Province.”

This information as to his surprising range of activities, bespeaking a
man of remarkable achievement, made me more than ever anxious to talk
with Mr. Parent, and I said so to my friend.

“Well,” he exclaimed, “the premier is personally one of the most
approachable men alive, but all day long in the ante-rooms of his
various offices there are crowds waiting to see him. He never appears
in the streets of Quebec on foot, but always in his cab, for the simple
reason that if he were walking so many persons would stop him that he
would be hours getting to his destination. His lieutenants hedge him
in, but once past them you are all right.”

“What would be a good time and place to call on him?”

“In answer to that I will give you an outline of his movement for his
business day, and you may judge for yourself. Promptly every morning
at half-past seven he arrives at his law office in Lower Town and sees
clients there until ten o’clock, when he goes to the City Hall to take
up his work as Mayor. Here he keeps in close touch with every detail of
city administration.

“It has been said that not a nail is driven on public property without
his knowledge. This, of course, is an exaggeration, but it is the
truth that he is the first mayor Quebec has had in sixty years who has
been able to run the municipal government without an annual deficit in
the treasury. And yet with all his economy he has instituted numerous
public improvements. On the strength of this work for Quebec he has
several times been reëlected Mayor and has held the office for eleven
years.

“After an hour at the City Hall he is driven to Parliament House, where
he transacts the business of the Province until half-past one. Here, in
addition to his general work, he gives special attention to the land
and fisheries department, which he has made the most important in the
provincial government. He has so developed it that it yields a larger
income than any other.

“Mr. Parent takes a light luncheon at half-past one, and remains in
Parliament House until four o’clock, when he returns to his law office,
where he gives himself up to cases and to his financial interests
until seven. Now comes a dinner which is hardly more hearty than his
luncheon, and after this he attends the meetings of committees, which
assemble in the evening chiefly to suit his convenience. This schedule
is as regular as clockwork. The Premier makes a point of letting
nothing interfere with it. Exactly at the times and places I mention
you can find him.”

Armed with this knowledge, and with a letter of introduction, I sought
the Premier at the House of Parliament—a stately building of massive
stone, standing out against the sky on the heights of the “Gibraltar
of America,” and commanding a huge panoramic view of the Lower Town,
of the St. Lawrence and St. Charles rivers, of the Isle of Orleans,
the wide valley of St. Anne and the sweeping lines of the Laurentian
Mountains.

The ante-room was crowded, as I had been told it would be, but an
attendant at once took in my letter and almost immediately returned.

“The Premier cannot see you to-day,” he said, “but will be very glad
to meet you at this office at twelve sharp to-morrow. If you would
accept a little word of advice,” he added, official manner giving way
to French-Canadian courtesy, “I would say that it would be well to be
exactly on time. By five minutes past twelve, if you are not here, the
Premier will be engaged with some one else, and then your opportunity
will be gone. He never spends time in waiting. This is what you might
call one of his peculiarities.”

I was on time. At precisely twelve an official passed out of the inner
room and I was invited in. As the Premier swung about in his chair with
the quick glance and motion that are characteristic with him, I saw a
man with a high forehead, a prominent nose, keen gray eyes and a small
mustache. His age is fifty-three, but he appears much younger.

“I am interviewing the most successful men in Canada,” I said, “and so,
naturally, have called on you.”

Mr. Parent smiled, with a slight shrug of his shoulders, but made no
comment.

“Would you mind telling me how you made your start toward success?”

The light of reminiscence came into the Premier’s eyes and his smile
was more pronounced. After a very brief pause he said:

“You flatter me by the use of that word success; but if you want to
know how I began my career I will assure you that I began it with a
failure. My father was a merchant across the river in Beauport, where
I was born, and before I was old enough to appreciate how much I did
not know I branched out into business for myself. I started a grocery
store. It failed, and I decided that I was unfit to be a successful
grocer.

“A fair education gained at the normal school enabled me to obtain a
place in a law office of S. B. Langois here in Quebec. After I had
been with him a short time he strongly advised me to take up law as a
profession. I was beginning to feel a pronounced inclination in this
direction, and, stimulated by his encouragement, I began to study hard.
I took the course at Laval University, and after graduation commenced
to practice chiefly at first in the police courts.

“Gradually my clients increased in numbers and my cases in importance.
Politics had always interested me. I became somewhat active in this
field, and, although I have never tried to practice the art of oratory,
for which I have no gift, I was elected to the County Council of Quebec
in 1890. Three years later I was made Mayor of the city and not long
afterwards Premier of the Province. My career since then has been
largely official and a matter of record.”

“It is said that you have given the province and the city the best
business administration they have ever had. You know more about
business now than when you ran the grocery store, for instance.”

“Oh, yes,” laughed Mr. Parent, “a great deal more. For one thing, I
have learned that the price of a business success is eternal vigilance.
I have found that the only way to conduct affairs of a municipality
along strictly business lines is to watch the committees—to watch their
every move. It is in these bodies that the financial leaks are most
likely to occur. Not having to carry the main responsibility for public
expenditures, committees are inclined to be too generous, too confident
of the resources of the treasury. I have no doubt that this is as true
in your country, the United States, as in Canada.

“We have ten committees which are meeting constantly. During the eleven
years I have been in office I have not missed a single meeting, which
is one of the main causes, I think, of whatever success I may have had
as a public administrator.”

“Your position as the representative of a large population of both
French and English must have its difficulties,” I remarked.

“These are not nearly as great as you might imagine,” quickly replied
the Premier. “I don’t pretend to try to please everybody, but I do try
to treat all alike. I myself, as you know, am of French descent. French
was the language of my childhood, but whether a man is English, or
Scotch, or French-Canadian, whether he is a Protestant or Catholic,
has absolutely no weight with me in my attitude toward him in the
discharge of my official duties.

“We French hold to our language and customs because we are proud
of them, but there is complete sympathy between the two races
in the Province of Quebec. The Anglo-Saxon Canadian admires the
French-Canadian because of his honesty, industry and thrift, and the
latter admires the former for virtues too numerous to mention. A union
between the two, already close, is constantly becoming closer, and
it gives me pleasure to think that perhaps I have done something to
advance this movement for the common good.

“We are all working for the prosperity and progress of the province and
city of Quebec. In this connection the possibilities are so great that
even if we were inclined to racial prejudices, which is not true, we
would realize that we could not afford to entertain them.

“Quebec is on the threshold of a new era. The great bridge across
the St. Lawrence will bring important improvements in the railroad
facilities of the city. The harbor, already one of the finest in
existence for vessels of large tonnage, will be made even better by
the extension of the dock system and by other projects now in hand.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which is about to be built across
the continent, will have its eastern terminus at Quebec, and will
bring to us for export to the markets of the world a vast quantity of
the products of the great Northwest. All this will mean a remarkable
stimulus to our city.

“As for the province as a whole, the fertility of the soil,
particularly in the neighborhood of Lake St. John, warrants the
prediction that it will become the granary of Eastern Canada. The
enormous water powers within our boundaries, harnessed for the
generation of electricity, will mean the rise of many industries. There
is, moreover, an immense wealth of money to be gathered from the many
thousands of miles of territory which offer pulp wood for paper making.
Year by year the pulp industry is extending, but it is as yet at the
very beginning of its development. It will bring many millions of
dollars to the province and its people. Young men now at the outset of
their careers will grow rich from the new industrial activities.

“But in Quebec we have not yet been educated up, or down, to the idea
that the most desirable thing in the world is wealth. We have other
standards of success. None of us have what would be considered from
the American point of view great riches, and we are well content that
this is so. Money, of course, is an excellent thing, and we have no
prejudices against its possession, but we are in no feverish haste to
acquire it. For example, none of our professional men or politicians
are very rich. Political life here offers practically no financial
opportunities. The politician who attempted corrupt practices would
find himself in an isolated position. There would be no coterie to
support him. He would be subjected to adverse opinion that would
quickly terminate his career. In my administration of public affairs in
the province and city of Quebec there has not been, I am happy to say,
five cents’ worth of scandal.

“No, as yet, at least, we are not worshippers of the golden calf. All
we want in our careers and community is a healthy progress. We desire
to keep the city of Quebec, for instance, abreast of the times, to
infuse her veins with new blood, but certainly not at a sacrifice
of the flavor of the past which makes her the most interesting and
picturesque city on the continent. We respect the old, and intend to
keep it and the new in harmonious balance.”

“How were you impressed with Mr. Parent?” inquired my friend when I
informed him that I had had my interview.

“Excellently well,” I answered.

“I knew you would be. He is a high grade man, and is very
representative of the French-Canadians of this generation. He believes
in progress, but not in haste. He has good intentions, and the ability
to carry them out. He is much more of a listener than a talker, but
when he says a thing, or makes a promise, you may depend upon it.”

“You have found, haven’t you, that his political opponents admit
that they respect him? I thought so. It has been said here in Quebec
that in his character there is the combination of the canniness of
the Scot, the progressive energy of the Englishman, the conservatism
and sentiment of the French-Canadian, and the geniality of the Irish
gentleman.”




L

Canada’s Leading Economist Tells Her Sons To Seek Fortune in Her Own
Domain.


SIR WILFRID LAURIER, Premier of Canada, said that in matters pertaining
to railways the Hon. Andrew George Blair was the Dominion’s greatest
authority. Whenever in Canada you mention the name of Mr. Blair,
whether among his friends or political opponents, the comment is,—an
able man.

Since his entrance into political life in 1878, after twelve years
of notably successful practice as a lawyer in his native city of
Fredericton, New Brunswick, he has continually risen. Though defeated
in his first candidacy for the New Brunswick House of Commons, he was
elected the second time he ran, in 1879, and since then has always been
victorious at the polls.

As a matter of course, through the force of his personality and without
apparent effort, he became leader of the minority in the New Brunswick
House, and this minority he changed from weakness to strength. His
personal following grew so steadily that in 1883 the majority was
defeated and Mr. Blair became Premier of the Province. In three
general elections, those of 1886, 1890 and 1894, his leadership was
sustained. “By this time,” remarked a friend of his to me, “Blair was
the whole thing in the Province of New Brunswick.”

However this may have been, it is true that Mr. Blair had become a
figure of national prominence. Long before this he had attracted the
attention of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and when the latter became Premier
of the Dominion in 1896 he made Mr. Blair a member of his Cabinet,
appointing him to the important place of Minister of Railways and
Canals.

It was in this position that he acquired the mastery of railroad
problems that has made him Canada’s leading authority on
transportation. In 1903, because he disagreed with the governmental
powers on the subject of the projected Grand Trunk Pacific line across
the continent, he resigned his portfolio.

But it very soon became evident that Mr. Blair was a man with whose
services it was difficult to dispense. For the purpose of regulating
the railroads in their relations with the public more specifically
than had been possible by the Ministry of Railways and Canals a Board
of Railway Commissioners was provided for by Parliament early in 1904.
Mr. Blair had been very active in advocating the organization of the
committee, and it was obvious that there was no man in Canada who could
approach him in fitness for the place of chairman. Yet his opposition
to the government in its great scheme for the new transcontinental
road was a very formidable objection to his selection. This difficulty
caused much hesitation on the part of the ruling spirits, but in the
end it was decided that the Government could not get along without Mr.
Blair, and so he was appointed chairman of the committee. After a few
months of very successful work he resigned his place, an act which
threw the party in power into a state of astonishment and consternation.

In his office in Ottawa I called upon Mr. Blair, and was at once
impressed with what might be called his bigness. His face, the lower
part of which is covered with the luxuriant growth of beard which is
characteristic of the Scotchman, is broad. His forehead is high and
wide. His eyes are unusually large. He speaks slowly, and every word
has weight.

If one were to make a military comparison it might be said that he has
much more of the blunt strength of the cannon than of the glittering
sharpness of the sword. And yet this military simile, except at times
of heated debate in the House of Parliament, or when his indignation
is aroused, is not a fair one, for no man’s ordinary manner is more
quiet and benign. His energy is not obtrusive, nor of the kind called
nervous. It seems to have a far deeper source than this. The truth
is, Mr. Blair impressed me as possessing more of the equipment of
the scholar and philosopher than of the lawyer giving and parrying
quick thrusts in court litigation, or of the politician devising ways
and means to hold and increase his power. It is difficult to imagine
him indulging in airy flights of eloquence calculated to arouse
the admiration of the crowd. Indeed, he never indulges in what is
ordinarily called oratory. He depends for effectiveness in his speeches
upon the force of fact and logic, with which in Parliament he has
shattered numerous soaring bubbles of forensic sentiment.

“I don’t care to talk about myself,” he remarked to me. “Those good
friends of mine who differ with me on matters of public policy are
doing that. But I have no objection to saying something on the topic
of success, although the subject is so vital and has such an intimate
relationship to a young man’s ambitions and career that I should have
liked to have a little time to consider it.

“I will say, however, that I have been strongly impressed within very
recent times with the fact that it is no longer necessary for young
Canadians to go to the United States to seek their success. At one
time there were much greater opportunities for them there than here,
and Canada lost many of her best minds and most promising youths.
Not a few of these have achieved distinction in the States, and many
young Canadians, inspired by their example, are still seeking fame
and fortune across the border. But a larger number are now coming in
this direction. The tide has turned. Men with capital, in money or in
brains, are beginning to realize that in this twentieth century Canada
is the land of opportunities.

“Even in the profession of law, which feels the effect of new
conditions rather less quickly than do commercial pursuits, there
has been a marked advance toward more business and larger fees. For
electrical, mechanical and civil engineers there is more and more work
in Canada because of the constant installation of new manufacturing
plants and the extension of the railway systems.

“In the field of railroad construction in particular, on account of
the necessity of thousands of miles more of track in the new territory
which is being opened up, there will be a great deal of work for young
men within the next few years. I do not myself believe that it is
necessary to build new lines with the haste thought advisable in some
quarters, but it is inevitable that sooner or later the country will be
covered by a network of railroads. All this railway building and the
resulting development of new communities will mean, of course, business
and professional openings for a great number of energetic men.

“This will be especially true of our immense Northwest, which is
virtually a new country of a wonderful productivity in grain and
minerals, and of a vastness in territory difficult to imagine. In the
flourishing little city of Edmonton, in the province of Alberta, I
happened to meet a man not long ago who was installing mills for the
grinding of wheat in the territory to the north, and asked him as to
the location of the most northerly mill that he was building. In reply
he mentioned a place which, to my astonishment, was over twelve hundred
miles north of Edmonton. From this you will see that there are wheat
fields nearly sixteen hundred miles north of the boundary line between
Canada and the United States.

“The climate here is tempered by the winds which come through the
passes of the Rocky Mountains from the warm Japanese current of the
Pacific. This makes it possible to grow wheat in the region just east
of the Rockies at a latitude much higher than in the section farther
east, where the balmy winds do not reach, but the fact that there
are wheat fields sixteen hundred miles north of the border will give
you an idea of the marvelous extent of the wheat growing country of
northwestern Canada.

“I have not the slightest doubt that in the course of the next
twenty-five years a great commonwealth will have been developed here,
and this means that many thousands of young men who are honest and
energetic and wide awake enough to see and seize their chances will
acquire comfortable competencies for themselves and families. Some will
unquestionably make large fortunes.

“I do not, however, regard the accumulation of a great deal of money
as a criterion of success. I think that a man who has been able to
build for himself a comfortable home, presided over by a good wife and
enlivened with the presence of a moderate number of children, is apt to
be far more content with his lot than the man who must carry the burden
of a great fortune.

“In the Northwest the conditions will not be such as to enable a man to
amass the fabulous wealth which has marked the industrial development
of the United States. For one thing, we are so regulating our railroads
in their relations to the public that it will be quite impossible for
favored shippers to obtain the preferences in freight rates which, in
the United States, have been the chief source of the menacing wealth of
certain conspicuous capitalists.

“To make impossible all discrimination in rates on the part of
railroads has been one of my principal cares in the discharge of my
official duties as Minister of Railways and as Chairman of the Railway
Commission. If it can be truthfully said that I have accomplished
something in this direction I shall feel that my labors have not been
in vain.”

“What,” I inquired, “do you consider the chief requisite of success in
political life?”

Mr. Blair paused, and turned his eyes reflectively toward the window.
“This is a difficult question,” he answered slowly. “There are,
of course, numerous qualities that combine to give a man success
in politics as in any other pursuit. But I am sure that the prime
essential of the man who is ambitious to hold any lasting influence in
political life is character.

“If he possesses character he is bound to gain and maintain the
respect, not only of his friends, but even of his enemies, and will be
able to keep himself afloat on the tempestuous sea of politics long
after those who have not been able to resist the temptations of a
political career have been engulfed.

“In Canada the political life carries with it no great financial
rewards. The young man who enters politics and devotes himself
zealously to affairs of state must not expect affluence. If his aim
in life is to acquire riches he should by all means keep clear of the
political arena until, at least, he has made his success in business.”

In his administration in the office of Minister of Railways and of
Chairman of the Railway Commission, Mr. Blair showed a pronounced
simplicity and unconventionality in his methods. His aim being to
accomplish as much as possible, he went straight to the mark, with
little regard for formality or red tape. Many times, in his work of
railway supervision, he has traversed the length and breadth of Canada,
preferring to see conditions for himself rather than to judge of them
on hearsay evidence. A single episode may be given as characteristic
of his manner of obtaining results. There had been numerous complaints
about the dangers of a certain crossing on one of the railways. Some of
these complaints had been sent to the office of the Commission, but in
the ordinary routine of business some time would have elapsed before
action upon them could be taken. Meanwhile the railroad was doing
nothing in the matter, and the lives of many children were daily in
danger. Mr. Blair, however, had heard unofficially of the crossing. One
day he happened to meet on a train the superintendent of the road in
question. The train was approaching the dangerous place, when Mr. Blair
suddenly remarked to the superintendent: “By the way, Mr. ——, I have
heard that you have a bad crossing on the line not far from here. Let
us get out and take a look at it.”

The superintendent acquiesced, and when the crossing was reached the
train was stopped and the two gentlemen alighted. For a few moments
they surveyed the woods that concealed the approach of trains and the
other conditions which made the crossing hazardous.

“I think we have seen enough, Mr. ——,” remarked the Chairman. When they
had resumed their seats in the car he said, “Now, see here, it is just
as obvious to you as it is to me that this place should at once be
made safer. It can be done easily. I wish you would interest yourself
personally in the matter.” Within a day or two a gang of workmen had
made the crossing safe.




LI

A Distinguished Educator has Found Contentment in the Simple Life.


“MY life has been very quiet,” said Dr. James Loudon, president of the
University of Toronto, which is the largest educational institution in
Canada. “When I was graduated from this University in the early sixties
I became associated with it as an instructor, and have never had any
other professional connection.

“My birthplace was the city of Toronto, and my parents, like those
of so many people in this province of Ontario, were Scotch. I might
remark, parenthetically, that I think the infant that opens its eyes
upon the world with Scotch blood in its veins has already made a pretty
fair start in life. The typical Scotchman is shrewd and patient, and
is the fortunate possessor of that sense of humor which does so much
to smooth the way, both for himself and for those about him, and is so
conducive to a sane philosophy. Patience, I have always thought, is a
particularly valuable asset for the man who desires steady progress in
his life.”

[Illustration: OUT OF DEBT AT LAST]

“The truth of this is exemplified in your own career,” I suggested.

“Perhaps so,” replied Dr. Loudon. “I well remember Toronto when it was
a comparative village, and I have seen it develop into the present
brisk and impressive city. I remember, too, our University when its
attendance was very small, and I have seen it steadily expand until now
it has over twenty-five hundred students, and its influence has become
widespread. I myself have been carried up with the general growth.
For many years I was professor of mathematics in the University, and
have made a special study of the science of physics. Finally, in 1892,
chiefly on the ground of long service, I was made the president.

“Our progress here has been preëminently healthy—a substantial process
of construction from the foundations up. If, from my observation of
this development, any wisdom for young men can be gleaned, I would say
to them, eliminate impatience and haste from your plans in building the
structure of your career. Build slowly, keeping a careful eye upon the
quality and placing of every beam and stone. It is by this method only
that you will be able to construct an edifice that will be permanently
satisfactory to yourself and impressive to the world.

“A conspicuous evil in the present day life of North America is
hurry. Young men, in haste to achieve success, force themselves.
The able ones rise with a rapidity which, I think is the reverse of
beneficial in the long run. A reaction, an aftermath, is apt to come.
Their mental and physical elasticity is apt to prematurely disappear,
with the result that they will too soon find themselves past the summit
of their careers and traveling the declivity on the other side. The
great cities on this continent, and particularly those of the United
States, have a voracious appetite for the vitality of youth. They
develop a man, yes, but they also exhaust him.

“The mistake of this lies principally in the industrial and social pace
of the present. Young men, influenced by the city life about them,
spend a good deal more money on their living and enjoyment than they
did in the days of my own youth, and in their keen desire to keep in
the hunt, so to speak, they seek the goal of wealth cross-lots instead
of by the more roundabout but much safer highway. The young women who
become their wives have great power in the matter of keeping them away
from the dangerous short-cuts. A wife should have an intimate knowledge
of the varying conditions in her husband’s business, in order that she
may properly adjust her expenditures to these conditions. This seems
obvious, but the wife’s failure in this respect has been the cause of
the undoing of many a man.

“The spirit of materialism and commercialism which is so marked has
been, perhaps, a necessary factor in the development of the resources
of this continent, but I believe that it is gradually losing its
position as the commanding influence in our New World civilization,
and that it will become a subordinate element in a broader and higher
attitude toward life.”

“This development will come sooner, I think, in the United States
than in Canada, for the reason that the former country has had the
start of us in the evolution. The rough work of subduing rebellious
nature, of clearing land, of breaking virgin soil for agriculture, of
building railroads, has been nearly completed across the border, while
on our side it is just beginning. We have a great Northwest, still in
large degree a wilderness, to cover with farms and homes and the other
appurtenances of civilization. We have yet large sections of our East
to dot with the towns and the industries which this territory will
bountifully support.

“It is only within a very few years that we have begun to take hold of
this work with the zeal and determination that brings success. With
this twentieth century there has been born in Canada a new spirit
of enterprise. Even here in the University its effects have been
strongly felt. It was not long ago that a large proportion of our
graduates became teachers, or entered some other professional sphere,
and in these fields most of them sought their opportunities in the
United States. At the present time the majority of our students have
turned toward commercial, mechanical or scientific pursuits, and they
are finding their openings within our own domain. The standard of
pecuniary compensation is advancing, not only in commerce but also in
the professions. For example, even as comparatively a short time as
a decade ago the largest fees or salaries for legal services never
rose above a very few thousand dollars. Now we often hear of Canadian
lawyers receiving many thousands in single fees or in yearly salaries
from railroad, banking and other corporations. The general tendency
is in this direction, and it is a direct result of our industrial
expansion. The interests of Canadian employers of brains and labor are
becoming larger. They want more men, and better trained men, and are
willing to pay them more than in former years.

“Since a university does not completely fulfil its functions unless it
keeps in touch with the life of the people and the currents of broad
activity, we of the University of Toronto are aiming to keep pace with
the new development in Canada. We are equipping young men for many
practical pursuits, and are even establishing close relationships with
numerous specific industries. Often of late we have had applications
from employers for young men capable of assuming responsibilities. We
keep track of the demand for youthful brains and university training,
and make a point of being always ready to supply it. A notable factor
in the practical work of the university is the Agricultural College,
which is located at Guelph, Ontario, and controls 550 acres of land,
upon which all phases of farming are carried on and taught to nearly
six hundred students. We feel that this college is doing work which
is very important. Much of the future wealth of Canada will be
derived from agriculture, and especially from wheat growing in the
Northwest, where hard wheat, the finest in the world, can be produced
in sufficient quantities to supply all the markets of the earth. To
adequately develop the possibilities of this territory we must have
scientific farmers, and this is the kind we are doing our best to train.

“But with all this effort along material lines, we are by no means
forgetting at the University of Toronto what we used to call the broad
humanities. The play of the spirit, the exercise of the imagination,
the stimulus of literature and art, a tolerant and cheerful philosophy
are, after all, the things which make life worth living.”




LII

Beginning as Telegraph Operator He Built the Canadian Pacific.


“WHAT is success?” questioned Sir William Van Horne, half-reclining
within the hospitable arms of a big chair in his luxurious residence in
Shelbrooke Street, Montreal.

“You, Sir William, should surely know,” I remarked. “You are accredited
by the world with being very familiar with it.”

“There are numerous subjects upon which the world and I do not agree,”
replied, with a smile, the famous railroad builder.

“What is success?” he repeated slowly. “You might say, of course that
it is the achievement of a purpose, but in the selection and formation
of your purpose you may have made a failure, and then the whole is
failure.

“Is contentment success? I am sure it is not. Is wealth? Not by any
means. Is power? Not at all.”

Sir William was silent for a moment.

“The truth is,” he said suddenly, “the word success is one of the
hardest in the language to define, and I won’t attempt it. I should
say however, that a man’s real success in life can be pretty accurately
measured by his usefulness as a member of society.

“He may be rich or poor, courted or ignored, but if he does things
which at once or eventually make for progress in the world he is most
assuredly a success. If, for example, he discovers something new in
science, invents a valuable article, paints a great picture, writes a
great book, develops a great industry, or——”

“Or builds a great railroad?” I interrupted.

Sir William smiled, and after a pause remarked, “I suppose you
intend that to be a personal allusion, but we are not discussing
personalities. I will say, however, that some of the men whom down in
the States you call captains of industry have my admiration. I care
very little whether they give money to charity, whether their work is
colored by an active consciousness of its value to anybody outside of
their families, their friends and themselves. Most of the men of this
stamp are just in their dealings, and it is to their initiative force
that the United States owes her material greatness. They have started
wheels of industry that have given honest work and many of the comforts
of life to millions of self-respecting men. They are rich, yes, and we
say that riches do not constitute success. Nevertheless, these men have
achieved it in one of its highest forms.”

It was very plain from his manner that in making these remarks Sir
William’s thoughts were quite remote from his own career. Yet he
himself is one of the most conspicuous and striking representatives on
the continent of the class of men he was discussing. His humble start
as a small boy in a railway station, contrasted with his present place
as a giant in the field of railroading, indicates the height of his own
achievement. His career has been a long series of upward steps.

At an age when most boys are playing marbles in short trousers, young
Van Horne, forced by the death of his father to earn his own living,
obtained a place as general utility boy at a railroad station in the
county in Illinois in which in 1843 he was born. Here he saw and
seized his first opportunity; that is, he taught himself telegraphy.
With this knowledge and a robust personality as his only assets, he
journeyed to Chicago and found a position as telegraph operator in the
offices of the Illinois Central Railroad. But he did not long hold
this place. The telegraphic keys were too small for him. Before he
was twenty-two he had gone over to the Chicago & Alton road and was
dispatching trains—work of so responsible a character that no railroad
company would think for an instant of entrusting it to the ordinary
inexperienced youth. But the chief requisite of the train despatcher is
care, and care was only one of young Van Horne’s conspicuous qualities.
He had a combination of others that overshadowed it and brought him
promotion to the place of superintendent of telegraphy.

His work was still too easy for him, so they made him a division
superintendent. He was now where the officials of other lines could
see him, and the Wabash road took him away from the Chicago & Alton to
make him their general manager. He was about thirty years old at this
time, but he was already looming so large among the railroad men of the
Middle West that when the directors of the Southern Minnesota Railway,
which was in the hands of a receiver, bethought themselves to look
about for a man who could rehabilitate their road, their eyes fell upon
young Van Horne, and they asked him if he thought the line could be
made to pay.

He replied that he thought so, and gave his reasons. They then asked
him to assume the management of the moribund property. He liked then,
as he does now, this kind of a job. There were chances in it far
above the mere satisfactory performance of routine duty. There were
opportunities here to create, to develop, to quicken into new life; and
the young man’s instincts were all in this direction. So he took hold
with enthusiasm, and put the company on a paying basis with a rapidity
that amazed the stockholders who made him president. He went back to
the Chicago & Alton in 1878 as general manager.

In a lifetime of work very few railroad men achieve as much as this,
but Van Horne was still in his thirties and was just beginning.
The Canadian Government had been trying for several years to push
from the Ottawa Valley a road of steel across its vast domain to the
Pacific Ocean, and it had found the task too much for it. Surveys had
been made, but there had been comparatively little work of actual
construction. Finally, in 1880, it was decided to allow the project
to become a private enterprise, and in 1881, under the auspices of
Sir Donald Smith, now Lord Strathcona, the Canadian Pacific Railroad
Company was organized.

After Sir Donald had found the immense amount of money that was
required, his greatest care was to find a man to take charge of the
construction, much of it through unknown wildernesses, of the longest
railway that had ever been projected. The length of the proposed line
and the nature of the country through which it was to pass, made this
the most stupendous railway undertaking the world had seen. It was
necessary to procure a man fitted for a Herculean task. Sir Donald took
stock with the railroad men of the New World and decided that the most
promising of them all was William C. Van Horne.

The latter went into the work like a football player bucking the line
on a university team. An army of men was hired. At an average speed of
three miles a day for many months the steel rails were pushed into the
vast forests and the trackless prairies of the Northwest. At last the
workmen, urged incessantly by the directing mind of General Manager Van
Horne, attacked the Rocky Mountains, and under the charges of picks and
powder the mountains made way. At the end of the third year the summit
of the Rockies had been reached, and before another twelve months had
gone by the forbidding passes in the Selkirks were thundering and
trembling from the assaults of dynamite.

The last rail of the main line was laid in November, 1885. In the
meantime the company had been acquiring branch connections, and before
the end of the year was in possession of nearly forty-five hundred
miles of track. Before another six months had passed a great system
was fully equipped and Canada had her railway from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.

The contract had called for the completion of the road in ten years.
Van Horne and his men had finished it in five. Since then the system
has been extended until now it embraces nearly ten thousand miles of
track, and steamship lines cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
One may travel eighteen thousand miles on the route and property of
the Canadian Pacific. Cities and towns, many thousands of farms and
factories, have sprung up along the way. A new commonwealth in the
Northwest has been developed. And it has been done under the general
direction of Sir William C. Van Horne.

This is why Canadians, when asked to name living men who have done
most to develop the Dominion, couple his name with that of Lord
Strathcona. The latter, then Sir Donald Smith, had the courage to
assume a burden of railway construction that had proved too heavy for
the Government. He thus made possible Canada’s only transcontinental
railway. Lord Strathcona financed the road, but Sir William Van Horne
built it. The latter was its president from 1888 until 1899, when,
the creative work being done, the chief difficulties surmounted, he
resigned the presidency in favor of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, and assumed
work of less detail as chairman of the board of directors.

Plain William C. Van Horne became Sir William in 1894, when he was
knighted by the queen for his high value as a worker in her domains in
North America. Being nothing if not democratic, he was inclined, until
he became used to it, to wax jocular about his title.

“I’ll wager,” he is reported to have said one day soon after he had
received it, “that my old friends among the railroad boys down in
Chicago, who used to call me Bill, will make some pointed remarks when
they learn that I am Sir William now.”

His bluff geniality is one of the things that Canada likes best about
Sir William. She claims him as a citizen, since his greatest work has
been done and he has lived for years within her boundaries. She is
proud of him and he is proud of her.

“Very few people,” he said to me, “have more than a faint idea of
the marvelous resources and possibilities of this country. In the
provinces of Quebec and Ontario the innumerable streams rushing down
from the mountains offer sufficient water power to run the factories
of a nation. A beginning has been made here that will eventually lift
this locality into one of the leading industrial and electrical centers
of the continent. In the making of paper in particular it will be
preëminent. Much of the pulp wood used in paper manufacturing has thus
far been obtained from Maine, but the supply there will be exhausted
in less than five years, and then the paper makers must come to Canada
for their supply of pulp. There are already extensive pulp wood
industries in the Province of Quebec, but these are bound to be greatly
multiplied.”

“It is in the Northwest, however, where millions of acres of land await
only the plow and seed to produce the finest wheat in the world, that
the most inviting opportunities for young men are to be found. The
Canadian Northwest is much as was the great region of the United States
west of the Mississippi River fifty years ago. It is a country at the
outset of its development—a country which needs and will adequately
reward the vigorous efforts of young manhood.”

“In your field of railroad building I presume there will be great
opportunities?” I remarked.

“Undoubtedly,” replied Sir William.

“Is the railroad business a good one for a young man?”

“It is as good as any,” answered Sir William thoughtfully, “if a young
man is content to work for a salary all his life. But he should not
be content with this. The salary habit is a bad one, very easy to
acquire, and very hard to shake off. The man with his stipend every
week is apt to settle into a groove. He adjusts his mode of life to his
Saturday envelope. It gets to be about the most important thing in his
existence. He becomes tied up to it, and is afraid to make a move that
will disturb this pleasant union. Always acting under the direction of
somebody higher up, he loses his power of initial effort, and never
develops to the full extent of his possibilities. He is likely to be
a dependent all his life. If after long years of service he loses his
place, as often happens, he is nearly helpless.

“I should say to the young man, strike out for yourself as soon as you
can. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Most of the interest of life
lies in its uncertainties. You will have your tumbles, of course, but
the exercise of standing on your own legs will give you strength to get
up again and push on. One of the drawbacks about a salaried place is
that a man is apt to lose keen interest in his work, and interest is at
the foundation of energy, of concentration of inspiration, even, of all
the elements, in brief, that go to make up an adequate performance.

“If you are interested, you will be working with vigor long after most
other men have knocked off, tired out, as they imagine. I don’t care
to talk about myself, but I will say that whatever my efforts have
amounted to they have been impelled by strong interest. The man who
feels no enthusiasm for his work will never accomplish anything worth
while. Work that is interesting does more than all the doctors to keep
men alive and young. I endorse what Russell Sage says about vacations.
I don’t believe in them. When a man who has worked hard for many years
decides that he has earned a long vacation, and retires from business,
it almost invariably means the beginning of the end for him.

“There is nothing strange in this. He has suddenly cut off the
interests of a lifetime, and no longer has momentum to carry him along
the road of life. On the other hand, look at the old men who have not
retired. Russell Sage himself is an excellent illustration; but in his
city, New York, where the business pace is supposed to be very swift
and wearing, there are many others—patriarchs to whom the allotted
span of threescore years and ten is beginning to look like comparative
youth, and yet who still are handling great interests. If they had
stopped work when they had made fortunes, most of them would have been
long since dead.

“Several years ago a London physician of Lord Strathcona informed him
that he was in a bad way; that his friends would be mourning his loss
in a week unless he permitted himself to relax. In less than a month
the death of the doctor made it impossible to withdraw his injunction,
so Lord Strathcona has been on the go ever since. He is over eighty
now, and is so vigorous that he thinks nothing of taking little
business trips from London across the Atlantic and the continent of
North America to Vancouver.

“I believe in recreation of course, but I think it should be of
a kind that involves activity of the brain. My own mental rest I
find in painting pictures. I am very fond of doing landscapes. This
takes my mind into a sphere rather remote from railway earnings and
expenditures, and is refreshing.”

Sir William showed me a number of his paintings. Some were hung on
his walls among those of well-known landscape artists, and in the
comparison they suffered not a particle. I commented upon this fact.

“You can’t be much of a judge of art,” he answered with a smile. In
this matter, however, many good judges are agreed. It is remarkable
that a rough and ready man of affairs, a captain of industry in the
true sense, should be able to paint pictures of a quality that many a
professional artist might well envy. But Sir William has even wider
interests than railroad building and painting. He is largely identified
with financial enterprises of great magnitude in the United States,
and at present is much absorbed in developing the resources of Cuba,
upon which island he believes there are opportunities among the finest
in the world for men of either large or small capital.

In addition to these pursuits he is a botanist and geologist of wide
and accurate knowledge, and has for years been a close student of the
civilization and art of the Orient. Nothing delights him more than a
conversation on the art products of China, and he takes great pleasure
in showing his friends beautiful specimens in his large collection of
Oriental pottery and pictures. Supplement to these interests those of
the practical farmer and you will have a partial idea of the range
of accomplishments of a man who was making his living at the age of
thirteen, and is self-taught.

Sir William has an extensive farm not far from Winnipeg. On a recent
occasion, when the agriculturists of the region were holding a meeting
to discuss their relations with the Canadian Pacific Railway, and to
air some little grievances which they thought they had, Sir William was
present, and was called upon to make a speech. He slowly arose, and the
tillers of the soil settled back in their chairs to listen to words of
great weight and finality from the master spirit of the road.

“I am inclined to think, gentlemen,” said Sir William in one of his
opening sentences, “that we farmers are pretty well treated by this
road.” From this point the agriculturists were with him to a man, and
they left the hall with the feeling that their interests could not be
otherwise than well looked after by the railroad company, since at the
head of it they had a fellow-farmer.




LIII

An Immigrant Boy Becomes a National Figure in Reform.


THERE died recently in Ohio a man who made a high place for himself
in the community. He won a strong hold on the hearts of the working
people. He commanded also the respect and support of the majority of
law-abiding citizens. I refer to Samuel Jones, late head executive and
reform mayor of Toledo. His fame spread fast without the bounds of the
municipality, and throughout the nation. He became as widely known
as Governor Pingree, of Michigan, as a friend of the people, and for
his peculiar yet practical ideas of municipal, social and industrial
reform. He also won distinction as an able writer and fluent speaker on
the social and economic conditions which affect our national life so
strongly to-day.

Besides having been a conspicuous philanthropist, reformer, public
officer, orator and writer, it is to be noted that Mayor Jones was,
first and last, a successful man of business. He was president of
the Acme Oil Company; an inventor and manufacturer of a successful
patent—the Acme sucker-rod—an implement for pumping oil wells. He made
a fortune as a successful operator in oil, and did it without influence
or backing—by dint of industry, honesty and push, starting as a
penniless boy, with only such education as he could acquire by himself.

A man of large heart and broad mind, his life presents a stimulating,
wholesome example of the self-made, conscientious man of wealth
impelled by Christian sympathy, and stung into action by what appeared
to him to be the stress of political, industrial and social injustice.
He embraced the opportunity which his social position afforded, of
carrying out and putting into practice some ideas, of which, quoting
Heine, he said: “They have taken possession of me, and are forcing me
into the conflict whether I will or not.”

As showing the man, a few incidents are apropos. On going to his
factory, one morning, during the hard winter of 1896, Mr. Jones found
that some of his office help had affixed a sign to the outside door,
“No help wanted.” This he ordered taken away as being contrary to the
spirit of the institution. “Men who apply for work should have at least
a decent reception,” he said; “maybe we can help them by kind words,
even if we have no work for them.”

During the years of financial depression the prosperity of the oil
business was affected by the conditions prevalent throughout the
country. Mr. Jones issued an order that his work-people should not
suffer. “Keep a little flour in the barrel and see that they have coal
enough to keep them warm,” was the order.


LOVED BY HIS EMPLOYEES.

He loved to tell how, returning from a trip to Europe, the warmest
welcome (and that which shows the popularity of the man) was that given
by a crowd of his employees gathered at the Toledo depot to greet him
as the train rolled in.

The election of Mr. Jones to the mayoralty of Toledo is an interesting
story. He was the candidate nominated in the spring of 1897 to bridge
the chasm between the two opposing factions in the Republican party.
The saloons, corporations and rings of the city were marshaled against
him, but his stout supporters, the wage-earners and the law-abiding
people, carried the day after a lively campaign.

The frankness and plainness of Mr. Jones pleased the people as well
as his eight-hour day and his ideas of social equality. His messages
as mayor to the common council of Toledo were models of businesslike
integrity and acumen, showing a vital interest in the welfare of
the city, and the value of having a practical and upright business
man at the head of civic affairs. Among measures pertinent and
practical for the city’s self-government advocated by the mayor were
a single-chambered board, city bids, the wage system, a municipal
lighting plant, the abolishment of the contract system, the
establishing of a purchasing agency to stop the waste of department
buying, park and street improvements, etc.

His address before the annual convention of the League of American
Municipalities, at Detroit, on “Municipal Ownership” was characterized
as the best of the convention, and attracted wide attention. It was
repeated at Chicago by request.

Mayor Jones was accorded a warm reception in Boston. He addressed the
Twentieth Century Club at a dinner; he was banqueted by the Mayors’
Organization of Massachusetts; he dined with Mayor Quincy, who is
something of a reformer himself; and he gave utterance to his views at
a public mass-meeting of Boston’s best people. But with characteristic
modesty, he looked upon such invitations merely as new opportunities to
spread the new gospel, and not in any sense as the means of bringing
fame or glory to himself.

The story of Mr. Jones’s successful career carries with it
encouragement and example for the young man who starts in life with no
capital but manliness, courage, persistency, and a willingness to work.


BORN IN A HUMBLE HOME.

Mr. Jones was born in 1846, in Wales. Of his humble home he says: “It
could scarcely be dignified by the name of cottage, for, as I saw it a
few years ago, it seemed a little barren hut, though still occupied.”
It was in memory of this modest birthplace over the sea, which is known
as _Tan y Craig_ (under the rock), that Mr. Jones named his handsome
Toledo mansion Tan y Oderwen (under the oak).

Perhaps the following autobiographical statement will serve better than
anything I could write to present his life story:

“I came with my parents to America when I was three years old, and I
have often heard them tell of the tedious voyage of thirty days in an
emigrant sailing ship, and the subsequent voyage over the Erie Canal to
central New York, where they settled in Lewis County. My parents were
very poor and very pious. The poverty in our family was so stringent
that it was necessary for me to go out and work, and I bear upon my
body to-day the marks of the injustice and wrong of child labor.

“At the age of eighteen I heard of the opportunities in the oil regions
in Pennsylvania, and at once made my way to Titusville. I landed
there with fifteen cents in my pocket, and without an acquaintance
in the State. For three days I went through one of the most trying
experiences of any young man’s life—living without money and seeking
work among strangers. I had promised to write to my mother, and I used
hotel stationery to fulfil my promise, but was without the necessary
three cents then needed to purchase a postage stamp. This was one of
the hardest financial problems of my life. I overcame it through
stratagem. Seeing a man on the way to the post-office with a bundle of
letters I inquired of him: ‘Are you going to the post-office?’ ‘Yes,
sir,’ he said. ‘Will you have the kindness to mail this for me?’ At the
same time I put my hand into my empty pocket in search of the necessary
coin, fumbling my pocket-knife and keys a moment. The gentleman kindly
said: ‘Never mind, I’ll stamp it,’ and the revenue was provided which
took my first letter to my mother.


THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES.

“But I was on the right track; I was in a land of opportunities. I soon
found work and a business that was to my taste; a business, too, that
the good Providence has removed in part, at least, from the domain of
the competitive destroyer—the business of producing crude petroleum
from the earth.

“Since 1870 I have been more or less of an oil producer. In 1866, I
came to the Ohio oil fields and began the business of producing oil at
Lima. Since that time I have followed it both in Ohio and Indiana, and
to some extent in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In 1893 I invented
some improvements in appliances for producing oil, and, finding
manufacturers unwilling to make the articles, fearing there would be
no profit, I concluded to undertake their manufacture. This brought
me in contact with labor conditions in a city for the first time in
my life. As a rule, labor in the oil fields had enjoyed large wages
compared with similar classes outside. I found men working in Toledo
for a fraction of a dollar a day. I began to wonder how it was possible
for men to live on such a small sum of money in a way becoming to
citizens of a free republic. I studied social conditions, and these
led me to feel very keenly the degradation of my fellow-men, and I at
once declared that the ‘going wages’ rule should not govern in the Acme
Sucker-Rod Company, which is the firm name of our business. I said that
the rule that every man is entitled to such a share of the product of
his toil as will enable him to live decently, and in such a way that
he and his children may be fitted to be citizens of the free republic,
should be the rule governing the wages of our establishment.

“To break down the feeling of social inequality, we began to ‘get
together,’—that is, we had little excursions down the bay. We invited
our workmen and their families, and also some other people who live in
big houses and do not work with their hands. We sought to mix them, to
let them understand that we were all people—just people, you know.


GOOD WILL AND FELLOWSHIP IN BUSINESS.

“As our business increased, we took in new men. We made no special
effort to select. We asked no questions as to their habits, their
morals, their religion or their irreligion. We were ignoring the
sacred rule of business, getting along in a sort of free and easy
way, occasionally giving the boys a word of caution, printed on the
envelopes; then, perhaps, a little letter expressing good will and
fellowship. Then we came to feel the need of a rule to govern the
place. We thought, to that extent, we ought to be like other people. So
we had the following printed on a piece of tin and nailed to the wall.
It’s there to-day:

“‘The Rule Governing This Factory: Therefore, whatsoever ye would that
men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.’

“In 1895, at Christmas time, we made a little cash dividend,
accompanying it with such a letter as we believed would be helpful. In
1896, we repeated the dividend and the letter. In 1897 and 1898 we did
the same.”

In response to the query as to how he would regulate property
interests, Mayor Jones said:

“If you will read the Fourth of Acts and see how property was regarded
and treated by the early Christians, you will read what I believe to be
the one scientific way in which property can be handled for the good of
all. The manifest destiny of the world is to realize brotherhood. We
are brothers, not competitors.”

“What would you advise the rising generation to do to bring about such
a realization?”

“That is an important question,” replied the mayor. “Well, I am free
to answer that I think by far the best thing that the Acme Sucker-Rod
Company has done has been to open the adjoining corner lot as a Golden
Rule park and playground. Here is a spot of God’s green earth in the
heart of the industrial part of our city that is as free to the people
as when the red Indian trod there. And I am sure that the healthful
play of the children and the delightful studies of the older ones as we
discuss the questions of brotherhood, golden rule, and right relations
generally, in our Sunday afternoon meetings, will do more to bring
about the era of peace and good will than all else that has been done
there. And now we have added Golden Rule Hall, where we may continue
these studies, for we must first understand our disease before we can
apply the remedy.


TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO HELP EACH OTHER.

“How delightful are the hours which we pass together in the study of
the question of right social relations! How much like men it makes us
feel to think that we are spending a part of our time in trying to
learn how we can help each other; that is, help all the people, instead
of devoting it all to the piggish business of helping ourselves!

“As an outgrowth of that spirit, during the past year, we have: our
coöperative insurance; the Co-operative Oil Company; the Tuesday Night
Social Study Club; and the Equality Club.

“Our experience has been progressive, and, I believe, profitable, in a
moral as well as a material way. I have learned much of my relation to
my fellow-men. I have learned that we are all dependent on each other.

“In introducing the shorter workday and trying to establish living
wages we have tried to acknowledge, in some measure, the relation of
brotherhood that exists between us and all other men; for we must
remember that this bond is only limited by the confines of the globe
itself.”

“When I first took office I ignored the professional politicians.
Some of my friends expostulated with me. They assured me that I was
ruining my future. I answered that I did not want a future based
upon a disregard of the principle that an office-holder should
faithfully serve the people. I told them that I would be glad to
sacrifice my chances for a second term as mayor, if I could be equal
to the responsibilities that were pressing upon me. They laughed,
and called me impracticable—a dreamer. And yet, my way, so far, has
proved successful, even from their standard of success, which, in some
particulars, is quite remote from my own. My political experience has
been of great encouragement to me. It has made me feel that, despite
the seeming success of mere self-seekers, honesty of purpose in the
discharge of public duties will, in the end, prevail.


YOUNG MEN IN POLITICS.

“And because I believe this is true, I hope to see earnest, honest
young men go into politics. If they have strong convictions of what
is right, and force of character enough to hold to these convictions
against the many wrongful pressures and influences of political life,
they will achieve success of the best kind.

“To-day, more than ever before in its history, the country needs men of
this kind. Conditions have come into existence which must be changed.
From an experience of years in practical business, I say that the young
man now starts in commercial life heavily handicapped. In almost every
line of business, he must fight great accumulations of capital, that
usually either crush him or make a hireling of him. It has been said
that the very name of America is a synonym of opportunity. It was so
once, but my experience has taught me that this is entirely true no
longer.


EVILS OF CONCENTRATION.

“In my opinion, the reason for the present hard conditions for the
rank and file of men is the concentration of business within a few
hands. This is a vast subject, and I do not intend to discuss it now.
I only want to say that the remedy for the evil, which is felt most
keenly by young men trying to succeed in life, lies largely in their
own hands. Let them interest themselves in politics and insist, in
the first place, that public utilities in cities, such as gas works
and street-car lines, which all the people must use, and which bring
in great revenues, be conducted for the benefit of the people at
large, instead of for a few individuals. This would be only the first
step to bring about improvement, but it would be a very important
one. The present conditions may be worse before they are better, but,
sooner or later, the problem will be solved. I have too much faith in
the American people not to be sanguine of the future. And even now,
although fortunes cannot be acquired as easily as they used to be,
there are ample opportunities to acquire true success in life.


A WRONG CONCEPTION OF SUCCESS.

“The trouble with a great many young men is that they have a wrong
conception of success. Large numbers imagine it lies in mere
money-making. Yet the average millionaire is not a happy or even a
contented man. He has been so engrossed from his youth in piling up
dollars that he has had no time for the cultivation of the higher
qualities of his mind and heart, in the exercise of which the only
true happiness is to be found. You may remember that Emerson said:
‘Happiness lies only in the triumph of principle.’

“Of course, a certain amount of money is a necessity, and more of
it enables one to enjoy many things which would be an impossibility
without it. I am not advising any young man not to do all he can in
a legitimate way to make money; but, if he is successful, he must be
careful to keep money his servant, and not let it become his master.


SLAVES OF WEALTH.

“Many rich men are the slaves of their own wealth, and their sons,
growing up without a purpose in life, never know what real living is.
I knew what poverty was when I was a young man, and few have suffered
from it more than I. Yet now I am thankful for it, because it made
me work. To live, we must work, and one must work to live. It is not
birth, nor money, nor a college education, that makes a man; it is
work. It has brought me commercial success. I am a practical man, yet I
can never express too earnestly my thankfulness that I learned from my
good mother to set up usefulness as my standard of success—usefulness
to others as well as to myself.”




LIV

A “Forty-niner” who Seized Opportunities Others Failed to See.


I FOUND Mr. Armour in his crowded office at 205 La Salle street,
Chicago, an office in which a snowstorm of white letters falls thickly
upon a mass of dark desks, and where brass and lamps and electrical
instruments abound, yet not much more than do the hurrying men. Such a
mobilization of energy to promote the private affairs of one man I had
never seen.

“Is Mr. Armour within?” I asked, supposing, since it was but 9:30 A.M.,
that he had not arrived.

“He is,” said the attendant, “and has been since half-past seven.”

“Does he usually arrive so early?” I inquired.

“Always,” was the significant reply.

I presented my letters, and was soon informed that they were of no
avail there. Mr. Armour could see me only after the crush of the
day’s affairs—that is, at 6 P.M., and then in the quiet of the Armour
Institute, his great philanthropic school for young men and women.
He was very courteous, and there was no delay. He took my hand with
a firm grasp, evidently reading with his steady gaze such of my
characteristics as interested him and saying at the same time, “Well,
sir.”

“Mr. Armour,” I said, “will you answer enough questions concerning your
life to illustrate for our readers what success means?”

The great Hercules of American industry visibly recoiled at the thought
of implied notoriety, having, until the present time, steadily veiled
his personality and general affairs as much as possible from public
gaze.

“I am only a plain merchant,” he answered.


A BOY’S CHANCE TO-DAY.

“Do you consider,” I said, “that the average American boy of to-day has
equally as good a chance to succeed in the world as you had when you
began life?”

“Every bit, and better. The affairs of life are larger. There are
greater things to do. There was never before such a demand for able
men.”

“Were the conditions surrounding your youth especially difficult?”

“No. They were those common to a very small New York town in 1832. I
was born at Stockbridge, in Madison County. Our family had its roots
in Scotland. My father’s ancestors were the Robertsons, Watsons and
McGregors of Scotland; my mother came of the Puritans who settled in
Connecticut.”

“Dr. Gunsaulus says,” I ventured, “that all these streams of heredity
set toward business affairs.”


INHERITED QUALITIES.

“Perhaps so. I liked trading as well. My father was reasonably
prosperous and independent for those times. My mother had been a
school-teacher. There were six boys, and, of course, such a household
had to be managed with the strictest economy in those days. My mother
thought it her duty to bring to our home some of the rigid discipline
of the schoolroom. We were all trained to work together, and everything
was done as systematically as possible.”

“Had you access to any books?”

“Yes, the Bible, ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ and a history of the United
States.”

It is said of the latter, by those closest to Mr. Armour, that it was
as full of shouting Americanism as anything ever written, and that Mr.
Armour’s whole nature was colored by its stout American prejudices;
also, that it was read and re-read by the Armour children, though of
this the great merchant would not speak.

“Were you always of a robust constitution?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. All our boys were. We were stout enough to be bathed in
an ice-cold spring, out of doors, when at home. There weren’t any
bath-tubs and warm water arrangements in those days. We had to be
strong. My father was a stern Scotchman, and when he laid his plans
they were carried out. When he set us boys to work, we worked. It was
our mother who insisted on keeping us all at school, and who looked
after our educational needs, while our father saw to it that we had
plenty of good hard work on the farm.”

“How did you enjoy that sort of life?” I asked.

“Well enough, but not much more than any boy does. Boys are always more
or less afraid of hard work.”

The truth is, though Mr. Armour laughed it out of court as not worth
discussing, that when he attended the district school he was as full
of pranks and capers as the best, and traded jack-knives in summer and
bob-sleds in winter.


LEAVING THE FARM.

Young Armour was often to be found, in the winter, coasting down the
long hill near the schoolhouse; and, later, his experience at the
Cazenovia Seminary was such as to indicate that some of the brightest
people finish their education rather more suddenly than their family
and friends might desire.

“When did you leave the farm for a mercantile life?” I asked.

“I was clerk in a store in Stockbridge for two years, after I was
seventeen, but was mixed up with the farm more or less, and wanted to
get out of that life. I was a little over seventeen years old when the
gold excitement of 1849 reached our town. Wonderful tales were told of
gold already found and the prospects for more on the Pacific coast.
I was taken with the fever, and brooded over the difference between
tossing hay in the hot sun and digging up gold by handfuls, until one
day I threw down my pitchfork and went over to the house and told
mother that I had quit that kind of work.

“People with plenty of money could sail around Cape Horn in those days,
but I had no money to spare, and so decided to walk across the country.
That is, we were carried part of the way by rail and walked the rest. I
persuaded one of the neighbor’s boys, Calvin Gilbert, to go along with
me, and we started.”

“How did you fare?”

“Rather roughly. I provided myself with an old carpet sack, into which
I put my clothes. I bought a new pair of boots, and when we had gone as
far as we could on canals and wagons, I bought two oxen. With these we
managed for awhile, but eventually reached California afoot.”


A MINING VENTURE.

He suffered a severe illness on the journey, and was nursed by his
companion, Gilbert, who gathered herbs and steeped them for his
friend’s use, and once rode thirty miles in the rain to get a doctor.
When they reached California he fell in with Edward Croarkin, a miner,
who nursed him back to health. The manner in which he remembered these
men gives keen satisfaction to the friends of the great merchant.

“Did you have any money when you arrived at the gold-fields?”

“Scarcely any. I struck right out, though, and found a place where I
could dig, and I struck pay dirt in a little time.”

“Did you work entirely alone?”

“No. It was not long before I met Mr. Croarkin at a little mining camp
called Virginia. He had the next claim to mine, and we became partners.
After a little while he went away, but came back in a year. We then
bought in together. The way we ran things was ‘turn about.’ Croarkin
would cook one week and I the next, and then we would have a clean-up
every Sunday morning. We baked our own bread, and kept a few hens,
which kept us supplied with eggs. There was a man named Chapin who had
a little store in the village, and we would take our gold dust there
and trade it for groceries.”

“Did you discover much gold?” I asked.

“Oh, I worked with pretty good success—nothing startling. I didn’t
waste much, and tried to live as carefully as I ever had. I also
studied the business opportunities around, and persuaded some of
my friends to join me in buying and developing a ‘ditch’—a kind of
aqueduct—to convey water to diggers and washers. That proved more
profitable than digging for gold, and at the end of the year the others
sold out to me, took their earnings and went home. I stayed and bought
up several other water-powers, until, in 1856, I thought I had enough,
and so I sold out and came East.”

“How much had you made, altogether?”

“About four thousand dollars.”

“Did you return to Stockbridge?”


HE ENTERS THE GRAIN MARKET.

“For a little while. My ambition was setting in another direction. I
had been studying the methods then used for moving the vast and growing
food products of the West, such as grain and cattle, and I believed
that I could improve them and make money. The idea and the field
interested me and I decided to enter it.

“Well, my standing was good, and I raised the money and bought what was
then the largest elevator in Milwaukee. This put me in contact with the
movement of grain. At that time John Plankinton had been established
in Milwaukee a number of years, and, in partnership with Frederick
Layton, had built up a good pork-packing concern. I bought in with
those gentlemen, and so came in contact with the work I liked. One
of my brothers, Herman, had established himself in Chicago some time
before in the grain-commission business. I got him to turn that over to
the care of another brother, Joseph, so that he might go to New York as
a member of the new firm, of which I was a partner. It was important
that the Milwaukee and Chicago houses should be able to ship to a house
of their own in New York—that is, to themselves. Risks were avoided in
this way, and we were certain of obtaining all that the ever-changing
markets could offer us.”

“When did you begin to build up your Chicago interests?”

“They were really begun, before the war, by my brother Herman. When he
went to New York for us we began adding a small packing-house to the
Chicago commission branch. It gradually grew with the growth of the
West.”

“Is there any one thing that accounts for the immense growth of the
packing industry here?” I asked.

“System and the growth of the West did it. Things were changing at
startling rates in those days. The West was growing fast. Its great
areas of production offered good profits to men who would handle and
ship the products. Railway lines were reaching out in new directions or
increasing their capacities and lowering their rates of transportation.
These changes and the growth of the country made the creation of a
food-gathering and delivering system necessary. Other things helped.
At that time (1863) a great many could see that the war was going to
terminate favorably for the Union. Farming operations had been enlarged
by the war demand and war prices. The State banking system had been
done away with, and we had a uniform currency, available everywhere,
so that exchanges between the East and the West had become greatly
simplified. Nothing more was needed than a steady watchfulness of the
markets by competent men in continuous telegraphic communication with
each other, and who knew the legitimate demand and supply, in order to
sell all products quickly and with profit.”


QUALITIES THAT BRING SUCCESS.

“Do you believe that system does so much?” I ventured.

“System and good measure. Give a measure heaped full and running
over and success is certain. That is what it means to be intelligent
servants of a great public need. We believed in thoughtfully adopting
every attainable improvement, mechanical or otherwise, in the methods
and appliances for handling every pound of grain or flesh. Right
liberality and right economy will do everything where a public need is
being served.”

“Have your methods improved any with years?”

“All the time. There was a time when many parts of cattle were wasted,
and the health of the city injured by the refuse. Now, by adopting
the best known methods, nothing is wasted, and buttons, fertilizer,
glue and other things are made cheaper and better for the world in
general out of material that was before a waste and a menace. I believe
in finding out the truth about all things—the very latest truth or
discovery—and applying it.”

“You attribute nothing to good fortune?”

“Nothing!” Certainly the word came well from a man whose energy,
integrity and business ability made more money out of a ditch than
other men were making out of rich placers in the gold region.

“May I ask what you consider the turning-point of your career?”

“The time when I began to save the money I earned at the gold-fields.”

“What trait do you consider most essential in young men?”

“Truth. Let them get that. Young men talk about getting capital to
work with. Let them get truth on board, and capital follows. It’s easy
enough to get that.”

“Did you always desire to follow a commercial rather than a
professional life?”

“Not always. I have no talent in any other direction, but I should have
liked to be a great orator.”


THE GENESIS OF A GREAT BENEVOLENCE.

Mr. Armour would say no more on this subject, but his admiration for
oratory has been demonstrated in a remarkable way. It was after a
Sunday morning discourse by the splendid orator, Dr. Gunsaulus, at
Plymouth Church, Chicago, in which the latter had set forth his views
on the subject of educating children, that Mr. Armour came forward and
said:

“You believe in those ideas of yours, do you?”

“I certainly do,” said Dr. Gunsaulus.

“And would you carry them out if you had the opportunity?”

“I would.”

“Well, sir,” said Mr. Armour, “if you will give me five years of your
time, I will give you the money.”

“But to carry out my ideas would take a million dollars!” exclaimed
Gunsaulus.

“I have made a little money in my time,” returned Mr. Armour, and so
the famous Armour Institute of Technology, to which its founder has
already given sums aggregating $2,800,000, was associated with Mr.
Armour’s love of oratory.

One of his lieutenants says that Gerritt Smith, the old abolitionist,
was Armour’s boyhood hero, and that Mr. Armour would go far to hear a
good speaker, often remarking that he would have preferred to be a
great orator rather than a great capitalist.

“There is no need to ask you,” I continued, “whether you believe in
constant, hard labor?”

“I should not call it hard. I believe in close application, of course,
while laboring. Overwork is not necessary to success. Every man should
have plenty of rest. I have.”

“You must rise early to be at your office at half-past seven?”

“Yes, but I go to bed early. I am not burning the candle at both ends.”

The enormous energy of this man, who was too modest to discuss it, was
displayed in the most normal manner. Though he sat all day at a desk
which had direct cable connection with London, Liverpool, Calcutta, and
other great centers of trade, with which he was in constant connection;
though he had at his hand long-distance telephone connection with New
York, New Orleans and San Francisco, and direct wires from his room to
almost all part of the world, conveying messages in short sentences
upon subjects which involved the moving of vast amounts of stock and
cereals, and the exchange of millions in money, he was not, seemingly,
an overworked man. The great subjects to which he gave calm, undivided
attention from early morning until evening were laid aside with the
ease with which one doffs his raiment, and outside of his office the
cares weighed upon him no more. His mind took up new and simpler
things.

“What do you do,” I inquired, “after your hard day’s work—think about
it?”

“Not at all. I drive, take up home subjects, and never think of the
office until I return to it.”

“Your sleep is never disturbed?”

“Not at all.”


A BUSINESS KING.

And yet the business which this man could forget when he gathered
children about him and moved in his simple home circle amounted, in
1897, to over $102,000,000 worth of food products, manufactured and
distributed. The hogs killed were 1,750,000; the cattle were 1,080,000;
the sheep, 625,000. Eleven thousand men were constantly employed, and
the wages paid them were over $5,500,000; the railway cars owned and
moving about all parts of the country, four thousand; the wagons of
many kinds and of large number, drawn by 750 horses. The glue factory,
employing 750 hands, made over twelve million pounds of glue! In his
private office, it is he who took care of all the general affairs of
this immense world of industry, and yet at half-past four he was done,
and the whole subject was comfortably off his mind.

“Do you believe in inherited abilities, or that any boy can be taught
and trained, and made a great and able man?”

“I recognize inherited ability. Some people have it, and only in a
certain direction; but I think men can be taught and trained so that
they become much better and more useful than they would be otherwise.
Some boys require more training and teaching than others. There is
prosperity for everyone, according to his ability.”

“What would you do with those who are naturally less competent than
others?”

“Train them, and give them work according to their ability. I believe
that life is all right, and that this difference which nature makes is
all right. Everything is good, and is coming out satisfactorily, and
we ought to make the most of conditions, and try to use and improve
everything. The work needed is here, and everyone should set about
doing it.”

When, in 1893, local forces planned to defeat him in the grain market,
and everyone was crying that at last the great Goliath had met his
David, he was all energy. He had ordered immense quantities of wheat.
The opposition had shrewdly secured every available place of storage,
and rejoiced that the great packer, having no place to store his
property, would suffer immense loss, and must capitulate. He foresaw
the fray and its dangers, and, going over on Goose Island, bought
property at any price, and began the construction of immense elevators.
The town was placarded with the truth that anyone could get work at
Armour’s elevators. No one believed they could be done in time, but
three shifts of men, working night and day, often under the direct
supervision of the millionaire, gradually forced the work ahead; and
when, on the appointed day, the great grain-ships began to arrive, the
opposition realized failure. The vessels began to pour the contents of
their immense holds into these granaries, and the fight was over.

The foresight that sent him to New York in 1864 to sell pork brought
him back from Europe in 1893, months before the impending panic was
dreamed of by other merchants. It is told of him that he called all his
head men to New York, and announced to them:

“Gentlemen, there’s going to be financial trouble soon.”


FOREARMED AGAINST PANIC.

“Why, Mr. Armour,” they said, “you must be mistaken. Things were never
better. You have been ill, and are suddenly apprehensive.”

“Oh, no,” he said, “I’m not. There is going to be trouble;” and he
gave as his reasons certain conditions which existed in nearly all
countries, which none of those present had thought of. “Now,” said he
to the first of his many lieutenants, “how much will you need to run
your department until next year?”

The head man named his need. The others were asked, each in turn, the
same question, and, when all were through, he counted up, and, turning
to the company, said:

“Gentlemen, go back and borrow all you need in Chicago on my credit.
Use my name for all it will bring in the way of loans.”

The lieutenants returned, and the name of Armour was strained to its
utmost limit. When all had been borrowed, the financial flurry suddenly
loomed up, but it did not worry the great packer. In his vaults were
$8,000,000 in gold. All who had loaned him at interest then hurried to
his doors, fearing that he also was imperiled. They found him supplied
with ready money, and able to compel them to wait until the stipulated
time of payment, or to force them to abandon their claims of interest
for their money, and so tide him over the unhappy period. It was a
master stroke, and made the name of the great packer a power in the
world of finance.


SOME SECRETS OF SUCCESS.

“Do you consider your financial decisions which you make quickly to be
brilliant intuitions?” I asked.

“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did anything I
have come that way. No, I never decide anything without knowing the
conditions of the market, and never begin unless satisfied concerning
the conclusion.”

“Not everyone could do that,” I said.

“I cannot do everything. Every man can do something, and there is
plenty to do.”

“You really believe the latter statement?”

“There was never more. The problems to be solved are greater now than
ever before. Never was there more need of able men. I am looking
for trained men all the time. More money is being offered for them
everywhere than formerly.”

“Do you consider that happiness consists in labor alone?”

“It consists in doing something for others. If you give the world
better material, better measure, better opportunities for living
respectably, there is happiness in that. You cannot give the world
anything without labor, and there is no satisfaction in anything but
labor that looks toward doing this, and does it.”




LV

The Blind Yacht Designer Attributes His Conquests to His Mother’s Early
Cares.

                Thus with the year
    Seasons return; but not to me returns
    Day, or the sweet approach of even or morn,
    Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer’s rose,
    Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
    But cloud instead, and ever-during dark,
    Surround me!      *    *    *    *
    So much the rather thou, celestial Light!
    Shine inward, and the mind, through all her powers,
    Irradiate; there plant eyes; all mist from thence
    Purge and disperse; that I may see and tell
    Of things invisible to mortal sight.    —MILTON.


“SHIPSHAPE and Bristol fashion,” a hundred years ago, more or less, was
a phrase often heard on every sea plowed by American or English keels.
Sailors everywhere applied it only to vessels in perfect condition,
with bright paint, clean bottoms, spars well scraped, rigging taut,
spare ropes neatly coiled, sails without mildew and of perfect set,
pumps free, and all the thousand-and-one details that tell of ideal
seamanship properly attended to. Those four words paid the highest
tribute of the craft to the skill of the hardy mariners sailing from
the tidy little port near the head of Narragansett Bay.

Bristol’s long streets, bordered from end to end with wide-spreading,
aged trees, and lined with great dwellings of the colonial era, savor
of a delightful antiquity which has not had time to grow musty, but has
been well cared for by successive generations and has a sufficiently
close relation to modern life to kindle a real affection in us of
recent growth, not unlike that felt by the toddling urchin for his
white-haired and gold-spectacled grandmother. These big, old houses
suggest comfortable bank accounts, stored up by ancestors who built
ships or who sailed away in them to the Indies—East or West—and
returned with rich freights that profited much.

They built well, those ancestors, and their handsome dwellings seem
as sound to-day as the everlasting hill which is known in history as
Mount Hope. What eight-foot clocks and brass-handled bureaus, and
bulky, shining chests, capable of hiding away mountains of housewifely
linen; what high-backed chairs with fantastically carved legs; what
large four-posters; what cavernous fireplaces; what wainscotings and
curling balustrades; what mantel shelves with under ornaments of sturdy
filigree; what yawning closets, as big as bedrooms of this year of
grace; what sets of unimpeachable china, brought home by those same
nautical ancestors; what attic stores of spinning-wheels and old
books, and revolutionary papers, breathing vengeance against his
majesty, King George; what thousand and one treasures of the keepsake
order do not these old mansions possess within their generously
proportioned walls, to say nothing of quaint porches and curious doors
and pseudo-classical piazza pillars outside of them! That Bristol
of the old, prosperous, gable-ended, ship-building, ship-sailing,
cargo-discharging and cargo-embarking days has gone; but this Bristol
lives on the memories and the proceeds of those happier, wooden-walled,
shiver-my-timbers times, draws on her bank accounts, and takes it easy.

Amid scenes like these, one expects to find men and women of culture
and general ability, but does not look for world-renowned specialists.
No one is surprised at a display of enterprise in a “booming” western
town, where everybody is “hustling”; but in a place which has once
ranked as the third seaport in America, but has seen its maritime glory
decline, a man who can establish a marine industry on a higher plane
than was ever before known, and attract to his work such world-wide
attention as to restore the vanished fame of his town, is no ordinary
person. Moreover, if such a man has laid his plans and done his work
in the disheartening eclipse of total blindness, he must possess some
qualities of the highest order, whatever faults he may have, and is
thus eminently fitted to instruct the rising generation.

Pursuant to this idea, I called at the office of the Herreshoff
Manufacturing Company, at Bristol. The building, formerly belonging
to the Burnside Rifle Company, is substantial, but unpretentious, and
is entered by a short stairway on one side. The furniture throughout
is also plain, but has been selected with excellent taste, and is
suggestive of the most effective adaptation of means to ends in every
detail. On the mantel and on the walls are numerous pictures, most of
them of vessels, but very few relating directly to any of the great
races for the “America’s” cup. The first picture to arrest one’s
attention, indeed, is an excellent portrait of the late General Ambrose
E. Burnside, who lived in Bristol, and was an intimate friend of John
B. Herreshoff.

Previous inquiry had elicited the information that the members of
the firm were very busy with various large orders, in addition to
the rush of work on the “Columbia” and the “Defender”; so it was a
very agreeable surprise when I was invited into the tasteful private
office, where the blind president sat, having just concluded a short
conversation with an attorney.

“Well, sir,” said he, rising and grasping my hand cordially, “what do
you wish?”

“I realize how very busy you must be, Mr. Herreshoff,” I replied, “and
will try to be as brief as possible; but I venture to ask a few minutes
of your valuable time, with a view to obtaining suggestions and advice
from you to young men and women at the threshold of their careers.”

“But why select me, in particular, as an adviser?”

This was “a poser,” at first, especially when he added, noting my
hesitation:


LET THE WORK SHOW.

“We are very frequently requested to give interviews in regard to our
manufacturing business; but, as it is the settled policy of our house
to simply do our work just as well as we possibly can, and then leave
it to speak for itself, we have felt obliged to decline all these
requests. We have a very pleasant feeling toward the papers and their
representatives, for they have treated us very kindly; but it would be
repugnant to our sense of propriety to talk in public about our special
industry. ‘Let the work show!’ seems to us a good motto.”

“True,” said I. “But the majority of my readers may not care to hear
of cutters or ‘skimming dishes,’ center-boards or fin keels, or copper
coils _versus_ steel tubes for boilers. They are willing to leave the
choice in such matters to you, realizing that you have always proved
equal to the situation. What I want now is advice in regard to the
great international human race—the race of life—the voyage in which
each must be his own captain, but in which the words of others who
have successfully sailed the sea before will help to avoid rocks and
shoals, and to profit by favoring currents and trade winds. You have
been handicapped in an unusual degree, sailing in total darkness and
beset by many other difficulties, but have, nevertheless, made a very
prosperous voyage. In overcoming such serious obstacles you must have
learned much of the true philosophy of both success and failure, and I
think you will be willing, like so many other eminent men and women, to
help the young with suggestions drawn from your experience.”

“I always want to help young people, or old people, either, for that
matter, if anything I can say will do so. But what can I say?”

“What do you call the prime requisite of success?”

“I shall have to answer that by a somewhat humorous but very shrewd
suggestion of another—select a good mother. Especially for boys, I
consider an intelligent, affectionate but considerate mother an almost
indispensable requisite to the highest success. If you would improve
the rising generation to the utmost, appeal first to the mothers.”

“In what way?”

“Above all things else, show them that reasonable self-denial is a
thousandfold better for a boy than to have his every wish gratified.
Teach them to encourage industry, economy, concentration of attention
and purpose, and indomitable persistence.”

“But most mothers try to do this, don’t they?”


A MOTHER’S MIGHTY INFLUENCE.

“Yes, in a measure; but many of them, perhaps most of them, do not
emphasize the matter half enough. A mother may wish to teach all
these lessons to her son, but she thinks too much of him, or believes
she does, to have him suffer any deprivation, and so indulges him in
things which are luxuries for him, under the circumstances, rather than
necessaries. Many a boy, born with ordinary intellect, would follow the
example of an industrious father were it not that the mother wishes him
to appear as well as any boy in the neighborhood. So, without exactly
meaning it, she gets to making a show of her boy, and brings him up
with a habit of idling away valuable time, to keep up appearances. The
prudent mother, however, sees the folly of this course, and teaches
her son to excel in study and work rather than in vain display.
The difference in mothers makes all the difference in the world to
children. Like brooks, they can be turned very easily in their course
of life.”

“What ranks next in importance?”

“Boys and girls themselves, especially as they grow older, and have
a chance to understand what life means, should not only help their
parents as a matter of duty, but should learn to help themselves, for
their own good. I would not have them forego recreation, a reasonable
amount every day, but let them learn the reality and earnestness of
existence, and resolve to do the whole work and the very best work of
thorough, reliable young men and women.”

“What would you advise as to choosing a career?”

“In that I should be governed largely by the bent of each youth. What
he likes to do best of all, that he should do and try to do it better
than anyone else. That is legitimate emulation. Let him devote his
full energy to his work; with the provision, however, that he needs
change or recreation more in proportion as he uses his brain more. The
more muscular the work, if not too heavy, the more hours, is a good
rule; the more brain work, the fewer hours. Children at school should
not be expected to work so long or so hard as if engaged in manual
labor. Temperament, too, should be considered. A highly organized,
nervous person, like a racehorse, may display intense activity for a
short time, but it should be followed by a long period of rest; while
the phlegmatic person, like the ox or the draft horse, can go all day
without injury.”

“Would you advise a college course?”

“I believe in education most thoroughly, and think no one can have too
much knowledge, if properly digested. But in many of our colleges, I
have often thought, not more than one in five is radically improved
by the course. Most collegiates waste too much time in frivolity, and
somehow there seems to be little restraining power in the college to
prevent this. I agree that students should have self-restraint and
application themselves, but, in the absence of these, the college
should supply more compulsion than is now the rule.”

“Do you favor reviving the old apprentice system for would-be
mechanics?”

“Only in rare cases. As a rule, we have special machines now that do as
perfect work as the market requires; some of them, indeed, better work
than can be done by hand. A boy or man can soon learn to tend one of
these, when he becomes, for ordinary purposes, a specialist. Very few
shops now have apprentices. No rule, however, will apply to all, and
it may still be best for one to serve an apprenticeship in a trade in
which he wishes to advance beyond any predecessor or competitor.”

“Is success dependent more upon ability or opportunity?”


PREPARE TO THE UTMOST: THEN DO YOUR BEST.

“Of course, opportunity is necessary. You couldn’t run a mammoth
department store on the desert of Sahara. But, given the possibility,
the right man can make his opportunity, and should do so, if it is not
at hand, or does not come, after reasonable waiting. Even Napoleon had
to wait for his. On the other hand, if there is no ability, none can
display itself, and the best opportunity must pass by unimproved. The
true way is to first develop your ability to the last ounce, and then
you will be ready for your opportunity, when it comes, or to make one,
if none offers.”

“Is the chance for a youth as good as it was twenty-five or fifty years
ago?”

“Yes, and no! In any country, as it becomes more thickly populated,
the chance for purely individual enterprises is almost sure to
diminish. One notices this more as he travels through other and older
countries, where, far more than with us, boys follow in the footsteps
of their fathers, generation after generation. But for those who are
willing to adapt themselves to circumstances, the chance to-day, at
least from a pecuniary standpoint, is better than ever before for those
starting in life. There was doubtless more chance for the individual
boat-builder in the days of King Philip, when each Indian made his own
canoe, but there is certainly more profit now for an employee of our
firm of boat-builders.”

“Granted, however, that he can find employment, how do his chances of
rising compare with those of your youth?”


THE MAN IS THE IMPORTANT FACTOR.

“They still depend largely upon the individual. Some seem to have
natural executive ability, and others develop it, while most men never
possess it. Those who lack it cannot hope to rise far, and never
could. Jefferson’s idea that all men are created equal is true enough,
perhaps, so far as their political rights are concerned, but from the
point of view of efficiency in business it is ridiculous. In any shop
of one hundred men you will find one who is acknowledged, at least
tacitly, as the leader, and he, sooner or later, becomes so in fact. A
rich boy may get and hold a place in an office on account of his wealth
or influence; but in the works merit alone will enable a man to hold a
place long.”

“But what is his chance of becoming a proprietor?”


THE DEVELOPMENT OF ABILITY.

“That is smaller, of course, as establishments grow larger and more
valuable. It is all bosh for every man to expect to become a Vanderbilt
or a Rockefeller, or to be President. But, in the long run, a man will
still rise and prosper in almost exact proportion to his real value to
the business world. He will rise or fall according to his ability.”

“Can he develop ability?”

“Yes, to a certain extent. As I have said, we are not all alike, and no
amount of cultivation will make some minds equal to those of others who
have had but little training. But, whether great or small, everyone has
some weak point; let him first study to overcome that.”

“How can he do it?”

“The only way I know of is to—do it. But this brings me back to what
I told you at first. A good mother will show one how to guard against
his weak points. She should study each child and develop his individual
character, for character is the true foundation, after all. She should
check extravagance and encourage industry and self-respect. My mother
is one of the best, and I feel that I owe her a debt I can never repay.
If I have one thing more than another to be thankful for, it is her
care in childhood and her advice and sympathy through life. How often
have I thought of her wisdom when I have seen mothers from Europe,
where they were satisfied to be peasants, seek to outshine all their
neighbors after they have been in America a few years, and so bring
financial ruin to their husbands or even goad them into crime, and
curse their children with contempt for honest labor in positions for
which they are fitted, and a foolish desire to keep up appearances,
even by living beyond their means and by seeking positions they cannot
fill properly.”

“You must have been quite young when you began to build boats?”


HE WOULD NOT BE DISCOURAGED.

“About thirteen or fourteen years old. You see, my father was an
amateur boat-builder, in a small way, and did very good work, but
usually not for sale. But I began the work as a business thirty-six
years ago, when I was about twenty-two.”

“You must have been terribly handicapped by your blindness?”

“It was an obstacle, but I simply would not allow it to discourage me,
and did my best, just the same as if I could see. My mother had taught
me to think, and so I made thought and memory take the place of eyes. I
acquired a kind of habit of mental projection which has enabled me to
see models in my mind, as it were, and to consider their good and bad
points intelligently. Besides, I cultivated my powers of observation
to the utmost in other respects. Even now I take an occasional trip
of observation, for I like to see what others are doing, and so keep
abreast of the progress of the age. But I must stop, or I shall get to
‘talking shop,’ the thing I declined to do at first. The main thing
for a boy is to have a good mother, to heed her advice, to do his
best, and not get a ‘swelled head’ as he rises—in other words, not to
expect to put a gallon into a pint cup or a bushel into a peck measure.
Concentration, decision, industry and economy should be his watchwords,
and invincible determination and persistence his rule of action.”




LVI

A Great Vocalist Shows that Only Years of Labor Can Win the Heights of
Song.


OF the five internationally famous singers—Melba, Calvé, Nordica, Eames
and Lehmann—none is a greater favorite than Madame Lillian Nordica. She
has had honors heaped upon her in every music-loving country, including
her own, America. Milan, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, and New York
in turn accepted her, and the music-lovers of those cities received
her with a _furore_ of praise. Jewel cases filled with bracelets,
necklaces, tiaras and diadems of gold and precious stones, attest the
unaffected sincerity of her admirers in all the great music-centers of
the world. She enjoys, in addition, the distinction of being one of the
first two American women to attain to international fame as a singer in
grand opera. When Madame Nordica was in New York fulfilling her part in
the most brilliant operatic season the city had ever known, she lived
in sumptuous style at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where I met her by
appointment. She accepted the statement that the public is interested
in the details of her career as most natural, and was pleased to
discuss the philosophy of a singer’s success from the view-point of its
difficulties.

“You would like to know how distinction in the field of art is earned?
Well, it is not thrust upon anyone. The material for a great voice may
be born in a person—it is, in fact—but the making of it into a great
voice is a work of the most laborious character.”

“Is the matter of nationality of any advantage to an aspirant?”

“You wish to know——”

“Whether, in some countries, the atmosphere is not very favorable to a
beginner;—the feeling of the public and the general support given to
music not particularly conducive to the musical development of, we will
say, a young girl with a promising voice.”

“Yes. I should judge almost any of the greater European nations
would be better in this respect than the United States; not much
better, however, because nearly all depends on strength of character,
determination, and the will to work. If a girl has these, she will rise
as high, in the end, anywhere; perhaps not so quickly in some places,
but no less surely.”

“You had no European advantages?”

“None whatever.”

“Were you born in the West?”

“No. I come of New England stock. You will understand that more
readily when I tell you that my real name is Norton. I was born at
Farmington, Maine, and was reared in Boston.”

“Were your parents musically talented?”

“Not at all. Their opinion of music was that it is an airy, inviting
art of the devil, used to tempt men’s feet to stray from the solemn
path of right. They believed music, as a vocation, to be nearly as
reprehensible as a stage career, and for the latter they had no
tolerance whatever. I must be just, though, and own that they did
make an exception in the case of church music, else I should never
have received the slightest encouragement in my aspirations. They
considered music in churches to be permissible—even laudable. So, when
I displayed some ability as a singer, I was allowed to use it in behalf
of religion, and I did. I joined the church choir and sang hymns about
the house almost constantly.”

“You had a natural bent for singing.”

“Yes, but I needed a world of training. I had no conception of what
work lies ahead of anyone who contemplates singing perfectly. All I
knew was that I could sing, and that I would win my way with my voice
if I could.”

“How did you accomplish it?”


THERE MUST BE NO PLAY, ONLY STUDY AND PRACTICE.

“By devoting all my time, all my thought, and all my energy to that one
object. I devoured church music—all I could get hold of. I practiced
new and difficult compositions all the time I could spare.”

“Naturally, your efforts attracted attention?”

“Yes, I became a very good church singer; so much so that, when there
were church concerts or important religious ceremonies, I was always
in demand. Then there began to be a social demand for my ability, and,
later, a public demand in the way of concerts.”

“At Farmington?”

“Oh, no. At Boston. I forgot to say that my parents removed, while I
was still quite young, to Boston.”

“Did you give much of your time to public concerts?”

“None at all. I ignored all but church singing. My ambition ran
higher than concert singing, and I knew my parents would not consent.
I persuaded them to let me have my voice trained. This was not very
difficult, because my church singing, as it had improved, became a
source of considerable profit, and they saw even greater results for me
in the large churches and in the religious field generally. So I went
to a teacher of vocal culture.”

“Where, if you please?”

“Professor John O’Neill, one of the instructors in the New England
Conservatory of Music, Boston, was a fine old teacher, a man with
the highest ideals concerning music, and of the sternest and most
exacting method. He made me feel, at first, that the world was mine if
I would work. Hard work was his constant cry. There must be no play,
no training for lower forms of public entertainment, no anything but
study and practice. I must work and perfect myself in private, and then
suddenly appear unheralded in the highest class of opera and take the
world by storm. It was a fine fancy.”

“Did you manage to work it out so?”

“No. It wouldn’t have been possible. O’Neill was a fine musician. In
his mind and heart, all his aspiration was sincere, but it was not to
be.”

“Were you ambitious enough?”

“Oh, yes! and most conscientious. Under him I studied the physiology
of the voice, and practiced singing oratorios. I also took up Italian,
familiarizing myself with the language, with all the songs and endless
_arias_. In fact, I made myself as perfect in Italian as possible.”

“How much time did the training take?”

“Three years.”

“And what was the result?”

“Well, I had greatly improved, but was not perfect. Mr. O’Neill
employed methods of making me work which discouraged me. He was a man
who would magnify and storm over your slightest error, and make light
of or ignore your sincerest achievements. If anything, he put his grade
of perfection so high that I began to consider it unattainable, and
lost heart. Finally, I gave it up and rested awhile, uncertain of
everything.”

“And then?”

“After I had thought awhile and regained some confidence, I came to
New York to see Mme. Maretzek. She was not only a teacher, but also a
singer quite famous in her day and knew the world of music thoroughly.
She considered my voice to be of the right quality for the highest
grade of operatic success, and gave me hope that, with a little more
training, I could begin my career. She not only did that, but also set
me to studying the great operas, ‘Lucia’ and the others, and introduced
me to the American musical celebrities. Together we heard whatever was
worth hearing in New York. When the renowned Brignola came to New York
she took me to the Everett House, where he was stopping, and introduced
me. They were good friends, and, after gaining his opinion of my voice,
we went to hear him sing ‘Faust.’

“That was a wonderful thing for me. To hear the great Brignola! It
fired my ambition. As I listened, I felt that I could also be great,
and that people, some day, might listen to me as enraptured as I then
was by him. It put new fire into me and caused me to fairly toil over
my studies. I would have given up all my hours if I had been allowed or
requested to.”

“And then what?”

“Well, so it went until, after several years of study, Madame Maretzek
thought I was getting pretty well along and might venture some
important public singing. We talked about different ways of appearing,
and what I would sing and so on, until finally Gilmore’s band came to
Madison Square Garden. He was in the heyday of his success then, both
popular and famous, and carried important soloists with him. Madame
Maretzek decided that she would take me to see him and get his opinion;
and so, one day, toward the very last of his Madison Square engagement,
we went to see him. Madame Maretzek was on good terms with him also.
I remember that she took me in one morning when he was rehearsing. I
saw a stout, kindly, genial looking man who was engaged in tapping for
attention, calling certain individuals to notice certain points, and
generally fluttering around over a dozen odds and ends. Madame Maretzek
talked with him a little while and then called his attention to me. He
looked toward me.

“‘Thinks she can sing, eh? Yes, yes. Well, all right! Let her come
right along.’

“Then he called to me:


“I WAS TRAVELING ON AIR.”

“‘Come right along, now. Step right up here on the stage. Yes, yes.
Now, what can you sing?’

“I told him I could sing almost anything in oratorio or opera, if he so
wished. He said: ‘Well, well, have a little from both. Now, what shall
it be?’

“I shall never forget his kindly way. He was like a good father, gentle
and reassuring, and seemed really pleased to have me there and hear me.
I went up on the platform and told him that I would begin with ‘Let the
Bright Seraphim,’ and he called the orchestra together and had them
accompany me.”

“You must have been slightly nervous.”

“I was at first, but I recovered my equanimity and sang up to my
full limit of power. When I was through, he remarked, ‘Very good!
very good!’ and then, ‘Now, what else?’ I next sang an _aria_ from
‘Somnambula.’ He did not hesitate to express his approval, which was
always, ‘Very good! very good! Now, what you want to do,’ he said, ‘is
to get some roses in your cheeks and come along and sing for me.’ After
that he continued his conference with Madame Maretzek, and then we went
away together.

“I was traveling on air when I left, I can assure you. His company was
famous. Its engagement had been most successful. Madame Poppenheim was
singing with it, and there were other famous names. There were only
two more concerts, concluding his New York engagement, but he had told
Madame Maretzek that if I chose to come and sing on these occasions,
he would be glad to have me. I was more than glad of the opportunity
and agreed to go. We arranged with him by letter, and, when the evening
came, I sang.

“My work made a distinct impression on the audience and pleased Mr.
Gilmore wonderfully. After the second night, when all was over, he came
to me, and said: ‘Now, my dear, of course there is no more concert this
summer, but I am going West in the fall. Now, how would you like to go
along?’

“I told him that I would like to go very much, if it could be arranged;
and, after some negotiation, he agreed to pay the expenses of my mother
and myself, and give me one hundred dollars a week besides. I accepted,
and when the Western tour began, we went along.”

“How did you succeed on that tour?”

“Very well indeed. I gained thorough control of my nerves in that
time and learned something of audiences and of what constitutes
distinguished ‘stage presence.’ I studied all the time, and, with the
broadening influence of travel, gained a great deal. At the end of the
tour my voice was more under my control than ever before, and I was a
better singer all around.”


HER FIRST EUROPEAN TOUR.

“You did not begin with grand opera, after all?”

“No, I did not. It was not a perfect conclusion of my dreams, but it
was a great deal. My old instructor, Mr. O’Neill, took it worse than I
did. He regarded my ambitions as having all come to naught. I remember
that he wrote me a letter in which he thus called me to account:

    “After all my training, my advice, that you should come to
    this! A whole lifetime of ambition and years of the hardest
    study consumed to fit you to go on the road with a brass
    band! Poh!

“I pocketed the sarcasm in the best of humor, because I was sure of
my dear old teacher’s unwavering faith in me, and knew that he wrote
only for my own good. Still, I felt that I was doing wisely in getting
before the public, and so decided to wait quietly and see if time would
not justify me.

“When the season was over Mr. Gilmore came to me again. He was the most
kindly man I ever knew. His manner was as gentle and his heart as good
as could be.

“‘I am going to Europe,’ he said. ‘I am going to London and Paris and
Vienna and Rome, and all the other big cities. There will be a fine
chance for you to see all those places and let Europeans hear you. They
appreciate good singers. Now, little girl, do you want to come? If you
do, you can.’

“I talked it over with my mother and Madame Maretzek, and decided to
go; and so, the next season, we were in Europe.”

“Did it profit you as you anticipated?”

“Very much. We gave seventy-eight concerts in England and France. We
opened the Trocadero at Paris, and mine was the first voice of any kind
to sing there.

“This European tour of the American band really was a great and
successful venture. American musicians still recall the _furore_ which
it created and the prestige which it gained at home. Mr. Gilmore was
proud of his leading soloists. In Paris, where the great audiences went
wild over my singing, he came to praise me personally in unmeasured
terms. ‘My dear,’ he said, ‘you are going to be a great singer. You are
going to be crowned in your own country yet. Mark my words: they are
going to put diamonds on your brow!’

“At the end of that tour I decided to spend some of my earnings on
further study in Italy. Accordingly, I went to Milan, to the singing
teacher San Giovanni. On arriving there, I visited the old teacher and
stated my object. I said that I wanted to sing in grand opera.


“WHY DON’T YOU SING IN GRAND OPERA?”

“‘All right!’ he answered; ‘let me hear your voice.’

“I sang an _aria_ from ‘Lucia’; and when I was through, he said dryly:
‘You want to sing in grand opera?’

“‘Yes.’

“‘Well, why don’t you?’

“‘I need training.’

“‘Nonsense!’ he answered. ‘We will attend to that. You need a few
months to practice Italian methods—that is all.’

“So I spent three months with him. After much preparation, I made my
_début_ as Violetta in Verdi’s opera, ‘La Traviata,’ at the Teatro
Grande, in Brescia.”

The details of Madame Nordica’s Italian appearance are very
interesting. Her success was instantaneous. Her fame went up and
down the land, and across the water—to her home. She next sang in
Gounod’s “Faust,” at Geneva, and soon afterwards appeared at Navarro,
singing Alice in Meyerbeer’s “Roberto,” the enthusiastic and delighted
subscribers presenting her with a handsome set of rubies and pearls.
After that she was engaged to sing at the Russian capital, and
accordingly went to St. Petersburg, where, in October, 1881, she made
her _début_ as La Filma in “Mignon.”

There, also, her success was great. She was the favorite of the society
of the court, and received pleasant attentions from every quarter.
Presents were made her, and inducements for her continued presence
until two winters had passed. Then she decided to revisit France and
Paris.


THIS WAS HER CROWNING TRIUMPH.

“I wanted to sing in grand opera at Paris,” she said to me. “I wanted
to know that I could appear successfully in that grand place. I counted
my achievements nothing until I could do that.”

“And did you?”

“Yes. In July, 1882, I appeared there.”

This was her greatest triumph. In the part of Marguerite she took
the house by storm, and won from the composer the highest encomiums.
Subsequently, she appeared with equal success as Ophélie, having been
specially prepared for both these rôles by the respective composers,
Charles Gounod and Ambroise Thomas.

“You should have been satisfied after that,” I said.

“I was,” she answered. “So thoroughly was I satisfied that, soon
afterwards, I gave up my career and was married. For two years I
remained away from the public, but, after that time, my husband having
died, I decided to return. I made my first appearance at the Burton
Theater in London, and was doing well enough when Colonel Mapleson
came to me. He was going to produce grand opera—in fact, he was going
to open Covent Garden, which had been closed for a long time, with a
big company. He was another interesting character. I found him to be
generous and kind-hearted and happy-spirited as anyone could be. When
he came to me it was in the most friendly manner. ‘I am going to open
Covent Garden,’ he said. ‘Now, here is your chance to sing there.
All the great singers have appeared there—Patti, Gerster, Nilsson,
Tietjens—now it’s your turn—come and sing.’

“‘How about terms?’ I asked.

“‘Terms!’ he exclaimed; ‘terms! Don’t let such little details stand in
your way. What is money compared to this? Ignore money. Think of the
honor, of the memories of the place, of what people think of it;’ and
then he waved his arms dramatically.

“Well, we came to terms, not wholly sacrificial on my part, and the
season began. Covent Garden had not been open for a long time. It was
in the spring of the year, cold and damp. There was a crowded house,
though, because fashion accompanied the Prince of Wales there. He came,
night after night, and heard the opera through with an overcoat on.

“It was no blessed task for me, or healthy, either, but the Lord has
blessed me with a sound constitution. I sang my parts, as they should
be sung, some in bare arms and shoulders, with too little clothing for
such a temperature. But it was Covent Garden, and so I bore up under
it.”

“What was the next venture?”

“Nothing much more interesting. The summer after that season I visited
Ems, where the De Reszkes were. One day they said: ‘We are going to
Bayreuth to hear the music, don’t you want to go along?’

“I thought it over, and decided that I did. My mother and I packed up
and departed. When I got there and saw those splendid performances I
was entranced. It was perfectly beautiful. Everything was arranged
after an ideal fashion. I had a great desire to sing there, and boasted
to my mother that I would. When I came away I was fully determined to
carry out that boast.”

“Could you speak German?”

“Not at all. I began, though, at once, to study it; and when I could
talk it sufficiently I went to Bayreuth and saw Madame Wagner.”


THE KINDNESS OF FRAU WAGNER.

“Did you find her the imperious old lady she is said to be?”

“Not at all. She welcomed me most heartily; and when I told her that I
had come to see if I could not sing there she seemed much pleased. She
treated me like a daughter, explained all that she was trying to do,
and gave me a world of encouragement. Finally I arranged to sing and
create ‘Elsa’ after my own idea of it during the season following the
one then approaching.”

“What did you do meanwhile?”

“I came to New York to fulfil my contract for the season of 1894-1895.
While doing that I made a study of Wagner’s, and, indeed, of all German
music; and when the season was over went back and sang it.”

“To Frau Wagner’s satisfaction?”

“Yes.”

“Have you found your work very exacting?”

“Decidedly so. It leaves little time for anything else.”

“To do what you have done requires a powerful physique, to begin with?”

“Yes, I should judge so.”

“Are you ever put under extraordinary mental strain?”

“Occasionally.”

“In what manner?”

“Why, in my manner of study. I remember once, during my season under
Augustus Harris, of an incident of this order. He gave a garden party
one Sunday to which several of his company were invited, myself
included. When the afternoon was well along he came to me and said:
‘Did you ever sing “Valencia” in “The Huguenots”?’ I told him I had not.

“‘Do you think you could learn the music and sing it by next Saturday
night?’

“I felt a little appalled at the question, but ventured to say that I
could. I knew that hard work would do it.

“‘Then do,’ he replied; ‘for I must have you sing it.’

“Let me ask you one thing,” I said. “Has America good musical material?”


THE MUSICAL TALENT OF AMERICAN GIRLS.

“As much as any other country, and more, I should think. The higher
average of intelligence here should yield a greater percentage of
musical intelligence.”

“Then there ought to be a number of great American women singers in the
future?”

“There ought to be, but it is a question whether there will be. They
are not cut out for the work which it requires to develop a good voice.”

“You think there is good material for great voices in American women,
but not sufficient energy?”

“That is my fear, not my belief. I have noticed that young women here
seem to underestimate the cost of distinction. It means more than most
of them are prepared to give; and when they face the exactions of art
they falter and drop out. Hence we have many middle-class singers, but
few really powerful ones.”

“What are these exactions you speak of?”

“Time, money, and loss of friends, of pleasure. To be a great singer
means, first, to be a great student. To be a great student means that
you have no time for balls and parties, very little for friends, and
less for carriage rides and pleasant strolls. All that is really left
is a shortened allowance of sleep, of time for meals and time for
exercise.”

“Did you ever imagine that people leaped into permanent fame when still
young and without much effort on their part?”

“I did. But I discovered that real fame—permanent recognition which
cannot be taken away from you—is acquired only by a lifetime of most
earnest labor. People are never internationally recognized until they
have reached middle life. Many persons gain notoriety young, but that
goes as quickly as it comes. All true success is founded on real
accomplishment, acquired with difficulty; and so, when you see some
one accounted great, you will usually find him to be in the prime of
life or past it.”

“You grant that many young people have genius?”

“Certainly I do. Many of them have it. They will have waited long,
however, before it has been trained into valuable service. The world
gives very little recognition for a great deal of labor paid in; and
when I earn a thousand dollars for a half hour’s singing sometimes it
does not nearly average up for all the years and for the labor much
more difficult, which I contributed without recompense.”




BOOK TWO

MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE ACHIEVED EMINENCE


Success Maxims

    If I were a cobbler, it would be my pride
      The best of all cobblers to be;
    If I were a tinker, no tinker beside
      Should mend an old kettle like me.
                                     —OLD SONG.


People do not lack strength; they lack will.—VICTOR HUGO.

Every man stamps his own value upon himself, and we are great or little
according to our own will.—SAMUEL SMILES.

The saddest failures in life are those that come from not putting forth
of the power and will to succeed.—WHIPPLE.

As men in a crowd instinctively make room for one who would force his
way through it, so mankind makes way for one who rushes toward an
object beyond them.—DWIGHT.

There can be no doubt that the captains of industry to-day, using that
term in its broadest sense, are men who began life as poor boys.—SETH
LOW.

  Do noble things, not dream them, all day long,
  And so make life, death and the vast forever one grand, sweet song.
                                                 —CHARLES KINGSLEY.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff
life is made of.—FRANKLIN.

The high prize of life, the crowning fortune of a man, is to be
born with a bias to some pursuit, which finds him in employment and
happiness.—EMERSON.

A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no
time.—BACON.

The one prudence in life is concentration; the one evil is dissipation;
and it makes no difference whether our dissipations are coarse or
fine.... Everything is good which takes away one plaything and delusion
more, and sends us home to add one stroke of faithful work.—EMERSON.

[Illustration:

    Thomas B. Reed

    William Boyd Allison

    George F. Hoar

    Elihu Root

    Theodore Roosevelt

    Henry Cabot Lodge

    Grover Cleveland
    (_Copyright, 1903, by Rockwood, N.Y._)

    John Hay

    Richard Olney

STATESMEN]

[Illustration:

    Sir T. Shaughnessy

    Sir Wm. Van Horne

    Lord Strathcona

    Simon N. Parent

    Sir Wilfrid Laurier

    Robt. L. Borden

    A. G. Blair

    Jas. Loudon

    Goldwin Smith

CANADIANS OF NOTE]

[Illustration:

    Wm. Peterson

    George W. Ross

    Dr. Wm. Osler

    Lord Mount Stephen

    Sir Geo. Drummond

    George A. Cox

    Timothy Eaton

    William S. Fielding

    Charles Fitzpatrick

CANADIANS OF NOTE]

[Illustration:

    Charles H. Cramp

    John B. Herreschoff

    Charles M. Hays

    Lewis Nixon

    Andrew Carnegie
    (_Copyright, 1900, by Rockwood, N. Y._)

    Charles R. Flint

    E. G. Acheson

    J. H. Patterson

    Robert C. Clowry

CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY]

[Illustration:

    C. W. Post

    John W. Wheeler

    Phill. D. Armour

    A. G. Spalding

    Albert A. Pope

    Charles Eastman

    Hugh T. Chisholm

    Theo. L. De Vinne

    W. L. Douglass

MANUFACTURERS]

[Illustration:

    August Belmont

    Clement Acton
    Griscom

    Herbert H.
    Vreeland

    George Gould

    J. J. Hill

    M. E. Ingalls

    A. J. Cassatt

    Geo. H. Daniels

    George F. Baer
    (_Copyright, 1901, by F. Gutekunst_)

TRANSPORTATION LEADERS]

[Illustration:

    Alex. G. Bell

    Santos Dumont

    Wm. Marconi

    Chas. F. Brush

    Thomas Alva Edison

    Peter C. Hewitt

    John P. Holland
    (_Copyright, 1900, by Rockwood, N.Y._)

    Hiram Stevens Maxim

    Geo. Westinghouse
    (_Copyright, 1902, by Gessford, N.Y._)

INVENTORS]

[Illustration:

    Henry Siegel

    Nathan Strauss

    F. W. Woolworth

    Marshall Field

    John Wanamaker

    Sir Thomas
    Lipton

    Edward Cooper

    Robt. L. Ogden

    W. F. King

MERCHANTS]

[Illustration:

    Henry Clews

    Charles Tyson
    Yerkes

    Lyman Gage

    John D. Rockefeller

    J. Pierpont Morgan
    (_Copyright, 1902, by Pach, New York_)

    Russell Sage

    Cornelius Vanderbilt

    Hetty Green

    William Waldorf Astor

FINANCIERS]

[Illustration:

    Hazen S. Pingree

    William Jennings Bryan

    Thomas C. Platt

    Sam’l M. Jones

    Marcus A. Hanna

    Arthur Pue Gorman

    Tom L. Johnson

    Carter Harrison

    Jos. W. Folk

POLITICAL LEADERS]

[Illustration:

    Wm. Travers Jerome

    John W. Griggs

    Frank S. Black

    Alton Brooks Parker

    Melville W. Fuller

    Oliver Wendell Holmes

    Joseph McKenna

    James B. Dill

    Fred. R. Coudert

LAWYERS AND JURISTS]

[Illustration:

    Richmond P. Hobson

    Joseph Wheeler

    Fred Funston

    Adna R. Chaffee

    Nelson A. Miles

    Wm. R. Shafter

    Winfield S. Schley

    George Dewey

    Robley D. Evans

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS]

[Illustration:

    H. Nansen

    Henry M. Stanley

    A. H. Savage Landor

    Walter Wellman

    Robert Edwin Peary

    Dr. Frederick A. Cook

    E. Burton Holmes

    Evelyn V. Baldwin
    (_Copyright, 1902, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Sven Hedin

EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS]

[Illustration:

    Jacob G. Schurman

    W. H. P. Faunce

    Nicholas M. Butler

    E. Benjamin Andrews

    William T. Harris

    Woodrow Wilson

    Arthur T. Hadley

    H. M. McCracken

    Charles Wm. Eliot
    (_Copyright, 1899, by Notman Photo.
    Company, Boston_)

EDUCATORS]

[Illustration:

    Henry M. Alden

    Albert Shaw

    George H. Lorimer

    James M. Buckley

    Edward Bok

    Richard W. Gilder

    Henry Watterson

    George Harvey

    Whitelaw Reid
    (_Copyright, 1892, by Rockwood, N.Y._)

EDITORS]

[Illustration:

    Louis Klopsch

    Isaac K. Funk

    John Brisben
    Walker

    W. R. Hearst

    S. S. McClure

    Joseph Pulitzer

    Frank A. Munsey

    Edward E. Higgins

    F. N. Doubleday

PUBLISHERS]

[Illustration:

    Champ Clark

    Frank W. Gunsaulus

    A. J. Beveridge

    J. P. Dolliver
    (_Copyright, by Francis B. Johnston_)

    Joseph H. Choate

    John Warwick Daniel

    Chauncey M. Depew

    Carl Schurz

    W. Bourke Cockran

ORATORS]

[Illustration:

    Reginald DeKoven

    Maud Powell

    Leonora
    Jackson

    Victor Herbert
    (_Copyright, by Aime Dupont,
    N. Y._)

    John Phillip Sousa

    Maurice Grau
    (_Copyright, by Aime Dupont,
    N.Y._)

    Franz Kneisel

    Theodore Thomas

    Walter Damrosch
    (_Copyright, by Aime Dupont, N.Y._)

MUSICIANS]

[Illustration:

    David Bispham

    Adelina Patti

    Lillian Nordica

    Jean de Reszke

    Emma Eames

    Edouard de Reszke

    Zelie de Lussan

    Emma Calvé
    (_Copyright, by E. W. Histed,
    304 Fifth Avenue. N. Y._)

    Marcella Sembrich

SINGERS]

[Illustration:

    J. K. Hackett

    John Drew

    William Gillette

    Richard Mansfield

    Henry Irving

    E. H. Sothern

    Joseph Jefferson

    William Crane
    (_Copyright, 1899, by E. Chickering, Boston_)

    Nat C. Goodwin

ACTORS]

[Illustration:

    Ethel Barrymore
    (_Copyright, 1901, by Burr McIntosh_)

    Maude Adams

    May Irwin
    (_Courtesy of Colliers Weekly_)

    Mrs. Leslie Carter

    Eleonora Duse

    Mrs. Lillie Langtry

    Viola Allen

    Julia Marlowe

    Virginia Harned

ACTRESSES]

[Illustration:

    Mary Lowe Dickinson

    Mrs. C. Westover
    Alden

    Clara Barton

    Herbert
    Hungerford

    Samuel Gompers

    Francis E.
    Clark

    E. Thompson-Seton

    John Mitchell

    Thos. Dixon, Jr.
    (_Copyright, 1901, by Rockwood, New York_)

ORGANIZERS AND LECTURERS]

[Illustration:

    Charles Mente

    Alice Barber
    Stephens

    Henry Merwin Shrady

    T.
    De Thulstrup

    Edwin Austin Abbey
    (_Copyright, by Elliott and Fry, London_)

    W. De Leftwich
    Dodge

    Frederic Remington

    Charles
    Dana Gibson

    F. Wellington Ruckstuhl

ILLUSTRATORS, DECORATORS AND SCULPTORS]

[Illustration:

    Louis Dalrymple
    (_Courtesy of Pirie McDonald_)

    R. F. Outcault
    (_Courtesy of Pirie McDonald_)

    T. S. Allen

    Sydney B.
    Griffin
    (_Courtesy of Pirie McDonald_)

    C. G. Bush
    (_Courtesy of Pirie McDonald_)

    Frederick B.
    Opper

    Homer Davenport

    Carl E. Schultze

    Eugene Zimmerman

CARTOONISTS]

[Illustration:

    George V. Hobart

    Simeon Ford

    Elizabeth M. Gilmer
    “Dorothy Dix”

    Melville De L. Landon
    “Eli Perkins” (_Copyright by
    Rockwood, N.Y._)

    Samuel L. Clemens
    “Mark Twain”

    George Ade

    John Kendrick Bangs

    Marshall P. Wilder

    Finley Peter Dunne
    “Mr. Dooley”

HUMORISTS]

[Illustration:

    Stewart E. White

    Owen Wister

    David G. Phillips

    Hamlin Garland

    William T. Stead

    C. G. D. Roberts

    Vance Thompson

    Richard Harding
    Davis

    Stephen Bonsal

JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS]

[Illustration:

    Richard LeGallienne
    (_Copyright, 1898, Rockwood, New York_)

    Robert Mackay

    John Burroughs

    James W. Riley
    (_Copyright, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Joaquin Miller
    (_Copyright, 1902, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Henry Van Dyke
    (_Copyright, 1902, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox
    (_Copyright, 1901, by Theo. C Marceau_)

    Edwin Markham
    (_Copyright, 1899, by Gessford and Van Brunt,
    New York_)

    Thos. Bailey Aldrich
    (_Copyright, 1903, by J. E. Purdy, Boston_)

POETS]

[Illustration:

    Charles Major

    Lew Wallace
    (_Copyright, 1900, by Nicholson Lacey, Crawfordville, Ind._)

    Thos. Nelson Page

    Rudyard Kipling

    F. Marion-Crawford

    Wm. Dean Howells

    Geo. W. Cable
    (_Copyright, 1903, by Rockwood, N.Y._)

    James Lane Allen

    Winston Churchill

AUTHORS]

[Illustration:

    Mrs. Pearl Craigie

    Mrs. Mary
    Wilkins-Freeman

    Sara Orne Jewett

    Amelia Edith Barr

    Mrs.
    Gertrude Atherton

    Mrs. Burton Harrison
    (_Copyright, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Mrs. E. S. P. Ward

    Anna Katherine Greene

    Frances H. Burnett

NOVELISTS]

[Illustration:

    Frederick Booth Tucker

    Anthony Comstock
    (_Copyright, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Elizabeth Cady Stanton
    (_Copyright, 1902, by
    Rockwood, New York_)

    William R. George

    Geo. Thorndike Angell

    Susan B. Anthony

    Elbridge T. Gerry

    Wilbur Fisk Crafts

    Charles Henry
    Parkhurst

REFORMERS]

[Illustration:

    Mrs. Leland Stanford

    Mrs. Phoebe Hearst

    Mrs. Theo. Roosevelt
    (_Copyright, 1903, by
    Underwood and Underwood_)

    Darius Ogden Mills
    (_Copyright, 1902, by Rockwood, New York_)

    Helen Miller Gould

    D. K. Pearsons

    Mrs. Henry
    Codman Potter

    Anson Phelps Stokes

    Mrs. Russell Sage

PHILANTHROPISTS]

[Illustration:

    Theo. L. Cuyler

    Edward Everett Hale
    (_Copyright, 1900, by Rockwood. N. Y._)

    Bishop J. H. Vincent

    Bishop H. C. Potter

    Bishop Wm. Taylor

    B. Fay Mills
    (_Copyright, 1889, by B. Fay Mills_)

    Russell Conwell

    Lyman Abbott
    (_Copyright, 1893, by Rockwood, N.Y._)

    Robert Collyer

DIVINES]




BOOK THREE

ENCYCLOPEDIC BIOGRAPHIES,

OR THE ROMANCE OF REALITY.




Success Maxims


    “Never give up: for the wisest is boldest,
     Knowing that Providence mingles the cup;
     And of all maxims, the best, as the oldest,
     Is the stern watchword of ‘Never give up!’”
                                     —HOLMES.

I find nothing so singular in life as this: that everything opposing
appears to lose its substance the moment one actually grapples with
it.—HAWTHORNE.

Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance,
and make a seeming impossibility give way.—JEREMY COLLIER.

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.—NAPOLEON I.

He wants wit, that wants resolved will.—SHAKESPEARE.

When a firm decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the
space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.—JOHN FOSTER.

Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. In the assurance of
strength there is strength, and they are the weakest, however strong,
who have no faith in themselves or their powers.—BOVEE.

Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control—these three alone lead
life to sovereign power.—TENNYSON.

There is no fate! Between the thought and the success, God is the only
agent.—BULWER.

Character must stand behind and back up everything—the sermon, the
poem, the picture, the play. None of them is worth a straw without
it.—J. G. HOLLAND.

I hate a thing done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly; if it be
wrong, leave it undone.—GILPIN.

Doing well depends upon doing completely.—PERSIAN PROVERB.

Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them
up.—GARFIELD.

We live in a new and exceptional age. America is another name for
Opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of the Divine
Providence in behalf of the human race.—EMERSON.




STATESMEN.


WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON.

William Boyd Allison was born at Perry, Ohio, March 2, 1829. His
father, John Allison, was a farmer, and young William spent his boyhood
in work on the farm and in attending the district school. At the age
of sixteen he studied at the Academy at Wooster and subsequently spent
a year at Allegheny college in Meadville, Pennsylvania. After that he
made enough money by teaching school to pay for his admission in the
Western Reserve college in Hudson, Ohio. He studied law in Wooster, and
in 1851 was admitted to the bar. Soon after he became deputy county
clerk. His political tastes were made evident early in life. In 1856 he
was a delegate to the Republican state convention and supported Fremont
for president. In the following year he moved to Ohio, and settled in
Dubuque, where he has since resided. He was a delegate at the Chicago
Republican Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President.
At the beginning of the Civil war he was appointed on the staff of the
Governor of Ohio. In 1862 he was elected to the Thirty-eighth congress
and was re-elected three times in succession. He was the leading member
of the ways and means committee during the Civil war and was of great
use to the President and the Secretary of the Treasury in devising
plans for raising money. He was elected to the United States senate in
1872. His previous record in the house caused his selection as chairman
of the senate committee on appropriations. Mr. Allison has always taken
a prominent part in tariff questions and was chiefly instrumental in
framing the senate tariff bill of the Fiftieth congress. In 1881 he
was offered the position of secretary of the Treasury by President
Garfield, but declined, and, in 1888, he was a leading candidate for
nomination for the presidency. After the election of Mr. Harrison he
was again offered the treasury portfolio, which he again declined.
Senator Allison has always held the respect of public men, and has
never used his position to enrich himself. His tastes are refined, he
is an agreeable host, and popular in both public and private life.


GROVER CLEVELAND.

Grover Cleveland was born at Caldwell, New Jersey, March 18, 1837. His
ancestors came from England. His father was a Presbyterian minister
and he was named after the Rev. Steven Grover. In 1841 the family
moved to Fayetteville, New York, where the future president was
educated in the public schools. Between lessons he acted as clerk in
a country store. He received further education at a local academy,
and was later appointed assistant teacher in the New York Institution
for the Blind. In 1855, while helping his uncle, Lewis F. Allen, at
Buffalo, compiling “The American Word Book,” he began to read law,
and, in 1859, was admitted to the bar. He was appointed assistant
district attorney of Erie county in 1863, but in 1865 he was defeated
for the district attorneyship of the same county. Thereupon he became
a member of a Buffalo law firm. In 1871 he was elected sheriff of Erie
county. At the close of this term he helped to form the firm of Bass,
Cleveland & Bissel. In 1881 he was elected mayor of Buffalo by the
largest majority to a mayoralty candidate ever given in that city. In
1882 he was made governor of the state of New York. He was nominated
as Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1884, was elected, and
inaugurated on March 4, 1885. His term of office was notable on account
of his exercising the veto power beyond all precedent. He vetoed one
hundred and fifteen out of nine hundred and eighty-seven bills, which
had passed both houses, one hundred and two of these being private
pension bills. On June 2, 1886, he was married, in the White House,
to Frances Folsom, the daughter of one of his former law partners. In
1888 Mr. Cleveland was candidate for a second term as president, but
was defeated by Benjamin Harrison. In 1892 he was again a candidate,
and this time he was elected. Mr. Cleveland was without doubt the most
popular Democrat of his time when running for the presidency. He is an
enthusiastic devotee of gun and rod, an ideal host, and even those who
differ with him politically admit his statesmanship.


WILLIAM PIERCE FRYE.

William Pierce Frye, who, since 1861, has been United States senator
from Maine, was born at Lewiston, Maine, September 2, 1831. His
father was Colonel John N. Frye and his mother Alice N. (Davis) Frye.
Graduating from Bowdoin college in 1850, he subsequently carried
out the wishes of his family and the trend of his own inclinations
by following a legal career, in which he was eminently successful.
Becoming a member of the Maine legislature in 1861, he was mayor of
Lewiston from 1866 to 1867, and afterward held a variety of political
offices, including the attorney-generalship of Maine from 1867 to 1869,
presidential elector 1864, was made a member of congress in 1871, which
office he held for ten years, was chairman of the commerce committee
of the senate and member of the peace commission in Paris, 1898; was
president pro tem, of the senate from 1896 to 1901, and after the death
of Vice-President Hobart discharged the duties of that office during
the Fifty-sixth congress. He is now acting chairman of the committee on
foreign relations. Mr. Frye married Caroline Spears, who died in 1900.
His life history is one that has for its moral the power of integrity
when welded to unceasing effort.


JOHN HAY.

John Hay, who, since 1890, has been secretary of state of the United
States, first saw the light at Salem, Indiana, on October 8, 1838. His
father was Dr. Charles Hay, and John was educated in the common schools
at Warsaw, Illinois, and in the academy at Springfield, Illinois.
He graduated from Brown university in 1858, and after a preparatory
period in a local law school was admitted to the Illinois bar. Mr.
Hay was one of the private secretaries of President Lincoln. He was
breveted colonel of United States Volunteers and was also assistant
adjutant-general during the Civil war. He has also been secretary of
legation at Paris, Madrid and Vienna and was charge d’affaires at
Vienna. From 1879 to 1881 he acted as first assistant secretary of
state. During the international sanitary conference of 1881 he was made
its president. His services as ambassador to England from 1897 to 1898
will be long remembered in connection with his tactful and dignified
diplomacy. Mr. Hay, notwithstanding his many and onerous official
duties has found time to write books of both prose and poetry. His
Castilian Days and Pike County Ballads are among the most popular of
these. In 1874 he married Clara Stone, of Cleveland, Ohio.


GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR.

A commanding figure among the Republican forces in the United States
senate, not alone from his personality and ability, but also because
of his attitude on trust legislation and on the Philippine question,
is George Frisbie Hoar, Massachusetts. Mr. Hoar was born in Concord,
Massachusetts, August 29, 1826. A graduate of Harvard in 1846, aged
twenty, and later of Harvard law school, he has retained his interest
in higher education, and in scholarly matters. He has been an overseer
of Harvard college from 1874 to 1880, at various times regent of the
Smithsonian Institute, a trustee of the Leicester academy and the
Peabody Museum of Archæology, and officer of various national and state
societies. He settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, after graduating and
practiced law. He has been married twice, his first wife being Mary
Louisa Spurr and his second Ruth A. Miller. His service in the senate,
since 1877, is exceeded by but few fellow-members, and he represents
that body’s best traditions. He was elected because, as legislator from
1852 to 1856, as state senator in 1856, and as member of congress from
1869 until he was sent to the senate, he had shown marked ability, an
unfailing watchfulness for public welfare and an unswerving honesty
as rare as it is desirable. Senator Hoar is a striking example of
how irreproachable integrity can take active and prominent part in
party politics. He has kept his influence in his party and in general
legislation in spite of sometimes opposing leaders of his own party,
when his conscience and judgment bade him do so.


HENRY CABOT LODGE.

Henry Cabot Lodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 12, 1850.
He prepared for college in Dixwell Latin school, and, entering
Harvard, was graduated in 1876. After his graduation he spent a year
in traveling. Returning to America in 1872, he entered the Harvard
law school. In January, 1874, he became assistant editor of the North
American Review, which position he held until November, 1876. In
1875 he was a lecturer on The History of the American Colonies, in
Harvard. From 1879 to 1882 he was associate editor of the International
Review of Boston. During the same period he was elected member of the
Massachusetts house of representatives. In 1881 he was the Republican
candidate for the state senate, but was defeated. He was nominated
for congress in 1884, but was again defeated. In 1886, however, being
nominated again, he was successful and was re-elected for three
successive congresses, but resigned after his last election on account
of having been made a United States senator, January 17, 1893. In the
senate he has made his mark. Mr. Lodge is an orator of much ability, a
far-sighted political executive, and a writer of considerable merit.
Among his books are: A Short History of the English Colonies, Life of
Washington, Daniel Webster, History of Boston, and he has contributed
to the Encyclopædia Britannica and other works. He is a fluent
lecturer. He is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, trustee of the Boston Athenaeum,
a member of the American Antiquarian Society, and a member of the
New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 1874 he was elected an
overseer of Harvard university, and was offered the degree of LL.D.
in 1875. He married, on June 29, 1871, Anna, daughter of Rear Admiral
Charles S. Davis, and has three children by her.


RICHARD OLNEY.

Richard Olney was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, September 15, 1835,
and is of English ancestry. He received his preliminary education at
Leicester academy, and graduated with high honors at Brown university
in 1856. He was graduated with the degree of bachelor of laws from
Harvard law school in 1858, and was admitted to the bar in the
following year, entering the office of Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, with
whom he was associated for ten years. Mr. Olney made a specialty of
the laws relative to wills, estates and corporations. In 1893 he was
appointed attorney-general by President Cleveland. By his advice Mr.
Cleveland called out regular troops, July, 1894, to suppress the
rioting that followed on the Chicago American railway union strike. In
March, 1895, he successfully defended that action in an argument before
the Supreme Court in the habeas corpus proceedings brought by Eugene V.
Debs, who had been convicted of inciting the strikers. Upon the death
of Walter Q. Gresham, Mr. Olney was appointed secretary of state and
took office June 10, 1895. He was married, in 1861, to Agnes Park,
daughter of Benjamin F. Thomas, of Boston.


ELIHU ROOT.

Elihu Root, secretary of war of the United States and one of the
most successful lawyers of his generation, was born at Clinton,
New York, February 15, 1845. His father was Orin Root, who was for
many years professor of mathematics at Hamilton college, from which
institution young Root graduated in 1864. For a year or more he was
a teacher in Rome, New York, academy. Coming to New York, he studied
in the University law school until 1867, when he was admitted to the
bar, beginning to practice forthwith. He lost no time in getting
into the current of affairs in the metropolis, and soon began to
attract attention on account of his earnestness and ability, and
so, while still a very young man, was retained on important cases.
President Arthur appointed him United States attorney for the southern
district of New York in 1883. He was delegate-at-large at the state
constitutional convention in 1894, was appointed secretary of war,
August 1, 1899, by President McKinley, and was reappointed in 1901. As
a corporation lawyer he has had to do with some historical legal cases,
such as the Hocking Valley suit, in which the amount involved was
$8,000,000. A few years ago he erected in the Hamilton college grounds
the Root Hall of Science as a memorial to his father. He is married and
has three children—two boys and a girl.




INDUSTRIAL LEADERS.


E. G. ACHESON.

E. G. Acheson, the inventor of carborundum, which may be called an
artificial gem that, unlike the majority of gems, is much more useful
than ornamental, has proven that for a man of ideas and ability the
world of to-day is as full of opportunities as it was in those periods
which are somewhat vaguely alluded to by less successful men as “the
good old times.” Mr. Acheson was born at Washington, Pennsylvania,
in 1854, and after receiving a public school, college and technical
training, entered the employ of Edison, the inventor. From the first
he was a persistent and somewhat daring experimentalist, one of his
scientific fads being the manufacture of artificial diamonds, and
it was during the investigations made by him in relation thereunto
that carborundum—a substance which has revolutionized some industries
and incidentally brought fame and fortune to its discoverer and his
associates—was obtained. The principle of the electric furnace, by
means of which the substance in question is manufactured, was in
existence many years before Mr. Acheson began to use it in connection
with his experimental work, but other scientists had failed to
recognize its possibilities. Carborundum is produced by fusing carbon
and silicon by means of a huge electric arc, the result being a mass of
beautifully colored crystals which are harder than any known substance
except diamonds. Carborundum is rapidly taking the place of emery for
abrasive purposes. Another product of the electric furnace—artificial
graphite—is also a discovery of Mr. Acheson, and which is of great
value in many of the arts and sciences.


CHARLES HENRY CRAMP.

“He did not cease to be a student when he left school.” This fact to a
very great extent accounts for the achievements of Charles H. Cramp,
who is the president of the largest shipbuilding enterprise in the
United States. He was born in Philadelphia, May 9, 1828, and is the
oldest son of William Cramp, who was the founder of the industry which
bears his name. After receiving a thorough schooling and graduating
from the Philadelphia high school, he learned the shipbuilding
trade with his father. He is now recognized as the head of naval
architecture on the American continent. Mr. Cramp’s services in the
reconstruction of the navy and in connection with the revival of the
American merchant marine alone entitle him to permanent distinction.
Beginning in 1887 his firm built, in rapid succession, the Yorktown
(gunboat), the Vesuvius (dynamite torpedo vessel), Baltimore (protected
cruiser), Philadelphia (protected cruiser), New York (armored cruiser),
Columbia (protected cruiser), Minneapolis (protected cruiser), Indiana
(battleship), Massachusetts (battleship), Brooklyn (armored cruiser),
and the Iowa (seagoing battleship). The fleet has an aggregate of
nearly eighty thousand tons of displacement and one hundred and
forty-seven thousand indicated horse-power. The shipyard covers thirty
acres of ground, employs six thousand men and was capitalized at
$5,000,000 in 1894. The William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building
Co., from a simple shipyard, has reached the status of the greatest and
most complete naval arsenal in the western hemisphere.


CHARLES RANLETT FLINT.

The personality of Charles R. Flint does not suggest the strenuous
nature of his life, past and present; yet but few men in this country
have shouldered or for that matter are shouldering so many business
responsibilities as he is doing—and of large caliber at that. Mr.
Flint’s successes on the lines indicated are due to system, and
system only. With him there is a place for each responsibility and
each responsibility occupies its place in the total scheme of his
business existence. He was born at Thomaston, Maine, January 24, 1850,
graduated from the Polytechnic institute, Brooklyn, in 1868, and in
1883 married E. Kate, daughter of Joseph F. Simmons, of Troy, N. Y. To
catalogue the industries and enterprises which Mr. Flint has organized
or is connected with would be an undertaking in itself. Suffice it that
he is prominently identified with the rubber and lumber industries,
is interested in street railways in New York state, is a director in
several banks, has organized iron and steel, steamship, starch, caramel
and general export companies, has acted as United States consul in
Central American countries, in 1893 fitted out a fleet of war vessels
for the Brazilian republic, bought for and delivered to Japan a cruiser
during the China-Japan war, and, in 1898, was the confidential agent of
the United States in negotiating for the purchase of war vessels.


CHARLES MELVILLE HAYS.

It is a good thing for the world at large that human talents are
of a diversified nature. It is an equally excellent thing that the
possession of special gift on the part of an individual is recognized
by those with whom he comes in contact. A case in point is furnished
by Charles M. Hays, who, until lately, was president of the Southern
Pacific railroad. Mr. Hays’ work in life seems to have been that
of turning unprofitable railroad systems into permanently paying
propositions. He was born May 16, 1856, at Rock Island, Illinois,
his parents being in fairly comfortable circumstances. After a
common school training he entered the railroad service in 1873, his
first position being in the passenger department of the St. Louis,
Atlantic & Pacific railroad. The rungs of the ladder of his subsequent
upward climb are something in this order: Prompted to a clerkship
in the auditor’s office, he was at length placed in the general
superintendent’s office on the same line; next he is heard of as
secretary of the general manager of the Missouri Pacific railroad, and
in 1886 he was made assistant general manager of the Wabash, St. Louis
& Pacific railroad; three years later he was appointed general manager
of the Wabash & Western railroad, and was afterward made manager of the
Wabash system, which was the outcome of the consolidation of the Wabash
Western and Wabash railroads. He has also been general manager of the
Grand Trunk system, and, as already intimated, was, until recently,
the president of the Southern railroad. When Mr. Hays took hold of
the Wabash lines they were in about as bad a condition as railroad
lines can be. The same remark applies to the Grand Trunk system. When
Mr. Hays severed his connection with these corporations they were
in a flourishing condition—popular with the public and paying as to
dividends. He created their prosperity by the industrious exercise of
his special talents. The lesson may be taken to heart.


JOHN B. HERRESHOFF.

The person who is handicapped in the struggle for existence by physical
infirmities excites our sympathy, but when such an one achieves as
well as or far better than the normal individual, we regard him with
an admiration that is akin to wonder. John B. Herreshoff, the famous
blind yacht and boat designer, is such an individual. He is a marvel
such as the world has never seen before, and is not likely to witness
for some time to come. He is the admitted head of a profession which
as one would believe calls for keen eyes as a preliminary. Yet Mr.
Herreshoff has set all precedent at naught. It would almost seem that
his blindness, so far from being a handicap, is of positive value to
him, for it is certain that those exquisite floating creations of
his, have never yet been duplicated by the owners of eyesight. When,
in August, 1851, the America won the famous “Queen’s Cup,” which has
ever since remained on this side of the water, two youngsters were
playing on a farm at Point Pleasant, at Bristol, Rhode Island. John,
the oldest, was then a blue-eyed boy of ten. As soon as he could use a
knife he began to whittle boats, and when fourteen years of age built a
usable craft, which was said to be a marvel of beauty by local experts.
At fifteen, blindness descended upon him, but he nevertheless continued
to study boats and build them. His younger brother, Nathaniel, also
had a love for boats, and together the two brothers lived and ruled
and had their being in an atmosphere of boats. Both boys were educated
at local schools, and John, with the assistance of his mother, managed
to keep pace with his fellow pupils. Nathaniel became a civil engineer
and made a name for himself in his profession. In the meantime the
reputation of John had so extended that in 1863 he founded the
Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., and fourteen years later Nathaniel became
a partner in the concern and is now its superintendent. The fame of
the Herreshoffs is perhaps best known to the public in connection with
their construction of several of the defenders of the “Queens,” or,
as it is better known on this side of the water, “The America Cup.”
John B. Herreshoff, on being asked what the elements of success are,
said: “Concentration, decision, industry, economy, together with an
invincible determination and persistence, will always place a man in
the position which he desires.”


LEWIS NIXON.

“Four letters sum up my idea of how to make a success in life; they are
W-O-R-K (work).” These are the sentiments of Lewis Nixon, who starting
life as a poor boy, has by sheer determination won social position,
fame, wealth and political honor before he was forty. His story is a
simple one, but none the less helpful. Born in Leesburg, Virginia,
April 7, 1861, he was the son of Joel Lewis and Mary Frances (Turner)
Nixon. His parents were in poor circumstances. His diligence in the
public schools interested General Eppa Hunton (then representative from
Virginia), who secured for him an appointment to the United States
Naval academy at Annapolis as midshipman, and in 1882 he graduated at
the head of his class. Going to England, he took a course in naval
architecture and marine engineering. Upon returning to this country,
he was appointed to the staff of the chief constructor of the navy and
served as superintendent of construction at the Cramp yards and the New
York navy yard. In 1890 he designed, in ninety days, the battleships
Indiana, the Massachusetts and the Oregon. After resigning from the
navy department, he became superintending constructor of the Cramps’
yard, Philadelphia, but soon after resigned that position and opened a
shipyard of his own at Elizabeth, New Jersey. He has built the gunboats
Annapolis, Josephine, Mangro and others, besides the submarine torpedo
boat Holland. He was married in Washington, January 29, 1891, to Sallie
Lewis Wood. Mr. Nixon is a member of the New England organization
of architects and marine engineers, the chamber of commerce, and is
a member of the Democratic club, Press club, Army and Navy club of
Washington and others. He takes an active part in Democratic politics.


JOHN H. PATTERSON.

John H. Patterson, the president of the International Cash Register
Co., of Dayton, Ohio, is a specimen of what, happily for this country,
is not an infrequent young American, whose original capital being that
of brains and industry, pays interest in the shape of great enterprises
and a large fortune. Mr. Patterson’s parents were farmers. After a
public school education he went to Miami university, and afterward to
Dartmouth college. On graduating he began life without any definite
plans, clerked, saved money and pushed ahead until he became manager of
a coal mine. It was while he was holding this position that he heard
of the then almost unknown cash register, bought two of them and saw
that there was a field for their development and use. Together with
his brother, Frank R. Patterson, he bought the patent of the machine
and began to manufacture the registers. In 1894, after ten years
of effort, and with success apparently in sight, the brothers were
confronted with the complete failure of one of their new inventions
and the return from England of a carload of broken machines, instead
of an expected draft for $30,000. Nothing daunted, Mr. Patterson began
to analyze the causes of the setback and came to the conclusion that
the successful manufacture of the machines depended on the faithfulness
of his workmen, which had to rest upon the mutual goodwill of employer
and employe. This belief led him to adopt an industrial system which is
probably unique in the annals of manufacturing enterprises. Briefly, it
consists of developing the mechanical talents of the workmen by prizes
and promotions; by making schools, clubs, libraries, choral societies
and the like a part of the economy of the factory and by remembering
that all work makes Jack and his bosses very dull boys indeed. That the
principle is a sound one seems to be certain, if one may judge by the
general use of the Patterson cash register.




MANUFACTURERS.


HUGH CHISHOLM.

The individual who begins life as a poor newsboy, and in the full
flush of his manhood is found to be the head of an industry created
by himself in which untold millions are invested, and which is of
supreme importance to the community, serves his generation in more ways
than one. If he has done nothing else he has acted as an exemplar for
the faint-hearted, as a beacon for the persevering, and as a type of
American manhood, and all that lies before it. Such an individual is
Hugh Chisholm, who has brought into existence a corporation which is
making paper for nearly all the newspapers of the United States. When
it is said that one New York newspaper buys six thousand dollars worth
of paper every day, some idea may be gained of the vast proportions of
the industry. Mr. Chisholm was born at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada,
May 2, 1847, and began life as a train newsboy on the Grand Trunk
railroad, studying meanwhile in evening classes of business colleges
in Toronto. When the Civil war broke out, the lad, who is of Scotch
descent, with the shrewdness of his race, realized the possibilities
of the situation and pushed his wares to the utmost, sometimes holding
them at a premium. He at length was able to hire some other boys to
sell newspapers for him. He next obtained from the railroad company the
exclusive right to sell newspapers on the division east of Toronto. He
extended his “combinations,” and when he was twenty-five years of age
had the exclusive news routes over four thousand miles of railroad, and
had two hundred and fifty men on his payroll. Selling out his interests
to his brothers, who had similar interests in New England, he purchased
the latter and located in Portland, Maine, where he added publishing to
his business. Foreseeing a growth of the newspaper trade, and realizing
that there would be a huge consequent demand for white paper, he
organized the Somerset Fiber Company, the manufacturing of wood pulp
at Fairfield. Later he established a number of pulp mills in Maine.
Next he devised a plan of business consolidations and a few years ago
the Chisholm properties and a score of other mills in New England, New
York and Canada were merged into one company. The output of the mills
is more than 1,500 tons per day and is increasing rapidly. In 1872 he
married Henrietta Mason, of Portland.


THEODORE LOWE DE VINNE.

From a country printer boy to the head of one of the greatest printing
establishments in the metropolis—this in brief is the story of the
career of Theodore Lowe De Vinne. He was born in Stamford, Connecticut,
December 25, 1828, being the second son of Daniel and Joanna Augusta
De Vinne. His parents were of Holland extraction. His father was a
Methodist minister, who was an uncompromising opponent of slavery.
Theodore secured a common school education at Catskill, White Plains,
and Amenia, New York, and at the age of fourteen entered the office of
the Gazette, Newburgh, New York, to learn the printing trade. After he
had gotten a general knowledge of the business he went to New York city
in 1848. Two years later he obtained employment in the establishment
of Francis Hart & Co. and rose to the position of foreman. In 1858 he
became a junior partner in the firm and five years after the death of
Mr. Hart, which took place in 1883, he changed the name of the firm to
Theodore L. De Vinne & Co., making his only son, Theodore L. De Vinne,
Jr., his partner. He now occupies one of the largest buildings in the
United States, which is wholly devoted to the printing business. Mr. De
Vinne has marked ability as an organizer, having, with the assistance
of the late Peter C. Baker, formed the society now known as the
Typothetæ. In 1850 he married Grace, daughter of Joseph Brockbant. He
is the author of the Printers’ Price List, The Invention of Printing,
Historic Types and Printing Types. Mr. De Vinne has done much to
elevate the standard of typography. As early as 1863 the American
institute awarded his firm a medal for the best book printing. The firm
has published St. Nicholas and the Century since 1874.


WILLIAM LOUIS DOUGLAS.

William Louis Douglas, of Brockton, Massachusetts, who, through the
medium of his widely advertised shoes, is probably one of the most
easily recognized men in the United States, was born in Plymouth,
Massachusetts, August 22, 1845. The career of Mr. Douglas emphasizes
the fact that the days of opportunity for young men without money or
influence are by no means over. He was an orphan, handicapped by
lack of schooling, a victim of injustice and apparently without any
prospects in life whatever. Now he is the owner of a vast fortune, a
great business, an honorable place among honored men, and has influence
for good in laboring circles, and no small power politically. When Mr.
Douglas was five years of age, his father was lost at sea. At the age
of seven he was apprenticed to his uncle to learn the shoemaking trade.
The uncle proved to be a hard taskmaster, and at the expiration of his
apprenticeship William found himself the owner of just ten dollars and
remembrances of many hard knocks. Subsequently he tried several ways
of getting a livelihood, from driving ox teams in Nebraska to working
at his trade. In conjunction with a Mr. Studley, he opened a boot
store at Golden, Colorado. The venture did not pay, and returning to
Massachusetts he took to shoemaking again until 1870, when he removed
to Brockton to become superintendent of the shoe factory of Porter &
Southworth. In 1876, with a borrowed capital of $375, he went into
business for himself. Successful from the start, he, six years later,
built a four-story factory, which had a capacity of 1,440 pairs of
boots daily. In 1884 he placed on the market his well-known $3 shoe,
with which his name and his face are so prominently identified. He has
broken away from the old traditions of manufacturers by establishing
retail stores, where he sells direct to the public. The Douglas factory
of to-day was erected in 1892, and has a capacity of 10,240 pairs
of boots daily. There are 2,724 employes. Mr. Douglas is Democratic
in politics. He has been a member of the common council of Brockton
several times and was its mayor in 1890. It was through his efforts
that a bill was enacted in the state legislature of Massachusetts
for the establishment of a board of arbitration and conciliation.
Labor troubles are practically unknown in the Douglas factory. Mr.
Douglas is also the author of the weekly payment law that observes in
Massachusetts, is president of the people’s savings bank of Brockton,
a director in the Home national bank and ex-president of the Brockton,
Taunton & Bridgewater street railroad.


CHARLES EASTMAN.

Charles Eastman was born at Waterville, New York, July 12, 1854.
Photographers, especially amateurs, need not be told who Mr. Eastman
is, inasmuch as he has done much to popularize the camera and all
that to it belongs. He was educated at Rochester, New York. Becoming
interested in amateur photography, he began a source of exhausted
experiments to the end of making dry plates and secured results
which prompted him to make further investigations. These latter were
successful also, and from this preliminary work rose the great business
with which he is now identified. The kodak, which is probably the most
popular of cameras in the world, is his invention also. He is manager
of the Eastman Kodak Company, of Rochester, and of London, England;
president of the General Aristo Company, of Rochester, and is the
head of the so-called camera trust. Mr. Eastman is a member of many
social and scientific organizations, and gives liberally to charitable
institutions.


ALBERT AUGUST POPE.

The name of Colonel Albert August Pope is identified with the
popularizing of the bicycle in this country, for he it was who, more
than any other, gave it the impetus which made it a prime favorite
with the public. Apart from that, however, he has furnished us with yet
another example of the power of push, perseverance and probity. Colonel
Pope was born in Boston, May 10, 1843, of poor parents. He had to leave
school early in life in order to earn a livelihood. When ten years of
age he peddled fruit, and it is said by persons who knew him in those
days that he made it a rule to pay every debt as soon as it was due.
After years of hard work young Pope, then nineteen, accepted a junior
second lieutenancy in Company I, of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts
Volunteers. His record during the war was most brilliant, and he came
out of it with the rank of colonel. He then went into business for
himself and built up a profitable trade. It was in the centennial
exposition in 1876 that he first saw a bicycle. Realizing the future of
the machine, he in 1877 placed an order for “an importation of English
wheels.” In the same year he organized the Pope Manufacturing Company.
The vast nature of the business done by the corporation is a matter of
familiarity to all those who were or are interested in bicycles. He
also founded the publication entitled The Wheelman, putting upward of
sixty thousand dollars in the enterprise. It is known to-day under the
name of Outing. It was mainly through his efforts that public parks
and boulevards were thrown open to the uses of bicycles, and that the
machine was put upon the same footing as any other vehicle. When the
bicycle interest began to wane, Colonel Pope turned his attention to
the manufacture of automobiles. He also has a large interest in banks
and other corporations. He is a member of the Loyal Legion and a
visitor to Wellesley college, and the Lawrence scientific school. In
1871 he married Abbie Lyndon, of Newton, Mass.


C. W. POST.

The name of C. W. Post is identified with an industry that has only
come into existence within the past few years, but which, nevertheless,
has assumed tremendous proportions, and is remarkable in many ways,
not the least of which is that it puts cereals to uses which were
absolutely unknown a generation ago. Postum cereal coffee, for example,
has only been before the public since 1895. Yet recently Mr. Post and
his associates declined an offer of ten millions of dollars for the
factories which made the coffee and its associated products of the
wheat field. Mr. Post’s life story is that of a boy with a light purse,
boundless ambition and a determination to reach the goal of large
successes. He was born October 26, 1854, in Springfield, Illinois.
After a common school education he entered the University of Illinois
when thirteen years of age, took a military course, and remained there
until he was fifteen, when the spirit of independence which has been
a characteristic of his career throughout asserted itself. To use his
own words, “I became weary of depending on my father’s money.” Leaving
the university, he obtained a position with a manufacturer of farm
machinery, which he sold and put in operation for the purchasers.
After a couple of years of this work, he began business for himself
in conjunction with a partner in the appropriately named town of
Independence, Kansas. The firm dealt in hardware and farm machinery.
But too little capital hampered his efforts, so he sold out and again
took up drumming. Later he became manager of a wholesale machinery
house in Kansas City. Returning to Illinois, he organized a company
for the manufacturing of plows and cultivators, was quite successful,
but his health breaking down, chaos resulted, and he lost all his
savings. After dabbling in real estate in California, he ranched in
Texas, fell ill again, recovered, and then bought twenty-seven acres
of ground at Battle Creek, Michigan. Here it was that he began to make
the famous coffee, to which allusion has been made. Here, too, he
experimented with prepared, and finally placed upon the market those
cooked and semi-cooked cereal foods with which we are familiar at the
breakfast-table. The first year that the Post products were before the
public, there was a profit of $175,000, the second year showed a loss
of over $40,000—this being due to profits being sunk in advertising—and
the third year there was a clear gain of $384,000. From that time on
the business has been most profitable. It is stated that the concern
is now preparing to spend one million dollars a year for advertising.
Two years ago Mr. Post retired from the active conduct of the concern.
He now divides his time between the offices in this country and
abroad, and the chain of factories in the west. He is president of the
association of American advertisers, and maintains at his own expense
the Post check currency bureau at Washington.


JOHN WILSON WHEELER.

John Wilson Wheeler, whose name is familiar to every housewife who owns
or wants to own a sewing machine, was born in Orange, Franklin county,
Massachusetts, November 20, 1832, being the second of nine children.
He was the son of a carpenter-farmer, and was educated in a district
school. When about fourteen years of age he began to follow the trade
of his father, and continued to do so until he was twenty-three
years old. But he was not satisfied with his narrow surroundings, and
so when the opportunity came for him to accept a place in a little
grocery store in Fitchburg at one hundred and twenty-five dollars a
year and his board he gladly accepted it. Returning to Orange some
time later, he became a clerk in the store of one Daniel Pomeroy,
finally succeeding the latter in the business, which he conducted for
three years longer. Selling out, he became clerk in the claim agency
of D. E. Chency, one of the leading men of the village. By this time
he had established a reputation for ability and integrity, and so it
came about that Mr. Chency and another of his friends loaned him two
thousand dollars on his personal security to buy a grocery store. The
venture was successful and was only given up in 1867, in order that
Mr. Wheeler might become a partner in the firm of A. E. Johnson & Co.
that had just started in a small way to make sewing machines. After
some years of struggling the firm was turned into a corporation under
the name of the Gold Medal Sewing Machine Company, Mr. Wheeler being
secretary and treasurer. In 1882 the name was again changed to that of
the New Home Sewing Machine Company. Of this corporation Mr. Wheeler
was vice-president, as well as secretary and treasurer. He later
became president, but subsequently resigned, but retained the office
of treasurer, as well as being a member of the board of directors. How
the business has grown from small beginnings to its present extensive
status is a story that is familiar to everyone who knows somewhat of
the sewing machine industry. The company employs nearly six hundred men
and turns out about four hundred machines daily. Mr. Wheeler is also
president of the Orange savings bank and of the Orange national bank,
and has been president of the Orange Power company and the Orange board
of trade. He has furthermore held office with the Boston mutual life
insurance company, is the director of the Athol and Orange City railway
company, is president of the Leabitt Machine company, of the Orange
good government club and is vice-president of the Home Market club. He
married Almira E. Johnson, by whom he had three daughters, only one of
whom survives. He is the owner of much real estate, and is erecting a
mansion near Orange at the cost of $150,000.




TRANSPORTATION LEADERS.


GEORGE F. BAER.

George F. Baer, when a boy, worked on his father’s farm in Somerset
county, Pennsylvania. He was recently chosen president of the
Philadelphia & Reading and New Jersey Central railroad systems, two
of the most important transportation corporations in the country.
He is also identified with many enterprises of a diversified and
extensive nature. He is still in the prime of life, and the secret
of his so attaining is an open one—he did not waste time. Young Baer
attended school for but a few years, and then entered the office of the
Somerset Democrat to learn the printing trade. But he did not permit
himself to retrograde in his studies, but instead pored over books and
practiced writing at night. When sixteen years of age he managed to
get a year’s tuition in the Somerset academy and afterward secured a
position as clerk in the Ashtola Mills, near Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
At the end of twelve months he was made chief clerk. Resigning, he
entered the sophomore class at Franklin and Marshall colleges. Next,
and in conjunction with his older brother, he bought the Democrat.
Then the war broke out and the brother enlisted. Mr. Baer, then hardly
nineteen years of age, ran the paper alone. In 1862 he, too, got the
war spirit and went to the front. He was mustered out in 1863 and
forthwith began to read law with his two brothers. After practicing in
Somerset for four years, he went to Reading, where he was retained by
the attorney of certain railroads that were trying to compete with the
Philadelphia & Reading railroad. The opposing company finally decided
that he was worth more for them than against them and so made him its
legal adviser. From that time up to his election as president of the
corporation he had been its solicitor. He is also interested in coal
mines, paper manufacture, banks and insurance corporations, is married
and has five daughters.


AUGUST BELMONT.

August Belmont, builder of the New York City subway, began his career
with the handicap of great wealth. His father, August Belmont, senior,
was one of the richest and best known American bankers. His son August
was graduated from Harvard University in 1875, and for a time gave
himself up in large measure to the usual occupations of the youth of
fortune. But as he grew older he interested himself more and more in
the great banking business established by his father. In the course of
a few years he became, on his own account, a power in the financial
world. He is now an officer or director in many banking, railway,
manufacturing and other corporations. In addition to these he has
been a strong supporter of the best art, literary, patriotic and other
American activities, being a member of numerous associations devoted
to such movements. He has taken an active part in politics, and is
much interested in the breeding of thoroughbred race-horses. His most
conspicuous activity, however, has been the building of the subway,
which has added so greatly to the transportation facilities of the
metropolis.


ALEXANDER JOHNSTON CASSATT.

Another railroad man who has risen from a place of obscurity to a
position of prominence is Alexander Johnston Cassatt, who has been
president of the Pennsylvania railroad company since June, 1899. Like
George H. Daniels, of the New York Central railroad, he started life
as a rodman, in 1861, in the employ of the corporation of which he
is now the head. Mr. Cassatt preferred to begin at the foot of the
ladder for the sake of the knowledge of the primary details of the
business which his so doing gave him, instead of making use of the
influence as he probably could have obtained in order to assure him
a less humble position. He was born in Pittsburg, December 8, 1839,
and was educated at the University of Heidelberg and the Rensselaer
Polytechnique institute. After his experiences as rodman, by force of
sheer industry and integrity, he rose from place to place until, in
1871, he was made general superintendent of the Pennsylvania system and
general manager of the lines east of Pittsburg. Between 1874 and 1882
he held the offices of third vice-president and second vice-president,
was elected director in 1883 and was made president of the road in
1899. “Thoroughly ground yourself in the elementaries of your chosen
business, and then stick to it,” is Mr. Cassatt’s advice to young
men. He is a thorough believer in the old axiom that “a rolling stone
gathers no moss.”


GEORGE HENRY DANIELS.

George Henry Daniels, who in his capacity of general passenger agent
of the New York Central and Hudson River railroad, is probably
better known personally or by repute to the traveling public, than
any other man in this country, was born in Hampshire, Kane county,
Illinois, December 1, 1842. He began his railroad career as a rodman
in the engineering corps of the Northern Missouri railroads, and from
that humble position has risen, not rapidly perhaps, but slowly and
certainly, until he has the passenger transportation responsibilities
on his hands of what is probably the greatest railroad in the United
States. After some years of strenuous work, he became, in 1872,
the general freight and passenger agent of the Chicago and Pacific
railroad, and in 1880 was made ticket agent of the Wabash, St. Louis
and Pacific road. After a number of varied experiences, all of
which were in the west, and were connected with positions of great
responsibility, he acted as assistant commissioner or commissioner
for several roads, and in April, 1889, was rewarded for his years
of faithful service by being appointed to the position which he now
holds. No small portion of Mr. Daniels’s success is due to his personal
tactfulness and unfailing courtesy; or, as someone has put it, he knows
how to grant a favor without placing the grantee under an obligation,
and he knows how to refuse a request without offending the individual
who makes it.


GEORGE JAY GOULD.

George Jay Gould, whose name is so generally identified with high
finance, is the son of the late Jay and Helen Day (Miller) Gould. He
was born in New York in 1858 and received his education at the hands of
private tutors or in private schools. Inheriting a genius for finance
and an instinct for railroading, he has succeeded in successfully
conducting those vast enterprises and investments which were brought
into existence by his father. Mr. Gould is an ardent devotee of field
sports, particularly those of which horses are a part and portion. He
married Miss Edith Kingdon, who was at one time a member of Augustin
Daly’s Dramatic Company in this city. By her he has two sons, both of
whom are as fond of strenuous sports as is their father. Nevertheless
he does not permit his pastimes to interfere with his business affairs,
and is a familiar figure in the financial districts of New York City.
He has been president of the Little Rock and Fort Worth railroad,
Texas and Pacific railroad, International and Great Northern railroad,
Manhattan Elevated railroad, Missouri Pacific railroad, and the St.
Louis and Iron Mountain and Southern railroad. Mr. Gould is a good
specimen of the young American who does not let his great wealth hamper
his activities.


CLEMENT ACTON GRISCOM.

The placing of young men in positions of extreme responsibility seems
to be peculiar to this country. Abroad such positions are usually held
by persons of mature or advanced years. That the commercial world of
America does not suffer from its departure from European customs in the
respect cited is evidenced by its commercial and mercantile progress.
Clement Acton Griscom, Jr., manager of the great American line of
steamers is a case in point. He was born in 1868 and graduated from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1887. His father is Clement Acton
Griscom, Sr., president of the line. Griscom, the manager, entered
the service of the company the day following his last examination at
college and two weeks before he received his diploma. He first worked
as office boy in the freight department at a salary of $3.00 per week,
and, as the story goes, although a college graduate and the son of the
president, the other employes treated him exactly as they did the other
boys. His business progress then was something in this order: junior
clerk at $5.00 per week; junior clerk in the passenger department,
$7.00 per week; clerk in the ticket department, dock clerk from 7 a.
m. until 6 p. m., assistant to the manager of the Chicago office,
assistant to the general manager in New York, supervisor at the head
of the purchasing board steward departments, and finally manager. It
will be seen that young Griscom had to “hoe his own row” completely,
and, although at the time he, like the ordinary boy, objected to so
doing, he now recognizes the wisdom of his father in compelling him
to learn all there was to be learned. Under Mr. Griscom’s management,
the American Line flourishes. He is also president of the James Riley
repair and supply company, a director of the Maritime Exchange and is
interested in a number of other enterprises. He married the daughter of
General William Ludlow, and his friends say that his home life has had
a determining influence on his career in general.


JAMES J. HILL.

Intimates of James J. Hill, the transportation giant of the northwest,
say that the ambition of his life is to encircle the world with a
system of railroads and steamships, all of which shall be under his
guiding hand. He has nearly attained it. He owns the Great Northern
railway, which stretches from Seattle, Washington, to St. Paul and
Duluth, Minnesota. He is proprietor of the line of steamers which ply
between Duluth and Buffalo. He is largely interested in the Baltimore &
Ohio railroad, which covers the territory between Chicago, Philadelphia
and New York. He is organizing, in Europe, a steamship company whose
vessels shall have for their terminal ports Seattle, Washington, on the
one side, and Vladivostok, Yokohama and Hong Kong on the other. He is
now reaching out across the Pacific to Seattle, intending to connect
his Great Northern road with the Trans-Siberian road, and the man who
controls all these huge enterprises earned them from humble beginnings,
and asserts that the principle that has enabled him to reach power
and affluence is simply that of economy. When he earned five dollars
a week he saved; now that he is the owner of an income the size of
which he can hardly pass upon, he saves, not in miserly fashion, but he
detests unnecessary expenditure. Mr. Hill was born near Guelph, Upper
Canada, September 16, 1838. He was educated at Rockwood academy and
started life in a steamboat office in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hard and
continuous work brought its reward in the shape of his being made agent
for the Northwestern Packet company in 1865. Then he branched out for
himself, establishing a fuel and transportation business on his own
account. From that time on his rise was rapid. He founded the Red River
Transportation company, 1875; organized the syndicate which secured
control of the St. Paul and Pacific railroad, became the president of
the organized road and finally merged it with other lines into the
Great Northern system of which he is now president. Mr. Hill is married
and has several sons, all of whom are following the railroad business.


MELVILLE EZRA INGALLS.

One of the many railroad presidents who began life on a farm is
Melville Ezra Ingalls. He was born at Harrison, Maine, September 6,
1842. Brought up on his father’s farm, he had his full share of hard
work during boyhood. He was first educated at Burlington academy, later
at Bowdoin college, and graduated from the Harvard law school in 1863.
Establishing himself in practice in Gray, Maine, he soon found that
the village was too small for his hopes and ambitions, so he removed
to Boston. There he became identified with political affairs and was
elected a member of the Massachusetts senate in 1867. In 1870 he was
made the president of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Lafayette
railroad, which was then in a bankrupt condition. A year later he was
made receiver for the road. Then it was that Mr. Ingalls’ genius for
railroading began to show itself. With the aid of the organization
in 1873 and 1880, he put the successor of the road, which was the
Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago, on a sound footing,
subsequently consolidating it with other roads under its final title of
the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis railroad, now known as
the “Big Four” system. Mr. Ingalls is president of the road, and up to
February, 1900, was also president of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad.
Mr. Ingalls’ successes have left him the same charitable, genial and
approachable individual that he was when a struggling lawyer in a
little village in Maine.




INVENTORS.


ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL.

Alexander Graham Bell, whose name is so clearly associated with the
invention and the development of the telephone, was born in Edinburgh,
Scotland, March 3, 1847. He was educated at the Edinburgh and London
universities, and on graduating went to Canada in 1870, in which
country he spent two years endeavoring to decide on a vocation. Later
he located in Boston, where he became professor of vocal physiology
at the Boston university. It was during this period that he became
interested in and made an exhaustive series of experiments culminating
in an application for a patent which was granted February 14, 1876. The
history of the invention, which is second in importance only to the
electric telegraph, is well known to the public. Without going into
details, it is only necessary to say that Mr. Bell, like all other
successful inventors, had to face and overcome the popular prejudices,
and had to protect his rights in the courts through interminable
law suits. The place that the telephone fills in the social and
commercial economy of the world to-day is also too well known to need
emphasis. Professor Bell is also the inventor of the photophone,
and is interested in the current scientific efforts of the American
association to promote the teaching of the deaf and dumb. Scientific
honors have been showered upon him in connection with his inventions.
In 1881 the French government awarded him the Volta prize, and he
is the founder of the Volta bureau. He is also the author of many
scientific and educational monographs.


CHARLES FRANCIS BRUSH.

The development and general use of the “arc” electric light is to
a very great extent the outcome of the researches of Charles F.
Brush. While the “arc” was by no means unknown to electricians prior
to Mr. Brush’s development of it, it was he who was responsible for
its becoming a commercial possibility. Mr. Brush was born in Euclid,
Cuyahoga county, Ohio, March 17, 1849. His father was Colonel Isaac
Elbert Brush, his mother being Delia Wissner (Phillips) Brush. Both
parents came from old lines of American families. After periods spent
in public schools in Ohio, Mr. Brush attended the Cleveland high school
and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1869. From the first
he displayed a fondness for electricity and chemistry, and subsequent
to his graduating became an analytical chemist and consulting
chemical expert in Cleveland. All this time, however, he was studying
electricity, foreseeing the time when it would be one of the chief
factors of modern civilization. In 1877 he devoted himself entirely to
electrical affairs and a year later presented to the public the light
with which his name is identified. In 1880 the Brush Electric Company
was formed and the “arc” light grew in favor. A year later it was
introduced into England and on the continent. Nevertheless Mr. Brush
had the usual experience of inventors, but was successful in litigation
and has the satisfaction of knowing that his claims of priority of
invention have been recognized by the leading scientific societies in
the world. He is interested in a number of electrical enterprises, is
a member of many clubs and scientific and charitable institutions. In
1875 he married Mary E. Morris, of Cleveland, by whom he has three
children.


SANTOS DUMONT.

Santos Dumont, who has attained world wide publicity in connection with
his daring and novel experiments in ærostatics, is still a young man.
He was born in Brazil in 1873 and is of French ancestry, although his
father was also a Brazilian by birth. The Santos Dumont plantations at
San Paulo are said to be the largest in the country in question, so
large indeed that a small railroad runs around it, which is used for
the transportation of labor and products. At an early age Santos Dumont
developed a taste for mechanics and the railroad was his constant study
and delight. When still a boy he was sent to France to be educated, and
in that country, some thirteen years since, began to experiment with
automobiles, abandoning them, however, in 1893, for ærostatics. His
first ascents were made in spherical balloons, but he quickly adopted
those of cylindrical form. He has practically invented the dirigible
balloon of to-day through the medium of his ingenious arrangement of
screws, rudders, motors, cars, shifting weights, etc. He was the first
to give up the net and attach his car to the balloon itself. On July
12, 1901, he sailed from St. Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and around in
Paris. He has made over half a dozen machines and is engaged on others.
During his experiments he has had more than one narrow escape from
death, but these have had little or no effect upon his nerve or his
enthusiasm.


PETER COOPER HEWITT.

Peter C. Hewitt—who is much in the eye of the scientific world by
reason of his invention of an electric “convertor” and his discovery
of a wonderful method of electric lighting—is the grandson of the late
Peter Cooper, the philanthropist. Mr. Hewitt was born in New York city
in 1861, his father being Abram Stevens Hewitt, who held the office
of mayor of the metropolis from 1887 to 1889. After being educated by
private tutors, he entered the Columbia university, New York city, and
on graduating therefrom studied for some years in a technical school
in New Jersey. Afterward he became connected with the glue factory
established by his grandfather and owned by his father. But that bent
toward scientific investigations which seems to have been born in him,
prompted him to devote himself to experimental work in the laboratory.
A portion of the result of such work has already been alluded to.
There are not wanting indications that the electric light devised by
Mr. Hewitt will, to a very great extent, take the place of that now
furnished by the arc or incandescent filament. It is described as “soft
sunlight.” Mr. Hewitt is married, his wife being Lucy, daughter of the
late Frank Work. He is popular socially, and his private charities
prove that he has inherited his grandfather’s great-heartedness to no
small degree.


JOHN P. HOLLAND.

John P. Holland, the inventor of the submarine boat which bears his
name, is an Irishman by birth. He is now about sixty years of age,
hale, hearty and devoted to the task of improving the wonderful craft
of which he is the creator. Mr. Holland reached this country early in
the 70’s, but long before that he had come to the conclusion that much
of the naval warfare of the future would be done beneath the water
rather than on its surface. He states that his convictions in this
respect were the outcome of a newspaper account of the fight between
the Monitor and Merrimac, which he read about two weeks after the
occurrence of that historical conflict. From that time on, he began to
form plans and make models for submarine torpedo boats or destroyers.
He not only had to contend with great mechanical difficulties, but even
when his boat was so far perfected that it could be submitted to the
authorities, he encountered prejudices and opposition of the strongest.
As the matter now stands, the most conservative of naval experts have
become convinced of the importance of the Holland submarine, that,
too, not only in this country but abroad. The United States now owns a
number of the boats, as does Great Britain. Mr. Holland, when he first
came to this country, was a school teacher, and, like the majority
of inventors who are not capitalists, had a hard time of it for many
years. He was at length fortunate enough to interest some moneyed men
in his invention and was enabled to devote himself entirely to it. It
is said that his creations provide for every contingency, both above
and below water. It was only after prolonged tests of their efficiency
that the U. S. government added them to the navy.


WILLIAM MARCONI.

This is eminently the age of young men, and William Marconi is a case
in point. He was born at Marzabotto, Italy, September 23, 1875, his
father being an Italian and his mother an Englishwoman. After being
educated at the universities of Bologna and Padua, he, at a very early
age, began to evidence a liking for scientific pursuits. Happily for
the world at large, Marconi’s father was so placed financially that
he could permit of his son following his inclinations to the utmost.
After some preliminary work, young Marconi instituted a series of
experiments in order to test the theory, which at that time was a
theory only, that electric currents under certain conditions are able
to pass through any known substance. The result was that when but
fifteen years of age he invented an apparatus for wireless telegraphy,
which attracted the attention of Sir William Henry Preece, engineer and
electrician-in-chief of the English postal service. The apparatus was
tested in England and with success. For the next few years Marconi was
engaged in perfecting his system. Public attention was called to his
further successes in 1897 by messages being sent from Queen Victoria
on land to the Prince of Wales (now King Edward), some miles distant
on the Royal yacht. Later the British government engaged Marconi to
install a number of wireless stations around the southern coast of
England, and from that time on, wireless telegraphy has become an
accepted fact with civilized governments all the world over. He came to
this country in 1889, where he made more experiments and organized and
incorporated a company for the commercial use of his methods. At the
present writing messages have been successfully sent between England
and America, a greater number of liners are equipped with the Marconi
apparatus, and the same remark applies to the warships of the United
States and European powers.


GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE.

George Westinghouse was born at Central Bridge, New York, October 6,
1846. Ten years later his parents removed to Schenectady, where he
was educated in the public and high schools, spending much of his
time in his father’s machine-shop. During the Civil war he served in
the Union army. At its close he attended Union college, Schenectady,
for two years. In 1865 he invented the device for replacing railroad
cars on the track. In 1868 he invented and successfully introduced
the Westinghouse air-brake. From time to time he has modified and
improved this, one of the most notable of his inventions. He is also
the inventor of many other devices connected with railroads, such as
signals, automatic and otherwise, electric devices of several sorts
and other things which make for the efficiency of transportation
in general. He is the president of twelve corporations, a member
of many scientific societies, and is also the recipient of medals
and decorations from the king of Italy, the king of Belgium and
other European notables. It is not too much to say that without the
Westinghouse inventions railroading as we know of it to-day would
hardly be possible. Apart from adding much to the safety of railroad
travel, the Westinghouse brake permits paradoxically enough of speeds
being attained which would not be possible under old-time conditions.
Mr. Westinghouse’s inventive genius has been largely rewarded in a
financial manner.




MERCHANTS.


EDWARD COOPER.

Edward Cooper, one of the more prominent merchants of New York,
was born October 26th, 1824. He is the son of Peter Cooper, the
philanthropist, and, like his father, has, during the course of a busy
life, done much for the well being of the people of the municipality
in which he lives. Mr. Cooper was educated in New York public schools
and is a graduate of Columbia university. Throughout his life he has
been more or less active in New York political affairs, and, while a
consistent Democrat, has had no hesitation in putting principle before
party. He was one of the leaders of the successful movement which
overthrew the infamous Tweed ring. From 1879 to 1881 he was mayor of
New York and added to his reputation by the honesty and energy of his
administration. Mr. Cooper is associated with his brother-in-law, Abram
S. Hewitt, in the conduct of the Trenton Iron Works, New Jersey Steel
Works and other enterprises of a like nature. He is a good example of
the man who does not permit his business affairs or his wealth to
interfere with his obligations as a citizen.


ROBERT CURTIS OGDEN.

Robert Curtis Ogden was born at Philadelphia, July 20th, 1836, and is
the son of the late Jonathan Curtis Ogden. He was educated in private
schools in the city of his birth. On March 1st, 1860, he married Ellen
Elizabeth Lewis, of Brooklyn. Since 1885 he has been a partner in
the firm of John Wanamaker. His business acumen, as well as his bent
toward philanthropic and religious work, has eminently fitted him to
hold the responsible position which he occupies in the firm’s affairs.
In spite of the many commercial duties which are part and portion of
Mr. Ogden’s every-day life, he nevertheless finds time to attend to
the many philanthropic enterprises in which he is interested. In 1889
he acted as a member of the State Johnstown Flood Relief Commission,
which accomplished much in the way of relieving the sufferers from
the disaster in question. He is also a director of the Union Hill
Theological seminary, trustee of the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama
and is first vice-president of the Pennsylvania Society of New York.
Mr. Ogden takes an active part in church matters and is the author
of several books and pamphlets, including “Pew Rentals and the New
Testament—Can They Be Reconciled?” “Sunday School Teaching,” etc. As a
contributor to the magazines, he is well known, some of the articles
from his pen which have attracted much attention being “Getting and
Keeping a Business Position” and “Ethics of Modern Retailing.” Mr.
Ogden takes an active interest in the welfare of the young people
employed by him and his partners.


HENRY SIEGEL.

Henry Siegel, whose name is identified with those huge so-called
department stores, which are cities of commerce inclosed within four
walls, was born March 17, 1852, at Enbighein, Germany. His father was
the burgomaster of the village, and he himself was one of a family of
eight children. Two of his brothers, on attaining manhood, came to this
country and were fairly prosperous. The letters that they sent home
acted as fuel to the ambitions of Henry, and so when seventeen years
of age he sailed for America, and obtained a position in Washington,
District of Columbia, in a dry goods house at a salary of three dollars
per week. By dint of hard study at night schools he managed to get a
fair English education and next became traveler for a clothing house.
After some years of hard work, he and his brothers began business for
themselves in Chicago and fortune followed their efforts. In 1887 he
founded the well-known firm of Siegel, Cooper & Co., of Chicago, again
prospered, and in 1896, together with his partners, opened a vast
store on Sixth avenue, New York. In 1901 he sold out his interest in
the New York enterprise, but immediately acquired the old-established
firm of Simpson, Crawford & Co. He simultaneously disposed of his
interest in the Chicago concern. A year later he bought a half-interest
in the firm of Schlessinger & Mayer, of Chicago. Not content with these
undertakings, early in 1903, he began to build a store at Thirty-fourth
street and Broadway, New York, and also purchased an entire block in
Boston on which he proposes to erect a building which shall dwarf those
of which he is already the owner. And so the little German who began
life as an errand boy is now one of the merchant princes of America.


FRANK W. WOOLWORTH.

Frank W. Woolworth was born at Rodman, New York, April 13, 1852. He
passed his boyhood on his parents’ farm, was educated at a district
school, and graduated from the Commercial college at Watertown,
New York. His start in life was as a clerk in a dry goods store at
Watertown. In 1878 he originated the popular five and ten-cent store,
which, thanks to his energy and acumen, has attained such marvelous
popularity. His employers, Moore & Smith, at his suggestion, bought
$50 worth of the cheapest sort of goods and put them with other old
shop-worn goods on the counter, displaying the sign “Any article on
this counter five cents.” The stock was sold the first day, and Mr.
Woolworth then decided to have a five and ten-cent store of his own.
Borrowing $325, he opened a place in Utica, New York. The public
patronized him and at the end of six weeks he had a net profit of
$139.50. In 1869 he removed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he opened
a store, and next another at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Both of these
ventures were successful and he now has stores in nearly every large
city in the country, there being eight of such in New York alone. He
was married, in 1876, to Jennie, daughter of Thomas Creighton, of
Pictou, Ontario, Canada, and has three daughters. Mr. Woolworth’s
career is a practical commentary on the value of the maxim that it is
unwise to “despise the day of small things.”




FINANCIERS.


WILLIAM WALDORF ASTOR.

William Waldorf Astor, the capitalist and author, born in New York
city, March 31, 1848 is the son of the noted John Jacob and Charlotte
Augusta (Gibbs) Astor. He was educated chiefly by private tutors, among
whom was a professor of the University of Marburg. At the age of 23 he
was taken into the offices of the Astor estate in order to master the
details of each department. Recognizing the need of a thorough legal
education, he studied for two years in the Columbia Law School, being
admitted to the bar in May, 1875. His father being convinced of the
son’s exceptional business ability, subsequently gave him absolute
control over all of his property. In 1877 Mr. Astor was elected a
member of the New York state legislature from the Eleventh Assembly
District, defeating the Tammany Hall and the Independent Democratic
candidates. In 1879 he was elected to the state senate and in 1881
was nominated for congress in the district formerly represented by
Levi P. Morton, but was defeated by Roswell P. Flower. In August,
1882, President Chester A. Arthur appointed Mr. Astor Minister to
Italy. While in Rome he spent much time in studying the early history
of the country, and on returning home, in 1885, published his novel,
Valentino, which embodies his researches in the mediæval history of
Italy. His later novel, Sforza, also deals with Italy in the Middle
Ages. Mr. Astor has built the New Netherlands hotel, on Fifth avenue
and Fifty-ninth street, New York city, and Hotel Waldorf Astoria, the
latter on the site of the old Astor residence. In September, 1890, Mr.
Astor moved to London, England, where he has entered upon a notable
career in journalism. He now owns the Pall Mall Gazette, and has
founded the Pall Mall Magazine. He is and has been a stockholder and
director in several American railroads. He has other interests outside
of his vast real estate holdings. On June 6, 1878, he was married to
Mary Dahlgren, daughter of James W. Paul, of Philadelphia, Pa. Mrs.
Astor died in 1894.


HENRY CLEWS.

When the long-sought-for opportunity to become a banker came to the
ambitious young man, now the financier, Henry Clews, he did not let
his chances pass him. He was born in Staffordshire, England, August
14, 1840, coming of a good old English family. His father, an able
business man, intended Henry for the ministry of the Established Church
of England. But at the age of fifteen the boy, visiting America with
his father, became so interested in the country and its people that
he gave up all idea of becoming a clergyman, and, with his parents’
consent, settled in the United States. His first position in this
country was as a clerk with an importing firm, in which he rose to a
position of responsibility. In 1859 he became a member of the firm
of Stout, Clews & Mason, which subsequently became Livermore, Clews
& Co. At the outbreak of the Civil War Secretary Chase invited him
to become agent for selling government bonds. His unfaltering faith
in their worth was shown by his subscribing to the National loan at
the rate of five million or ten million dollars per day, even going
into debt by borrowing on the bonds. This materially strengthened the
public confidence in the government’s course of action. When Mr. Chase
was congratulated upon his success in placing the war loans, he said:
“I deserve no credit; had it not been for the exertion of Jay Cooke
and Henry Clews I could never have succeeded.” Mr. Clews founded and
organized the famous “Committee of Seventy” that successfully disposed
of the “Tweed Ring.” After the Civil War, besides establishing a
distinctive banking business, he became one of the largest negotiators
of railroad loans in America or Europe. The present firm of Henry
Clews & Co. was established in 1877, its members pledging themselves
never to take any speculative risks. Mr. Clews has for many years been
treasurer of the “Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” and is
also connected with many city institutions and financial corporations.
He married Lucy Madison, of Worthington, Kentucky, a grandniece of
ex-President Madison. He is a frequent contributor to newspapers and
magazines and the author of Twenty-eight Years in Wall Street.


MRS. HETTY GREEN.

America’s richest woman, Mrs. Hetty Green, is like the majority of
wealthy persons, not only able to keep, but to increase her riches.
Her genius for finance is admittedly equal to that possessed by any of
those individuals whose names are identified with vast and progressive
wealth. She was born November 21, 1835, in New Bedford, Mass., her
maiden name being Hetty Howland Robinson. Not long after her birth her
father, Edward Mott Robinson, died, leaving her a large fortune. She
was educated at the Mrs. Lowell’s school in Boston. In 1876 she married
E. H. Green, of New York City. From thence on she began that financial
career which has made her famous. Mrs. Green is said to be interested
in nearly every large corporation all over the world. She also has
large real estate holdings in a number of cities in this country, and
is interested in many enterprises of a general nature. She personally
manages her business affairs, and is a familiar figure in Wall Street,
and “downtown” New York. Her formula for getting rich is that “Economy
is the secret of making money.”


JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN.

John Pierpont Morgan was born at Hartford, Conn., April 17, 1837. His
mother was a daughter of the Rev. John Pierpont, a noted clergyman,
poet, author and temperance worker. He was educated at the English
high school at Boston and at the University of Gottingen, Germany,
from whence he graduated in 1857. On returning to the United States
he became associated with the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Co.,
of New York city. In 1860 he severed his connection with that firm
and began business for himself. In 1864 he formed the firm of Dabney,
Morgan & Co. Meantime he had become representative of the house of
George Peabody & Co., of London, and during the Civil War he was
able, through this connection, to render substantial assistance to the
Federal government. In 1871 he organized the firm of Drexel, Morgan
& Co., and by the death of Mr. Drexel, in 1893, he became senior
partner. In 1895 the firm title was changed to J. P. Morgan & Co. He
is also head of the firms of J. P. Morgan & Co., of London; Morgan,
Hayes & Co., of Paris, and Drexel & Co., of Philadelphia. Mr. Morgan
is generally known as the “King of Trust Magnates,” on account of his
having engineered so many mercantile and financial consolidations; in
fact, he has been instrumental in forming the majority of the great
corporations or trusts. He gives large sums to charity, is a liberal
patron of art, and is a member of all the leading clubs of New York
and other cities. In 1865 he was married to Frances Louise, daughter
of John Tracy. He has one son, John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., and three
daughters. Mr. Morgan’s vast operations are not confined to this
country. He is an active power in English and Continental financial
circles.


JOHN DAVISON ROCKEFELLER.

The owner of what is believed to be the largest individual income in
the world began his business life as a poorly paid clerk in a small
provincial firm. John Davison Rockefeller was born at Richford, New
York, on July 8th, 1839. He was educated in the local public schools.
In 1853 his parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where, while still a boy,
he obtained a position as clerk in a general commission house. When
nineteen he went into business for himself by becoming a partner in the
firm of Clark & Rockefeller, general commission merchants. Subsequently
the firm admitted another partner, and under the title of Andrews,
Clark & Co., engaged in the oil business. Its so doing, so it is said,
was due to the sagacity of Mr. Rockefeller, who was one of the few men
of the period who recognized the future and gigantic possibilities
of the oil industry. Later changes were made in the organization of
the firm, and in 1865, under the name of William Rockefeller & Co.,
it built the Standard Oil Works at Cleveland. In 1870 the works were
consolidated with others and were then known as the Standard Oil
Company. From time to time other oil interests were acquired, and in
1882 all were merged into the Standard Oil Trust. Ten years later,
however, the trust was dissolved, and from that time to the present the
various companies of which it was composed are operated separately,
with Mr. Rockefeller at the head of the business as a whole.


CHARLES TYSON YERKES.

The Yerkes family is of Dutch origin, and Charles Tyson Yerkes was
born June 25, 1837, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at
the Friends’ School and the Central High School in his native city,
and entered business life as clerk in a flour and grain commission
house. He worked without salary, since, in those days, it was counted
a privilege to be connected with first-class houses. Because of his
close attention to his duties he was presented with fifty dollars at
the end of his first year’s service. In 1859 he opened a stock broker’s
office in Philadelphia. During the Civil War he dealt heavily in
government, state and city bonds. The panic occasioned by the Chicago
fire caught him heavily indebted to the city for bonds sold for it.
The authorities demanded settlement; but, being unable to pay in full,
he made an assignment. In 1873 he commenced the recuperation of his
fortune, and with success. In 1880 he made a trip to Chicago, and,
becoming convinced of the opportunities the west offered to financiers,
he joined an “improvement syndicate,” of which he later became sole
owner. Subsequently he sold his interest in it and opened a banking
house in Chicago. In 1886 he obtained control of the North Chicago
Railway Company. He added other systems, and finally united several
corporations under the title of the Chicago Consolidated Traction
Company. Mr. Yerkes was a chief factor in getting the Columbian
Exposition for Chicago. He is a devoted lover of art, and possesses
a unique collection of pictures. His successful efforts to introduce
New World street transportation methods into England are a matter of
recent record. In 1861 Mr. Yerkes was married to Mary Adelaide Moore,
of Philadelphia.




POLITICAL LEADERS.


NELSON WILMARTH ALDRICH.

The republican leader in the senate, Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, was born
in Foster, Rhode Island, November 6, 1841. After having received a
common school and academy education, he became engaged in mercantile
pursuits in Providence, being entirely successful therein. While a very
young man, Mr. Aldrich became interested in the conduct and welfare
of public schools. He became so prominent in connection with efforts
looking to school improvements that in 1871 he was elected president
of the Providence common council. In 1873 he was a member of the
Rhode Island legislature, and at 1876 was its speaker. It was about
this period that Mr. Aldrich began to take an active part in national
politics, in consequence of which he was made member of congress in
1879, holding that office until 1883, when he resigned in order to
take a seat in the senate. Since that time he has been more or less
continuously in the public eye. He is chairman of the committee of
rules of the Fiftieth congress, and is, as already stated, republican
leader in the senate. While Mr. Aldrich is not a brilliant orator, he
has a remarkable instinct for organization, and it is that faculty
more than any other that has obtained for him the prominent position in
the Republican party which is now his.


WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.

William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Marion county, Illinois,
March 19, 1860. He got an elementary education at home from his
mother until he was ten, and then attended public school until his
fifteenth year, studying thereafter for two years at Whipple academy,
Jacksonville, which he left in order to enter Illinois college. During
his college course he was prominent in literary and debating societies
and on his graduation, in 1881, delivered the valedictory of his class.
For the next two years he studied law in the Union law college, and
in the office of Lyman Trumbull, and upon his admission to the bar
began to practice at Jacksonville. In 1884 he removed to Lincoln,
Nebraska, and became a member of the law firm of Talbot & Bryan. He
soon became active in politics, his first public reputation being made
in the campaign of 1888. In 1890 he was sent to congress. In 1892 he
was renominated and again elected. In 1896 he was a delegate from
Nebraska to the national convention of the Democratic party at Chicago,
where his brilliant speech in defense of free silver caused his
nomination as candidate to the presidency of the United States. After
a most remarkable campaign he was defeated. He was a colonel of the
Third Nebraska Volunteers during the Spanish-American war, and at its
termination returned to Nebraska, resuming his political activities. He
edits and publishes The Commoner, a weekly periodical, in which he sets
forth his political principles. Mary E. Baird, of Perry, Illinois, whom
he married in 1884, has borne him three children.


ARTHUR PUE GORMAN.

There are very few people who begin political life as early as Arthur
Pue Gorman. He was born March 11, 1839, and at thirteen years of age
became a page in the United States senate. In 1866 he was appointed
revenue collector in Maryland, which office he held until 1869, when
U. S. Grant became president. From 1875 to 1879 he was state senator,
and from 1881 to 1899 he was United States senator from Maryland.
From 1869 to 1875 he was member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
In spite of his limited schooling, he managed by wide and careful
reading and practical experience to secure an education in general
and in public matters in particular, which has procured for him the
position of a notable political leader. It was largely through Mr.
Gorman’s management that Grover Cleveland was elected to the presidency
after an uninterrupted series of democratic defeats for a quarter of
a century. Calmness of temper, courage, self-reliance and honesty are
the qualities which he possesses, which, too, inspire respect and which
win him triumphs. He is an able speaker and a master of parliamentary
law. He has strikingly impressed himself upon national affairs, and
his name has often been voiced in the press as a fit candidate for the
presidency.


MARCUS ALONZO HANNA.

Marcus Alonzo Hanna, one of the most prominent figures in national
republican affairs, was born September 24, 1837, at New Lisbon (now
Lisbon), Ohio. His father was a grocer in that village. Young Hanna
was educated at local schools, and in the Western Reserve college and
Kenyon college, Ohio. When not in school he was helping his father
in the latter’s store, and cut short his academic course in order to
clerk for his father, who had decided on opening a place of business in
Cleveland. Until he was twenty he thus worked, receiving a small salary
for so doing. In 1861 his father died, and young Hanna became heir to
the business, which he continued to run until 1867. During that year
he sold out and laid the foundations of the vast fortune which he now
possesses. Mr. Hanna is interested in banks, railroads, mines of many
sorts, especially coal, steamship lines, etc. At a comparatively early
age he became interested in political questions, into the solving of
which he threw himself with characteristic earnestness. For many years
he has been chairman of the republican national committee, and in that
capacity he secured the nomination of the late President McKinley, as
well as obtaining a second term for him. Mr. Hanna is United States
senator from Ohio, having been elected to that office in 1897. In his
own words, his success may be explained thus: “I was never penniless,
because I always saved. I was never hopeless, because I would not be
discouraged, and I always felt assured that present endeavors would
bring forth future fruit.”


CARTER HENRY HARRISON, JR.

Carter Henry Harrison, Jr., was born in Chicago, April 23, 1860. He is
the son of the late Carter Henry Harrison, one of the builders of the
City of Chicago, who was its mayor five times. Carter Henry Harrison,
Jr., was educated in the public schools, in educational establishments
in Altenburg, Germany, at St. Ignatius college, Chicago, and the Yale
law school, from which he graduated in 1883. On December 14, 1887, he
was married to Edith, daughter of Robert N. Ogden, of the Court of
Appeals, New Orleans. He followed his father’s profession of law and
the real estate business. He also was the publisher of the Chicago
Times, 1891 and 1893; was elected mayor of Chicago as a democrat, April
6, 1897, 1899, 1901 and 1903. Mr. Harrison has the courage of vigorous
opinions politically, municipally and in other ways. While some may
differ from him as to his beliefs and methods, even these admit his
possession of those qualities which enable him to successfully fulfil
duties that are usually relegated to much older men.


JOSEPH WINGATE FOLK.

One of the most prominent and promising young men in the political
life in the United States is Joseph Wingate Folk, who was elected
governor of Missouri in the fall of 1904. Though Governor Folk’s rise
has been a very rapid one, it has been the result of qualities which
make for the most substantial and enduring kind of political success.
Dominating factors of Governor Folk’s career have been honesty and a
rigid performance of duty. For these he has courted defeat and failure,
has even undergone danger to his life. He has refused to listen for a
moment to some of the largest financial offers that have ever been made
to tempt a servant of the people to betray his trust. Not only has the
power of money, but also the corrupt personal influence of many able
men, been brought to bear upon him in his work as circuit attorney in
St. Louis. Many of his friends, even, endeavored to persuade him that
his course of action toward the political leaders in St. Louis would
result only in disaster to himself. But Governor Folk’s invariable
answer was that he accepted public office for no other purpose than to
do his duty.

The result has been a great surprise to both his friends and enemies,
and the introduction of an uplifting influence in American politics.
Governor Folk has won a great personal triumph in his election to the
governorship of Missouri, and the indications are that he will rise to
still greater heights. His prominence and influence are rendered all
the more notable by the fact that he is only thirty-five years old, and
rose from the position of an obscure lawyer to American leadership in
the short space of four years.

Governor Folk was born in the town of Brownsville, Tenn., in 1869. He
finished his college education at Vanderbilt University, where he was
known as a clever, whole-souled young man who devoted much attention
to his books, but by no means neglected athletics and the general life
of a college boy. He was admitted to the bar in 1890, and began the
practice of law in St. Louis, where for some years his experiences were
those of the average struggling young attorney. During this period of
his career he became a friend of Henry W. Hawes, who was afterward one
of his bitterest political enemies. Hawes rapidly rose to a position of
considerable power in St. Louis, and when, in 1900, he was asked by
the Democratic boss of the city, Edward Butler, to suggest a likely man
for the place of circuit attorney, he at once recommended his friend
Folk. Butler knew very little of the young lawyer, but on the strength
of Hawes’ word he accepted him as being sufficiently pliable to serve
the corrupt uses of the political machine.

Folk was elected and immediately inaugurated the now celebrated
campaign against the corrupt practices of both his political
supporters and his enemies. It was the former who suffered chiefly in
the execution of Governor Folk’s ideas as to his duty. They were at
first astonished, then incensed, and finally panic-stricken. Many of
those who helped to elect him to office were sent to prison. Others
were compelled to take flight to avoid the same fate. The St. Louis
political machine, one of the most corrupt in existence, was shattered.
It was a herculean task which Governor Folk had mapped out for himself,
but his courage, steadfastness and ability carried him to a triumphant
conclusion of it, and now he stands before the country as a political
leader of the highest type.




LAWYERS AND JURISTS.


FRANK SWETT BLACK.

Frank Swett Black was born at Limington, Maine, March 8, 1853. He
graduated from Dartmouth, 1875. He entered professional life as the
editor of the Johnstown, New York, Journal. Later he became reporter of
the Troy Whig, New York. He was a clerk in the registry department of
the Troy postoffice, during which time he studied law and was admitted
to the bar in 1879. He was a member of congress in 1895 to 1897, and
in 1897 was elected by the republicans as governor of New York state.
He also won distinction as a trial lawyer and has defended a number
of notable cases, among which was the celebrated case of Rollin B.
Molineaux.


FREDERICK RENÉ COUDERT.

The young man who wishes to succeed in the profession of law would
do well to study the life of the lawyer, Frederick René Coudert,
whose every act has been marked by fairness and courtesy. He was born
of French parentage in the city of New York in 1832, receiving his
early education at his father’s school in that city. At the age of
fourteen he entered Columbia college, graduating with highest honors
in 1850, his address on that occasion calling forth much comment from
the press. During the next few years he busied himself with newspaper
work, teaching and translations, besides studying law; and at the age
of twenty-one was admitted to the New York bar. His brothers, Lewis
and Charles Coudert, Jr., joining him in the practice of law, they
formed the firm of Coudert Brothers, one of the oldest and largest
law firms of New York city, and of which Frederick R. Coudert is the
recognized head. He has achieved quite a reputation as a speaker and
lecturer; and among his most notable addresses might be mentioned one
at the centennial celebration of Columbia college, 1887; an eloquent
speech in favor of the Democratic union during the campaign of Tilden
in 1879, and his public addresses on the arrival of Bartholdi’s statue
of liberty and the statues of Lafayette and Bolivar. He has been quite
active in the political work of the democratic party, but avoiding,
rather than asking, public functions, several times having declined
nominations which signified election to the bench of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Coudert played a prominent part in the election of President
Cleveland in 1884. Mr. Coudert’s abilities have been of great service
in other fields. He was the first president of the United States
Catholic Historical Society, holding the office several terms; for
years president of the Columbia college alumni association; for years
government director of the Union Pacific railroad; for a long time
trustee of Columbia and Barnard colleges and of Seton Hall College, New
Jersey, besides being the director in numerous social and charitable
organizations. In 1880 Seton college awarded him the degree of LL.D.,
which degree was also given by Fordham college in 1884, and, in 1887,
he received from Columbia college the degree of J. U. D. As a mark
of recognition the French government presented him with the Cross of
the Legion of Honor, which decoration he has also received from the
governments of Italy and Bolivia.


JAMES BROOKS DILL.

A sturdy Scotch ancestry has given to the lawyer, James Brooks Dill,
that pertinacity and determination which successfully overcomes all
obstacles. He was born in Spencerport, New York, July 25, 1854, the
oldest child of the Rev. James Horton and Catherine (Brooks) Dill.
Four years after his birth his parents removed to Chicago, but upon
the death of his father, in 1863, he removed with his mother to New
Haven, Connecticut, continuing his studies in the elementary branches.
After studying at Oberlin, Ohio, from 1868 to 1872, he entered Yale,
graduating in the class of 1876. He now taught school and studied
law, and in 1877 came to New York, where he obtained a position as
instructor in Stevens’ Institute, Hoboken. Mr. Dill was graduated
with the degree of LL.D. from the University law school in 1878, as
salutatorian, and was then admitted to the bar of New York. Corporation
law was made one of his special studies, and, in 1879, he won an
important corporation case which soon established his reputation as
a corporation lawyer and an authority on this particular subject.
His marked business ability, combined with a clear legal mind, made
his services sought by the many large and influential corporate
interests. He was married in 1880 to Miss Mary W. Hansell, daughter
of a Philadelphia merchant, thereupon removing to Orange, New Jersey.
He became an active worker in the municipal and social improvement of
the Oranges, organizing a People’s Bank, of which he has always been
a director and counsel. He also assisted in establishing the Savings
Investment and Trust Co., becoming director and vice-president. He
is now director in the Seventh National Bank of New York City, the
Corporation Trust Company of New Jersey, the American School of
Architecture at Rome, the New England State Railway Company of Boston,
the Central Teresa Sugar Company and others.


MELVILLE WESTON FULLER.

The most notable figure of the judiciary of this country is
undoubtedly Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, of the Supreme
Court of the United States. He is in every way the ideal dignitary of
the bench, impressive as to appearance, forceful in forensic oratory,
learned in the law and unblemished as to reputation, personal and
professional. He was born February 11, 1833, at Augusta, Maine, coming
of sterling New England stock. Graduating from Bowdoin college in 1853,
and later educated at Harvard law school, he, in 1855, was admitted to
the bar. Forming a law partnership in the town of his birth, he later
established there a Democratic paper known as The Age, of which he
became assistant editor. The venture was successful and The Age became
a power in political circles in Maine. Young Fuller was also elected
president of the common council, and city attorney for the town. But
Augusta was too small a sphere for the rising young lawyer, so in
1859 he went to Chicago, where he opened a law office. Simultaneously
he took an active part in Illinois politics. It was not long before
he became a recognized political leader locally. In 1863 he became a
member of the Illinois legislature, in which capacity he confirmed the
beliefs of those who regarded him as a coming man. He was delegate to
a number of Democratic national conventions, in each of which he was a
prominent figure. President Cleveland appointed him chief justice on
April 30, 1888, and he was confirmed and seated the year following.


JOHN WILLIAM GRIGGS.

John William Griggs was born at Newton, New Jersey, July 10, 1849. He
was graduated from Lafayette college in 1868, and, after studying law,
was admitted to the bar in 1871. He practiced law at Paterson until
1876, in which year he was elected a member of the New Jersey general
assembly. In 1886 he was president of the New Jersey senate. He was
elected governor of New Jersey in 1896, which office he resigned to
accept the office of attorney-general of the United States. He resigned
the attorney-generalship in 1901.


OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, the son of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the poet
and essayist, was born at Boston, March 8, 1841. He graduated from
Harvard in 1861, and from the Harvard law school in 1866. During the
Civil war he served three years with the Massachusetts volunteers,
and was wounded in the breast in the battle of Balls Bluff, and again
wounded at the battle of Antietam. At the close of the war he engaged
in the practice of law in Boston, and was editor of the Law Review from
1870 to 1873. In 1882 he became professor at the Harvard law school.
In the same year he was made assistant justice in the Supreme judicial
court, Massachusetts, and on August 2, 1899, he was made chief justice
of the same court.


WILLIAM TRAVERS JEROME.

William Travers Jerome, who, by reason of being the district attorney
of the metropolis, his power of pungent political oratory and his
strenuous work as a municipal reformer, is one of the best known and
decidedly one of the most interesting figures in the current history
of New York, is still a young man. He was born April 18, 1859, in
Lawrence, Massachusetts, receiving his initial education at the local
public school and from private tutors; he took a classical course at
Amherst college, and next was a student at the Columbia university law
school of New York city. He was admitted to the bar in 1884 and became
connected with a New York law firm. From the first he gave evidence of
being the possessor of those qualities which later made him famous. As
a lawyer his learnedly aggressive methods brought him popularity and
many fees. As a justice of the court of special sessions, he lived up
to the reputation that he had established on the bench. When, a few
years since, he threw himself into the political whirlpool, he gave the
country-at-large an excellent example of the man who has waited for his
opportunity, recognizes it when he sees it and grasps it forthwith. It
is not too much to say that Mr. Jerome did more than any one man, or,
for that matter, any one group of men to free New York from certain
evil influences which had fastened themselves upon it and its citizens.
Here is what he says relative to his political success, but his remarks
apply equally to success of all kinds: “A young man must have strong
convictions of the right kind, hold to them through thick and thin, be
willing to accept defeats smilingly, if necessary begin his work all
over again, but still stick to it—and victory is assured.”


JOSEPH MCKENNA.

Another of the numerous successful jurists whose ancestry is Irish. He
was the son of John and Mary McKenna, his father being from Ireland
and his mother from England. He was born at Philadelphia, August 10,
1843, and was educated in the public schools and at St. Joseph college
until 1855, when the family removed to Benicia, California, where he
entered St. Augustine college and took up the study of law. Directly
afterward he graduated and was admitted to the bar. In 1865 he was
elected district attorney of Solano county. He served in this capacity
for two terms. In 1873 he was elected to the legislature, and one year
later the republicans nominated him for congress, but he was defeated,
and not only on this occasion but again in 1878. In 1884, however, he
was elected, and a year later entered congress, where he remained, by
re-election, until 1891. As a member of the ways and means committee
he had a great deal to do with important tariff legislation. In 1892
President Harrison appointed him circuit judge. In 1897 he entered
McKinley’s cabinet as attorney-general, but in December of the same
year was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of the United States to
succeed Justice Field. He was married in San Francisco, 1869, to Amanda
Borneman.


ALTON BROOKS PARKER.

Alton Brooks Parker comes from good old New England stock. He was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, May 14, 1851. Later his family moved to
Cortland, New York, in which place he was educated, graduating from
the normal school at that place. He spent three years in teaching, and
then entered a law school at Kingston, New York, and afterward took a
course at the Albany law school, where he was graduated in 1872. After
being admitted to the bar, he formed a partnership with W. S. Kenyon
at Kingston, New York. In 1877 Mr. Parker was elected surrogate of
Ulster county, and was again re-elected in 1883. Two years later he
was appointed, by Governor Hill, justice of the Supreme Court to fill
the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. Theodoric R. Westbrook.
At the end of the year he was elected justice for the full term. In
January, 1889, the second division of the Court of Appeals was created,
and Judge Parker was appointed to it, he being the youngest member
who ever sat in the Court of Appeals in New York city. The second
division court was dissolved in 1892, and at that time Governor Hill
appointed him member of the general term of the first department, where
he continued until 1895. He has always been active in politics and
has been a delegate to nearly every state convention, and also to the
national convention in 1884 which nominated Grover Cleveland. In 1895
he was chairman of the Democratic state executive committee. In 1897 he
was elected by a majority of over sixty thousand to the office of chief
justice of the Court of Appeals, the highest judicial office in the
state of New York. He has often been mentioned as a possible candidate
for president by the Democratic party. He was married October 16, 1873,
to Mary L. Schoonmaker.




SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.


ADNA ROMANZA CHAFFEE.

Adna Romanza Chaffee was born at Orwell, Ohio, April 14, 1842. He
was educated in the public schools and entered the army July 22,
1861, serving first as a private, but the close of the war, March 31,
1865, found him a captain. In 1868, in fighting the Comanche Indians
on Paint Tree creek, Texas, he was made a major for gallantry in
that and other campaigns, and was finally made lieutenant-colonel.
At the breaking out of the Spanish-American war he was appointed
brigadier-general of the United States volunteers, commanding the third
brigade, fifth corps, in the Santiago campaign. He was promoted to
major-general United States volunteers, July 8, 1898, and was honorably
discharged as major-general, April 13, 1899, but was again appointed
brigadier-general United States volunteers, one year later and assigned
to the command of the United States forces for the relief of the United
States legation at Pekin, China. In 1901 he was made a major-general
United States army.


GEORGE DEWEY.

George Dewey, the third admiral of the United States navy, was born
at Montpelier, Vermont, December 26, 1837. His father, Julius
Yemans Dewey, was a physician. George attended school in Montpelier
and at Johnson, Vermont. In 1853 he entered the University of
Norwich, Vermont, but, instead of completing his course, he secured
an appointment in the United States naval academy in 1854. He was
graduated with honors in 1858 and was attached to the steam frigate
Wabash. In 1861 he was commissioned a lieutenant and assigned to the
steam sloop Mississippi, of the West Gulf squadron. He saw his first
service under fire with Farragut in 1862, served with distinction
all through the Civil war, and, at the close, he was commissioned
lieutenant-commander. From 1868 to 1870 he was an instructor in the
naval academy. Promoted to a captaincy in 1884, he was placed in
command of the Dolphin, but in 1895 was returned to the European
station in command of the flagship Pensacola; there he remained until
1888, when he was ordered home and appointed chief of the bureau
of equipment, ranking as commander. On February 26, 1896, he was
commissioned commander and made president of the board of inspection
and survey, which position he held until January, 1898, when he was
given command of the Asiatic station. While at Hongkong Prince
Henry of Germany gave a banquet, at which he proposed a toast to
the various countries represented, but omitted the United States,
whereupon Commander Dewey left the room without ceremony. Three days
after the beginning of the war with Spain President McKinley cabled
him at Hongkong: “Proceed at once to the Philippine Islands. Commence
operations, particularly against the Spanish fleet. You must capture or
destroy the vessels. Use utmost endeavor.” Dewey’s success in carrying
out these orders is known to all the world. President McKinley yielded
to the popular demand that the rank of rear-admiral be revived in favor
of Dewey. Accordingly, on March 3, 1899, the appointment was confirmed
in executive session of the United States senate. He was married at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, October 24, 1867, to Susan B., daughter of
ex-Governor Ichabod Goodwin, who died in December, 1872; he was again
married to Mrs. Mildred Hazen in Washington on November 9, 1899.


ROBLEY DUNGLISON EVANS.

Robley Dunglison Evans, better known as Fighting Bob Evans, was born
at Floyd Courthouse, Virginia, August 18, 1847. His father was a
physician and a farmer, his mother being the daughter of John Jackson,
of Fairfax county, and sister of James Jackson, who shot Colonel
Ellsworth for capturing a Confederate flag on the roof of his hotel.
Robley was educated at a country school and Gonzaga classical school,
Washington, D. C. On September 20, 1860, he was appointed to the United
States naval academy by Congressman William R. Hooper, from the Utah
Territory. He was made a midshipman in 1860, and promoted to ensign in
1863. In 1864 and 1865 he served with his ship in the North Atlantic
blockade squadron. He saw considerable service in the West Indies,
and, in the attack on Fort Fisher, in 1865, received rifle shot wounds
which disabled him for a time. In 1866 he was commissioned lieutenant;
in 1868 was made lieutenant commander, and was later assigned to duty
at the navy yard, Washington, and still later at the naval academy,
Annapolis. From 1877 to 1881 he was in command of the training ship
Saratoga, and later was promoted to commander. In 1891-’92 he was
in command of the United States naval force at the Behring Sea to
suppress sealing. In 1893 he was promoted to captain. During the
Spanish-American war Captain Evans was in command of the battleship
Iowa, which achieved distinction during the battle of Santiago, when
the fleet of Admiral Cervera made an attempt to run the blockade. He
served all through the Spanish-American war, and, in 1898, by his own
request, he was detached from the command of the Iowa and was assigned
to duty as a member of the board of inspection and survey. He was
married in 1860 to Charlotte, daughter of Frank Taylor, of Washington,
District of Columbia.


FRED FUNSTON.

Fred Funston was born in Ohio, November 9, 1865. His father was a
prominent public man and one time a member of congress from Kansas.
He was graduated in 1886 from the high school at Iola, Kansas, and
later studied for two years in the state university at Lawrence, but
was not graduated. In 1890 he was a reporter in Kansas City, and his
first public work was done as botanist in the United States death
valley expedition in 1891. Returning he was made a commissioner in the
department of agriculture and was assigned to explore Alaska and report
on its flora. In 1893 he floated down the Yukon alone in a canoe. He
served eighteen months in the insurgent army in Cuba, and upon his
return to the United States, in 1896, was commissioned a colonel in
the Twentieth Kansas volunteers. In 1898 he went to the Philippines
and took part in several battles. He crossed the Rio Grande river at
Calumpit on a small bamboo raft under heavy fire and established a rope
ferry by which the United States troops were enabled to cross and win
the battle. For this deed of valor he was promoted to brigadier-general
of the United States volunteers May 2, 1899. He remained in active
service in the Philippines and organized the expedition which
succeeded in the capture of Aguinaldo. For this he was promoted to
brigadier-general United States army, March 20, 1901.


RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON.

Many of our naval and army officers are of southern birth. Richmond
Pearson Hobson is a case in point, since he was born at Greensboro,
Alabama, August 17, 1870. His ancestors were English and many of them
were members of the nobility. Young Hobson, after a course in the
public schools and the Southern university at Greensboro, entered the
United States naval academy at Annapolis in 1889. He was immediately
appointed a midshipman on the Chicago, under command of Rear-Admiral
Walker and ordered to the European station. Upon his return he received
the compliment of an appointment as one of the United States officers
permitted by the British government to receive a course of instructions
at the Royal navy college, Woolwich, England. Here he remained three
years, taking a special study in naval architecture. On returning
home he received an appointment to the navy department at Washington,
and discharged his duties with such fidelity and intelligence that he
was given an appointment as assistant naval constructor. He was later
ordered to the Brooklyn navy yard, where he remained one year. Next he
went to Newport News to inspect the battleships Kearsarge and Kentucky,
which were under construction there. He then became instructor in the
post-graduate course in naval instruction, which he inaugurated at
the naval academy in 1897. In 1898 he, with his pupils, was ordered
to join Sampson’s fleet at Key West, with which he remained until the
performance of the remarkable and historic feat of bottling up Cervera
in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. He received a great deal of deserved
honor for this achievement, and was nominated by President McKinley
March 1, 1899, to be advanced ten numbers from number one from the list
of naval constructors for extraordinary heroism. This is said to be the
greatest possible promotion in the naval service for gallant conduct in
the face of the enemy. Hobson has done subsequent excellent work and is
the author of a number of works on subjects relative to his profession.


WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY.

Winfield Scott Schley was born in Frederick, Maryland, October 9,
1839. After being educated in the public schools he entered the naval
academy at Annapolis, September 20, 1856, and was graduated in 1860.
During the Civil war he served in various capacities, and at its close
he was commissioned lieutenant-commander and was made instructor in
languages at the United States naval academy. In 1884 he volunteered
for, and was placed in command of, the relief expedition sent to the
arctic regions in search of Lieutenant Greely and his companions. Two
other attempts to relieve Lieutenant Greely had been failures, but
Commander Schley’s determination and intrepidity carried his expedition
to success, and the seven survivors of the expedition were found and
brought back, together with the bodies of those who had perished. In
recognition of this achievement, the Maryland legislature presented him
with a gold watch and a vote of thanks, and the Massachusetts Humane
Society gave him a gold medal, and a territory west of Cape Sabine
was named Schley land. He was also commissioned to carry, to Sweden,
the remains of John Erickson, for which King Oscar awarded him a gold
medal. In 1898 he was made commodore. Previous to the outbreak of the
Spanish-American war he was given command of the “Flying Squadron.” On
May 19 he was ordered by Sampson to blockade Cienfuegos. On May 29,
he had been ordered to Santiago by the navy department and there he
discovered the Spanish fleet in the harbor. At 8:45 of that day Sampson
steamed eastward to Siboney, thus placing Schley in command. Scarcely
an hour later the Spaniards emerged from the harbor, the Brooklyn,
Schley’s ship, signalling, “clear ship for action,” “the enemy escaping
to westward” and “close action,” and steamed forward to meet the
advancing enemy. One after another the Teresa, Oquondo, Biscaya and
Colon were run aground under a storm of American projectiles. The
credit of this victory was claimed by Sampson, but as he was absent at
the time, it became ultimately recognized by the American people that
Schley had fought and won the victory. His ship was nearest to the
Spanish squadron at the time of action and was the most badly injured
of all the American fleet. At the close of the war he was placed on
waiting orders. He was married in Annapolis, Maryland, September
10, 1863, to Anna Rebecca, daughter of George E. and Marie Caroline
Franklin.


WILLIAM RUFUS SHAFTER.

William Rufus Shafter was born at Galesburg, Michigan, October 16,
1835. He was brought up on a farm and received a common school
education. He entered the Union army as first lieutenant of the Seventh
Michigan infantry. He rose in rank, and when mustered out of the
volunteer service, in 1865, entered the regular army as lieutenant
colonel. In 1867 he was breveted colonel and given congressional honor
for gallant conduct at the battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia. He was
made a brigadier-general May 3, 1897, in charge of the department of
California and later a major-general of volunteers; May, 1898, he went
to Tampa, Florida; afterward to Cuba, where he commanded the military
operations which ended in the surrender of Santiago de Cuba in July,
1898, while at the close of the war he received his share of criticism
for some incidents of the campaign, yet his personal gallantry and
technical skill have never been questioned. His success in his chosen
profession may be traced to his putting into practice the ruling axiom
of his life, which he formulates thus: “I think that, when a man once
finds the thing he likes, and for which he is best fitted, he is bound
to like it always, and stick to it.”


JOSEPH WHEELER.

General Joseph Wheeler gained “three stars” on his coat-collar, in
contending for the “Lost Cause.” He now has the two stars of a United
States major-general in the Cuban war. General Wheeler was, from
boyhood, a careful and painstaking student of the profession which
he adopted. He was born at Augusta, Georgia, September 10, 1836,
and was sent to West Point at seventeen. While others were passing
their leisure moments in sport, young Wheeler could be found in the
library, poring, with deepest interest, over those volumes which spoke
of campaigns and battles, both ancient and modern, and examining
military maps and plans of battle of distinguished generals. From
the cavalry school at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he went, in the spring
of 1860, to New Mexico, and, in March, 1861, returned to Georgia. He
became a first lieutenant of Confederate artillery at Pensacola, and
led the Nineteenth Alabama infantry regiment as colonel. At Shiloh
he had two horses shot under him, and is said to have carried the
regimental colors in his own hands. On the retreat from Kentucky,
Colonel Wheeler, as chief of cavalry, covered the movement. During this
campaign, he met the enemy in thirty fights and skirmishes. Having
been made a brigadier-general, on recommendation of Bragg, Polk,
Hardee and Buckner, he was sent to Middle Tennessee. The Union troops
at that time reported that “not a nubbin of corn was obtained without
fighting for it.” Here he received the _sobriquet_ of “The Little
Hero.” General Wheeler was sick when the American troops attacked
Santiago, but he hastened on a litter to the point of danger, and by
his words and example stimulated his men to victory. He was retired as
brigadier-general September 10, 1900.




EXPLORERS.


EVELYN BRIGGS BALDWIN.

Evelyn B. Baldwin, the well-known arctic explorer, was born in
Springfield, Missouri, July 2, 1862. He is the son of Elias Briggs
Baldwin, who served with distinction during the Civil war. The subject
of this sketch was educated at the public schools in Dupage county,
Illinois, and, on graduating from the Northwestern college, Naperville,
Illinois, taught in district schools for some time. After an experience
as professional pedestrian and bicyclist in Europe, he returned to this
country and was appointed principal of high schools and superintendent
of city schools in Kansas. Next we hear of him as attached to the
United States weather bureau and becoming inspector-at-large of the
signal corps of the United States army. In 1883 he was a member of the
Peary expedition to North Greenland in the capacity of meteorologist.
In 1897 he made a voyage to the Andree balloon station in Spitzbergen,
hoping to join that ill-fated scientist, but arrived a few days
too late. In 1898 he accompanied Wellman’s polar expedition as
meteorologist, and secured valuable data in connection with same. He
also organized and commanded the Baldwin-Ziegler polar expedition in
1901. He is the author of several works on arctic exploration and is
the member of a number of scientific societies.


FREDERICK ALBERT COOK.

Dr. Frederick A. Cook, physician by profession and explorer by
inclination, was born in Callicoon Depot, Sullivan county, New York, on
June 10, 1865. He is the son of Dr. Theodore Albert Cook and was first
educated in Brooklyn, graduated from the University of the City of New
York in 1890, and received his medical degree from that institution in
the same year. His work of exploration has been confined to the arctic
regions. He was surgeon of the Peary expedition in 1891 and acted in
the like capacity for the Belgium antarctic expedition in 1897. Dr.
Cook has a fertile pen, and it is mainly through its efforts that he
is as well known to the American people as he is. He has contributed
liberally to the leading magazines, writing on the problems of the
north and south poles; is the author of a monograph on the Patagonians,
and has published a work entitled The First Antarctic Night. He is a
member of a number of scientific societies, has been decorated by King
Leopold of Belgium and has received medals from foreign geological
societies as a recognition of his services in the lines indicated.


SVEN ANDERS HEDIN.

The ancient Norseman’s desire to wander and to conquer still stirs
the blood of many of his modern descendants. Happily nowadays, the
wandering is done for the benefit of humanity and the conquests are
those of peace and not of the “Swan Path.” Sven Anders Hedin, explorer
and geographer, is a case in point. He was born at Stockholm, February
19, 1865, and is the son of Ludwig Hedin, official chief architect of
Stockholm. When a mere child he exhibited the traits that distinguished
his later years, and there are many stories told of how his parents
were kept on the alert to prevent their baby—for he was not much
more—from playing truant, which he did whenever the opportunity
offered. The boy was indeed father to the man, and his parents, on his
finishing his education, had the wisdom not to attempt to thwart his
expressed desire to become an explorer. Had they done so the world
would possess much less geographical knowledge than it now does. After
courses in the universities of Stockholm, Upsala, Berlin and Halle,
he began his travels. The Orient attracted him, and he made journeys
through Persia and Mesopotamia. In 1895 he was a member of King Oscar’s
embassy to the Shah of Persia. He is best known in connection with his
explorations in Asia, those of Khorasan, Turkestan and Thibet being
especially notable. Hedin is the author of many works on travel and
has contributed largely to those journals which are published in the
interest of science of geography.


E. BURTON HOLMES.

E. Burton Holmes, who is well known to the American public through his
lectures on foreign countries, was born in Chicago, January 8, 1870.
He is the son of Ira and Virginia (Burton) Holmes. Educated at first
in the Allen academy, and subsequently in the Harvard school, Chicago,
he, not long after his graduation, began to evince that uncontrollable
desire to see the world which is innate in the breast of the born
explorer. Notwithstanding that he is still a comparatively young man,
Mr. Holmes has managed, since he attained his majority, to visit Japan,
Algeria, Corsica, Greece and Thessaly. He has also taken part in an
expedition sent under the auspices of a scientific organization to
Fez, Morocco. All of the continental countries of Europe are known to
him, as are the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippine Islands and China. He
has visited the Yellowstone Park and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado
river. His first appearance on the lecture platform was in 1890, and
since then he has appeared in nearly all of the American cities. Mr.
Holmes has graphic powers of description, which explains the popularity
of his addresses. His lectures have been published in book form.


A. H. SAVAGE LANDOR.

The power of purpose is emphasized in the career of A. H. Savage
Landor, artist and explorer. Son of Charles Savage Landor, and the
grandson of Walter Savage Landor, author and poet, he was born in
Florence, Italy; was educated in that city, and afterward went to
Paris to study art. There he entered the studio of Julian, one of
whose favorite pupils he soon became. There is every likelihood that
he would have become prominent in art circles had it not been for his
keen desire for travel. So deserting the easel for the knapsack, he
visited Japan, China, Corea, Mongolia, India, Napaul, Thibet, America,
Australia, Africa and other countries. He lived for some time among
a curious race of aborigines known as the Hairy Ainu, in the wilds
of Northern Japan. Mr. Landor is best known to the reading public by
reason of his explorations in Thibet and the remarkable book which
was the fruit thereof. During his sojourn in “The Forbidden Country”
he underwent incredible hardships, and as a result of the tortures
inflicted upon him by the natives who held him prisoner for some time,
he will probably be a sufferer to the end of his days. A man, who when
riding on a saddle studded with sharp spikes, can take note of the
physical features of the surrounding country and can calculate the
height of the plateau over which he is passing in agony must be molded
from that kind of stuff of which hero adventurers are made. Likewise
does he show the power of a purpose over the dangers and difficulties
that threaten to thwart it.


FRIDTJOF NANSEN.

Of the several explorers who have endeavored to solve the mysteries
of the Arctic regions, none perhaps is better known than Fridtjof
Nansen, a descendant of the old Vikings. He was born in Christiania,
October 10, 1861, and is the son of a lawyer well known in Norwegian
legal circles. After an education, which began at home, he graduated
from the University of Christiania, and immediately began to exhibit
those nomadic tendencies which distinguish the born explorer. His first
trip to the far north was in 1882, when he made a voyage to the seas
surrounding Greenland. Returning with much valuable geological and
zoological data, he was appointed curator of the natural history museum
at Bergen. In 1889 he took his second trip to the Arctic, when he
succeeded in crossing Greenland. Subsequent thereto he was made curator
of the Museum of Comparative Anatomy of Christiania university. His
most memorable undertaking, however, was in 1893, when he endeavored
to reach the North Pole. Although he did not accomplish his object, he
succeeded in getting nearer to it than had any of his predecessors.
On that occasion he spent three years in the Arctic region, and
again returned laden with data which, from a scientific standpoint,
was invaluable. He was next appointed professor of zoology of the
Christiania university. Nansen has published several books dealing
with his life work, including Esquimaux Life, Across Greenland and
Farthest North. He has also written a number of articles for magazines.
He married Eva Sears, who was well known in musical circles of the
continent.


ROBERT EDWIN PEARY.

Robert Edwin Peary, the brilliant Arctic explorer, was born at Cresson,
Pennsylvania, May 6, 1856. After a course in public schools he entered
Bowdoin college, graduating therefrom in 1877. In 1881 he was appointed
civil engineer to the United States navy. From 1884 to 1885 he acted
as assistant engineer in the surveys for the Nicaraugua ship canal,
and from 1887 to 1888 was engineer in charge of further surveys for
the same project. In this connection he invented the rolling lock-gate
for canals. He inaugurated his career as Arctic explorer in 1886, when
he made his famous reconnaissance of the Greenland inland ice cap, a
thing that none of his predecessors had attempted. In 1891 he undertook
another expedition to the north under the auspices of the Academy of
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He also determined the insularity of
Greenland, for which he received medals from a number of scientific
organizations. Still another voyage was made in 1893, and a year
later he discovered the famous Iron Mountain, which proved to consist
of three meteorites, one of them weighing ninety tons. Some of the
meteorites he brought back with him during a summer trip made in 1896.
In 1898 he again started north in an endeavor to reach the North Pole,
but was not successful. Lieutenant Peary married Josephine Diebitsch
in 1888. He is the author of several books on his work in the arctic
regions and of a great many papers in geological journals and popular
magazines. He once remarked that even Polar ice would melt “by heat of
effort,” meaning that any obstacle can be destroyed by enthusiasm and
persistency.


HENRY MORTON STANLEY.

The career of Sir Henry M. Stanley is not only of a more or less
romantic nature, but furnishes lessons that are as obvious as they
are useful. Beginning life as an unknown boy, he is now one of the
best-known, as he is the most highly honored of men. And he has thus
achieved, through the medium of his stalwart mental and physical
attributes. Sir Henry was born in Denbigh, Wales, and emigrated to
the United States in 1856. He was adopted by a New Orleans merchant,
whose name he now bears. Coming north, he became connected with the
New York Herald, and in 1870 was sent to Africa by that newspaper, in
order to explore some of the then unknown sections of that country.
Returning to America, in 1874, he was ordered at brief notice by
James Gordon Bennett, of the Herald, to find Dr. Livingston, the late
famous traveler and missionary, from whom no tidings had been heard
for some time. Stanley successfully carried out the instructions.
Subsequently he discovered the source of the Congo, and still later
his explorations, undertaken at the request of the King of Belgium,
resulted in the foundation of the Congo Free State. He also commanded
the Emin Pasha relief expedition. Since 1895 he has been a member of
the British parliament. His books are many and have for the most part
to do with his adventures and experiences in Africa. He was knighted by
the late Queen Victoria for his services to science as explorer.


WALTER WELLMAN.

Walter Wellman, journalist and explorer, was born in Mentor, Ohio,
November 5, 1858. He was educated in the district schools, and during
his boyhood gave evidence of his journalistic instincts, for when but
fourteen years of age he established a weekly newspaper at Sutton,
Nebraska. When he attained his majority, he founded the Cincinnati
Evening Post, the venture being of a successful nature. For many years
he was political and Washington correspondent of the Chicago Herald and
Times-Herald. Mr. Wellman, in 1892, succeeded in locating the landing
place of Christopher Columbus, on Watling Island, in the Bahamas, and
erected a monument upon the spot. In 1894 he took his initial trip to
the Arctic regions, making explorations on the northeastern coast of
Spitzbergen. Four years later he explored Franz Josef Land, where he
discovered many new islands and made valuable contributions to Arctic
geography. As a writer on subjects connected with the frozen north, he
is well known by reason of his articles in leading magazines. He has
also written on political and general topics.




EDUCATORS.


ELISHA BENJAMIN ANDREWS.

Elisha Benjamin Andrews was born at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, January
10, 1844. He received a public school education, meantime working on
a farm. At the outbreak of the Civil war, although only seventeen
years of age, he enlisted and served with distinction, being promoted
to the rank of second lieutenant. A severe wound destroyed the sight
of his left eye, and he received his honorable discharge in 1864.
Forthwith preparing for college at Powers institute, he later studied
at Wesleyan academy, entered Brown university and was graduated in
the class of 1870. During the two years following he was principal of
the Connecticut Literary institute at Suffield. In 1874 he graduated
from the Newton Theological institution and was the same year ordained
pastor of the First Baptist church, Beverly, Massachusetts. One year
after he accepted the presidency of Denison university, Granville,
Ohio. Afterward he held the professorship of homoletics, pastoral
theology and church polity in Newton Theological institution, where he
remained three years, and after studying a year in Germany, he filled
the chair of professor of history and economy in Brown university.
In 1889 he was elected president of Brown university. He has always
been noted for his interest in public questions and has been a liberal
contributor to magazines and other periodicals. He has published
several books on history, philosophy and economics. In 1870 he married
Ella A. Allen, of Boston, and has had two children by her.


NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER.

Nicholas Murray Butler was born at Paterson, New Jersey, April 2,
1862. He was educated in the public schools of his native city,
where his father for many years had been president of the board of
education. At sixteen he entered Columbia College, New York, and was
graduated in 1882. The following year he received the degree of A.M.
from his alma mater, and in 1884 the degree of Ph.D. The same year he
visited Europe, studying at the universities of Berlin and Paris. Upon
returning to America, in 1886, he became an instructor in philosophy
in Columbia college. In 1890 he was made professor of philosophy,
ethics and psychology. For a number of years he was president of the
board of education of Paterson, New Jersey, and in 1887 he organized
the New York college for the training of teachers, and which is now
the Teachers’ college, Columbia university. In 1891 he founded the
magazine Educational Review, which he has edited ever since and which
is probably the foremost educational publication in the world. He is
also the editor of the Teachers’ Professional Library and has published
numerous educational essays and addresses. In 1894 he became an
examiner for the state of New York, and in the same year was elected
president of the National Educational association. In September, 1901,
he was elected president of Columbia university to succeed Seth Low. On
February 7, 1887, he married Susanna Edwards Schuyler. One daughter is
the issue of the union.


CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT.

Charles William Eliot was born in Boston March 20, 1834. After a
period spent in the public schools he was prepared for college at the
Boston Latin school, and entering Harvard he graduated in 1852. After
graduation he took a position as tutor of mathematics in Harvard and
went through an advanced course in chemistry with Professor Josiah
P. Cook. In 1858 he undertook a trip to Europe to investigate its
educational methods and make a further study of chemistry. From 1865
to 1869 he was professor of analytical chemistry in the Massachusetts
institute of technology. In 1867 he was elected a fellow of the
American academy of arts and sciences, and also became a member of
the American philosophical society. He has delivered many noteworthy
addresses on educational and scientific subjects and has written
a number of text books, essays and educational contributions to
periodicals. His principal works are text-books on chemistry, which
were written in conjunction with Professor Francis H. Storer. In 1869
he was elected president of Harvard university. He is a member of
many scientific societies and is regarded as an authority on abstruse
questions and problems of chemistry and allied sciences.


WILLIAM HERBERT PERRY FAUNCE.

The Rev. W. H. P. Faunce, D.D., the new president of Brown university,
Providence, Rhode Island, is not an example of success under
difficulties. He has never experienced reverses, and he has always
improved his opportunities. His father, Thomas Faunce, was a prominent
clergyman at Worcester, Massachusetts, and had preached in Plymouth,
in that state, which is the home of many generations of the family.
I called upon Dr. Faunce, and was invited into his study. He is only
forty years of age, a courteous, broad-minded gentleman. “I was born
in Worcester,” he said, “but received a public school education at
Concord and at Lynn, and in 1876 entered Brown university. After I was
graduated, I taught for a year in mathematics, during the absence of
a professor in Europe. I always intended to become a minister, and I
entered Newton Theological Seminary. Eight months before graduation, I
preached one Sunday in the State Street Baptist church, of Springfield,
Massachusetts. It was a large church, having a membership of seven
hundred and fifty. I did not know that the pulpit was vacant, and,
peculiarly enough, chose for my text the sentence, ‘I that speak unto
you am He.’ At the close of the services, I was asked to be their
pastor, and, after I was graduated from the seminary, I was ordained.
It was in 1889 that I was asked to preach as a candidate in the Fifth
Avenue Baptist church, of New York, which I regret to leave. I refused
to be a candidate; but members continually came to Springfield to
hear me, and finally I was called. All along I have been more or less
identified with college work, and my congregation tell me they have
been expecting I would leave and devote myself to educational lines.
For a number of years, I have been one of a board of preachers at
Harvard, preaching there three weeks in the autumn, and three in the
winter, and for six weeks each summer (the summer quarter), at the
University of Chicago, where I also taught in theology. Again, I have
preached quite regularly at Cornell, Amherst, Wellesley and Brown.”
“Have other colleges asked you to become president?” “Yes; that is,
two official boards of two colleges have sounded and invited me, but
I considered that my work here was too important. Brown, however, is
my alma mater.” “You must spend much time in study,” I remarked. “I
have always kept my studies up,” replied Dr. Faunce. “I have been
abroad three times to study German, French and philosophy. I am a great
believer in constant work.” “Success? you ask. Why, success involves
the complete expression of all of one’s powers, and every one leaves a
lasting impression on the life of the world. The man who is sincere in
the expressing of himself, in whatever line it may be, becomes a factor
in the world. Genuine success is the kind that is helpful to others, as
well as to the one who is striving. Every other kind falls short of the
mark and becomes stale. How to achieve success? you ask. Show strong,
absolute whole-heartedness in whatever you undertake; throw yourself,
body, mind and soul, into whatever you do. Patiently master details.
Most of the men that I know who have failed have ignored details,—have
considered them petty and insignificant. They have not realized the
importance of small things.” “Do you think the average man appreciates
this?” I asked. “No.” Here Dr. Faunce was called away for a moment, and
I picked up a book of Browning’s poems. These lines in “Christmas Eve”
were marked:

    Whom do you count the Worse man upon earth?
    Be sure he knows, in his conscience, more
    Of what Right is, than arrives at birth.

When he returned I asked: “Do you think that the worse individual, a
useless member of society, can elevate himself and be of consequence?”
“Most decidedly, and through work, congenial work. The happiest hours
of a man’s life should be when he is working. A man will not succeed
who is continually looking for the end of the day. Vacations are
necessary, but they are for the sake of work and success.”


ARTHUR TWINING HADLEY.

The father of Arthur Twining Hadley, now president of Yale, was
Professor James Hadley, a Yale graduate of 1842. He was a tutor at
Yale three years, and, in 1857, he took President Woolsey’s place as
professor of Greek. This place he held until his death, in 1872. His
mother was Ann Twining, an intellectual woman, who completed the full
Yale course in mathematics before the days of the “new woman.” Thus,
young Hadley was, as Oliver Wendell Holmes might say, “fortunate in
the choice of his parents.” He first saw the light at New Haven, April
23, 1856. Becoming a Yale graduate, in 1876, he was the valedictorian
of his class. He spent some years in Berlin, and became a tutor in
1879, a lecturer at Yale (and Harvard) on political science in 1883,
and a professor in 1886. He had also done journalistic work on several
newspapers. His work on “Railway legislation” has been translated
into French and German, and twice into Russian. He made two reports
as commissioner of labor statistics for Connecticut, in 1885 and
1886. He wrote, at the Harpers’ solicitation, the article on “Yale”
in their well-known volume, “Four Universities.” In 1891 he married
Helen Harrison, daughter of Governor Luzon B. Morris, of Connecticut.
President Hadley is the ideal educator, learned, sympathetic,
progressive and possessing an intimate acquaintance with the details
and duties of his onerous position.


WILLIAM TORREY HARRIS.

William Torrey Harris was born North Killingly, Connecticut, September
10, 1835. He was educated in local common schools and academies, and
for two and a half years was a member of the Yale college class of
1858, but left before graduating. In 1857 he went to St. Louis, where,
for some time, he acted as teacher, principal, assistant superintendent
and superintendent of public schools. At the Paris exposition of 1878
thirteen volumes of reports prepared by Mr. Harris, and contributed to
the educational exhibit of the United States, attracted such attention
that he was given the honorary title of officier de l’Academie. The
reports were placed in the pedagogical library of the Paris ministry of
public instructions. When Mr. Harris resigned, in 1880, on account of
failing health, the city of St. Louis presented him with a gold medal
and a purse of $1000. He next visited Europe, representing the United
States bureau of education at the international congress of educators
held at Brussels in 1880. In 1889 he again represented the United
States bureau of education at the Paris exposition, and on December
12 of the same year he was appointed United States commissioner of
education and removed to Washington, D. C. Mr. Harris has contributed
many educational articles to the magazines and was the founder of the
Journal of Speculative Philosophy.


HENRY MITCHELL MCCRACKEN.

Henry Mitchell McCracken was born at Oxford, Ohio, September 28, 1840.
His early education was obtained in the public schools and later at
Miami university, from whence he graduated in 1857. He also studied
at the United Presbyterian theological seminary at Zenia, Ohio,
at the Princeton theological seminary, and at Tubingen and Berlin
universities. His first professional work was that of a teacher of
classics and a public school superintendent. From 1857 to 1860 he was
pastor of the Westminster church at Columbus, Ohio, and later of the
Presbyterian church at Toledo, Ohio. In 1868, he was elected chancellor
of the Western university, at Pittsburg, and in 1880 was made
vice-chancellor and professor of philosophy in the New York university,
which position he held until 1891, when he was made chancellor. He is
the author of numerous educational and theological works. In 1872 he
married Catherine Hubbard. Chancellor McCracken’s life work has had
a dominating influence on educational theories and methods in this
country. His powers of professional expansion have enabled him to keep
pace with the drift of modern thought and sentiment.


WOODROW WILSON.

Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Virginia, December 28, 1856. He
is of Scotch ancestry. After being trained in private schools of
Augusta, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina, he graduated from
Princeton in 1879, and then studied law at the University of Virginia.
Being admitted to the bar, he practiced for a year in Atlanta, Georgia,
and later entered Johns Hopkins university for a graduating course in
history and politics. In 1885 he was chosen as an instructor in history
and politics at Bryn Mawr college and in 1886 he received the degree
of Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins university. In 1888 he was a member of the
faculty in Wesleyan university, and in 1890 was called as the chair of
jurisprudence at Princeton. In August, 1902, he was elected president
of Princeton to succeed President Patton. He has published a number
of educational text-books and historical, biographical and political
works. His most recent and perhaps most important work is a history of
the American people, issued in five volumes. President Wilson is well
known as a lecturer on military and political subjects, through the
medium of his contributions to various periodicals.




EDITORS.


HENRY MILLS ALDEN.

Harper’s Magazine is one of the classics in the vast library of
monthly publications. Magazines, like people, have their periods of
elevation and depression. But Harper’s has maintained a steady level of
high-class individuality, this being due in no small degree to the work
of Henry Mills Alden, who, since 1869, has been its editor-in-chief.
Mr. Alden was born at Mount Tabor, near Danby, Vermont, November 11,
1836. He attended public school at Hoosick Falls, New York, graduated
from Williams college in 1857, and from the Andover theological
seminary in 1860, but he never took orders. His literary bent was made
manifest early in life, and, after much general work with his pen, he
became managing editor of Harper’s Weekly, which position he held until
he was put in charge of the magazine. For some time he was lecturer at
the Lowell institute, Boston. He is the author of some religious books,
and also of Harper’s Pictorial History of the Great Revolution, Mr. A.
H. Guernsey being associated with him in the production of that work.
Mr. Alden’s life story is that of a man who, having a purpose, hopes on
and works on, ceasing not until his hopes are lost in full fruition.


EDWARD WILLIAM BOK.

Edward William Bok, who, since 1888, has been the editor of the Ladies’
Home Journal, was born in Helder, Holland, October 9, 1863. He came to
this country with his parents when six years of age and was educated
in the public schools of Brooklyn. He then learned stenography and
entered the employ of the Western Union Telegraph Company. Finding that
his position had no future for him, he, in 1884, became connected with
the firm of Henry Holt & Co., publishers, and later with the Scribner
firm, with which he remained. His industry and integrity gained for
him the respect of his employers, and when finally he became desirous
of securing the control of the publication of which he is now owner,
he had no difficulty in obtaining the needed capital with which to
accomplish his desires. Mr. Bok is married and is the author of “A
Young Man In Business,” “Successward,” etc.


JAMES MONROE BUCKLEY.

Of the several publications which voice the views of the religious
world, perhaps none is better known or more generally read than is
the New York Christian Advocate. Under the editorship of the Rev. Dr.
James M. Buckley, the Advocate has become more than a mere reflex of
the opinions of its contributors. It is a power for good and the extent
of its usefulness is only bounded by the limits of its circulation,
which are world-wide. Dr. Buckley was born in Rahway, New Jersey,
December 16, 1836, his father being the Rev. John Buckley. Educated at
first in Pennington, New Jersey, seminary, he later spent a year in
the Wesleyan university, and afterward studied theology at Exeter, New
Hampshire. He became a member of the New Hampshire conference of the
Methodist Episcopal church in 1858, was called to Troy in 1863, and
to Brooklyn three years later. Dr. Buckley has traveled extensively,
and no small portion of the popularity of his work on the Advocate is
due to the wide experience of men and manners which he acquired during
his wanderings abroad and in this country. He is the author of several
books, including Travels on Three Continents, Land of the Czar and the
Nihilists, The History of Methodism in the United States and others.
Dr. Buckley’s literary work in general is distinguished by a breadth
of view and a charity of spirit which are only possible to the man of
large mind and wide horizons.


RICHARD WATSON GILDER.

If a magazine contributor was asked what, in his opinion, represented
the ultimate happiness of his ilk, he would probably reply, “the
editorship of the Century.” That enviable position is at present
held by Richard W. Gilder, and that Mr. Gilder has done honor to the
wisdom which placed him in the editorial chair, is made manifest by
the body matter of the magazine itself. He was born in Bordentown,
New Jersey, February 8, 1844, his father being the Rev. William H.
Gilder, and he was educated in the seminary established by his father
at Flushing, Long Island. In 1863 he became a private in Landis’
Philadelphia battery, and, at the expiration of his term of service,
had a year’s experience as a railroad man. Later he was correspondent,
and afterward managing editor, of the Newark (New Jersey) Advertiser.
From that time on Mr. Gilder has lived in an editorial atmosphere. In
connection with Newton Crane he established the Newark Register, next
edited the defunct New York monthly publication called Powers at Home,
made his mark while so doing, attracted the notice of the Scribner
management, and was made managing editor of its magazine in 1870 and
editor-in-chief in 1881. Mr. Gilder has taken a prominent part in
movements and organizations which had for their object the improvement
of municipal conditions. He has held office as chairman of the New York
tenement house commission, was the first president of the New York
kindergarten association and is president of the Public Art League of
the United States. He is also a member of the City club and of the
Civil Service Reform league. His published books of poems include The
Celestial Passion, Five Books of Songs and Two Worlds.


GEORGE BURTON MCCLELLAN HARVEY.

One of the most prominent, as well as one of the youngest occupants of
an editorial chair is George Burton McClellan Harvey, who is president
of the famous publishing firm of Harper & Brothers and editor of the
North American Review. He was born at Peachan, Vermont, February
16, 1864, being the son of Duncan and Margaret S. (Varnum) Harvey.
Educated at Peachan Academy, Mr. Harvey began his journalistic life
by becoming reporter on the Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican.
Subsequently he was on the reportorial staff of the Chicago News and
the New York Herald, of which latter newspaper he was eventually
made managing editor. He bought the North American Review in March,
1899, and was placed in charge of Harper & Brothers’ affairs a year
later. Notwithstanding the onerous nature of his editorial duties, Mr.
Harvey finds time to act as president of several electric railroads,
in the construction of which he was also interested. Governors Green
and Abbott, of New Jersey, respectively appointed him colonel and
aide-de-camp on their staffs. The irresistible force of character and
ability properly directed is shown by the career of Mr. Harvey.


GEORGE HOWARD LORIMER.

Horace Greeley is credited with the aphorism that “It is the man and
not the machine, the editor and not the newspaper, that brings about
the smooth running of the first and the popularity of the second.”
George Howard Lorimer, editor-in-chief of the Saturday Evening Post,
furnishes an excellent illustration of the verity of Greeley’s
assertion. Under his management, the Post has, during the past few
years, attained a popularity which was forbidden to it before he took
charge of its affairs. The Post was founded by Benjamin Franklin,
and it is the policy of Mr. Lorimer to retain somewhat of the quaint
features of its earlier issues, but he weds them to modern methods.
By means of this policy he has succeeded in galvanizing a moribund
publication into active and prosperous life. Mr. Lorimer was born in
Louisville, Kentucky, October 6, 1868, and is the son of the Rev. Dr.
George and Belle (Burford) Lorimer. He was educated at the Moseley high
school in Chicago, and took courses at Colby and Yale universities. In
1893 he married Alma Viola, daughter of Judge Alfred Ennis, of Chicago.
Mr. Lorimer has, through the medium of the Saturday Evening Post,
proven that literary matter of a helpful and elevating nature can be
made as attractive to the average reader as so-called “popular fiction.”


WHITELAW REID.

Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the New York Tribune, was born in Xenia,
Ohio, October 27, 1837, and is a graduate of Miami university, Oxford,
Ohio. After leaving college Mr. Reid entered journalism, becoming
editor of the Xenia News. In 1860 he was legislative correspondent,
and a year later was war correspondent for several newspapers. In 1862
he became Washington representative of the Cincinnati Gazette. After
a period spent in the service of the government, including the acting
as librarian in the House of Representatives, Mr. Reid in 1866 tried
his hand at cotton planting in Louisiana. But the newspaper instinct
was too strong in him to warrant his being anything but a writer. In
1868, therefore, he became a member of the editorial staff of the
Tribune; in 1869 he was appointed its managing editor and has been
its editor-in-chief and practical proprietor since 1872. In 1877 he
declined the appointment of United States minister to Germany and
again in 1881. In 1889 he was United States minister to France, was
special ambassador from this country to Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in
1897, and was a member of the Peace commission in Paris in 1898. He was
nominated for the vice-presidency in 1892. Mr. Reid is the author of a
number of books on political and journalistic questions. His life has
been full of many but faithfully discharged duties.


ALBERT SHAW.

Albert Shaw, editor of the American Review of Reviews, was born
in Shandon, Butler county, Ohio, July 23, 1857. He is the son of
Dr. Griffin and Susan (Fisher) Shaw. Graduating from Iowa college,
Grinnell, Iowa, in 1879, he became part owner of the Grinnell Herald,
while taking a post-graduate course in constitutional history and
economic science. He also studied history and political science at
the Johns Hopkins university. All this was preparatory to entering
the profession which he had chosen as his life work. Next he became
editorial writer on the Minneapolis Tribune in 1882, studied journalism
in Europe for a year, and in 1891 began to conduct the well-known
publication with which he is now identified. Mr. Shaw is the author of
a number of works on municipal government and political science, on
which subjects he is accepted as an authority. He is a member of many
learned societies and is well known on the lecture platforms of the
universities and colleges of this country. Mr. Shaw is an excellent
example of the value of thorough preparatory work looking to a given
career.


HENRY WATTERSON.

Henry Watterson, who is responsible for the editorial policy of the
Louisville Courier-Journal, was born in Washington, D. C., February
16, 1840. He was educated by private tutors, this owing to his being
threatened with blindness. During the war he acted as staff officer in
the Confederate army. When peace was established he at once engaged
in newspaper work, and has ever since been more or less conspicuous
in the field of journalism. Elected a member of congress in 1875, he
has since, although repeatedly offered office, uniformly declined it.
He was delegate-at-large from Kentucky for six Democratic national
conventions. Mr. Watterson is not only distinguished as a journalist
and author, but he has a well-deserved reputation as an orator.
His command of the English language, allied to his general wit and
braininess, have made his editorials famous throughout the country. He
is the author of works on the Civil war and others. In 1865 he married
the daughter of the Hon. Andrew Ewing, of Tennessee.




PUBLISHERS.


FRANK NELSON DOUBLEDAY.

The founder of the flourishing publishing house of Doubleday, Page &
Co., of New York, is Frank Nelson Doubleday, who was born in Brooklyn
in 1862, being the son of W. E. Doubleday. He was educated at the
Polytechnic institute of the City of Churches, and during his school
days gave indications of his future career, for before he had finished
his studies he had established quite a flourishing job printing
business among his schoolmates and friends. When fifteen years of age
he got a position with the Scribners as errand boy, remaining with
the firm for many years in a number of capacities. He founded the
publication entitled “The Book Buyer,” and when Scribner’s Magazine
was started he was made its manager and publisher. The average young
man would have been contented with this position, which was honorable,
professionally, and lucrative, financially. But young Doubleday was
ambitious, and so in 1897 he joined the S. S. McClure Company. After
a brief stay with them, he formed the Doubleday & McClure Co., book
publishers. The firm flourished and published many works of well-known
authors, including Rudyard Kipling’s “Day’s Work.” It was at this time
that a close friendship was formed between Mr. Doubleday and the famous
author. In 1900 Doubleday, Page & Co. came into existence, associated
with the senior partner being W. H. Page, former editor of the
Atlantic, and H. W. Lanier, who is a son of the poet, Sydney Lanier,
and others. The firm established World’s Work, a magazine that achieved
an immediate success. Another venture of the company was “Country Life
in America,” which is typographically and artistically very beautiful.
This magazine, too, was an emphatic success. He married Neltje de
Graff, a descendant of a historic Dutch family. Mrs. Doubleday is the
author of a number of works, many of which have to do with natural
history subjects, including “Bird Neighbors” and “Nature’s Garden,”
both of which are well known to students of nature.


ISAAC KAUFFMAN FUNK.

Originality has been a powerful factor in the career of the noted
clergyman, editor and publisher, the Rev. Dr. Isaac Kauffman Funk.
He was born at Clifton, Greene county, Ohio, September 10, 1839. His
parents, John and Martha (Kauffman) Funk, were descendants of early
Holland-Swiss emigrants to Pennsylvania. Graduating from Whittenberg
college, Springfield, Ohio, with the degree of D.D., he from this
same institution, in 1896, received the degree of LL.D. From 1861 to
1872 he was engaged in active work in the Lutheran ministry. At the
end of that time he resigned his pastorate and traveled extensively
in Europe, Egypt and Palestine. Upon returning to America he became
associate editor of the Christian Radical. In 1876 he founded and
published in New York city the Metropolitan Pulpit, now the Homiletic
Review, acting as its editor-in-chief. His former college classmate,
Adam W. Wagnalls, a lawyer of Atchison, Kansas, became in 1877 his
partner, and the firm name was changed to I. K. Funk & Co., and later,
in 1891, to Funk & Wagnalls Co. Their several branch houses in Canada
and England, as well as their many published books which have met with
public favor, testified to the business successes of the members of the
concern. Dr. Funk is the founder of some well-known periodicals, among
which The Voice, The Literary Digest and The Missionary Review are the
most important. He also published a standard dictionary of the English
language, of which he was editor-in-chief. The production of this work
was a gigantic undertaking, costing nearly one million dollars.


WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST.

It is usually supposed, and rightly so, that a young man who inherits
much wealth is not very likely to make his mark in the world. The
career of William Randolph Hearst furnishes an exception to the
general rule, however, for, in spite of being handicapped by a
comfortable fortune, he has achieved no small reputation as a newspaper
editor and publisher. Mr. Hearst was born in San Francisco, California,
and is the son of the late United States Senator George F. Hearst.
He is the owner of the San Francisco Examiner and other well-known
newspapers. In 1895 he bought the New York Journal, later purchasing
the Advertiser and consolidating it with the Journal to secure a
franchise. In 1900 he founded the Chicago American, which paper has
the largest morning circulation in the city in which it is published.
At present Mr. Hearst is publishing altogether five large newspapers:
two in New York, two in Chicago and one in San Francisco. He is a firm
believer in the theory of so-called “yellow journalism,” claiming that
with its help he reaches the masses. His papers are noted chiefly for
their brilliant editorials. Mr. Hearst advocates the cause of the
laboring classes, is a member of congress, has been mentioned as a
possible candidate for the Presidential nomination on the Democratic
ticket in 1904.


EDWARD EVERETT HIGGINS.

If you should ask Edward E. Higgins, the publisher of Success, what
are the characteristics which have given him his present position in
the publishing world, he would doubtless reply, “Courage, persistence
and patience.” He has had an unusually varied training and experience.
He was born on April 4, 1864, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and, after
a preliminary education in the local grammar and high schools,
which were then considered among the best in the state, he entered
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was graduated as an
electrical engineer in 1886. He obtained there the mathematical
training which has remained with him ever since, and which has
contributed not a little to his acknowledged power of distinguishing
between the possible and the impossible in both engineering and
business matters. Foreseeing the great future of the electric street
railroad, he became associated, in its earliest development, with the
Sprague and Edison companies, and it was largely through his efforts
that electricity was first introduced into Buffalo and other cities
of New York state. Acquiring a large fund of information on street
railroad matters at home and abroad, Mr. Higgins became, in 1893, the
editor of the Street Railway Journal, and has won an international
reputation as a statistical, engineering and financial expert on street
railway matters. In 1899 he perceived an opportunity to develop a
large and important home publication from what was then a small and
struggling periodical—Success—and acquired an interest, intending that
it should be merely a side issue. But the phenomenally rapid growth of
Success soon called for Mr. Higgins’ entire time, and the result is
seen in the fact that Success, with its circulation of over 300,000,
now, after only four years’ time, is one of the first half-dozen
American magazines in circulation, prestige and general standing, and
no paper is more useful or valuable in the home.


LOUIS KLOPSCH.

No better example of the zealous religious worker, disinterested
benefactor and talented journalist can be cited than the subject of
this sketch, Louis Klopsch. He was born in Germany, March 26, 1852,
receiving only a common school education. In 1886, after having removed
to New York, he married May E., daughter of the Rev. Stephen Merritt.
Becoming interested in newspaper work, he became the proprietor of the
Daily Reporter, New York. He was also owner of the Pictorial Associated
Press from 1884 to 1890, and has had charge of the Talmage sermon
syndicate since 1885. On his return from Palestine, in 1890, he became
connected with the Christian Herald, which he purchased in 1892. Since
that time he has, through his paper, raised and distributed nearly
$2,000,000 in international charities. In recognition of his relief
work, during the Russian famine of 1892, he was received by the Czar
of Russia, and in 1898 the English and Indian governments extended
official thanks to him for his services in behalf of famine-stricken
India. President McKinley appointed him one of the three commissioners
in charge of the relief of the starving Reconcentradoes in Cuba, and
for this purpose he raised nearly $200,000. In the spring of 1900,
accompanied by Gilson Willets, Mr. Klopsch visited the famine and
cholera fields of India, and through his paper, in six months’ time,
secured a fund of $700,000 for their relief. He has also guaranteed the
support of five thousand famine orphans in India.


SAMUEL SIDNEY MCCLURE.

One of the leading magazine publishers of to-day, Samuel Sidney
McClure, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, February 17, 1857. Being
an ambitious youth, he naturally turned to America, “the land of
opportunity.” By his own earnest efforts he succeeded in securing a
liberal education, being graduated from Knox college, Illinois, in
1882, obtaining the degree of A. M. in 1887. September 4, 1883, he
was married to Harriet, daughter of Professor Albert Hurd, of Knox
college, Galesburg, Illinois. He established, in November, 1884, a
newspaper syndicate, and in 1893 he founded McClure’s Magazine, which
ranks among the most popular periodicals of the day. His national
reputation is largely due to this enterprise. His executive ability
has made him the president of the S. S. McClure Company, and he has
been a trustee of Knox college since 1894. Mr. McClure has discovered
and recognized a human need, and by filling that need is realizing his
well-merited success.


FRANK ANDREW MUNSEY.

The rise of Frank A. Munsey from a poor postoffice clerk in Augusta,
Maine, to the head of one of the most profitable publishing houses
in the world has been as rapid as it is remarkable. His only capital
when he began his current business were his ideas and his nerve; yet,
in less than ten years, he has made a fortune. Mr. Munsey was born
in Mercer, Maine, August 21, 1854, the son of Andrew C. and Mary J.
Munsey. After securing an ordinary education in the public schools
of Maine, he began his business career in a country store, and later
became manager of the Western Union telegraph office of Augusta, Maine.
When, in 1882, he went to New York and started the Golden Argosy,
a juvenile weekly (now the adult monthly, The Argosy), his friends
thought he was as unwise as he was reckless. It is said that some of
them actually proposed an inquiry into his sanity. Having made money by
The Argosy, he invested it, in 1890, in a magazine, launching Munsey’s
Weekly, which he converted October, 1891, into Munsey’s Magazine.
He now also publishes The Puritan and the Junior Munsey, besides
newspapers in New York and Washington. Although more widely known as
a publisher than an author, he has written several books, including
Afloat in a Great City, 1887; Boy Broker, 1888; Tragedy of Errors,
1889; Under Fire, 1890, and Deering Forte, 1895.


JOSEPH PULITZER.

Extraordinary energy and executive ability and a Napoleonic faculty
of perceiving and utilizing the talents of others, are the qualities
upon which the journalist and publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, has built his
reputation and his fortune. He was born in Buda-Pesth, Hungary, April
10, 1847, and, after receiving a classical education in his native
city, came to the United States at the age of sixteen. For two years
he served as a private soldier in the Federal Army, and, afterward,
failing to gain a foothold in New York city, he went to St. Louis,
where he became a reporter on the Westliche Post, a German newspaper
then edited by Carl Schurz. Studying law, he was next admitted to the
bar of Missouri. Then he was made managing editor of the Post, and
in 1869 was sent to the Missouri legislature. In 1878 he bought the
St. Louis Dispatch, uniting it with the Evening Post as the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, which is now one of the most successful publications of
the west. In 1883 Mr. Pulitzer purchased the New York World, which,
thanks to his journalistic genius, is now one of the most widely read
newspapers published in New York city. He was elected to congress in
New York for the term of 1885 to 1887. In 1890 he erected in Park
Row one of the most striking and costly newspaper buildings in the
United States. In 1896 he was a strong advocate of the National (gold
standard) Democratic party. Mr. Pulitzer has always been distinguished
by his generous and courteous treatment of his subordinates.


JOHN BRISBEN WALKER.

Among the leading magazine editors of to-day is John Brisben Walker,
the author and publisher of the Cosmopolitan Magazine, who is also
the founder of Cosmopolitan university. He was born in western
Pennsylvania, September 10, 1847, and is the son of John and Anna
(Krepps) Walker, and his early education was received at Gonzaga
Classical School, Washington, D. C. In 1863, he entered Georgetown
university, remaining there until he received appointment to the United
States military academy at West Point, in 1865. In 1868, however,
he entered the Chinese military service, in which he remained for
two years. Returning to America, he was married, in 1870, to Emily,
daughter of General David Hunter Strother. For the next three years he
was engaged in manufacturing in western Pennsylvania. In 1872 he was
a candidate for congress on the Republican ticket, but was defeated.
During the panic of 1873 his entire fortune was swept away. But, in
spite of political and financial failure, Mr. Walker rapidly forged to
the front again. He next entered in journalism, and for three years was
managing editor of the Washington (D. C.) Chronicle. Then he moved to
Colorado, and for about nine years was a successful alfalfa farmer in
that State. In 1889 he located in New York, and bought the Cosmopolitan
Magazine, of which he is still the editor. The entire plant was moved
to Irvington-on-Hudson in 1895. While Mr. Walker has achieved notable
success in the magazine business, the most notable work of his life was
the founding of the Cosmopolitan university in 1896.




ORATORS.


ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE.

When the Indiana legislature elected Albert J. Beveridge to the United
States senate in 1898, he was but thirty-six years of age, and with
one exception was the youngest member of the distinguished body in
question. Mr. Beveridge was born October 6, 1862, in a log cabin of
Highland county, Ohio, his father being a small farmer. When the
war broke out the year preceding his birth, his father and his four
half-brothers entered the army, while his mother volunteered as a
nurse. Moving to Illinois, they settled near Sullivan, renting a small
farm there. At the age of ten the future senator was a full-fledged
farm hand. At fourteen he was a railroad laborer and at sixteen joined
a logging camp. Whenever he could find no work he attended school. At
the age of seventeen young Beveridge heard that the district cadetship
for West Point was to be filled by competitive examination. He was
one of the competitors, and, although practically self-educated, took
second place on a list of twenty-five. In 1881 he managed to enter De
Paw university, his capital consisting of $50. By wheat-cutting in the
summer, serving as a steward in the college club, and winning money
prizes offered to students, he managed to pay his way. Graduating
from college with high honors, he went direct to Indianapolis, called
on General Benjamin Harrison and asked permission to study law with
him. Failing in this, he obtained employment with Messrs. McDonald,
Butler & Mason, well-known lawyers at the Indiana capital, and soon
became a third partner in the firm. In 1889 he opened an office of his
own, and his first fee was from Governor Hovey. His initial political
speech was in 1884, and, as someone has put it, he turned out to be “a
revelation, a dream of oratory and a trip-hammer of argument.” His fame
as a speaker being established, he was in demand in all directions.
His subsequent career is well-known to the public at large. In 1887 he
married Miss Catherine Maud Langsdale, daughter of George J. Langsdale,
the editor of a well-known paper in Indiana.


CHAMP CLARK.

Through the medium of a highly successful career, Champ Clark, who has
a national reputation as stump speaker and forensic orator, furnishes
yet another illustration of the possibilities that lie before the young
American who determines to “get there.” Mr. Clark was born in Anderson
county, Kentucky, March 7, 1850. First educated in the local schools,
he later studied at the Kentucky university, Bethany college and the
Cincinnati law school. In order to support himself while acquiring
his education, he worked as a farm hand, a clerk in a country store,
an editor of a country newspaper, and finally as a lawyer. Not long
after he had begun to practice law for a livelihood he commenced to
take an active interest in political affairs and was at length elected
city attorney of Louisiana, Mo., and later for Bowling Green, Mo. He
has served as prosecuting attorney of Pike county, and since 1893,
has been a member of congress from the Ninth Missouri district. Mr.
Clark’s eloquence, apart from his other notable qualities, makes him a
prominent figure in congressional affairs.


WILLIAM BOURKE COCKRAN.

W. B. Cockran, the well-known lawyer and politician, who is also one
of the most popular orators before the public, was born in Ireland,
February 28, 1854. He was educated in that country, and later in
France. When he landed in New York in 1871, he knew no one in America
and had exactly one hundred dollars in his wallet. But he was well
educated, of marked ability, and ambitious to the highest degree.
Failing to secure something better, he became clerk in A. T. Stewart’s
store. A month later, however, he obtained a position as teacher in
a public school on Rutgers street, where he taught French, Latin
and history. Still later he accepted an appointment as principal in
a public school in Westchester. But at this period Mr. Cockran had
mapped out his future. He had determined to become a lawyer, and when
on Saturdays his time was his own, he studied law in the office of
the late Chauncey Schaffer. Saving some money, he resigned as school
principal, and for nearly a year did nothing but read. In 1890 he was
admitted to the bar of New York. His rise thenceforward was rapid.
Very soon he became known as a man of great ability as an advocate and
of supreme eloquence as a speaker. It was not long before he had a
lucrative practice, and took a foremost place among the best lawyers of
the metropolis. In the meantime his repute as an orator had attracted
the attention of democratic leaders, and hence it was that Mr. Cockran
was in demand at national democratic conventions and “on the stump.”
He was elected member of congress in 1891, serving in that capacity
until 1895. In 1896, however, he refused to accept the 16 to 1 theory
of the Democratic party and did his utmost to elect McKinley. Some will
call Mr. Cockran a fortunate man, but as a matter of fact his fortune,
professional and financial, is the outcome of his persistent industry
and sincerity.


JOHN WARWICK DANIELS.

John Warwick Daniels was born at Lynchburg, Virginia, September 5,
1842. He was educated in the public schools of the town, at Lynchburg
college, and also at Dr. Gessner Harrison’s university school. During
the Civil war he was an adjutant-general in the Confederate army,
serving on the staff of General Early. At the close of the conflict he
took up the study of law at the University of Virginia and graduated
in 1866. He has practiced ever since at Memphis, Va. He was elected
to the state senate in 1875 and was a member of the Virginia House
of Delegates from 1869 to 1872. In 1881 he was democratic candidate
for governor of Virginia, but was defeated. As member of congress in
1885 to 1887, and since 1887 as United States senator he has been much
in the eye of the public. He is one of the most eloquent of forensic
orators in America, as well as being the author of several well-known
legal works.


CARL SCHURZ.

The riper years of Carl Schurz are so generally identified with the
peaceful and progressive things that are the fruits of the rostrum
of the orator and the sanctum of the editor that it seems hard to
associate him with the stormy and romantic incidents that crowded
his youth. Born in Liblar, Rhenish Prussia, on March 2, 1829, he was
educated at the Cologne gymnasium, and at the age of seventeen entered
the University of Bonn. When, in 1848, the revolutionary spirit became
actively in evidence, he, together with Gottfried Kinkel, a professor
of the university, started a liberal newspaper. As the consequence,
the young men were forced to flee from Bonn. Later, Schurz received
a commission as adjutant in the revolutionary army, and upon the fall
of Badstadt was compelled to fly to Switzerland. His friend Kinkel was
captured and sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment. Schurz, however,
did not desert his friend, but returning to Germany, by the exercise
of marvelous courage and ingenuity, liberated Kinkel, and went with
him to Scotland. Subsequently, and in Paris, Mr. Schurz entered the
journalistic profession. In 1855 he, accompanied by his young wife,
whom he had married while under the ban of the German authorities, came
to America and settled in Philadelphia. Afterward he went to Madison,
Wisconsin, where he became identified with local political affairs. He
soon became a prominent figure in state politics. In the interval he
had been admitted to the bar and now opened an office in Milwaukee. In
1860 he was a member of the national republican convention, and when
Lincoln became president he was made minister to Spain. During the
Civil war he served with distinction under General Franz Sigel, who
had been his old commander in Germany. In 1866 he was made Washington
correspondent of the New York Tribune. Later he established the Detroit
Post. He disposed of his interest in it, and in 1867 removed to St.
Louis, where he became editor of the Westliche Post. In January, 1869,
Mr. Schurz was made United States senator for Missouri. He has taken
an active and even strenuous part in presidential campaigns for many
years. In 1884, 1888 and 1892 he supported Mr. Cleveland. When he
visited Europe, in 1888, he was cordially received by Prince Bismarck
and other German leaders. He is an author, having published several
books, including a life of Henry Clay and an essay on Abraham Lincoln.
His screeds are often seen in periodical literature.




MUSICIANS.


WALTER JOHANNES DAMROSCH.

It is questionable if there is a better method of giving intellectual
pleasure to a large number of people than by teaching them concerted
singing. More than that, music is admittedly one of the most powerful
factors in the bringing into being those finer qualities which are
identified with the higher civilizations. It follows, then, that
the man who devotes his life to cultivating a love of music among
the masses is a public benefactor. Such an individual is Walter J.
Damrosch, who is both well known and popular in this country in
connection with his work on the lines alluded to. Mr. Damrosch was
born at Breslau, Prussia, January 30, 1862. His father was Dr. Leopold
Damrosch, his reputation as a conductor being of an international
nature, led to his coming to this country in 1871 to become director of
the Oratorio society and Symphony society of New York. In the meantime
Walter had received a thorough musical training under his father, and,
when the latter died, in 1885, he succeeded to the directorship of the
organizations named. Since that period his continuous and conscientious
work for the popularizing of vocal music has borne fruit not only in
New York, but in many other cities of the United States. Mr. Damrosch
was also the director of German opera at the Metropolitan Opera House
and added to his reputation in connection therewith. Mr. Walter J.
Damrosch is married to Margaret, daughter of the late James G. Blaine.


HENRY LEWIS REGINALD DE KOVEN.

When individuality is allied to talent the world stands ready to
recognize, applaud and recompense. But the welding process is not to
be accomplished without faithful and constant effort. The results
approximate genius so closely that the division between it and mere
talent is more theoretical than absolute. All this applies to Henry L.
R. De Koven, the composer, who is one of the younger, and, at the same
time, one of the most successful of American musicians. Comic operas
there are and comic operas there will be, but in most instances the
end of their vogue marks also the end of their existence. In the case
of Robin Hood, The Highwayman, and other of Mr. De Koven’s works, it
is otherwise. Those named and others bid fair to remain popular beyond
the limits of this generation. The composer was born at Littleton,
Connecticut, April 5, 1861, his father being a clergyman. At first
educated in public schools, he later went abroad, and was graduated
from Oxford, England, in 1880. Like other successful composers, he
gave indications of his love of music at an early age, and, during
his college course, fostered his special gifts by constant study.
After graduating, he studied still further under masters at Stuttgart,
Florence, Paris and Vienna. On returning to this country he acted as
musical critic on various publications coincidently with his work as a
composer. Apart from his many operas he has written a number of songs.
In 1884 he married Anna Farwell.


MAURICE GRAU.

Maurice Grau, who for many years was prominently identified with the
exploiting of grand opera in this country, was born in Brünn, Austria,
in 1849, and came to New York with his parents at the age of fifteen.
He graduated from the Free Academy, New York, in 1867, attended the
Columbia law school and later was for two years an employee of a law
firm. Mr. Grau, however, was gifted with foresight. He saw that the
citizens of this country, on recovering from the stress and strain
of the Civil war, would not only be possessed of money with which
to gratify their artistic instincts, but that these same instincts
would come into active being. In other words, in his own way, Mr.
Grau had faith in the recuperative powers of the United States. In
1872, therefore, he became manager for Aimée, the opera bouffe prima
donna, and was also the manager of Rubenstein, pianist; Clara Louise
Kellogg company, Salvini and other foreign musical and dramatic
stars. Finally he became a member of the firm of Abbey, Schoeffel &
Grau. Sarah Bernhardt, Patti, Henry Irving, Coquelin, Jane Hading,
Maunet-Sully and Mlle. Rejane were exploited by the firm. Until
1902 he was managing director of the Maurice Grau opera company and
lessee of the Metropolitan opera house, New York, in which capacity
he annually produced for some years standard grand operas, the casts
of which included the most famous singers of the present generation.
He furthermore has acted as managing director of the Royal opera
house, Covent Garden. On 1903 Mr. Grau severed his connection with the
Metropolitan opera house, much to the regret of those to whose musical
taste he had so successfully catered.


VICTOR HERBERT.

The secret of success, as far as those who cater to public amusement is
concerned, is the placing of one’s fingers upon the pulse of the public
and shape one’s methods and manners in accordance with the knowledge
so obtained. Victor Herbert, the composer, has so shaped his career,
and, while his work is more or less identified with the lighter forms
of comic opera, he nevertheless has exhibited unmistakable musical
genius. Mr. Herbert was born in Dublin, Ireland, February 1, 1859, and
is the grandson of Samuel Lever, the author of Handy Andy, and other
Irish novels. He began to study music in Germany when but seven years
of age, and took lessons from a number of masters. While yet a boy,
he was appointed the principal ‘celloist of the court orchestra in
Stuttgart. After more study and a prolonged tour in Europe, he came
to this country as ‘cello soloist of the Metropolitan opera house
orchestra in New York. During his career of almost uninterrupted
professional successes, he has been connected with the Thomas, Seidl
and other orchestras in the capacities of ‘celloist and director. He
has also been bandmaster of the Twenty-second Regiment of the national
guard of the state of New York, and, in 1898, was made conductor of the
Pittsburg (Pennsylvania) orchestra. Among the many comic operas which
he has written are The Wizard of the Nile, The Viceroy and The Idol’s
Eye. He is also the author of a number of orchestral compositions. In
1886 he married Theresa Foerester, a prima donna.


LEONORA JACKSON.

Of the many American girls who have made riches and reputations as
violinists, none is better known to the musical world of this country
and abroad than Leonora Jackson. Still a girl as far as years go, she
has acquired a reputation as a virtuoso that usually comes to one in
the sere and yellow times of life. She was born in Boston, February
20, 1879. After an education received in Chicago public schools,
during which time she studied her favorite instrument, she went abroad
and became a pupil in the Royal school of music, Berlin. While still
a child, she made her début in Europe and scored an instantaneous
success. She has appeared in concerts with Paderewski, Patti and
other famous singers and musicians and has added to her reputation by
scores of performances before musical societies in America and on the
continent. Audiences of the Boston symphony orchestra concerts know her
well. During the season of 1900 and 1901 she gave one hundred and sixty
concerts in the United States, securing for herself in this connection
a national reputation. Queen Victoria decorated her as a recognition of
her talents. Miss Jackson has also appeared before the German empress
and many other notables of Europe.


FRANZ KNEISEL.

Boston musical circles have a sincere affection for Franz Kneisel,
not only on account of his musical gifts but in connection with the
work that he has done for the Boston symphony orchestra. Apart from
that, however, some of his admirers aver that as a violin soloist
he has no equal in this country and but few rivals abroad. Be that
as it may, it is certain that his gifts are of a remarkable nature,
and, like all successful men, he has cultivated them, constantly and
conscientiously. Franz Kneisel was born in Roumania, in 1865, of German
parents. From a child he studied music and violin instruction under
Grun and Hellmsburger and early gave indications of the successes that
awaited him in the future. For some years he was concert master of the
Hoffburg theatre orchestra of Vienna, and later of Bilse’s orchestra in
Berlin. While filling these positions he acquired the reputation which
led to his being invited to America. On reaching this country he at
once became concert master of the Boston organization and director of
the Kneisel quartet. He maintains his reputation as a violoncellist,
however, in spite of the demands made upon his time by his other duties.


MAUD POWELL.

The popularity of Maud Powell, the violinist, amongst musically
inclined people is not altogether due to a recognition of her genius.
Those who know her life story know, too, that the place which she now
occupies in the eye of the public has been obtained at the expense of a
tremendous amount of work, in the face of many obstacles. Besides that,
she is a typical American girl, which means that she is the possessor
of the pluck independence and perseverance which are supposed to be
characteristic of the citizens of the United States. Miss Powell was
born in Peru, Illinois, August 22, 1868. She studied in the common
schools at Aurora, Illinois, and, after some preliminary instruction
on the violin in this country, took an advanced course of study in
Leipzig, Paris and Berlin. As a pupil of the famous Joachim she gave
promises of a brilliant future. Miss Powell is best known to the
American public through the medium of her solos given in connection
with orchestral concerts of Thomas, Seidl, Gericke, Nikisch, Damrosch
and others. In 1892 she toured Australia and Germany with the New
York Arion society, and, in 1896, on the strength of the popularity
which she had established in her preceding tour, made another and most
successful visit to Europe. She has contributed liberally on musical
topics to a number of periodicals. Yet, as far as the American public
is concerned, the fame of Maud Powell is permanently identified with
her violin, rather than with her pen.


THEODORE THOMAS.

Like many of the well-known musicians of to-day, Theodore Thomas not
only inherited his talents from his father, but was a pupil of the
latter. Mr. Thomas shares with Damrosch and some other conductors the
credit of making music, not only familiar to, but popular with, the
masses in this country. He was born at Esens, Hanover, Germany, October
11, 1835, and at the age of ten made his first appearance in public as
a violinist. Shortly after that he came to the United States, and for
a number of years gave performances in New York. After a successful
tour in the south, which extended over two years, he returned to New
York and appeared in concerts and opera, first as violinist and later
as orchestra conductor. In connection with other musicians he organized
an annual series of chamber concerts. In 1867 he founded the Thomas
orchestra and maintained it until 1888. He also acted as conductor for
the Brooklyn and New York Philharmonic societies. In 1891 he moved to
Chicago, and since then has been conductor of the Chicago orchestra. He
is director of the Cincinnati college of music, was musical director of
the Chicago exposition and has held other prominent positions in the
musical world. He has been married twice, his second wife being Rose
Fay, of Chicago.




SINGERS.


DAVID SCULL BISPHAM.

David Scull Bispham is another of those wise ones who recognized the
call of his career and followed it. Originally intended for a business
life, he found that his vocation was on the operatic stage, and in
spite of the apparently insurmountable obstacles that intervened, he
at length reached the goal of his desires. Mr. Bispham was born in
Philadelphia January 5, 1857, and graduated in 1876 from Haverford
college, a Quaker institution near Philadelphia. When not very much
more than a baby he gave evidence of his musical taste, and when at
college his connection with the glee club developed and fostered his
gifts. Finally, after some years of experience as an amateur, he became
a soloist in Philadelphia churches and in 1884 went to Italy to study
and then appeared in concert in London. In 1892 he was intrusted with
the rôle of “Tristan” at the Covent Garden Opera House, London, taking
the audience of the British metropolis by storm. Since that time he has
sung in all the great cities of the continent and of the United States,
adding to his laurels meantime both as singer and actor. He is almost
unexcelled as an oratorio vocalist, and is an exponent of classical
ballads. Mr. Bispham was married in 1895 to Caroline, daughter of the
late General Charles S. Russell. He is now the principal baritone of
the Covent Garden Opera, London.


EMMA CALVÉ.

This generation seems to be particularly fortunate in regard to the
number and the quality of its singers. Not the least prominent among
these is Emma Calvé, the well-known prima donna, who has sung, so it
is said, in every civilized or semi-civilized country in the world and
in each and every instance has vindicated her professional reputation.
She was born in France in 1866 and was educated at a convent. After
some years of study under continental masters, she made her début in
grand opera in 1882 at the Theater De la Monnaie, Brussels, where she
appeared in Massenet’s Herodiade. Since then she has been intrusted
with a number of responsible operatic rôles and is well known in the
United States. No small portion of her current reputation rests upon
the success that she achieved in connection with her appearance in
Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana.”


ZELIE DE LUSSAN.

Among the younger prima donnas who have attracted nearly as much
attention abroad as they have in this country is Zelie de Lussan. She
is an American girl by birth and received her musical training in
New York and Boston. Subsequently she studied abroad, and after some
concert work in France and Germany, returned to the United States,
where she appeared in English and grand opera. Her successes from the
inception of her artistic career were almost continuous. Besides her
vocal gifts she owns histrionic talents of a high order. Subsequent to
her last New York appearance, she was again called to Europe, and in
that connection has given renewed assurance of her abilities. She is
one of the several American girls who have succeeded in a profession
which bristles with difficulties.


EDOUARD DE RESZKE.

Edouard de Reszke was born at Vasevie, Poland, in 1853. He is the
brother of Jean de Reszke, and with him shares vocal gifts of a high
order and a permanent popularity among musically inclined people. He
studied music and singing under Ciaffei and Celetti, making his début
as an operatic singer in Paris in 1876 as the king in “Aida.” Since
then he has been before the public more or less constantly, and his
reputation has not waned by reason of his many years of professional
life. He is a favorite in grand opera rôles in Europe and has appeared
in every city of importance in the United States. He is the owner of a
basso of remarkable purity and timbre.


JEAN DE RESZKE.

A triple alliance of magnificent vocal gifts, a commanding personality
and a robust physique are responsible for the long and brilliant career
of the operatic singer, Jean de Reszke. He was born in Vasevie, Poland.
January 14, 1850, and studied under the masters, Ciaffei, Cotogni and
Sbriglia. His début as baritone singer was made in Favorita, Venice,
January, 1874, and his début as tenor singer in Madrid, 1879. Mr. de
Reszke has appeared in leading rôles in grand opera both in the United
States and Europe, one of his most popular characters being Tristan, in
Tristan and Isolde. He was married to the Countess Marie de Goulaine,
and now makes his home in New York city.


EMMA EAMES.

It is not often that one compasses one’s ambition to the full. More
frequently it will be found that those whom the world calls successful
are successful in part only, and that much is left unfilled. It is open
to question, however, whether the man who has fully realized his hope
is more happy than he to whom somewhat remains for which to crave and
struggle. The answer to the question involved could hardly be given
by Emma Eames, prima donna, for humanly speaking, she seems to have
achieved the ambitions and the purposes of her life. The singer was
born in Shanghai, China, August 13, 1867, of American parentage. Her
childhood was spent in Boston, her musical education being at first
under the direction of her mother and later under Miss Munyard, a
well-known teacher of vocalism. While singing in a church choir in
Boston, she attracted the attention of Prof. Gericke, then leader of
the Boston symphony orchestra, and Prof. Paine, of Harvard, both of
whom became interested in her. It was under their direction that the
technical foundation of her future fame was laid. By their advice and
with their assistance, she took lessons from Mme. Marchesi, of Paris,
for two years and later, after instruction in operatic rôles by Prof.
Gevart, chief of the Brussels conservatory of music, she made her début
in Paris in Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet. A pronounced and spontaneous
success was hers, and the news that a comparatively unknown American
girl had become famous in a night excited the interest of musically
inclined people all over the world. Gounod himself declared that she
was his ideal Juliet. During her engagement in Paris, Miss Eames was
the recipient of many social and official attentions, the president
of the French republic honoring her with a decoration. In 1891 and
the year following, she appeared in grand opera at the Covent Garden
opera house, London, where she also scored. In 1893 and 1894 she gave
New York audiences a taste of her quality by appearing in opera at
the Metropolitan opera house and won immediate popular favor. She is
installed a permanent favorite in musical circles of this country. In
1891 she married Julian, son of W. W. Story, the sculptor.


LILLIAN NORDICA.

Lillian Nordica, one of the most popular of American prima donnas, was
born in Farmingdale, Maine, in 1859, her family name being Norton. Her
musical education began early and was of a very thorough sort. After
a period spent in local public schools, she became a student in the
New England conservatory, her teacher being John O’Neil. Later she
studied under San Giovanni at Milan, Italy. After preliminary work in
concerts abroad, she made her operatic début at Brescia, Italy, in La
Traviata, and scored instantaneously and emphatically. In 1887 she
made a successful appearance in London, and later visited Paris, St.
Petersburg and other European capitals. In each and every instance she
repeated her initial successes. She has been twice married, her first
husband being a Mr. Gower, and her second Herr Zoltan Done. The prima
donna’s repertoire embraces the leading rôles of forty operas, and
includes nearly all the standard oratorios. She is best known to the
public in connection with Wagnerian parts, and has appeared in grand
opera in this country on several occasions. Mme. Nordica has a charming
personality, and her professional successes have by no means estranged
her from the friends of her childhood.


ADELINA PATTI.

Theoretically the uses of poverty are many, tending to the development
of varied virtues. As a matter of fact, poverty is the mother of much
meanness and many crimes. The struggle for mere existence among the
poor is so keen that it absorbs their mental and physical vitality.
So it is that he or she who passes from the twilight of penury into
the sunlight of prosperity must be rarely gifted. Such an individual
is Adelina Patti, whose fame as a great singer is not only yet
undimmed, but bids fair to last as long as music itself. Patti was
born in Madrid, Spain, February 19, 1843, her mother being a prima
donna at the Grand theater. In 1844 the family came to this country,
the father being appointed one of the managers of the then Italian
opera house on Chambers street, New York. Little Adelina received
her preliminary musical training from her half-brother, Ettore
Barilli. Owing to the financial stresses in which her parents then
were, she, although only seven years of age, was allowed to make her
début in concert at Tripler’s hall, New York, on which occasion her
undeveloped but phenomenal voice attracted general attention. In 1859
she made her début in grand opera at the Academy of Music, New York,
when she appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor. Her audience gave her a
most cordial welcome. But, as it turned out, her struggles were only
beginning. As far as the mere cultivation of her voice was concerned,
her natural gifts were of such a nature that she had no difficulty
in overcoming the technical obstacles of her art, but the spirit of
jealousy and suspicion which success usually arouses in the breasts
of the unknown, prevented her talents from being duly recognized, or,
to put it in another way, she was so belittled by her rivals that she
had to individually satisfy every great city in America that she had
not been overrated. Patti was deeply wounded by these unlooked-for
conditions, but nevertheless she bravely faced the sneers and unkind
criticisms and overcame them, and for many years has occupied a place
in the estimation of the public, which probably no other prima donna
in the history of civilization has attained. Twice during her career
she has been threatened with the total loss of her voice, but happily
the “nightingale in her throat” is as yet unsilenced. To the end of
her days she will reap the reward of the self-denial and persistent
attention to duty and art which she gave them during the years of
her childhood. She has been as successful abroad as she has in this
country. In grand opera she has assumed nearly all existing prominent
rôles. For some years past she made her home abroad. In 1881, Patti
revisited the United States, when she received $5,000 per night, which
is said to be the largest amount ever paid to a singer or actor for
one performance. Married three times, her last husband was Baron Rolf
Cedarstrom. She is the owner of a castle at Craig-y-Nos, Wales. During
her last and most recent visit to this country, the American public
gave her ample proof that she still occupies a warm place in its
affection.


MARCELLA STENGEL SEMBRICH.

Marcella Stengel Sembrich is one of the several prima donnas to whom
the American music-loving public has remained loyal for many years.
As an artist she ranks with the foremost singers of to-day, while her
domestic life is of an ideal nature. As a rule, the law of compensation
takes greatly where it gives freely, and so the woman of talent who
devotes herself to the service of the public is apt to be the loser as
far as home life is concerned. In Mme. Sembrich’s case it is otherwise,
however, and her social popularity, too, is no less than is her vogue
on the operatic stage. The songstress was born at Lemberg, Galatia,
February 18, 1858. Her early musical education was obtained in the
Conservatory of Lemberg, after which she studied at Vienna and Milan.
Her marvelous vocal gifts assured the success of her début as Elvira,
in I Puritani, at the Royal theater, Athens. After a season spent
on the continent in opera she, in 1883, came to this country under
the management of Henry Abbey. Her reception here was of the warmest
nature, and from that time on she has been a constant favorite with the
American public. She has made a number of tours in the United States
and has been uniformly successful in connection therewith. In 1877 she
married Prof. Wilhelm Stengel, who had formerly been her teacher at
Lemberg.




ACTORS.


WILLIAM H. CRANE.

A tireless worker and devoted to his calling, William H. Crane is
without doubt one of the foremost comedians of the day. Mr. Crane
was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, April 30, 1845. At the age of
eighteen he made his professional début at Utica, New York. His first
permanent engagement was with the Harriet Holman’s opera company, with
which organization he remained for seven years. His first part, with
this company, was that of the Orator, in The Child of the Regiment;
later he filled the rôles of Beppo, in Fra Diavolo; Mephisto, in
Faust; Hugh Challoner, in Ours; Dr. Dalcomora, in The Elixir of Love.
Leaving the Holmans, he joined the Alice Oates opera company, becoming
its leading comedian. Later, after creating the part of Le Blanc, in
Evangeline, he, in 1874, became a member of the stock company playing
at Hooley’s theater, Chicago. His first appearance in New York city was
at Niblo’s theater, in 1876, and it was in the same year that at the
Park Theater, he won distinct recognition as a comedian of exceptional
talent by his impersonation of Dick Swiveler to The Marchioness.
During this time an acquaintance with Stuart Robson resulted in the
two actors collaborating in Our Boarding House, which was given its
initial presentation at the Park theater, New York city, October 11,
1877. This engagement being ended, they formed a partnership that
lasted for twelve years. Since 1899 he has appeared in star rôles in
The Senator, On Probation, For Money, Brother John, A Fool of Fortune,
A Virginia Courtship, and other plays. Mr. Crane has accumulated a
comfortable fortune, and in the intervals of his professional labor
enjoys a pleasant home life with his wife and children at Cohasset,
Massachusetts.


JOHN DREW.

John Drew is an excellent example of a man finding his vocation and
filling it. While it is true that he inherited his histrionic talent,
his father, John Drew, Sr., having been a noted Irish comedian and
his mother, Louise Lane Drew, also having been a great favorite on
the stage—yet he has achieved success because of his personal efforts
looking to its development. The prime requisite for advancement in
any field is, first, find your talent, then bend every energy toward
its development. The subject of this sketch was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, November 13, 1853, and early showed a preference for
the boards. He was educated at the Episcopal academy and by private
tutors, making his first appearance behind the footlights at the Arch
street theater, Philadelphia, as Plumper, in As Cool as a Cucumber.
Although only nineteen, his efforts met with almost immediate success,
and at twenty-one he joined Mr. Daly’s famous company soon quickly
becoming the most popular member of the organization. Since 1892 he
has been starring in his own company. Although Mr. Drew excels in
society plays, he has also made a brilliant record in classical drama,
and especially in Shakespearian rôles. Petruchio, in Taming of the
Shrew, is his favorite character, and it is the most difficult and
exacting of any he assumes. He has brought out in yearly succession The
Butterflies, The Bauble Shop, Christopher, Jr., Rosemary, A Marriage
of Convenience, One Summer Day, and The Liars. Commenting upon Mr.
Drew, William Winter, the well-known critic, wrote “that he possesses
drollery, the talent of apparent spontaneity, and the faculty of crisp
emotion. He has surpassed all young actors of his day as a gay cavalier
and the bantering farceur of the drawing-room drama of modern social
life. He is thoroughly in earnest, and his attitude toward his art is
that of intellectual purpose and authority.”


WILLIAM HOOKER GILLETTE.

We sometimes speak and often hear of an instantaneous success, but in
reality there is no such thing as success or failure being immediate.
Every real achievement is the culmination of weeks and months, and
even years, of earnest and unremitting toil. The popular actor and
well-known author, William Hooker Gillette, furnishes a case in point.
The structure of his reputation bids fair to last indefinitely, but it
rests on foundations of preparatory work of which the public knows
but little. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, July 24, 1855, being
the son of Francis G. (late United States senator from Connecticut),
and Elizabeth Daggett (Hooker) Gillette. Graduating from the Hartford
high school at the age of twenty, he afterward attended the New York
university for two years. From a lad he had given evidence of his love
for the stage. While at the university he obtained a minor position
in one of the theaters. In 1876, becoming a student in the Boston
university, he followed the same plan of studying by day and playing in
small parts at night. In this way he made himself thoroughly acquainted
with the “business” of the stage, as well as the first principles of
acting. Mr. Gillette made his first palpable hit in the title rôle
of A Private Secretary by playing a part which required a particular
delicacy of treatment.


NATHANIEL C. GOODWIN.

Even as a schoolboy the famous comedian, Nat. C. Goodwin, by his
clever imitations of leading actors, displayed signs of his future
greatness. He was born in Boston, July 25, 1857, and educated in the
public schools of that city. His parents intended that he should follow
a commercial career, but he early decided for the stage as against
a business life. His mirth-provoking powers were finally recognized
by Stuart Robson, who engaged young Goodwin at a salary of $5 a week
to play the part of the Bootblack, in Law in New York. Mr. Goodwin’s
reputation was quickly established, and the next season he contracted
with Josh Hart to appear in the Eagle theater in New York city,
at a salary of $150 a week. In 1876 he played Captain Dietrich in
Evangeline, and three years later entered upon his career as a star,
a practically unbroken line of successes having followed both here and
abroad, for when, in 1890, he filled a long engagement in London, he
was received with every manifestation of approval. Mr. Goodwin has been
married three times, the last wife being Maxine Elliott.


JAMES KETELTAS HACKETT.

James Keteltas Hackett, one of the youngest of the prominent actors
of America, and certainly the youngest actor-manager of note in this
country, was born at Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada, September 6, 1869.
He is the son of the late James Henry Hackett, who in his time was
also a notable figure of the American boards. After graduating from
the College of the City of New York in 1891, he studied in the New
York law school, but his inclination for the stage, which manifested
itself almost as soon as he could talk, became more and more marked,
and, abandoning the legal career which it had been intended he should
follow, he gave himself up to studying for the stage. In 1892 he made
his début in New York in the A. M. Palmer stock company. From the very
first he gave unmistakable indications of his subsequent success. In
four years—being then twenty-six years of age—he was leading man of
the company in question, and was a star in the dramatic firmament of
New York. From that time on his progress in his chosen profession has
been unceasing. For some years he was under the management of Mr.
Daniel Frohman, during which period he made distinctive hits in The
Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel, Rupert of Hentzau, and The Pride
of Jennico. Leaving Mr. Frohman’s management, he branched out for
himself. As already intimated, he is as successful as he is popular.
He married Mary Mannering, a well-known actress, whom he met during his
association with the Frohman forces.


SIR HENRY BRODRIBB IRVING.

Sir Henry Brodribb Irving, who has created an era in theatrical art,
did not attain his ambitions until he had experienced a full share of
disappointments and privations. His name is now associated with all
that makes for the splendor of the drama, spectacular and intellectual.
But the time was with Sir Henry when the next meal was an unknown
quantity, when his wardrobe was carried on his back, and when his
future seemed to be without promise professionally or otherwise. But
with him, as with other successful men, his belief in himself enabled
him to combat stress of troubles and finally landed him at the goal of
success. Apart from all else he has, through the medium of his masterly
productions of Shakespeare’s plays, done more to revive an intelligent
interest in the “Immortal Bard” than has any other manager-actor of
this generation. His keenest critics admit his genius, even while they
comment on his methods. Like most men of his type he has a marked
individuality, and for this reason he has been accused of mannerisms.
On the other hand, his admirers claim that his individuality is
responsible for no small portion of the charm and power of his work.
The actor was born in Keinton, near Glastonbury, England, February 6,
1838, his actual name being Brodribb. By permission of the English
authorities in 1887 he was authorized, however, to continue the use
of the adopted name of Irving. Educated in private schools in London,
he, in 1856, went on the stage in the provinces. His first appearance
before a public was a failure, pure, simple and absolute. The London
stage first knew him in 1859; then he returned to the provinces,
remaining therein until 1866, when he once more came to London, playing
in several different theaters, but in minor rôles. At about this period
his talents began to assert themselves, and since 1871 Sir Henry Irving
has been successfully before the public at the Lyceum Theater, London,
of which he was lessee and manager from 1878 until 1899. He is well
known to play-goers in this country by reason of his several tours
here. In recognition of his work for the betterment of the stage he was
knighted by Queen Victoria in 1895. Sir Henry Irving is also an author,
his most notable work being The Drama.


JOSEPH JEFFERSON.

Many ancestors of Joseph Jefferson followed the profession of acting.
Both his father and mother were players. He was born at Philadelphia,
February 20, 1829, was educated at home and first appeared on the
stage as a child in the old-time favorite play of Pizarro. In 1843 his
father died, and he joined a party of strolling players, who traveled
through Texas and followed the United States army to Mexico. His first
prominent rôle was that of Asa Trenchard, in Our American Cousin, which
was first presented October 18, 1858, and continued for one hundred and
fifty consecutive nights at Laura Keene’s theater in New York city.
His other notable parts have been Newman Noggs, in Nicholas Nickelby;
Caleb Plummer, in The Cricket on the Hearth; Dr. Pangloss, in The
Heir-at-Law; and Dr. Ollapod, in The Poor Gentleman. But the public
chiefly identify him with the title rôle of Rip Van Winkle, which he
has played in every city in the United States, and also in England and
Australia. He enjoys the distinction of having presented the character
more times than any other actor has ever played a single character in
the history of dramatics. Besides being one of the most popular actors
of his times, Mr. Jefferson is a painter of considerable ability and
is an author of some note. His “autobiography” is his most important
work, but he has also contributed many articles to the magazines. He
married, in 1848, Margaret Lockyer, and after her death took to wife
Sarah Warren, in 1867.


EDWARD H. SOTHERN.

How many failures in life are caused by misfit occupations! The world
would have perhaps never known of Edward H. Sothern if he had followed
the wishes of his father in choosing a life career. This man, who has
attained such prominence in the histrionic profession would probably
have been doomed to obscurity had he become a painter. He was born
in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 6, 1859, being the second son of
Edward Askew Sothern, the famous comedian. At the age of five he was
taken to London, where he received his education. He studied drawing
for some time, his father wishing him to become an artist, but he
seems to have inherited a predilection for the stage. It was during
his two visits to the United States with his father in 1875 and 1879,
that, in spite of his parents’ objections, he decided to become an
actor, which he did, making his début as a cabman, in Sam, at the Park
theater, New York city. Later he joined his father’s company, but
shortly after resigned in order to become a member of John McCullough’s
company. In 1883, after appearing for two years at the Criterion,
Standard, Royalty and other London theaters, and traveling one year, in
company with his brother, Lytton Sothern, he returned to this country,
again entered the company of John McCullough, becoming its leading
comedian. Subsequently Mr. Sothern played with Helen Daubray, in One
of Our Girls; he first took a leading rôle as Jack Hammerton, in The
Highest Bidder. Since that time he has starred with his own company
in Lord Chumley, The Maister of Woodbarrow, Prisoner of Zenda, Under
the Red Robe, etc. He married Virginia Harned, his leading woman. Mr.
Sothern has had an adequate professional training and his creditable
work proclaims him a master of his art.




ACTRESSES.


MAUDE ADAMS.

Maude Adams is descended from a long line of theatrical people. She
was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, November 11, 1872. Her mother was
the leading woman of a stock company in that city, and at a very early
age Miss Adams appeared on the stage in child’s parts. Her school days
were scarcely over when she joined the E. H. Sothern Company. She
afterward became a member of Charles Frohman’s stock company, and still
later was leading lady for John Drew. Her most pronounced success was
as Babbie, in The Little Minister and another as the title rôle of
l’Aiglon. She also received much publicity as the model for the silver
statue which was exhibited at the World’s Fair, Chicago. Miss Maude
Adams has established herself permanently in the good-will of American
play-goers.


VIOLA ALLEN.

Viola Allen was born in the south, but went to Boston when three years
of age. She was educated in that city and at the Bishop Strachan
school, Toronto, Canada. Her début was made at the Madison Square
theater, New York, in Esmeralda, in 1882. During the season of 1883
and 1884 she was leading lady for John McCullough, and afterward
played classical and Shakespearian rôles. She was a member of the
Empire theater stock company in 1892, but her principal success was in
creating the character of Gloria Quayle, in The Christian, which had a
long run in New York in 1898, succeeded by a tour through the principal
cities of the country. Miss Allen’s private charities are many, and she
is identified with those phases of church work which have to do with
the bettering of the conditions of the poor.


ETHEL BARRYMORE.

Ethel Barrymore, one of the youngest stars in the theatrical
profession, was born in Philadelphia in 1880. She comes of a
professional family, and when, while yet a child, gave to those who
were responsible for her first appearance behind the footlights
assurance of innate talent. Miss Barrymore was by no means unknown
to Metropolitan play-goers prior to the time when, under Mr. Charles
Frohman’s management, she made her stellar début a few years since. The
young actress is a finished comedienne and is a member of that modern
school of comedy that cultivates repressed effort.


MRS. LESLIE CARTER.

David Belasco, playwright and manager, has been uniformly successful
with his plays and his stars. A case in point is that of Mrs. Leslie
Carter, who has been connected in a professional capacity with Mr.
Belasco for some years. Stepping from social circles in Chicago to the
stage, she was in the first instance a somewhat indifferent specimen of
the crude amateur actress, but Mr. Belasco detected in her undeveloped
talent, and the rest is professional history. Under his guidance as
tutor and manager she holds a prominent place in the theatrical world.
Her first success was made in the Heart of Maryland and her last and
most notable in Du Barry.


ELEANORA DUSE.

Eleanora Duse, the Italian tragedienne, who is Signora Cecci in private
life, was born, in 1861, in Vigovano, Italy. At an early age she gave
indications of those histrionic talents which subsequently made her
famous. For many years she was one of the most notable figures on the
stage of her country. She made her American début in 1893 at the Fifth
Avenue theater, New York. While there is no gainsaying the sincerity
and finish of her art, yet at the same time there are not a few critics
who take exception to it on the score of the sombre plays and methods
of the actress. Since her début she has visited the United States on
more than one occasion, and in each instance her following in this
country have accorded her the welcome which is due to her as an artiste
and a woman.


MAY IRWIN.

“Blessed are the laughmakers,” is one of the later beatitudes, and on
that score May Irwin will certainly receive her share of blessings.
She was born at Whitby, Ontario, Canada, in 1862, and made her début
at the Adelphi theater, Buffalo, in February, 1876. Later, with her
sister Flora, she became a member of Tony Pastor’s company, and
shortly afterward joined Augustin Daly’s company. She ranks as one
of the wholesome mirth-making actresses of the American stage. The
plays in which she has starred include The Widow Jones, The Swell Miss
Fitzgerald, Courted Into Court, Kate Kip, Buyer, and other farcical
comedies. In 1878 she was married to Frederick W. Keller, of St. Louis,
who died in 1886.


VIRGINIA HARNED.

Virginia Harned was born at Boston, and, at the age of sixteen, made
her début as Lady Despar, in The Corsican Brothers. She first played
in New York city in 1890 at the Fourteenth street theater in a play
entitled “A Long Lane or Green Meadow.” In this play she made so good
an impression that she was engaged by Daniel Frohman as leading woman
for E. A. Sothern. In 1896 she was married to Mr. Sothern and has since
appeared in leading parts in his company. Probably her greatest success
was in the creation of the title rôle of Trilby.


MRS. LILLIE LANGTRY.

Mrs. Lillie Langtry, if she has done nothing else, has proven that
a woman can command admiration even when she is no longer in the
first flush of her youth or in the full bloom of her womanhood. This
statement is made in view of the public regard which she still enjoys
as an actress, in spite of the fact that she first saw the light in
1852, in Jersey, Great Britain. Her father was connected with the
Established church of England. She married an officer in the English
army and subsequently settled in London. Domestic differences ensuing,
she went upon the stage. Her American début, as an actress, was made in
1893 at the Fifth avenue theater, New York. Since then she has visited
this country on two or three occasions. Mrs. Langtry is popularly known
as the Jersey Lily. She was married for the second time in 1899.


JULIA MARLOWE.

That tender and graceful exponent of some of Shakespeare’s women,
Julia Marlowe, was born at Coldbeck, Cumberlandshire, England, August
17, 1870. She came with her parents to this country when she was five
years of age. After a period spent in Kansas, the family removed to
Cincinnati, where she attended public school until she was twelve years
of age. She then became a member of a juvenile opera company which
produced Pinafore, Chimes of Normandy, etc. After several years of
arduous work and study, she appeared in New York, but was a failure.
Not discouraged, however, she went to work to study again, and in the
spring of 1897 attained that recognition from a metropolitan audience
for which she had striven so faithfully. Since that time she has
advanced in her profession and has secured a prominent place among the
leading actresses of to-day.




ORGANIZERS AND LECTURERS.


CYNTHIA MAY WESTOVER ALDEN.

Mrs. Cynthia May Westover Alden is an example of the possibilities of
journalism as a vocation for women. She was born at Afton, Iowa, May
31, 1862, being the daughter of Oliver S. and Lucilda (Lewis) Westover.
After a period spent in local common schools, she graduated from the
Colorado state university and the Denver business college. Subsequently
she taught geology, book-keeping and vocal and instrumental music. The
owner of an excellent voice, she was for some years a soprano soloist
in several church choirs in New York. In 1887 she was appointed United
States inspector of customs at the port of New York, and during her
term of service as such made many important seizures. She was also
secretary in a municipal department of New York, and for a time was an
employee of the New York state museum of natural history, resigning
therefrom to engage in journalism. After editing the woman’s department
of the New York Recorder, she took charge of a similar department on
the New York Tribune. She is now on the editorial staff of the Ladies’
Home Journal. Mrs. Alden is also the founder and president-general
of the International Sunshine society. Her life has been as busy as
useful, and she has made for herself a large circle of friends who,
though not knowing her personally, are nevertheless acquainted with her
through the medium of the kindly and helpful journalism with which she
is so generally identified.


CLARA BARTON.

That most noted and beloved of humanitarians, Clara Barton, is of
Puritan ancestry, being born in Oxford, Massachusetts, in 1830. She
was the daughter of Captain Stephen and Sally Stone Barton, and was
educated at Clinton, New York. When still very young she founded a
seminary for girls at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Later, she became
principal of the first public school in Bordentown, New Jersey,
resigned through sickness and was the first woman to hold a regular
clerical position under the government, afterward being appointed to
the patent office at Washington, District of Columbia. During the Civil
war she was instrumental in forming the famous sanitary commission
which did such magnificent work for the sick and wounded at Bull Run,
Antietam, Spottsylvania and many other battlefields of the war. When
the Andersonville prisoners were released they received timely aid
through her relief work, and by her earnest efforts the fate of over
thirty thousand missing men was ascertained by means of the bureau of
records which she organized at Washington. During the Franco-Prussian
war she and her assistants nursed the sick and wounded in Strasburg
and Metz. In the days of the Commune she entered Paris, distributing
food and clothing to the hungry and starving. On her return to the
United States in 1873, she started the successful movement to obtain
recognition of the projected Red Cross society from the government.
In 1882 the society was organized and she became its first president.
In that capacity she has superintended the work of giving help to
sufferers from the Michigan forest fires, the earthquake at Charleston,
floods on the Ohio and Mississippi, 1884; the Johnstown flood, the
Galveston disaster, 1900, etc. Wherever there has been a cry from the
sufferer, Clara Barton, often in the face of almost insurmountable
difficulties and constant danger, has ever responded to the call of
duty.


FRANCIS EDWARD CLARK.

Francis Edward Clark, the president of the United Societies of
Christian Endeavor comes of New England stock, although he was born in
Aylmer, province of Quebec, September 12, 1851. His parents died when
he was a child, and his uncle, the Rev. E. W. Clark, adopted him and
took him to Claremont, New Hampshire. Thus it was that he acquired a
new name and country. Education and home influence inclined him to the
ministry, and he early decided to become a clergyman. After an academic
and college course—the latter at Dartmouth—he studied theology for
three years at Andover, and was later appointed pastor of Williston
church, Portland, Maine, a small mission from which he built a large
Congregational church. One of his many ideas was the exaction of a
pledge of faithful Christian endeavor from the members of his Bible
classes. The results were of so marked a nature that the well-known
society of which he is president was a consequence thereof. Churches of
many denominations endorsed the idea, and within a few years national
conventions of the organization were held which made the world think
that a tidal wave of religious enthusiasm was sweeping over it. An
organ of the movement was founded, entitled “The Golden Rule,” with Dr.
Clark as editor-in-chief. The work continued to grow, and finally he
was compelled to resign from the pastorate in order to devote himself
to the needs of the society. The movement has extended all over the
world, and in connection with it he has organized other societies,
such as The Tenth Legions, The Macedonian Phalanx, The Christian
Association, and Quiet Hour. Dr. Clark was married in 1876 to Harriet
E. Abbott. He is the author of several books dealing with his life work.


MARY LOWE DICKINSON.

Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson, the well-known authoress, was born in
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1897. She received a preparatory education
in the common schools, then was placed under the instruction of
private tutors, and subsequently studied art and literature abroad.
Returning to this country, she became head assistant in the Chapman
school, Boston, taught for some time in the Hartford female seminary
and finally was made principal of the Van Norman institute, New York.
Marrying John B. Dickinson, a New York banker, she on his death some
years since became professor of belles lettres, emeritus professor and
lecturer at Denver university. She is now connected in an official
capacity with a number of philanthropic and religious institutions,
is the editor of Lend a Hand Magazine, and for ten years has edited
The Silver Cross. She has written poems and works of fiction which are
illustrative of various lines of philanthropic work.


THOMAS DIXON, JR.

Thomas Dixon, Jr., lecturer, writer and clergyman, was born in Shelby,
North Carolina, January 11, 1864, his father being the Rev. Thomas
Dixon. He graduated from Wake Forest college, North Carolina, in 1883,
from the Greensboro, North Carolina, law school in 1886, and from
Johns Hopkins university in 1899. Harriet Bussey became his wife on
March 3, 1886, in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a member of the North
Carolina legislature from 1884 to 1886. Resigning in order to enter
the ministry, he was ordained a Baptist clergyman in 1887, taking
a pastorate at Raleigh, North Carolina, and late in the same year
accepted a call to Boston. Two years later he came to New York, where
he has become noted by reason of his pulpit treatment of topics of
the day in a manner uniquely his own. He is the author of several
works on religious and social problems, one of which, The Failure of
Protestantism in New York, which was published in 1897, has attracted
much attention. Mr. Dixon is a forceful speaker, a man of magnetic
presence, and possesses the courage of his convictions to a high degree.


HERBERT HUNGERFORD.

Herbert Hungerford was born at Binghamton, New York, February 22, 1874.
He was brought up on a farm, obtained the groundwork of his education
in district schools, and graduated from the academy at Windsor, New
York, in 1895. The following year he entered Syracuse university, but
was compelled to leave at the close of the freshman year on account
of illness. Serving as a private in the First Regiment of New York
volunteer infantry during the Spanish-American war, he, while the
regiment was stationed at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, established,
edited and published the News Muster, which was a unique contribution
to the curiosities of journalism, being the first illustrated newspaper
published by a body of soldiers in the field. At the close of the war
he returned to Binghamton and there organized the initial branches of
the Success league. Later he was called to New York to further and take
charge of the development of the organization in question, which is a
federation of literary, debating and self-culture societies. The league
has developed rapidly under his direction, now having branches in every
state and in nearly every city and town of importance in the United
States. He was married, in 1898, to Grace M. Whipple, of Binghamton,
New York.


JOHN MITCHELL.

The story of the early struggles of the labor leader, John Mitchell,
is both pathetic and inspiring. A son of the common people, he has
risen from being a poor door-boy in the coal mines of Illinois, to a
position of great trust and general honor. Mr. Mitchell was born in
Braidwood, Brill county, Illinois, February 4, 1869, being the son of
Robert and Martha Mitchell. Compelled to leave school at the age of
ten, his subsequent education was obtained by night study. He afterward
studied law, worked on a farm, became coal miner and was finally
attracted to the labor movement, which at that time was directed by
the Knights of Labor. In 1888 he took an active part in trade union
affairs as president of the local organization of the Knights. Knowing
that knowledge is power, he read everything that came within his reach
and joined debating societies, athletic associations, independent
political reform clubs and various other organizations, in order to
take advantage of the several opportunities that they presented to him.
When, in January, 1890, the order of United Mine Workers of America
was organized, he was among the first to be enrolled, and in January,
1898, was elected its vice-president. He has been re-elected every
year since, is also second vice-president of the American Federation
of Labor and a member of various committees at the National Civic
Federation. During the five years of his leadership the union has grown
from a membership of forty-three thousand to a membership of over three
hundred thousand. He has brought about many reforms in the interests
of labor. His chiefest achievement is that of securing a settlement of
the recent great coal mine strike through the arbitration commission
appointed by President Roosevelt. He has demonstrated anew the force of
the maxim that “It is to him only who has conquered himself it is given
to conquer.”


ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON.

Historians of the Wild—of the denizens of fields and woods and
rivers—there are and have been, but in the majority of instances their
work has been confined to mere descriptions of the personalities of
birds and beasts and fish from the standpoint of the museum, rather
than from that of the interested, if unscientific, observer. Ernest
Thompson-Seton, however, naturalist and artist, has, through the medium
of his books, managed to so wed popular interest and scientific data
that the result is fascinating in the extreme. He has shown, too, that
to a man of talent there is always a new field to be discovered amid
the old ones, which, apart from all else, is a lesson that no one can
afford to ignore. Thompson-Seton was born in South Shields, England,
August 14, 1860. He is a descendant of the famous Setons of Scotland,
Thompson being a _nom de plume_. Coming to this country when a boy,
he at first lived in the backwoods of Canada and also had experiences
on the plains of the then far west. He was educated at the Toronto
collegiate institute and also at the Royal academy, London, England. In
1896 he married Grace, daughter of Albert Gallatin, of San Francisco.
His qualifications as a naturalist becoming known to the government
of Manitoba, he was made official naturalist therefor, subsequently
publishing works on the birds and mammals of that territory. He studied
art in Paris and was at one time one of the chief illustrators of
the Century dictionary. His works on natural history topics are well
known. Thompson-Seton is what may be called a psychological naturalist,
inasmuch as he analyzes the mentalities of his subjects. The results
are seen in such books as The Biography of a Grizzly, The Trail of the
Sand Hill Stag, Wild Animals I Have Known, etc.




CANADIANS.


SIR WILFRID LAURIER.

The man who stands before the world as Canada’s most distinguished
statesman is Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of the Dominion. Sir Wilfrid
has very broad and very optimistic ideas as to the destiny of Canada,
and these he expresses with a poetic eloquence which never fails to
arouse enthusiasm. His oratory takes lofty flights.

Sir Wilfrid was born in the Province of Quebec in 1841. French was the
language of his childhood. He went to school in his native parish, and
later took the classical course at L’Assomption College. He began in
1860 to study law in the office of the late Hon. R. Laflamme, Q. C.,
who was Minister of Justice for the Dominion and one of Sir Wilfrid’s
colleagues at Ottawa, when the latter became a member of Parliament. He
was admitted to the bar in 1864. Eager to succeed, he devoted himself
so zealously to his legal work that after three years of practice his
health gave way, and he was forced to retire to the country. In the
town of L’Avena he became editor of _Le Defrecheur_, a journal devoted
to political and social reform. It was in this work that he first
actively interested himself in politics. His articles in the journal
were full of the earnestness, enthusiasm and eloquence which have since
brought him fame.

Country air agreed with the young lawyer and writer. He regained his
health, and opened a law office at St. Cristophe, now Arthabaskaville,
where he made his home until he removed to Ottawa as Prime Minister of
Canada. He first held office in 1871, when he was elected to the Quebec
Assembly. He resigned his seat in the general elections of 1874, was
elected by the same constituency to the Dominion House of Commons, and
when Parliament assembled was given the honor of seconding the address
in reply to the speech from the Throne. His burst of oratory on the
occasion attracted wide attention and caused prophecies to be freely
made that he was destined for great things.

It was only two years afterward, in 1876, that he attained the
distinction of a position in the Cabinet, being appointed Minister of
the Internal Revenue in the Mackenzie administration. His constituency
did not support him in the next general election, but he was returned
to Parliament from Quebec East, which constituency has ever since been
his political sponsor. When the Mackenzie government was defeated in
the elections of 1878, Mr. Laurier, who had by this time become the
acknowledged leader of the Liberal party in Quebec, joined his friends
in Opposition and waited for eighteen years for his party’s return to
power. This came in 1896. Mr. Laurier was then supreme in the House of
Commons, and was called upon to organize a new government. Thus it was
that he rose to the exalted position of Premier of Canada and found the
opportunities which have given him so high a place among the world’s
statesmen.

Perhaps the most important policy which he inaugurated upon his rise
to power was that of a preferential tariff in favor of Great Britain.
It was due to this policy, as well as to his high position in the
affairs of Canada, that when he went to England upon the occasion of
the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 he was received with distinguished
honor. The Queen made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St.
Michael and St. George. Oxford and Cambridge Universities conferred
upon him honorary degrees. Upon a visit to the Continent of Europe
during this trip abroad he was entertained by President Faure of France
and was received by the Pope at Rome. When he returned to Canada he was
greeted with great enthusiasm by all classes. In the general election
of 1904 Sir Wilfrid’s administration gained a triumphant endorsement at
the polls.


LORD STRATHCONA.

One of the foremost of Canada’s great workers is Lord Strathcona,
who, as Donald Smith, was born in Scotland in 1820. He received his
preliminary education in the common schools. He gave up the law, and
became, when he was eighteen, an employee of the Hudson Bay Company on
the bleak coast of Labrador.

Here he remained for thirteen years, becoming one of the company’s most
valued traders. From Labrador he went, in 1851, into the wilderness
of the Northwest, where he rose through the grades of trader, chief
trader, factor and chief factor. In 1869 he reached the top rung of the
ladder in the Hudson Bay Company, receiving the appointment of resident
governor.

He established himself in Montreal, but when the half breeds and
Indians under the leadership of Louis Riel rose in rebellion against
the project of transferring to the Crown the vast tracts of territory
belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, Donald Smith again utilized his
remarkable skill and experience in dealing with these children of
nature. He went to the seat of the trouble at Red River Settlement,
where he was made a prisoner and threatened with death. He obtained his
liberty, and through his strong but adroit attitude toward the rebels
was able to keep them in check until the arrival of troops. As a reward
for this achievement he was elected to the Dominion House of Commons,
and became a zealous supporter of the administration of Sir John
McDonald.

In the early seventies Donald Smith undertook to raise the very
large amount of capital necessary for the new Canadian Pacific
railroad across the continent. On more than one occasion the
enterprise threatened ruin for those connected with it, but Donald
Smith eventually triumphed, and in 1885 the road was completed to
the Pacific. The man who had commenced life as an humble trader had
become by this time a celebrated and very important man in Canada,
and in recognition of his services Queen Victoria bestowed on him
in 1886 the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
Upon the occasion of the Queen’s Jubilee in 1897, being then Lord
High Commissioner of Canada, Sir Donald was raised to the peerage,
and became Lord Strathcona. In commemoration of the Jubilee he gave
in the same year, jointly with Lord Mount Stephen, the sum of one
million dollars to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, and eight
hundred thousand dollars more to endow the institution, which, through
his generosity, has become one of the best equipped hospitals on the
continent. Lord Strathcona has also given at least a million dollars to
education in Canada, most of the money going to McGill University. He
has also contributed largely to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Women
in Montreal. Lord Strathcona’s philanthropy is made the more notable by
the fact that while he has large means, he does not possess the immense
wealth of some of the American financiers. In addition to his railway
and numerous other interests in Canada, he is president of the Bank of
Montreal, which is one of the largest banking institutions in the world.

At the outbreak of the war between Great Britain and the Boers Lord
Strathcona further increased his usefulness to Canada and the Empire
by the organization of a body of mounted troops called “the Strathcona
Horse.” These men, many of whom were recruited from the Northwest, and
who represented the flower of Canadian horsemanship and valor, went to
South Africa, and greatly distinguished themselves in the service of
the Queen. Their work at the front was not as important, however, as
was their influence in the direction of solidifying the union between
the mother country and the colony.

In spite of the fact that he is now eighty-four years old, Lord
Strathcona is still a restless and energetic spirit. He has residences
in Montreal, Winnipeg, Nova Scotia, Scotland and London, and divides
his time between them. In London he is fond of entertaining the leaders
in political and commercial life. He spends much of his time in Canada,
however, and often makes trips across the continent. In many respects
he is Canada’s most remarkable citizen.




ILLUSTRATORS.


WILLIAM DE LEFTWICH DODGE.

Among the American mural decorators who have achieved a reputation
which is not confined to the land of their birth, is William de
Leftwich Dodge. Some of the principal decorations of the Boston public
library and the capitol of Washington are the outcome of his genius.
He has also executed a number of private commissions, and in each and
every instance has given evidence of fertile imagination and forceful
execution. It is perhaps too much to say that Mr. Dodge has inaugurated
or suggested a new school of mural art, but it is certain that he has
so modified accepted methods that the results are practically without
precedent as far as his special line of work is concerned. He was
born in Liberty, Virginia, and, after a preliminary art education in
this country, studied in Paris and Munich. He began his career proper
as an illustrator, but it was not long before he realized that his
future lay along the lines of decoration rather than in the pages of
publications, and, as has been intimated, his successes have vindicated
the wisdom of his decision. He has been awarded the third medal of the
Concours d’Atelier, Paris; the gold medal, Prize Fund exposition, 1886;
three medals Cours Yvon, 1887; Prix d’Atelier, 1888, and medal of the
Columbian exposition, 1893.


CHARLES MENTE.

Charles Mente, a popular illustrator, comes of a musical family, and
so narrowly escaped being a musician instead of an artist. He was born
in New York city, educated in the public schools and afterward learned
wood-carving, making figureheads and ornamental work on furniture.
This work was not to his taste, however, so he entered the credit
department of A. T. Stewart’s store, New York city. This was even more
distasteful, and, resigning, he spent his evenings attending Cooper
institute art classes, and later the art students’ league. At that
time all illustrations were drawn on wood. Mr. Mente’s first drawing
was for Harper & Brothers, and was successful, and for two years he
worked for that firm. By the end of that period he had managed to save
about $1,500, with which he went abroad to study in Munich at the Royal
academy. There he received a medal, with honorable mention. Coming back
to New York, he was engaged as a teacher of painting at the Gotham
art students’ league, but gave up this position to devote himself
to painting and illustration. He has received first prize at the
exposition of the Chicago society of artists, a gold medal of the Art
club of Philadelphia in 1895, and a diploma of excellence and silver
medal at the Cotton States’ international exposition, Atlanta, Georgia,
in 1895. Mr. Mente’s reputation rests to a great extent on his pictures
based on inspirational subjects.


THURE DE THULSTRUP.

The vigor of the work of Thure de Thulstrup is known to the reading
public mainly through his illustrations in metropolitan magazines,
but he has also painted a number of canvases which show that he is as
much at home with the brush as with the crayon or pencil. Thulstrup
was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and, after graduating from the Royal
Swedish military academy, was commissioned a lieutenant of artillery
in the army of that country. But being of an adventurous spirit, he
went to Algiers, where he enlisted in the First Zouave Regiment of the
French army, saw some service in Northern Africa, and was afterward
given a commission in the Foreign Legion. While a member of that body,
he took part in the Franco-German war of 1870-’71, and also assisted in
crushing the Commune in Paris. In 1872 he set sail for Canada, where
he obtained a position as civil engineer. From his boyhood he had
delighted in sketching, and it was about this time that he determined
to put his artistic gifts to practical use. His début as an illustrator
was with the New York Daily Graphic in the 70’s. Subsequently he became
connected with the Frank Leslie Magazine and with Harper & Brothers,
and it was his work with the last named firm that established his
reputation as an illustrator. He has painted a number of military
pictures, including a series of twelve which have to do with stirring
events of the Civil war in this country. Recently he has been engaged
on canvases which illustrate cavalier life in Virginia in the middle of
the eighteenth century. He has drawn the pictures of a number of books.




CARTOONISTS.


T. S. ALLEN.

One of the artists whose purpose in life seems to be smile-breeding is
T. S. Allen. Well known in connection with his work in the columns of
the New York American, his studies of and contingent jokes on “tough”
youngsters under the caption of “Just Kids” are full of genuine humor.
Mr. Allen was born in 1869, in Lexington, Kentucky, and was educated
at Transylvania university, of that state. After some years spent in
writing jokes, jingles, etc., for local and New York newspapers, he
began to illustrate the same in a manner which quickly caught the
attention of editors. To-day he has an established reputation as a
graphic humorist, and his work finds a ready and remunerative market.


CHARLES G. BUSH.

Charles G. Bush, the cartoonist of the New York World, is an example
of success achieved comparatively late in life. His early work
consisted for the most part of magazine illustrations of a serious
nature. After studying in Paris, under Bonnat, he, on his return to
America, endeavored to follow a career of painting, but fate willed it
otherwise. In 1895 Mr. Bush drew a cartoon in which David B. Hill was
the principal figure. The New York Herald accepted the picture, and the
next morning Mr. Bush woke up to find himself famous as a cartoonist.
From thence on his career has been one of more or less constant
successes.


LOUIS DALRYMPLE.

Louis Dalrymple, the illustrator and cartoonist, was born at Cambridge,
Illinois, January 19, 1861. After receiving a common school education,
he entered the Pennsylvania academy of fine arts, graduated from it
with credit and later studied at the art students’ league of New York.
Subsequently he branched out for himself and began to submit drawings
to the metropolitan comic publications and newspapers. Work of this
kind secures immediate recognition for an artist who can comply with
the public demands of the moment. Mr. Dalrymple being not only clever
but shrewd, it came about that within a very short time he was kept
busy in executing commissions. His work is characterized by a delicacy
and acumen that prove that he thinks as well as he draws.


SYDNEY B. GRIFFIN.

When the modern daily newspaper began to add to its news columns the
so-called supplement, there was a coincident demand for artists who
had the gift of humor. Sydney B. Griffin was one of such, and for some
years past his supply of unique ideas seems to have been inexhaustible.
He was born October 15, 1854, of English and Scotch parents, attended
public schools at Detroit, Michigan, and, in 1888, came to New York.
When his first ideas were presented to Puck they were declined, but
upon his taking them to Judge they were accepted forthwith. Mr. Griffin
took the trouble to inform the Puck people of his success with their
rivals, whereupon he was told that his work had been refused for the
simple reason that it was so excellent that it was feared that it was
not original. However, Puck made the amende honorable by engaging him
forthwith. Mr. Griffin’s style is bold and slashing and his drawings
are full of point and power.


R. F. OUTCAULT.

In the world of illustrators, the man who can originate an idea which
excites the laughter and holds the attention of the public is indeed
fortunate. Such an individual is R. F. Outcault, the artistic father of
the “Buster Brown” series which appear in the Sunday New York Herald.
He is also the author of the “Yellow Kid” and “Hogan’s Alley” pictures
of the Sunday New York World, and of equally laughable creations in
the New York American and other publications. Born in Lancaster, Ohio,
January 14, 1853, he was educated in that town. In 1888 he secured
a position with Edison, and went to Paris in the inventor’s employ.
Returning to this country, he illustrated for some time with a fair
degree of success, but it was not until 1894 that he made his first
distinctive hit as a comic artist. Mr. Outcault’s personal description
of his daily life is interesting. He says: “I have flowers, a garden,
a dog and a cat, good music, good books, light stories, draw pictures,
smoke a pipe, talk single tax theories, am a member of a couple of
clubs, lead the Simple Life.”


CARL E. SCHULTZE.

Humor, strenuous and wholesome, marks the work of Carl E. Schultze.
His name is literally a household word in this country by reason of
that quaint conceit, “Foxy Grandpa,” of which he is the creator. He
was born on May 25, 1866, Lexington, New York, and was educated in the
public schools of that town and at Cassel, Germany. On his return to
America he studied art under Walter Satterlee, of New York. For some
time later he seems to have been undecided as to how to apply his
gifts, but an accidental sketch submitted to a Chicago paper, resulted
in his being forthwith engaged by that publication. After remaining
in Chicago on several newspapers for some years, he took a trip to
California, doing further artistic work in San Francisco. At length
he determined to beard the metropolitan journalist lions in their
dens. After a struggle, during which he did work on Judge and other
New York publications, he became a member of the staff of the Herald,
where, thanks to an accidental inspiration, “Foxy Grandpa” came into
existence. Later he became connected with the New York American. Mr.
Schultze is a man of magnificent physique, and is held in high esteem
by those who know him. He is the author of several works of comic
drawings, and “Foxy Grandpa” has been dramatized.


EUGENE ZIMMERMAN.

Eugene Zimmerman’s cartoons in Judge are characterized by an insight
into the political questions of the hour which is assisted rather
than hindered by the sheer humor of his work. He was born at Basel,
Switzerland, May 25, 1862. While yet a baby his parents came to the
United States and settled at Paterson, New Jersey, where he received
his education in the public schools. After leaving school, he was
in turn a farmer’s boy, an errand boy in a store, a fish peddler,
a baker and a sign painter, but sketched and drew continuously. In
1882 he secured a position in the art rooms of Puck, and after doing
considerable work for that publication left it in order to join Judge.
He has also illustrated books and articles by Bill Nye and James
Whitcomb Riley. As a caricaturist pure and proper he is almost without
a rival in this country.




HUMORISTS.


GEORGE ADE.

George Ade has an established reputation among those who are lovers
of wholesome humor. His sketches, given in a picturesque dialect, are
characterized by a freshness of observation which is aided rather
than marred by the so-called slang in which they are written. Born at
Kentland, Newton county, Indiana, February 9, 1866, he graduated from
the University of Lafayette, Indiana, and subsequently became reporter
and telegraph editor on the Lafayette Evening Call. In 1891 he went
to Chicago, as a member of the staff of the Daily News of that city,
and afterward joined the forces of the Tribune. After establishing a
reputation as a humorist, he turned playwright and has scored several
metropolitan successes. His Fables in Slang, issued in 1899, and More
Fables are the best known of his pen products.


JOHN KENDRICK BANGS.

John Kendrick Bangs occupies a distinctive position in the domain of
humor. To use the vernacular, he is in a class by himself, and so the
products of his pen can hardly be referred to or compared with that of
any other of the writers of to-day. He was born in Yonkers, New York,
May 27, 1862, his father being Francis N. Bangs, who for many years was
the president of the Bar association of New York. Mr. Bangs graduated
from Columbia university in 1883 and entered his father’s office, but
his humor would not down, and so it was that he shortly deserted the
law in order to become the associate editor of Life. This was in 1884.
Since that time he has held many responsible journalistic positions in
New York, and in his present capacity as editor of Harper’s Weekly has
added much to the reputation which is deservedly his.


SAMUEL LANGHORN CLEMENS.

Samuel L. Clemens, who is better known as “Mark Twain,” was born in
Monroe county, Missouri, November 30, 1835, and received his education
at the village schools. On his father’s death, which took place when
he was twelve years of age, he went to work in order to contribute
to the support of his mother and little brothers and sisters. As an
apprentice in the office of the Hannibal (Missouri) Courier, he laid
the foundations of his reputation as author and journalist. Within the
following twenty-five years he was steamboat pilot, soldier, miner and
editor. His first contributions under his famous nom-de-plume appeared
in 1862, in the newspaper, The Virginia City Enterprise. Since 1872
he has devoted himself to literary work, lecturing occasionally, and
making frequent trips to Europe. It is said that nearly a million
copies of his works have been sold. Space will not permit of a full
list of them, but Roughing It, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and Pudden-Head Wilson are classics
whose popularity bids fair to last as long as American literature
itself.


FINLEY PETER DUNNE.

The author of the immortal “Mr. Dooley” is Finley Peter Dunne, who
began life as a Chicago reporter, but is now under contract to Harper
Brothers to write exclusively for their publications. He was born at
Chicago, July 10, 1867, was educated in local public schools and began
his reportorial life in 1885. After serving on the staffs of several
Chicago papers he became editor of the Journal of that city in 1897.
It was about this time that he conceived “Mr. Dooley.” The reputation
which that unique character brought him resulted in his being engaged
to contribute to a syndicate of New York, Chicago and San Francisco
newspapers, and later to form his current connection with the Harpers.


SIMEON FORD.

Simeon Ford, the after-dinner speaker and raconteur who, so it is said,
can look more sad and at the same time talk more humorously than any
other man before the American public, was born in Lafayette, Indiana,
in 1856. After an education received in the public schools of the town
of his birth he studied law, but finding that there was but little
merriment in Blackstone and briefs, abandoned his first intentions, and
after plunges into various businesses, drifted to New York, where, in
1883, he fell in love with and married Julia Shaw, the daughter of the
proprietor of the Grand Union hotel. He forthwith became a partner with
his father-in-law, and from thence on has been as successful as a hotel
manager as he is famous as an after-dinner speaker.


ELIZABETH MERIWETHER GILMER.

Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, whose nom-de-plume is “Dorothy Dix,”
was born in Montgomery county, Tennessee, November 18, 1870. She was
married November 21, 1888, to George O. Gilmer. In 1896 she became
the editor of the woman’s department of the New Orleans Picayune, and
contributed to that paper a series of articles called Dorothy Dix
Talks, which won her immediate recognition as a humorist. In 1900 she
joined the New York American and Journal staff as a writer on special
topics, which she treats in a breezy, snappy fashion.


GEORGE V. HOBART.

George V. Hobart, the humorist and librettist, who is well known to
the newspaper public under his nom-de-plume of Dinkelspiel, was born
at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. When a boy he studied telegraphy and
obtained a position as an operator on one of the Cumberland (Maryland)
newspapers. One day between the clicks of his instrument he wrote a
humorous story, and handed it to the editor, who remarked, “I want more
of that.” That was the beginning of the famous Dinkelspiel sketches.
Mr. W. R. Hearst, of the New York American, saw Hobart’s work, called
him to New York. He is the author of several comedies and books of
musical productions.


MELVIN DE LANCY LANDON.

Melvin De Lancy Landon, “Eli Perkins,” was born at Eaton, New York,
September 7, 1839. After a course of preparation in the public schools
he entered Union college and graduated in 1861. One week later he
received an appointment from the United States treasury, but soon
resigned his position to enlist in the Union army to take part in
the Civil war. He left the army, in 1864, with the rank of major.
Next he became a cotton planter in Arkansas and Louisiana. Later he
traveled in Europe and was secretary of the United States legation at
St. Petersburg. In 1877 he was married to Emily Louise Smith. He has
written copiously for magazines and other publications. But it is his
books, Wit, Humor and Pathos, Franco-Prussian War, Wit and Humor of the
Age, Kings of Platform and Pulpit, and Thirty Years of Wit, upon which
his reputation as a humorist rests.




JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS.


STEPHEN BONSAL.

A most industrious contributor to magazines and writer of short stories
is Stephen Bonsal. He was born in Virginia in 1863, and educated in St.
Paul’s school, Concord, New Hampshire. After finishing his studies in
this country he went to Gottingen and Heidelberg, Germany. Returning
to this country, he entered journalism. In this connection he is best
known as representing the New York Herald during the Bulgarian-Servian
war. In the service of that newspaper, he also went to Macedonia,
Morocco and Cuba. Leaving newspaper work, he next entered the United
States diplomatic service and was secretary of legation and chargé
d’affaires in Pekin, Madrid, Tokio and Corea from 1890 to 1896. Besides
his magazine work, he is the author of several books, including Morocco
As It Is and The Real Condition of Cuba.


RICHARD HARDING DAVIS.

Like many other authors, Richard Harding Davis comes of literary stock,
his father being S. Clark Davis, editor of the Philadelphia Public
Ledger, and his mother Rebecca Harding Davis, whose works of fiction
have brought her a certain amount of public notice. After graduating
from the Lehigh university of Pennsylvania, Mr. Davis made a reputation
for himself in newspaper circles in his native city. He is a versatile
writer and prefers fiction to fact. He first attained prominence
through the medium of his Van Bibber Sketches. War correspondent as
well as novelist, his life has been filled with stirring incident. Mr.
Davis has been charged with egotism by his critics, but every man who
is conscious of his individuality is subject to such attacks. Married
Cecil Clark, daughter of J. M. Clark, of Chicago, April 4, 1899.


HAMLIN GARLAND.

One of the best-known makers of magazine literature is Hamlin Garland,
who was born in West Salem, Wisconsin, September 16, 1860, of
English-Dutch parentage. In 1881 his studies were completed in Cedar
Valley seminary, Wisconsin, and he next spent some years in traveling
and teaching in the east. Later he took the lecture platform, was an
occasional writer of sketches and short stories, and spent some time in
Boston studying and teaching. He is an ardent advocate of the single
tax doctrine and several of his works have to do with the struggles of
the poor against existing conditions. He has also written a number of
books of fiction.


DAVID G. PHILLIPS.

David G. Phillips, one of the latest of American authors to achieve a
measurable success and to give promises of a literary future, was born
in Indianapolis in 1866, his father being a banker in that city. After
a season spent in the local public schools and a preparatory collegiate
course, Mr. Phillips went to Yale, and while there determined to become
either a journalist or an author. On graduating he decided to go into
newspaper work and so became a member of the reportorial staff of the
New York World. It was not long before he attracted the attention of
Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, the proprietor of the World. Mr. Phillips was
in consequence given an editorial position. After some time spent in
the service of the World, Mr. Phillips resigned in order to turn his
attention to novel writing. Of his books A Golden Fleece and The Great
God Success have been fairly well received, but his last work, The
Confessions of a Crœsus, is distinctly the best thing that he has done
in the way of pure literature.


CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS ROBERTS.

C. G. D. Roberts inherited his literary instinct. His father was the
Rev. G. Goodrich Roberts, and he is a cousin of Bliss Carman, the poet,
while several of his ancestors were professors in English universities.
He was born in Canada in 1860. Graduating from the university of
Brunswick, in 1879, he afterward and for several years taught in
educational establishments in Canada, but in 1895 devoted himself
exclusively to literary work. In 1897 he became associate editor of the
Illustrated American, but is best known as a writer of nature stories,
several of which have passed through two or three editions.


WILLIAM THOMAS STEAD.

William T. Stead, the founder of the Review of Reviews, and a constant
contributor to a number of American newspapers, was born on July 3,
1849, at Embleton, England, being the son of the Rev. W. Stead, a
Congregational minister. When fourteen years of age he was apprenticed
to a merchant at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, and began to contribute
to local newspapers. His journalistic promptings at length became
so imperative that he deserted the commercial world, and after a
preliminary struggle became assistant editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.
Later he founded the Review of Reviews, and subsequently the American
Review of Reviews. He takes an active interest in the larger questions
of the day, such as international arbitration, psychological problems,
etc. Mr. Stead has a place in his generation and fills it admirably.


VANCE THOMPSON.

Vance Thompson, a well known journalist, author and playwright, was
born on April 17, 1863. He graduated from Princeton in 1883, and was
subsequently a student of the University of Jena in Germany. He is
well known in metropolitan journalism, having held the position of
dramatic critic for more than one New York newspaper, and he has also
contributed liberally to leading magazines and daily publications in
general. He is also known as a musical critic. Mr. Thompson founded
a fortnightly publication entitled Madamoiselle New York, which was
characteristic of both him and his, and is the author of several plays,
pantomimes and books. In 1890 he married Lillian Spencer, of New York.


STEWART EDWARD WHITE.

Stewart Edward White, the author, was born at Grand Rapids, Michigan,
March 2, 1873. He studied at the high school of the town of his birth
and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1895. Subsequently
he came east and took a course in the Columbia law school. Mr. White
is still a bachelor, is a fruitful contributor to magazines, and has
written some novels which have been given a respectful hearing, these
including The Westerners and The Claim Jumpers.


OWEN WISTER.

Owen Wister, who is best known to the public through the medium of
his novel, The Virginian, was born at Philadelphia July 14, 1860. He
prepared for college at St. Paul’s school, Concord, New Hampshire, and
was graduated from Harvard in 1892, being admitted to the Philadelphia
bar some years later. Instead of following the profession of a lawyer,
however, he engaged in literary work. Apart from his novels, he has
been a prolific contributor to magazines and other periodicals. His
books are eminently readable, if they are nothing else.




POETS.


THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.

Judging from “The Story of a Bad Boy,” which is partly
autobiographical, Thomas Bailey Aldrich spent his boyhood just as all
wholesome-minded, healthy boys do, in having a good time. He was born
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, November 11, 1836. While he was still
a baby, his family went to New Orleans, but he was sent back to his
native town to be educated. After a common school course, he prepared
to enter Harvard, but his father failed in business and soon afterward
died. Although young Aldrich’s relatives were prepared to pay the
expenses of his college course, he preferred to be independent and
decided to begin a business career. So it came about that he entered
the offices of his uncle in New York city at the age of sixteen.
About this time he began to contribute articles in prose and verse to
Putnam’s Magazine, The Knickerbocker Magazine and other periodicals.
His literary ability finally got him a place in a publishing house as
reader of manuscripts and of proof. His first book, The Bells, did
not attract much attention, but in 1856 he published The Ballad of
Baby Bell and Other Poems, which struck the popular fancy. About the
year 1860 he became an independent writer, contributing to various
publications, but chiefly to the Atlantic Monthly. In 1870 he became
editor of Every Saturday, a high-class literary weekly, which was
founded in Boston and effectively edited, yet only lived four years.
In 1881 he succeeded Mr. Howells in the editorial chair of the Atlantic
Monthly. In this same year both Mr. Howells and Mr. Aldrich received
from Yale university the degree of LL.D. Mr. Aldrich retired from
the Atlantic Monthly in 1890. In 1865 he was married to Miss Lillian
Woodman, of New York city. Several children were born to him.


BLISS CARMAN.

Bliss Carman is a native of New Brunswick and began life as a civil
engineer and school teacher. The muse won him, however, almost from
boyhood, and he has written steadily, slowly and safely, which is
equivalent to saying that he has written progressively. Like many of
the Canadian writers, he came to the United States to seek recognition.
Here he met three other Canadians—C. G. D. Roberts, James Clarence
Harvey and the late Richard Hovey. They formed a talented quartet of
struggling poets, and their little world known as “Vagabondia,” was one
of the most fascinating centers of American Bohemianism of the better
type. Literary and artistic people coveted the privilege of entering
therein. Mr. Carman and Mr. Hovey published several volumes of songs
from “Vagabondia.” The subject of this sketch is best known by his
Coronation Ode and his Sapphic Fragments. There is a fine and tender
quality in Mr. Carman’s poems that accounts for their popularity among
people possessing that which is known as the “artistic temperament.”


RICHARD LE GALLIENNE.

Richard Le Gallienne, who has a personality which accords with that of
the traditional poet, is an Irishman by birth. In spite of his critics,
his place in the world of letters is assured, mainly by reason of his
poems, of which he has issued three volumes. Robert Louis Stevenson,
an Elegy, is one of the best known of Mr. Le Gallienne’s works, and
ranks among the classic elegies of the English language. It is not
too much to say that it compares favorably with Gray’s Elegy in a
Country Churchyard, Swinburne’s Ave Et Vale, and Morris’ Wordsworth’s
Grave. In Mr. Le Gallienne’s verses, love, romance and dainty imagery
are effectively mingled, and, as a rule, the results appeal to both
heart and ear. His more ambitious works are those that have to do with
literary criticism. He has also written books on Kipling and Meredith,
which for vivid, close-range studies of the lives and purposes of
two writers whose ideals are diametrically opposed, have rarely been
equalled. The output of so-called literary criticism is so voluminous
that it “tires by vastness,” yet the demand for the product of Mr. Le
Gallienne’s pen still exists. He is also the author of a number of
novels. That he is of industrious habits is proven by the fact that,
while only thirty-six years of age, he has produced thirty works, the
last being an English rendition of the odes of the Persian poet, Hafiz.
Mr. Le Gallienne is an example of the possibilities that are inherent
in every man, who, having determined on a given line of work, proceeds
to follow it to success. He has never been to college, but has educated
himself and so possesses all that belongs to a college curriculum. He
has undergone the disappointments, deferred hopes, and all the rest of
the unpleasant things that belong to the struggling literary man, and
has conquered. The moral is obvious.


ROBERT MACKAY.

Robert Mackay, who is one of the youngest, but none the less promising
of America’s poets, was born in Virginia City, Nevada, 1871. His
father, who is among the oldest of the living “Comstockers,” settled
in Nevada over fifty years ago, when the state was practically unknown
to white men. The subject of this sketch began his literary work when
a mere boy as a reporter on the San Francisco Chronicle. Subsequently
he was editor and assistant editor of several papers on the Pacific
coast. In 1895 he determined to travel over the world. The trip
occupied the greater portion of five years, during which period he
visited lands where white men were seldom seen. Naturally he gathered
many experiences, and much valuable data. While Mr. Mackay has written
a great many poems he has never compiled them in book form. He has a
theory that too many young writers throw themselves on the mercy of a
public which do not know them and necessarily do not care for their
callow wares. He therefore proposes to mature his work until he is
satisfied that it has a fighting chance for public favor. Nevertheless
he is by no means a stranger to the public. Those poems of his that
have appeared in a number of periodicals have made him many friends.
Mr. Mackay’s verses are finely fibered. Technically correct, they are
acceptable to those critics who place mechanism on the same plane with
motive. But they are more than finished specimens of the verse-maker’s
art. With deft and tender fingers he plays upon the heart chords of
humanity, and these ring responsive to his sympathetic touch. His
themes are those that are as old as the race, and as imperishable.
Mother love, wedded love, patriotism, the eternal yearning for the
higher life, the eternal problem of the hereafter—such they are—and
they are treated by him with a facile sincerity that marks him as a
true poet—one who writes not for the sake of writing, but because of
inner spiritual promptings that will not be denied.


CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER.

The personality of Cincinnatus Heine Miller, better known as “Joaquin”
Miller, is as picturesque as has been his career. In turn a miner,
lawyer, express rider, editor, poet and newspaper man, Mr. Miller
has amassed a fund of experiences such as rarely falls to the lot
of the ordinary individual. That his literary gifts enable him to
reproduce in vivid fashion many of these same happenings is a matter
for self-congratulation on the part of the reading public. What is yet
more fortunate is that he preserves in his poems the breath of the
prairie, the air of the mountains and the “tang” of that west that
is rapidly passing into nothingness. The poet was born in the Wabash
district of Indiana, November 10, 1841. In 1850 his parents removed
to Oregon, and there is but little doubt that the wild and beautiful
scenery amid which he spent his childhood had had much to do with
fostering his then undeveloped poetical instincts. When the famous rush
of gold seekers to the Pacific coast took place in 1859, young Miller
was among the Argonauts. He does not appear to have been particularly
successful in his hunt for gold, and returned to Oregon in 1860. Then
he began to study law, supporting himself in the meantime by acting as
express rider in Idaho. In 1863 he started the Eugene (Ore.) Democratic
Register, which, however, had a brief existence. Later he opened a law
office in Canon City, and in 1866 went to London, where he remained
until 1870. It was in that city that he published his first book of
poems. It received a most favorable reception, and established him as
a poet of a unique type and quality. Returning to this country, he did
some years of newspaper work in Washington, D. C., but finally drifted
back to the Pacific coast, and devoted himself entirely to literature.
In 1897, acting as correspondent for the New York newspaper, he visited
the Klondike to compare modern miners with those of ’59. Some of his
best known books of poems are Songs of the Sierras, Pacific Palms, The
One Fair Woman, Songs of the Sunland, etc. He is also a playwright.
One of the most important and successful of his dramas is The Danites.
He lives in a picturesque home, known as the Heights, at Oakland,
California.


HENRY VAN DYKE.

    “Life is an arrow; therefore you must know
    What mark to aim at and how to use the bow,
    Then draw it to the head and let it go.”

These words, as well as the career of the well-known author and
clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, emphasize the fact that he
has successfully pursued his all-absorbing ideal. He was born at
Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1852, his father being the
Rev. Henry Jackson Van Dyke, who is of Dutch colonial blood. At the
age of sixteen, and after graduating from the Brooklyn Polytechnic
Institute, young Van Dyke entered Princeton college and received the
degree of A.B., with highest honors, in 1873. While an undergraduate
he was awarded the junior oration prize and senior prize in English
literature. He was also reception orator on class day, and on
commencement delivered the salutatory and belles lettres. Upon
graduating in the theological course from Princeton seminary, in
1876, he delivered the master oration. Later he went to Germany to
pursue his studies in divinity at the University of Berlin, and, in
1878, returned to the United States, becoming pastor of the United
Congregational church, Newport, Rhode Island, and remained there for
four years. In 1882 he accepted a call to the Old Brick Presbyterian
church, Fifth avenue and Thirty-seventh street, New York, which was
founded in 1767. At that time the church membership was small and its
financial condition far from satisfactory. But, thanks to the untiring
efforts of the new pastor, it became one of importance, spiritually and
in other ways. Since 1900 he has been professor in English literature
at Princeton university. He is the author of numerous books of wide
circulation.




CANADIANS.


DR. WILLIAM OSLER.

The most eminent medical man of Canada, and perhaps of the world, is
Dr. William Osler, who has recently been appointed by King Edward
to the exalted position of Regis Professor of Medicine at Oxford
University, England. This means that Dr. Osler will be the chairman of
the faculty of this great university. He will be its head. No greater
distinction than this could come to any medical man. Aside from the
honor of his appointment and the salary of $10,000 per year, his
position will bring Dr. Osler a private practice which will make him
one of the most highly compensated physicians in the world.

Dr. Osler was born at Bondhead, Ontario, July 12, 1849. His father was
a minister of the Church of England. Dr. Osler went to school at Port
Hope, Ont., and afterward entered Trinity University in Toronto, where
he received his academic degree. The only distinction he attained at
college was the reputation of being a hard student. He followed out
then the injunction which he has since often made to students of his
own, namely, “love to labor.”

After leaving the University, Dr. Osler entered the office of Dr.
Bonell in Toronto as an assistant. Here he studied three years and then
entered McGill University at Montreal, where he was graduated in 1872.
He then went abroad, and returning to Canada in 1875 was elected to the
chair of Institute of Medicine at McGill. Some remarks of his apropos
of his first plunging into teaching are worth quoting. “My first
appearance before the class filled me with tremulous uneasiness and an
overwhelming sense of embarrassment. I soon forgot this, however, in my
interest in the work. Whatever success I achieved then and throughout
my subsequent career has been due to enthusiasm and constitutional
energy.”

Four years after Dr. Osler became connected with McGill he was
appointed a member of the visiting staff of the Montreal General
Hospital. In 1883 he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians of London, England.

Dr. Osler became in 1884 professor of medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania. He was invited in 1889 to create the chair of Professor
of the Practice and Principles of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins
Medical School at Baltimore. It was his work here that lifted him into
world-wide prominence as a physician. In 1890 he was elected dean of
the medical faculty of Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile he had built up a very
large private practice, and was one of the doctors called upon to treat
President McKinley after he had been shot in Buffalo.

In spite of the fact that Dr. Osler’s great powers of concentration
have been one of the factors in his remarkable success in his
profession, he is a strong believer in having a broad outlook, and
avoiding too great an absorption in any one line of work. He has said
in an address to students:

“Do not become so absorbed in your profession as to exclude all outside
interests. Success in my profession depends as much upon the man as
upon the physician. The more you see of life, outside the circle of
your work, the better equipped you will be for the struggle. While
medicine is to be your calling, see to it that you have also some
intellectual task which will keep you in touch with the world of art
and letters. When tired of anatomy refresh your mind with Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Keats, Shelley and Shakespeare.

“I advise you to have no ambition higher than to join the noble band
of general practitioners. These are generous hearted men, with well
balanced, cool heads, who are not scientific always, but are learned in
the wisdom of the sick room. No man can stand higher in the love and
respect of the community, and wield a more potent influence, than the
family doctor....

“As to your work, I have a single bit of advice which I give with the
earnest conviction of its paramount influence in any success which may
have attended my efforts in life: Take no thought of the morrow. Live
neither in the past nor the future, but let each day’s work absorb your
entire energy and satisfy your widest ambition.”


SIR GEORGE A. DRUMMOND.

A high and representative type of the Scotchmen who have done so
much for Canada is Sir George Alexander Drummond, who for many years
has been very actively identified with the best elements in Canadian
commercial and social life. Sir George was born in Edinburgh in 1829,
and in 1854, after graduation from Edinburgh University, came to
Canada to assume the management of the extensive sugar refinery which
had been established in Montreal by the late John Redpath. Though the
refinery was for some years very successful under the direction of
Sir George, it was closed in 1874 because of the appalling effects
of a high tariff. It was reopened, however, in 1879, when Sir George
founded the Canadian Sugar Refining Company, which has exerted a strong
influence in the upbuilding of the prosperity of the Dominion. Sir
George steadily grew in commercial power. He became a director of the
Bank of Montreal in 1882 and vice-president of the institution in 1887.
For two years he was president of the Montreal Board of Trade. He also
assumed the presidency of the company which owns very valuable coal and
iron mining properties at Londonderry, Nova Scotia, and he has been
connected with many other enterprises of importance.

His activities, however, have been by no means confined to commerce.
He has been president of the Art Association of Montreal, and
possesses one of the finest art collections on the continent. He is
an enthusiastic golfer and has been president of the Canada Golf
Association. He has busied himself with philanthropic projects and was
made one of the trustees of Victoria Order of Nurses in 1897. He was
called to the Senate of Canada by the Marquis of Lorne and was knighted
by the Queen.




AUTHORS.


JAMES LANE ALLEN.

Among the many literary lights which the south has given us is James
Lane Allen. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1849, and comes of
one of the old Virginia families. Shortly after the Civil war broke out
Mr. Allen’s father lost his fortune, and James in consequence had to
work and attend school simultaneously. He graduated with honors from
the Transylvania university, Lexington, in 1872. Then he began to teach
for a livelihood. Subsequently he was called to a professorship in
Transylvania university, and later was a professor of Latin and higher
English at Bethany college, West Virginia. In 1884 he went to New York
to make literature his profession. He was then unknown in that city,
but soon gained recognition as one of the most poetic and dramatic of
American novelists. Of his many books The Choir Invisible, A Summer in
Arcady, and Aftermath, are perhaps the most in demand by the reading
public.


GEORGE WASHINGTON CABLE.

A novelist who works on original lines is George W. Cable. He was born
in New Orleans, October 12, 1844. At the age of fourteen necessity
compelled him to seek employment in a store. In 1863 he joined the
Confederate army, serving until the close of the war. Returning to New
Orleans, he became an employee of a mercantile house, and later studied
civil engineering. It was at this time that he began to contribute to
the New Orleans Picayune and was at length given a position on its
editorial staff. He returned to business life, writing in the meantime,
however, for Scribner’s and other magazines. His sketches of Creole
life were so well received that he finally decided to devote himself to
literature. He has produced a number of works whose chief characters
are almost all of the Creole type, is a successful lecturer, and takes
an active interest in religious affairs.


WINSTON CHURCHILL.

Winston Churchill, the novelist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri,
November 10, 1871. He received his early education at the Smith academy
in that city, and when seventeen years of age was appointed a cadet of
the United States naval academy at Annapolis. Graduating therefrom in
1891, he joined the cruiser San Francisco, but his tastes being more
literary than naval he resigned and became a member of the staff of
the Army and Navy Journal, of New York. In 1895 he was made editor of
the Cosmopolitan magazine, but a few months later resolved to identify
himself with independent work on original lines. His first book, The
Celebrity, won recognition and a certain amount of popularity. Mr.
Churchill’s reputation as a novelist rests for the most part on Richard
Carvel and its sequel, The Crisis, which is hardly less popular than
was its predecessor.


FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD.

A clever and popular writer is Francis M. Crawford, who was born at
Bagni-di-Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854. He is a son of Thomas Crawford,
the sculptor, and comes of a long line of literary and artistic
ancestors. Francis was educated in New York schools, subsequently
entering Harvard, but did not complete his course there. He was also
a student at Cambridge university, England, and at the universities of
Karlsruhe and Heidelberg, Germany, and the university of Rome, where he
gave special attention to Sanscrit. In 1873 Mr. Crawford was compelled
by circumstances to adopt journalism as a means of livelihood. Some
years later he turned his attention to literature proper, his first
book, Mr. Isaacs, appearing in 1882. Among his other well-known works
are A Cigarette Maker’s Romance, The Three Fates, Zoroaster, etc. He is
also an artist of considerable ability and has traveled extensively. He
and his wife and children live near Sorrento, Italy.


RUDYARD KIPLING.

Rudyard Kipling, the poet and novelist who, perhaps more than any
other writer of this generation, has voiced the militant spirit of
the British empire, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. His
father was John Lockwood Kipling. Rudyard was educated at the United
Services college, Devonshire, England. Returning to India at the end of
his school days, he became the assistant editor of the Civil-Military
Gazette, and subsequently was connected with the staff of the Pioneer,
a prominent newspaper of the country. The well-known Soldiers Three
series and those other of his works which have to do with army life
in India were the outcome of his Pioneer experiences. In 1892 he
married Caroline Balestier at Brattleboro, Vermont. Mr. Kipling has not
only a marvelous faculty of describing things as they actually are,
but he also has the prophetic instinct of the true poet. As a case
in point may be cited his famous Recessional, written at the end of
Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. The full significance of the poem was only
realized by the British during the disastrous and humiliating periods
of the Boer war. In prose and poetry he has been alike fruitful.


THOMAS NELSON PAGE.

Thomas N. Page was born in Oakland, Hanover county, Virginia, April
23, 1853. The Civil war interfered with his education, and left the
Page family in an impoverished condition. Nevertheless he, during this
period, was gathering material which resulted in the production of
those two delightful books of his, Marse Chan and Meh Lady. Later he
managed to secure a course at Washington and Lee university. At the law
school of the University of Virginia he secured his degree in a year,
and, after being admitted to the bar, practiced in Richmond from 1875
to 1893. During his leisure hours he did work which placed him on a
high eminence as lecturer and literary man. His books are many, and for
the most part have to do with the war between north and south and the
reconstruction period following its close.


CHARLES MAJOR.

Charles Major, the novelist, was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, July
25, 1856. He was educated at the common schools at Shelbyville and
Indianapolis, after which he studied law and engaged in practice at
Shelbyville. But his literary tastes were stronger than his legal
inclinations, and he began to contribute to magazines and to write
novels. His most famous book, When Knighthood was in Flower, was issued
in 1898, and reached an edition of several hundred thousand. In 1885 he
was married to Alice Shaw.




NOVELISTS.


GERTRUDE FRANKLIN ATHERTON.

One of the most vivid and entertaining interpreters of the complex
characteristics of American womanhood is the versatile and entertaining
writer, Gertrude Franklin Atherton. She was born on Rincon Hill, San
Francisco, California, October 30, 1859, daughter of Thomas Lyman
Horn, of German descent, and on her mother’s side descended from a
brother of Benjamin Franklin. She was educated at St. Mary’s Hall,
Benicia, California, also at Sayre Institute, Lexington, Kentucky,
and by private tutors. In addition to this, she had obtained a good
foundation in the classics, English especially, from the teachings of
her grandfather. Before leaving school she was married to George Henry
Bowen Atherton, a native of Valparaiso, Chili. After his death, in
1888, Mrs. Atherton went directly to New York city, beginning literary
work in earnest. As she never received courteous treatment from the
press of her own country, she settled in London in 1895, and there met
with gratifying recognition. Some of her most important works are:
“The Doomswoman,” 1902; “Patience Sparhawk and Her Times,” 1897; “His
Fortunate Grace,” 1897; “American Wives and English Husbands,” 1898;
“The Californians,” 1898; “A Daughter of the Vine,” 1899; “Senator
North,” 1900. The latter is the first attempt in American fiction
at a purely national novel, disregarding section. The Leeds Mercury
styled “The Californians” an oasis in fiction, while the British Weekly
declared Mrs. Atherton to be the ablest writer of fiction now living.
The brilliancy of her portraiture and the humor and freshness of her
dialogues are undeniable. A western writer says, “The early days of the
missions and Spanish rule have given her a most congenial field, and
she has successfully reproduced their atmosphere in her best novels;
against the background of their romantic traditions she paints the
world, old, strong of passion, vague, dreamy, idyllic, yet strong and
elemental.”


AMELIA EDITH BARR.

Amelia Edith Barr was born at Ulverton, Lancashire, England, March 29,
1831. She was the daughter of the Rev. William Huddleston. Her mother’s
family were among the followers of the noted evangelist, George
Fox. She was educated in several good schools and colleges and was
graduated, at the age of nineteen, from Glasgow high school. In 1850
she was married to Robert Barr, son of a minister of the Scottish Free
Kirk. In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Barr came to America, settling at Austin,
and later at Galveston, Texas. Her husband and three sons died in 1857
of yellow fever and Mrs. Barr was obliged to support herself and three
daughters with her pen. Two years after Mr. Barr’s death she came to
New York city and received immediate encouragement from Mr. Beecher,
of the Christian Union, and Robert Bonner, of the New York Ledger. She
taught school for two years, meanwhile writing various sketches and
miscellaneous articles for magazines and newspapers. The work which
gave her the greatest fame, “A Bow of Orange Ribbon,” appeared in
serial form in the Ledger. Since 1884 she has devoted her time almost
entirely to the writing of novels and short stories.


FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT.

There are very few who are not acquainted with “Little Lord
Fauntleroy,” one of the sweetest children’s stories ever written, but
not so many perhaps are acquainted with the interesting life story of
its author, Frances Hodgson Burnett. She was born November 24, 1849,
in Manchester, England, and while yet attending school she developed a
talent for writing short stories and poems and even novels. When her
father died her mother brought the family to America in 1865, settling
at Newmarket, but a year later removing to Knoxville, Tennessee. She
then completed a story which was planned in her thirteenth year, and
succeeded in disposing of it to Godey’s Lady’s Book, in which it was
published in 1867. Other interesting short stories followed in this and
in Peterson’s Magazine, but the turning point of her literary success
was “Surly Tim’s Trouble,” which appeared in Scribner’s Monthly in
1872, attracting a great deal of attention. At the invitation of the
editor more of her publications were published in Scribner’s, one of
the most popular being “That Lass o’ Lowries,” which appeared later in
1877 in book form. Mrs. Hodgson has been twice married, the first time,
in 1873, to Dr. Swan M. Burnett, from whom she obtained a divorce in
1898, and the second time, in 1900, to Stephen Townsend, an English
author. Mrs. Burnett, by winning a suit against the unauthorized
dramatization of “Fauntleroy,” secured for authors of England the
control of dramatic rights in their stories, for which Reade and
Dickens had spent thousands of pounds in vain.


PEARL MARY THERESA CRAIGIE.

The authoress, Pearl Mary Theresa Craigie, more familiarly known
as John Oliver Hobbes, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, November
3, 1867, daughter of John Morgan and Laura Hortense (Arnold)
Richards. She is descended from early settlers of New York. After
being educated under private tutors, Miss Richards, in 1883, went to
Europe, continuing her studies in Paris. In 1887 she was enrolled as
a student at University College, London, where, under the tuition of
Professor Goodwin, she obtained an adequate knowledge of the classics
and philosophy. In early childhood she was fond of writing. One of
her first stories, entitled “Lost, A Dog,” appeared in Dr. Joseph
Parker’s paper, The Fountain. This story was signed Pearl Richards,
aged nine. Another of her stories, entitled “How Mark Puddler Became
an Innkeeper,” appeared in The Fountain of February 10, 1881. At the
age of eighteen she decided to make literature her profession and
immediately took up a special study of style, especially dramatic
dialogues. Her first book, entitled “Some Emotions and a Moral,” 1891,
is an excellent example of success under difficulties. This book was
composed during months of weary illness and amid the strain of domestic
anxiety, but its success was immediate, for over eighty thousand copies
were sold in a short time. Since then she has written several other
novels.


MARY ELEANOR WILKINS-FREEMAN.

“Wonderful in concentrated intensity, tremendous in power,” this record
of the heart tragedies of a dozen men and women is not surpassed in
our literature for its beauty of style, the delicacy of its character
delineations, and the enthralling interest of its narrative. It is the
praise merited by “Pembroke,” the greatest work that has come from
the pen of the author, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. She was born of Puritan
ancestors January 7, 1862, in Randolph, Norfolk county, Massachusetts,
and received her early education in Randolph, later removing to
Brattleboro, Vermont. She afterward attended Mount Holyoke seminary,
South Hadley, Massachusetts, but previous to this she had already begun
her literary work, writing poems and then prose for Youth’s Companion,
St. Nicholas, Harper’s Bazar and finally for Harper’s Magazine. “A
Humble Romance and Other Stories,” 1887, placed Miss Wilkins in the
class with Mrs. Stowe, Miss Jewett and other conspicuous authors as a
delineator of New England character. The simplicity and the astonishing
reality of her story brought a new revelation to New England itself.
Her literary style displays a fearlessness of the critic and the
dominating thought to be true to her ideal. “The Pot of Gold and Other
Stories,” 1891, and “Young Lucretia,” 1892, are among her popular
juveniles. “The New England Nun and Other Stories,” called forth the
most lavish praise. Her next work of importance, as well as her first
novel, was “Jane Field,” 1892. When “Pembroke” appeared, in 1894, it
was praised almost indiscriminately in England, some critics even
venturing to say that George Eliot had never produced anything finer.


ANNA KATHERINE GREENE.

The simple stories and poems, written in her childhood, were the
beginning of the career of the authoress, Anna Katherine Greene, who
was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 11, 1846, daughter of James
Wilson and Anna Katherine Greene. Her early education was obtained in
the public schools of New York city and Buffalo, and she completed her
course of study in Ripley Female College, Poultney, Vermont, graduating
in 1867. Returning to her native city, she engaged in literary work,
and, in 1878, produced her first important novel, “The Leavenworth
Case.” She attracted immediate attention in literary circles. It had
been carefully prepared and was given to the public only after repeated
revisions. It had a phenomenal sale—already, in 1894, exceeding seven
hundred and fifty thousand copies. From that time on there was a great
demand from the publishers for books from her pen, and during the next
seventeen years she wrote and published fifteen novels. The story of
“The Leavenworth Case” was dramatized and produced during the season
of 1891 and 1892, her husband, Charles Rohlfs, to whom she had been
married in 1884, sustaining the leading part, Harwell. The book is also
used as a text-book in Yale university to demonstrate the fallacy of
circumstantial evidence.


SARAH ORNE JEWETT.

A writer paid a just tribute to the subject of this sketch when she
wrote: “The secret of Sarah Jewett’s great success outside of its
artistic perfection, is the spirit of loving kindness and tender mercy
that pervades it.” She was born at South Berwick, Maine, September
3, 1849, daughter of Theodore Herman Jewett. Her parents were both
descendants of early English emigrants to Massachusetts. Sarah, owing
to delicate health in childhood, spent much of her time communing with
nature, where she received material and the inspiration that eventually
made her such a popular writer. She was educated at Berwick academy,
in her native city. When a mere girl she began her career as an author
by contributing to Riverside Magazine and Our Young Folks. At nineteen
she sent a story to the Atlantic Monthly, and has been averaging nearly
a book a year ever since. Miss Jewett adopted the pseudonym “Alice
Elliott” in 1881, but after that she used her own name instead.


CONSTANCE CARY HARRISON.

Constance Cary Harrison, who is better known to the reading public as
Mrs. Burton Harrison, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, April 25,
1846. She was educated by private governesses, and while under their
tuition gave proofs of being the possessor of literary ability. During
the Civil war she lived with her family in Richmond, Virginia. At the
end of the conflict she went abroad with her mother to complete her
studies in music and languages. Mrs. Harrison has traveled much and has
lived in nearly all of the continental capitals. She married Burton
Harrison, a well-known New York lawyer, and since her union to him has
resided in the metropolis. Her works are many and range from children’s
fairy stories to works on social questions, and again from small
comedies to books on municipal problems.


ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS WARD.

Heredity and environment conspired to make Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
Ward a woman of letters. Her father, the Rev. Austin Phelps, was
pastor of the Pine Street Congregational church of Boston at the time
of her birth, August 31, 1844. In 1848 he became a professor in the
theological seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, and thus his daughter
Elizabeth grew up among a circle of thinkers and writers. She received
most of her education from her father, but also attended the private
school at Andover and the seminary of Mrs. Prof. Edwards, where she
took a course of study equal to that of the men’s colleges of to-day.
At the age of nineteen she left school and engaged in mission work
at Abbott Village and Factory Settlement, a short distance from her
home. It was here she began an acquaintance with the lives and needs
of working people, which resulted in books such as “Hedged In” and
“Jack, the Fisherman.” Her first story was published in the Youth’s
Companion when she was only thirteen years old. In 1864 she published
“A Sacrifice Consumed,” in Harper’s Magazine, which earned her right to
the title “author.” The book which has given her greatest fame, “The
Gates Ajar,” was begun in 1862 and was published in 1868. Nearly one
hundred thousand copies were sold in the United States, and more than
that number in Great Britain. It was also translated into a number of
foreign languages. Probably Mrs. Ward has written more books worth
while than any other woman writer of her time. In 1888 Miss Phelps was
married to Herbert D. Ward, and has co-operated with him in writing
several romances.




REFORMERS.


GEORGE THORNDIKE ANGELL.

George Thorndike Angell was born at Southbridge, Massachusetts, June
5, 1823. He was educated in the public schools and graduated from
Dartmouth College in 1846. After study at the Harvard law school he was
admitted to the bar in 1851. For thirty-four years he has headed the
work for the humane treatment of animals and helpless human beings.
In 1868, when a young man of twenty-two, he founded the Massachusetts
society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. He has served as
its president since its inception, no one being better fitted to fill
the position. He has propagated his ideas on humanity to animals by
many organizations, and forty-four thousand “bands of mercy” speak for
his efficient and zealous management. As an editor and publisher, his
activity has been enormous, for in one year his societies sent out
117,000,000 pages of literature. His work for dumb brutes is so well
known that it has overshadowed those other forms of philanthropy with
which he has to do, and which in the case of an ordinary man would have
made him a reputation. The work of the Social Science Association, of
which Mr. Angell is a director, is of a varied nature, and ranges from
the prevention of crime to the detection of food adulteration, or from
the betterment of tenement houses to obtaining a higher standard of
citizenship.


SUSAN BROWNELL ANTHONY.

Susan Brownell Anthony was born at Adams, Massachusetts, February 15,
1820. Her father, a Quaker, was a cotton manufacturer and gave her a
liberal education. When she was seventeen years old her father failed
in business and she had to support herself by school teaching, which
profession she followed for thirteen years. Aroused at the injustice
of the inequality of wages paid to women teachers, she made a public
speech on the subject at the New York Teachers’ Association, which
attracted wide attention. She continued to work in the teachers’
association for equal recognition continuously and enthusiastically.
In 1849 she began to speak for the temperance cause, but soon became
convinced that women had no power to change the condition of things
without being able to vote at the polls, and from that time on she
identified herself with the suffrage movement. She has written a great
many tracts and was at one time the editor of a weekly paper called
the Revolution. Her work, The History of Woman’s Suffrage, which she
prepared in conjunction with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn
Gage, attracted wide attention.


FREDERICK ST. GEORGE DE LAUTOUR BOOTH-TUCKER.

Frederick St. George de Lautour Booth-Tucker was born at Monghyr,
India, March 21, 1853. He was educated at the Cheltenham college,
England, and, after passing the Indian civil service examination, was
appointed assistant commanding magistrate in the Punjab. He resigned
in order to join the Salvation army in 1881, inaugurated the Salvation
Army work in India in 1882, and had charge of the work of the army
there until 1891, when he was made secretary for the international work
of the organization in London. Since 1896 he has been in charge of
the affairs of the army in the United States, in conjunction with his
wife, Emma Moss Booth, whom he married, after which he adopted the name
of Booth-Tucker. He is the author of a number of religious and other
works and has considerable ability as an orator and organizer. Mr.
Booth-Tucker has a magnetic personality, and with the practical side of
his nature stands him in good stead in connection with his chosen walk
in life.


ANTHONY COMSTOCK.

Anthony Comstock, who has been described as the most honest and the
best-hated man in New York city, was born in New Canaan, Connecticut,
March 7, 1844. He received his education in district schools and
academy and later at the High School at New Britain, Connecticut.
Early in life he began to earn his own livelihood, and in order to
do so followed several vocations in succession. His brother Samuel
was killed fighting for the Union cause at Gettysburg, and Anthony,
volunteering to fill his place in the regiment, enlisted in the
Seventeenth Volunteer Connecticut Infantry and saw much service during
the war. He was mustered out in July, 1865. On January 25, 1871,
he married Margaret Hamilton. In 1873 he was appointed postmaster
inspector in New York, later became prominent in Young Men’s Christian
Association affairs, and finally identified himself with the New
York society for the suppression of vice. Mr. Comstock’s services
in connection with what is his life work are too well known to be
recapitulated. Possessing courage, moral and physical, of the highest
order and a keen sense of his duties to the community in his official
capacity, Mr. Comstock has for years been a terror to evil-doers,
especially those who pander to vicious instincts. He has brought
nearly 3,000 criminals to justice and has destroyed over 80 tons of
obscene literature, pictures, etc. Altogether he is a notable figure
in the complex life of New York, and the making of bitter enemies has
necessarily followed on Mr. Comstock’s career. But these, many and
influential as they are, have never successfully attacked his motives
or his integrity.


WILBUR FISKE CRAFTS.

The Rev. Wilbur Fiske Crafts was born at Fryeburg, Maine, January 12,
1850. His father was the Rev. A. C. Crafts. In 1869 the future author,
lecturer and clergyman graduated from Wesleyan University, Connecticut,
subsequently taking the post-graduate course in Boston University. On
leaving college he became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
holding charges for several years therein and laying the foundation for
the reputation which now attaches to him. Later, however, Mr. Crafts
decided that the tenets of the Congregational denomination were more
to his liking, and accordingly accepted a call to a Congregational
church in Brooklyn. Still later he became a Presbyterian pastor in New
York. Resigning from the ministry, he was made superintendent of the
International Reform Bureau, the object of which is to secure moral
legislation in the United States and Canada with the assistance of
lectures, literature and personal example and influence. He is the
author of many works, the majority of which are of a religious nature,
or deal with social questions.


ELBRIDGE THOMAS GERRY.

Elbridge Thomas Gerry, born in New York city, December 25, 1837, was
named after his grandfather, who was one of the vice-presidents of
the United States and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Mr. Gerry was educated in the New York public schools, and graduated
from Columbia college in 1858. He was admitted to the bar in 1860.
He acted as vice-president, until 1899, of the American society for
the prevention of cruelty to animals. He was chairman of the New York
state commission on capital punishment from 1886 to 1888. Since 1891 he
has been president of the annual convention of the New York societies
for prevention of cruelty. He is trustee of the general theological
seminary of the Presbyterian-Episcopal church and also trustee of
the American museum of natural history, and of the New York Mutual
Life Insurance company. Besides that, he is a member and director of
various corporations and societies. Since 1876 he has been president of
the New York society for the prevention of cruelty to children, which
society is generally known as the Gerry Society. He has one of the
largest private law libraries in the United States. Mr. Gerry is one of
those conscientious citizens whose work for the public good has been as
continuous as it has been successful.


WILLIAM REUBEN GEORGE.

William R. George was born at West Dryden, New York, June 4, 1866.
He was educated in the common schools. His parents came to New York
city in 1880, where he later engaged in business. Becoming interested
in poor boys and girls, he, during the seasons of 1890 to 1894, took
two hundred of them to the country for from two weeks to a month to
spend a portion of their school vacations with him. Impressed with
the large number of children endeavoring to live by charity, he
conceived, in 1894, the plan of requiring payment in labor for every
favor the youngsters received, and, in addition, instituted a system
of self-government. This was the beginning of a junior republic, which
was put into practical operation in 1895 and has continued successfully
ever since. He was married November 14, 1896, to Esther B. George, of
New York. To Mr. George belongs the credit of inaugurating a novel and
praiseworthy method of fostering good citizenship.


CHARLES HENRY PARKHURST.

The Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Parkhurst was born in Framingham,
Massachusetts, April 17, 1842. His father worked on a farm in summer
and taught school in winter. Until sixteen years of age Charles was a
pupil of the Clinton (Mass.) grammar school. The two years following
he acted as clerk in a dry goods store. At the age of eighteen he
began to prepare for college at Lancaster academy. At the end of the
course there, he went to Amherst, from whence he graduated in 1866.
The following year he became principal of the Amherst high school,
remaining there until 1870, when he visited Germany. On his return he
became professor of Greek and Latin in Williston seminary, holding
that position for two years, during which period he married a Miss
Bodman, a pupil of his while a teacher at Amherst. Accompanied by
his wife, he next made a trip to Europe to study at Halle, Leipzig,
and Bonn. Again in this country he received a call to the pastorate
of the First Congregational church in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he
soon gained a reputation as an original and forceful pulpit orator.
On March 9, 1880, he became pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian
church, New York city, the call being the outcome of his work at Lenox.
He immediately began to take a lively interest in city and national
politics, and one of his sermons attracted the attention of Dr. Howard
Crosby, president of the society for the prevention of crime, in which
society Dr. Parkhurst was invited to become a director. A few months
later Dr. Crosby died and Dr. Parkhurst was chosen as his successor.
Dr. Parkhurst has done more for reform in New York city than any other
single individual. His courageous course in connection with the Lexow
investigation of certain phases of life in New York will not be readily
forgotten.


ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.

That which is popularly, if somewhat vaguely, characterized as the
“Cause of women” in this country, is closely identified with the
name of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Many years of her life were spent in
promoting the cause of her sex politically and legally, and that her
work has not been fruitless is proven by the fact that as long ago
as 1840 she advocated the passage of the Married Woman’s Property
bill, which became a law in 1848. That measure alone is sufficient
to obtain for Mrs. Stanton the gratitude of her sex. She was born in
Johnstown, New York, November 12, 1815, being the daughter of Daniel
C. Cady, judge of the New York State Supreme Court. She obtained her
education at the Johnstown academy and the Emma Willard seminary,
Troy, New York, graduating from the latter institution in 1832. Eight
years later she married Henry Brewster Stanton, a state senator,
anti-slavery orator and lawyer. From the first Mrs. Stanton identified
herself with “Woman’s Rights,” and she it was who called the first
woman’s rights convention, the meeting taking place at Seneca Falls,
New York, in July, 1848. Continually working on the lines indicated,
she has for the last quarter of a century annually addressed congress
in favor of embodying woman suffrage in the constitution of the United
States. In 1861 she was president of the Woman’s Loyal League, and
through the medium of her personality made it a power in the land. From
1865 to 1893 she held the office of president of the Woman Suffrage
Association. In 1868 she was a candidate for congress. Her eightieth
birthday, which took place in 1895, was celebrated under the auspices
of the National Council of Women, three hundred delegates attending the
convention.




PHILANTHROPISTS.


MRS. PHOEBE APPERSIN HEARST.

Mrs. Phoebe Appersin Hearst was born in 1840. After an education in
the public schools she became a teacher in them until 1861, when
she married the late United States Senator George F. Hearst from
California, who died, in 1891, leaving her and her son, William
Randolph Hearst, a fortune of many millions. W. R. Hearst is the
well-known newspaper owner and publisher. Mrs. Hearst has established
kindergarten classes and the manual training school in San Francisco,
kindergartens and the kindergarten training school in Washington,
District of Columbia; has made donations to the American university
at Washington, gave $200,000 to build a national cathedral school
for girls, has established working girls’ clubs in San Francisco,
is the patron of a school for mining engineers at the University of
California, and, as a memorial to her husband, has built and endowed
libraries in a number of mining towns in the west. In connection with
the plans for the projected University of California, she has also
agreed to erect two buildings to cost between three and four million of
dollars.


DANIEL KIMBALL PEARSONS.

Daniel K. Pearsons was born at Bedford, Vermont, April 14, 1820, and
was educated in the public schools. Entered college at Woodstock,
Vermont, and was graduated as a physician, practicing in Chicopee,
Massachusetts, until 1857. He removed to Ogle county, Illinois, and
became a farmer, 1857 to 1860, and in the latter year began the real
estate business in Chicago, which he continued until 1887, when he
retired from business but remained a director of the Chicago City
Railway Company and other corporations. He has made handsome donations
to various colleges and charities there, including $280,000 to the
Chicago theological seminary and $200,000 to Beloit college. He has
also contributed to the treasuries of several other educational
establishments. Mr. Pearsons seems to be a pupil of Mr. Andrew Carnegie
in some respects, inasmuch as he has a profound belief in the wisdom of
distributing his money for praiseworthy purposes during his lifetime.


MRS. HENRY CODMAN POTTER.

The dominant quality of the character of the wife of Bishop Henry
Codman Potter, of the diocese of New York, is undoubtedly charity.
Her maiden name was Elizabeth L. Scriven, and she was born in 1849 in
New York, coming of good American stock. She has been married twice,
her first husband being Alfred Corning Clark, who in his lifetime
controlled the Singer sewing machine interests and who also had
extensive real estate holdings in the metropolis. When Mr. Clark died
he left an estate of an estimated value of about $30,000,000, the bulk
of which, after a liberal allowance made to his four children, went to
his widow. All her life Mrs. Potter has given largely to charity and
philanthropic enterprises. She has done excellent work in New York in
connection with improvements in tenement houses, those that she owns
being ideal dwellings in regard to construction, light, ventilation and
sanitary arrangements. At Cooperstown, New York, which is her home,
Mrs. Potter has spent large sums of money in beautifying the village.
She gives annually a dinner to a thousand poor persons, and has a long
list of private pensioners. Her marriage to Bishop Potter took place on
October 1, 1902, at Cooperstown.


MRS. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

The maiden name of the wife of President Roosevelt was Edith
Kermit Carow, and she, like her husband, comes of one of the most
distinguished of the older families of New York. Born in the metropolis
in the old Carow mansion, Fourteenth street and Union square, her
father was Charles Carow, and her grandfather General Tyler Carow,
of Norwich, Connecticut. She was educated at a school kept by a Miss
Comstock on West Fortieth street. She was married to the President on
December 2, 1886, at St. George’s church, Hanover square, London, the
ceremony being performed by Canon Cammadge, who is a cousin of Mrs.
Roosevelt. Fortune has never been more kind to Mr. Roosevelt than
when she gave him the amiable and beautiful woman who bears his name.
The Roosevelt children seem to have inherited many of the attractive
qualities of their mother.


MRS. RUSSELL SAGE.

Mrs. Russell Sage was born at Syracuse, New York, in 1828. She was
the daughter of the Hon. Joseph Slocum. Educated at first in private
schools of Syracuse, it had been intended that she should go to college
later, but financial disaster altered the plans of the family. After
working at home to help her mother for some time, she started for
Mount Holyoke college, intending to do housework in that institution
in order to pay for her board. On her way thither she was taken sick
in Troy, and when she recovered she, at the request of her uncle,
entered the Troy female seminary. In 1869 she became the second wife
of Russell Sage, the financier. Mrs. Sage’s charities are large; she
has built a dormitory costing $120,000 in the Emma Willard seminary
and gives annually large sums of money to various hospitals and other
praiseworthy institutions.


MRS. LELAND STANFORD.

Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford was born at Albany, New York, August 25,
1825. Was educated in the public schools there, and in 1848 married
Leland Stanford. In 1855 she went with her husband to California. Mr.
Stanford took a prominent part in the public affairs of the state, and
in 1861 was elected its governor. A son was born, who died when sixteen
years of age in Florence, Italy. Mr. Stanford founded the university
which bears his name, in memory of his boy. Since her husband’s demise
Mrs. Stanford has given further endowments to the institution, the
total amount of which is said to be several million dollars. She has
also given liberally to other educational institutions.


ANSON PHELPS STOKES, SR.

Anson Phelps Stokes, Sr., financier and public-spirited citizen,
was born in New York, February 22, 1838, being the son of James and
Caroline (Phelps) Stokes. He was educated in private schools and in
1855 married Helen Louise, daughter of Isaac Newton Phelps. Becoming
connected with the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co., merchants, he afterward
became a partner in the banking firm of Phelps, Stokes & Co., of
New York. He is director and trustee of a number of philanthropic
institutions and hospitals, owns interests in varied corporations and
is a prominent member of several clubs whose objects it is to promote
municipal and legislative reform. Mr. Stokes has written two books on
financial questions.




DIVINES.


LYMAN ABBOTT.

Dr. Lyman Abbott is an illustration of the fact that a young man
who is gifted with more than ordinary intellect and even genius
need not be discouraged, even if his first intentions regarding his
life work come to naught by force of circumstances or unlooked-for
developments within himself. He was born December 18, 1835, in Roxbury,
Massachusetts, being the son of Jacob and Harriet Abbott. Graduating
from the College of the City of New York in 1853, he took a course at
Harvard, after which, and in accordance with his prearranged plans,
he took a law course, was admitted to the bar and began to practice.
But his literary instincts and religious convictions resulted in his
finally abandoning the law. After a good deal of writing for a number
of publications and more theological studies, he was finally ordained
a Congregational minister in 1860, being made pastor of a church at
Terre Haute, Indiana, in the same year. Leaving Indiana, he came to
New York and took charge of the New England Congregational Church in
that city. In 1869 he resigned the pastorate in order to devote himself
to literature. He edited the Literary Record Department of Harper’s
Magazine and was associate editor with Henry Ward Beecher on the
Christian Union. He succeeded Mr. Beecher as pastor of Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn, in May, 1888, but resigned in 1898 and is once more prominent
in religious literary circles. On October 14, 1857, he married Abby F.
Hamlin, daughter of Hannibal Hamlin, of Boston. He is the author of a
great many works of a religious nature and of others which deal with
social problems. At present he is editor of The Outlook, of New York
city.


THEODORE LEDYARD CUYLER.

Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, the clergyman whose striking sermons have made
him famous the world over, was born at Aurora, New York, January 10,
1822. He was educated at Manheim, New Jersey, and Princeton college,
from which he graduated in 1841. After spending a brief period in
traveling in Europe, he entered the theological seminary at Princeton,
from which he graduated in 1846, and was ordained by the presbytery
in 1848. His first charge was at a small church near Wilkesbarre,
Pennsylvania, where he remained for six months. He was then called to
the Presbyterian church of Burlington, New Jersey. In 1849 he became
pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Trenton, New Jersey, and in
1853 he was invited to the Market Street Dutch Reformed Church, New
York city. He was one of the leaders in the great revival of 1858, and
in 1860 he was called to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian church,
Brooklyn. This was a young church and was not in a very prosperous
condition, but the new pastor infused life into it from the first, and,
in 1861, his congregation commenced the building of a new church at the
corner of Lafayette avenue and South Oxford street. This building was
completed in March, 1862, and cost $60,000. In 1893 Dr. Cuyler withdrew
from active charge of the church and determined to devote the remainder
of his years to the ministry at large. Dr. Cuyler was married, in
1853, to Annie E. Mathist, of Newark, Ohio, and has two children. His
writings and printed sermons have been widely circulated. Among them
are: Thought Hives, Stray Arrows, The Empty Crib, The Cedar Christian.
One of his most famous tracts, Somebody’s Son, had a circulation of
over one hundred thousand copies. Many of his articles and tracts have
been translated into several languages, and his contributions to the
religious press have been more numerous than those of any living writer.


EDWARD EVERETT HALE.

Edward Everett Hale was born in Boston, April 3, 1822, and after
passing through the public schools entered the Boston Latin school. He
was graduated from Harvard in 1839, and for two years acted as usher
in the Latin school, studying theology in the meantime. On October 13,
1852, he married, at Hartford, Connecticut, Emily Baldwin Perkins. He
has been a prominent promoter of Chautauqua circles and was the founder
of the “Lend-a-Hand” clubs. He has probably traveled as much and
delivered more lectures than any other man in this country. The fact
that the catalogue of Harvard university lists more than one hundred
and thirty titles of books and pamphlets on varied subjects of which
he is the author shows how prolific has been his pen. Fiction, drama,
narrative, poetry, theology, philosophy, politics—all are treated by
him in a masterly way. He is never dull or common-place, but invariably
suggestive and practical. One of his masterpieces is A Man Without a
Country, which was written in war time. This story alone would have
given him lasting fame. Yet it is not as an author, a great scholar, a
great teacher, a great orator, or a great statesman that Dr. Hale will
be remembered, but, as William Dean Howells has said, his name will go
down in history as “a great American citizen.”


BENJAMIN FAY MILLS.

Benjamin Fay Mills was born at Rahway, New Jersey, June 4, 1857.
His father was a clergyman. Educated in the public schools and at
Phillips academy, Andover, he graduated from Lake Forest university,
Illinois, in 1879. In the same year he married Mary Russell, and in
the year following he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church
at Rutland, Vermont. From 1886 to 1897 he acted in an evangelistic
capacity and conducted meetings throughout the country. In 1897 he
withdrew from the orthodox church and inaugurated independent religious
movements in the Boston music hall and Hollis street theatre. Since
1889 he has been the pastor of the First Unitarian church, Oakland,
California. He is eloquent, magnetic and convincing and has the gift
of playing on the emotions of an audience in a manner possessed by few
speakers within or without the church.


HENRY CODMAN POTTER.

There have been a great many clergymen in the Potter family, and
doubtless the Right Reverend Henry Codman Potter, bishop of the diocese
of New York, had an inclination for the pulpit which was an ancestral
inheritance. He is the son of Bishop Alonzo Potter, of Pennsylvania,
and was born at Schenectady, New York, May 25, 1835. He was educated
at the Philadelphia Academy of the Protestant Episcopal church, and
later at the theological seminary in Virginia. Graduating therefrom
in 1857, he was at once made a deacon and one year later was ordained
to the priesthood. Until 1859 he had charge of Christ P. E. church,
Greensburg, Pennsylvania, when he was transferred to St. John’s, P. E.
church, Troy, New York; for seven years he was rector of that parish.
He then became an assistant of Trinity P. E. church, Boston, and in
May, 1868, was made rector of Grace P. E. church, New York. For sixteen
years he was identified with the affairs of that famous church. In 1883
he was elected an assistant to his uncle, Bishop Horatio Potter, who
presided over the diocese of New York. A short time after entering on
his duties as such, his uncle withdrew from active work and the care
of the diocese fell upon the younger man. On January 2, 1887, Bishop
Horatio Potter died and was succeeded by his nephew. His diocese is the
largest in point of population in the United States. Eloquent, earnest
and devoted to his life work, Bishop Potter commands the love and
respect of all of those with whom he comes in contact.


WILLIAM TAYLOR.

William Taylor was born in Virginia May 2, 1821. Reared on a farm, he
learned the tanning business. He entered the Methodist ministry in
1842. Going to California with the “Forty-niners” as a missionary, he
remained there until 1856. He next spent a number of years traveling in
Canada, New England and Europe. After conducting missionary services
in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, he visited South Africa and
converted many Kaffirs to Christianity. From 1872 to 1876 he organized
a number of churches in India and in South America. He also established
mission stations on the Congo and elsewhere in Africa. He has written
a number of books, the most interesting of which is, without doubt, The
Story of My Life. In 1884 he was made missionary bishop for Africa.


JOHN HEYL VINCENT.

John Heyl Vincent, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and
chancellor of the Chautauqua system, was born in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, February 23, 1832. He was educated at Lewisburg and Milton,
Pennsylvania, and as a mere boy gave evidence of the religious trend of
his nature. When only eighteen years of age he was a preacher, and many
of his then sermons are said to have been both eloquent and convincing.
After studying in the Wesleyan Institute of Newark, New Jersey, he
joined the New Jersey Conference in 1853, was ordained deacon and four
years later was made pastor. He had several charges in Illinois between
1857 and 1865, and during the next fourteen years brought into being a
number of Sunday school publications. He was one of the founders of the
Chautauqua Assembly and was the organizer of the Chautauqua Literary
and Scientific Circle, of which he has held office of chancellor
since its inception. In 1900 he was made resident bishop in charge of
the European work of the church with which he was associated. He is
preacher to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Wellesley and other colleges. As an
author of helpful and interesting religious works, Dr. Vincent is well
known to all students of American literature.




CANADIANS.


WILLIAM PETERSON.

One of the influential educators in Canada is Dr. William Peterson,
President of that powerful and progressive educational institution,
McGill University. Dr. Peterson’s policy in the conduct of the
university is to maintain a harmonious relationship between classical
education and the scientific training which is now so greatly in
demand. That the university is kept well abreast of the times in
scientific teaching and equipment is indicated by the fact that a
recent addition to the institution has been a school for instruction
in all branches of railroading. Dr. Peterson keenly realizes that
the future development of Canada will depend in a very considerable
measure upon the extension of the Dominion’s railway system—that
in the railroad business there will, perhaps, be more and greater
opportunities for young Canadians than in any other one branch of
industry. Another proof of the scientific thoroughness at McGill is the
high standing held by the University’s medical and engineering schools,
but Dr. Peterson holds fast to the belief that no education is complete
without a familiarity with the classics. He is himself an accomplished
classical scholar.

After spending his boyhood in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he
was born in 1856, he became a student at the Edinburgh University, and
there distinguished himself. He won the Greek travelling fellowship,
and continued his classical study at the University of Göttingen.
Returning to Scotland, he was elected to the Mackenzie scholarship
in the University of Edinburgh and went to Oxford University, where
he added to his scholastic laurels. He became assistant Professor of
Humanity in Edinburgh University, and in 1882 was appointed Professor
of Classical and Ancient History and head of the faculty in University
College, Dundee. Here he remained until 1885, when he was chosen to
succeed Sir J. W. Dawson as Principal of McGill University, Montreal.
He has received honorary degrees from St. Andrews and Princeton
universities, and is regarded not only as a scholar of unusual
attainments, but as a man possessing in marked degree the executive
ability necessary to successfully conduct the affairs of a great
university.


GEORGE A. COX.

Perhaps the most important financier in Canada is Senator George A.
Cox of Toronto, who is regarded as the Dominion’s closest parallel, in
financial activity, to J. Pierpont Morgan of New York. His interests
are extensive and widely varied. He is the president of the Canadian
Life Assurance Company, president of two fire insurance companies,
president of the Central Canadian Loan and Savings Company, and is one
of the ruling spirits in the great project to build the Grand Trunk
Pacific Railway across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. He has a
very considerable amount of capital invested in the United States.

Senator Cox was born sixty-four years ago in the village of Colborne.
His father was a shoemaker in humble circumstances. The ability of
Senator Cox, as a boy, attracted the attention of a neighbor, who
educated him. When he became a young man he went to the town of
Peterboro and embarked in the photographic business. He afterwards
became an express agent, and also occupied himself with soliciting
insurance for the Canadian Life Assurance Company. He engaged in
politics, and for seven years was mayor of Peterboro. When the Midland
Railway became involved in financial difficulties, he was one of
the Canadians asked to reorganize the road. He at once became the
dominating factor in this work and in 1878 was made president of the
Midland line. The vigor and ability which he brought to his task soon
put the decrepit railway company on its feet again. It afterward
became the Midland Division of the Grand Trunk Railway. Besides his
insurance and railway affiliations Senator Cox is largely interested in
Canadian banks and lands.

Senator Cox attributes much of his success to the fact that he is a
good judge of human nature. He has long made a point of surrounding
himself with clever young men who are able to develop and zealously
put into operation the hints which he freely gives them. Senator Cox’s
personality is of a kind which inspires enthusiasm on the part of those
who are working with and for him. He is genial and never stands on
formality in his contact with the young men whom he has around him. In
this respect he more closely resembles Andrew Carnegie than any other
captain of industry. Senator Cox lives in modest style in Toronto. He
is quiet in his tastes, and greatly dislikes anything suggestive of
display or self-aggrandizement. He is a close personal friend of most
of the political leaders in the Canadian Liberal Party, and of many
of the financial powers in the United States. The Earl of Aberdeen
appointed him to the Senate of Canada in 1896. He is a prominent member
of the Methodist Church, and has long interested himself in the welfare
of Victoria University in Toronto.


TIMOTHY EATON.

The most important retail merchant in Canada is Timothy Eaton. He began
his career as an apprentice in a small shop in a village in Ireland,
and now has an establishment which employs the services of six thousand
persons, and which is by far the largest and best equipped retail store
in the Dominion.

It was in a shop in the town of Port Gleone, in the north of Ireland,
that Mr. Eaton obtained his first experience as a storekeeper. Here
he served an apprenticeship of five years, receiving no pay until the
end of his term of service, when he was given the sum of one hundred
pounds. To convey an idea of the long hours that he used to devote to
the services of his employer in Ireland, Mr. Eaton likes to tell about
how he used to watch the donkey carts passing through the village
streets to the market-town of Ballymena at five o’clock every morning,
when he was taking down the shutters. While he had very little time in
those days to devote to anything but his regular work, he was fond of
books, and read _Chambers’s Journal_, an unusual literary selection
for a lad of his education and position. In this publication he read
one day an article on the then almost unknown process of manufacturing
artificial gas. This so interested him that with the help of a
companion he made with his own hands a small gas plant, and by means
of it succeeded in lighting the store. Before that there had been no
gas light in that section of Ireland. The innovation of the young
apprentice aroused great interest and curiosity on the part of the
people of the countryside. They flocked to the shop to view the miracle
of the new light. This proved to be a valuable advertisement for the
establishment, and it lifted young Eaton into a position of prominence
in the community.

He felt, however, that there were no chances in Ireland for the degree
of success of which he dreamed. The potato famine and other misfortunes
had laid the country prostrate. Everybody was talking about the golden
prospects in America, and great numbers were emigrating to the promised
land. One of Timothy Eaton’s elder brothers decided to join the exodus,
and Timothy himself lost no time in making up his mind to go with him.

After crossing the Atlantic they made their way to the town of St.
Marys, in Ontario, and there started a very small store, being glad to
accept produce in payment for their goods. Another brother came to St.
Marys. One of these remained there permanently, while Timothy Eaton,
not satisfied with the possibilities in St. Marys of the mercantile
expansion which he had in mind, went to Toronto, and started a modest
store on one of the lower streets. This was in 1869. In 1883 he had
a larger establishment. In 1887 he had added to his general store
equipment a small factory for the purpose of eliminating the charges of
middlemen and thus conserving the interests of his customers by reduced
prices. The factory was an unqualified success. By means of it, and
through Mr. Eaton’s general methods, the establishment steadily grew
until, at the present time, he has a store which from a comparative
point of view may be regarded, perhaps, as the most successful in the
world. Mr. Eaton’s pay roll includes nearly six thousand names, while
the largest retail store on earth, which is located in Chicago, where
the population is many times greater than that which can be reached by
Mr. Eaton, employs only about twenty-five hundred more persons. It will
be seen that this Chicago establishment is only one-half larger than
the Eaton store. Indeed, the factories of the latter are larger than
those of any establishment which deals directly with retail buyers.

The two leading elements in Mr. Eaton’s remarkable success have been
his store-system, regarded by leading retail merchants as a model, and
his constant endeavor to save money for his customers. It is to this
end that he conducts his business on a cash basis, and that he has
established his factories. He is a very firm believer in bringing goods
direct from the maker to the consumer. In a single department in his
manufacturing section, for instance, there are over a thousand sewing
machines which produce nearly seven thousand garments a day for sale
exclusively in the store. The money which Mr. Eaton has been able to
save by this policy of producing his own goods is directly applied to
the reduction of prices. The fact that his patrons feel that they are
obtaining maximum value at minimum cost is the chief reason of the
store’s great and constantly growing trade.

Another very prominent factor in his success has been his strict
rule of allowing absolutely no misrepresentation. He very strongly
feels that truth is a most important element in any permanent success
in storekeeping and in life in general. In addition to Mr. Eaton’s
constant vigilance in the interest of his patrons, he has always in
mind the well-being of his employees. He was one of the pioneers in the
movement for shorter hours, believing that opportunities for legitimate
rest and recreation give those who are in his service an added zeal and
energy which materially increase the satisfaction of buyers and has a
direct beneficial effect upon the profits and progress of the store.

While Mr. Eaton is proud of his success, he by no means takes all the
credit to himself. It is his idea that the quality which has chiefly
enabled him to build up this great commercial unit lies in his ability
to pick out the right man for the right place. Each employee is held to
a personal responsibility, and is given to understand that he or she is
considered a possibility for the higher positions in the establishment.
Every clerk understands that promotion is to be obtained not by
favoritism, but on the strength alone of conscientious and intelligent
effort.

A celebrated department store proprietor in New York City not long ago
remarked to a Canadian merchant who informed him that he had come to
the New York establishment to obtain hints on the best system of store
management, “Why, it is not at all necessary for you to come down here
for this information. You have a man in Canada, Timothy Eaton, who can
tell you a good deal more about this than most of us can. In fact, we
always keep our eyes on him with a view of obtaining fresh suggestions
as to methods.”


SIR THOMAS G. SHAUGHNESSY.

One of the most successful railroad men of this continent is Sir Thomas
G. Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. By means of
a particularly virile personality and a remarkable capacity for hard
work, Sir Thomas has raised himself to his present high position from
the bottom of the ladder. He owes absolutely nothing to the extraneous
circumstances of birth or fortune. His education has been chiefly
obtained in the school of experience; yet Sir Thomas adds to his
conspicuous knowledge of man and affairs a culture that would do credit
to a university graduate.

Though Sir Thomas is always associated in the public mind with Canada
for the reason that his most important work has been done in the
Dominion, he was born in 1853 in Milwaukee. His school days ended at
the age of sixteen, when he obtained a place in the office of the
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway as a clerk in the purchasing department.
During a period of ten years the young man slowly rose in this
department until, on the strength of his ability and alertness, he was
promoted to the place of a general storekeeper for the railroad. Mr.
Shaughnessy took hold with an acceleration of the powers which had
brought him his steady promotion. Work in the office began to move
more swiftly than ever before. Each man was held to a very strict
accountability in the performance of all his duties, and yet with a
new spirit of contentment and zeal for the reason that Mr. Shaughnessy
was very considerate to those under his direction. He was quick to
criticise, but was equally quick to praise. No man who had ever held
a position of authority in the company was more popular with his
subordinates.

But Mr. Shaughnessy’s abilities were too great for his position.
William C. Van Horne, who had recently become general manager of the
young Canadian Pacific Railway, had known Mr. Shaughnessy in Milwaukee,
and asked him to take a place of purchasing agent in the new company.
This was in 1882. He became assistant to the general manager in
1884, and the next year was promoted to the office of assistant to
the president. He became a full-fledged vice-president in 1891. Mr.
Shaughnessy was the right-hand man of the president of the road, Sir
William C. Van Horne, and when the latter resigned the presidency in
1899 it was obvious that the man in all respects best equipped to
succeed him in the very important position of executive head of the
longest railroad in the world was Mr. Shaughnessy. The latter was
knighted by the Prince of Wales, then Duke of York, in Ottawa, Canada,
1901.

The work of Sir Thomas as president has been notable. He has had a
careful regard not only for the interest of the line, but also of
Canada. During his incumbency of the presidency the Canadian Pacific
system has been greatly extended. It now employs over thirty-five
thousand persons and buys products of the labor of fifty thousand
more. Within the last two years it has paid Canadians over one hundred
millions. The progressive management of the line under the direction
of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy has greatly stimulated the prosperity of the
Dominion, and on this account the Canadians feel that Sir Thomas has
been one of the Dominion’s most valuable citizens.


WILLIAM S. FIELDING.

The Hon. William Stevens Fielding, considered one of Canada’s ablest
men, stands high in the administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, holding
the important place of Minister of Finance. He attained distinction
by the path of newspaper work. Mr. Fielding was born in Halifax of
English parentage in 1848, and at the age of sixteen entered the
business office of the _Morning Chronicle_. This was perhaps the most
influential newspaper of the Maritime Provinces, and counted among its
contributors numerous men of intellect and influence. It was from them
that young Fielding imbibed his political views and became imbued with
the spirit of broad patriotism which has since distinguished him.

Soon after he formed his connection with the _Chronicle_ he was
promoted to a place as reporter, and was most zealous and thorough in
this sphere. Before he was twenty he had commenced to write editorials.
For two decades Mr. Fielding remained with the _Chronicle_, rising by
degrees to the place of editor, and at the same time taking an active
part in the political campaigns in Halifax. He was elected in the
elections of 1882 to a seat in the Nova Scotia Legislature, and rose
so rapidly that within a few months he was offered the premiership
of the Province. He declined the honor on this occasion, but soon
afterward organized a government at the request of some of the other
leaders, and took upon himself the duties of provincial secretary,
which also involved the work of financial administrator. His government
was so effective that for years it controlled the affairs of the
Province. When Sir Wilfrid Laurier became premier of the Dominion in
1896 he appointed Mr. Fielding Minister of Finance, and the latter was
returned by the constituency of Shelbourne and Queens to the Dominion
House of Commons. It was Mr. Fielding who introduced the measure for
the preferential tariff which has been so conspicuous a feature of
the Laurier administration. Mr. Fielding is regarded as one of the
strongest members of the cabinet.


CHARLES FITZPATRICK.

The Hon. Charles Fitzpatrick, Minister of Justice in the Canadian
Government, and one of the ablest of the Dominion’s lawyers and
political leaders, was born of Irish parentage in the Province of
Quebec in 1851. His father was a lumber merchant. He was graduated from
Laval University in Quebec, studied law and began practice in the city
of Quebec, where he rapidly rose to prominence. He had acquired such
a reputation at the bar when he was thirty-four years old, that the
half-breeds and others who rallied to the support of Louis Riel when
the latter was imprisoned and about to be tried for his life, retained
Mr. Fitzpatrick as the man best fitted to defend their leader. In this
case he opposed a number of the ablest lawyers in Canada, and while his
client, Riel, was condemned to death, Mr. Fitzpatrick’s eloquence and
command of legal principles attracted wide attention. He has since
appeared in many of the most important cases that have been tried
within the Dominion.

Mr. Fitzpatrick’s entry into public life was made in 1891, when he was
elected a member of the House of Commons of the Province of Quebec,
representing his native county. He held this seat until 1896, when
he was a successful candidate for the Dominion House of Commons. His
general ability and his attainments as a lawyer had by this time
become so conspicuous that when in the same year Sir Wilfrid Laurier
organized his government he appointed Mr. Fitzpatrick to the position
of Solicitor General. In 1900 he was re-elected, by a large majority,
a Liberal member from Quebec, in a constituency that was largely
Conservative. In 1902, on the elevation of the Hon. David Mills to the
Supreme Court bench, Mr. Fitzpatrick was called to his present post of
Minister of Justice.

The political success of Mr. Fitzpatrick is made the more notable by
the fact that ninety per cent. of the voters of Quebec are French
Canadians, while he himself is an Irishman.

In addition to his powers as an orator, his grasp of legal principles
and his strong personal magnetism, one of his predominant traits is
energy. It has been said of him that in the days of his youth he was
in the habit of rising so early in the morning that he had his cases
carefully analyzed and his plan of action formulated before other
lawyers were out of bed. At present his most absorbing interest is the
project for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway line across the continent.
It was he who drew up the contract for the undertaking, and he has been
its chief defender, in its legal aspects, against the many attacks to
which it has been subjected by the opponents of the government of Sir
Wilfrid Laurier.

Mr. Fitzpatrick attributes his zest for work to the fact that he has
always been an outdoor man. During his early years his reputation as an
athlete was as great in Quebec as was his fame as a lawyer. He married
a daughter of the late Lieutenant Carors, and thus became intimately
identified with one of the oldest of the French-Canadian families,
which dates back to the early days in Canadian history.

There is no more enthusiastic believer in the future of Canada than Mr.
Fitzpatrick. In 1903 he made a tour of the Northwest, and has expressed
himself as astonished at its marvelous resources. It is his opinion
that the projected Grand Trunk Pacific line, adding another railway to
the transportation facilities of this territory, will develop it into
one of the richest and most productive regions, not only in grain, but
in minerals, the world has ever known.


GEORGE WILLIAM ROSS.

The Hon. George William Ross, Premier of the Province of Ontario, was
born near London, Ontario, in 1841. His father was a Scotchman, who,
after migrating to Canada, became a prosperous farmer. Mr. Ross began
his active life as a country school teacher. The government of the
Province of Ontario established in 1871 a system of school inspectors,
and he was appointed to one of these places. In the general election of
the following year, Mr. Ross was chosen to represent the Conservative
party in the western division of his native county, and was elected to
the Dominion House of Commons. It was particularly his ability as an
orator that brought him this honor. He was a member at the time of the
Sons of Temperance, and it was at the meetings of this society that
he seized his first opportunities to develop and display his gifts as
a public speaker. He has said since that this experience in talking on
his feet was invaluable to him, and he advises all young men who desire
to acquire the gift of public speaking to join a debating society or
other organization whose members are willing to listen to budding
eloquence.

Mr. Ross was made Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario in
1883, and in 1887 succeeded in having passed a law for the federation
of the denominational colleges of Toronto into a single unit, The
University of Toronto. He inaugurated other educational reforms, and
materially raised the standard of public education in the Province.
Mr. Ross relinquished his work in this special field in 1900 to become
Premier of Ontario. He has been prominently identified with movements
in the cause of temperance, and holds honorary degrees in five Canadian
universities. One of his distinguishing qualities is versatility. He is
interested in astronomy, and has a marked literary bent, having written
biographical sketches and some poetry.


LORD MOUNT STEPHEN.

In spite of the fact that Lord Mount Stephen has not resided in Canada
for a number of years, he must be included in any group of important
workers in the Dominion. He played a leading part in the upbuilding of
the Canadian commonwealth. The vital importance of his work for the
Canadian Pacific Railway cannot be overlooked. Lord Mount Stephen and
Lord Strathcona were the two great personalities which carried the
project of the transcontinental line through a dark period of financial
storm and stress. Lord Mount Stephen reorganized or built several
other railroads in Canada, and was very closely identified with many of
the Dominion’s most important commercial movements.

Like so many other men who have achieved remarkable success in Canada,
Lord Mount Stephen is a Scotchman, having been born in that country
in 1829. In his childhood he was a herdboy on the Highlands, and
served as an apprentice in Aberdeen. He afterward obtained employment
in London, and in 1850 migrated to Canada, where his uncle, William
Stephen, was engaged in the woolen business. The young man was taken
into partnership, and upon his uncle’s death bought his interest in
the firm, which steadily grew in importance in the manufacture of
woolen goods. Lord Mount Stephen’s financial standing at this time is
indicated by the fact that he became a director in Canada’s leading
banking institution, the Bank of Montreal, of which he was afterward
vice-president. It was owing to this financial eminence, as well as to
his great ability, that he was able to build a magnificent structure
of success out of what appeared at that time to be the wreck of the
project for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In recognition of his
services for her domain across the ocean, Queen Victoria knighted him
in 1886, and a few years afterwards raised him to the peerage with
the title of Lord Mount Stephen, a title suggested by the peak in the
Rockies called Mount Stephen, which itself had been named after the
able Scotchman. Lord Mount Stephen retired from the presidency of the
Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1888, and has spent most of his time since
then in England. He has, however, retained some of his interests in
Canada, and has remembered numerous hospitals and other institutions
with generous contributions.




BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.[A]


                                          Page
  Abbey, Edwin Austin                      311
  Abbott, Lyman                            714
  Acheson, E. G                            620
  Adams, Maude                             681
  Ade, George                              693
  Alden, Cynthia May Westover              683
  Alden, Henry Mills                       660
  Aldrich, Nelson Wilmarth                 641
  Aldrich, Thomas Bailey                   697
  Allen, James Lane                        702
  Allen, T. S                              691
  Allen, Viola                             682
  Allison, William Boyd                    617
  Andrews, Elisha Benjamin                 656
  Angell, George Thorndike                 708
  Anthony, Susan Brownell                  708
  Armour, Philip D.                        511
  Astor, William Waldorf                   638
  Atherton, Gertrude Franklin              704

  Baer, George F.                          629
  Baldwin, Evelyn Briggs                   652
  Bangs, John Kendrick                     693
  Barr, Amelia Edith                       705
  Barrymore, Ethel                         682
  Barton, Clara                            684
  Bell, Alexander Graham                   633
  Belmont, August                          629
  Beveridge, Albert J.                     668
  Bispham, David Scull                     674
  Black, Frank Swett                       644
  Blair, Andrew G.                         470
  Bok, Edward William                      660
  Bonsal, Stephen                          695
  Booth-Tucker, F. St. George de L.        709
  Borden, Robert Laird                     447
  Brush, Charles Francis                   633
  Bryan, William Jennings                  641
  Buckley, James Monroe                    661
  Burnett, Frances Hodgson                 705
  Burroughs, John                          402
  Bush, Charles G.                         691
  Butler, Nicholas Murray                  656

  Cable, George Washington                 702
  Calvé, Emma                              674
  Carman, Bliss                            698
  Carnegie, Andrew                          51
  Carter, Leslie (Mrs.)                    682
  Cassatt, Alexander Johnston              630
  Chaffee, Adna Romanza                    648
  Chisholm, Hugh                           624
  Choate, Joseph H.                        196
  Churchill, Winston                       703
  Clark, Champ                             668
  Clark, Francis Edward                    684
  Clemens, Samuel Langhorn                 693
  Cleveland, Grover                        617
  Clews, Henry                             638
  Clowry, Robert C.                        144
  Cockran, William Bourke                  668
  Collyer, Robert                          441
  Comstock, Anthony                        709
  Conwell, Russell H.                      426
  Cook, Frederick Albert                   652
  Cooper, Edward                           636
  Coudert, Frederick René                  644
  Cox, George A.                           717
  Crafts, Wilbur Fiske                     709
  Craigie, Pearl M. Theresa                705
  Cramp, Charles Henry                     621
  Crane, William H.                        677
  Crawford, Francis Marion                 703
  Cuyler, Theodore Ledyard                 714

  Dalrymple, Louis                         691
  Damrosch, Walter Johannes                670
  Daniels, George Henry                    630
  Daniels, John Warwick                    669
  Davenport, Homer                         334
  Davis, Richard Harding                   695
  De Koven, Henry L. Reginald              671
  De Lussan, Zelie                         674
  Depew, Chauncey M.                       207
  De Reszke, Edouard                       674
  De Reszke, Jean                          675
  De Thulstrup, Thure                      690
  De Vinne, Theodore Lowe                  625
  Dewey, George                            648
  Dickinson, Mary Lowe                     685
  Dill, James Brooks                       645
  Dixon, Thomas, Jr.                       685
  Dodge, William de Leftwich               690
  Dolliver, Jonathan P. (Senator)          219
  Doubleday, Frank Nelson                  663
  Douglas, William Louis                   625
  Drew, John                               678
  Drummond, Sir George A.                  702
  Dumont, Santos                           634
  Dunne, Finley Peter                      694
  Duse, Eleanora                           682

  Eames, Emma                              675
  Eastman, Charles                         626
  Eaton, Timothy                           718
  Edison, Thomas Alva                       17
  Eliot, Charles William                   657
  Evans, Robley Dunglison                  649

  Faunce, William H. P.                    657
  Field, Marshall                           80
  Fielding, William S.                     721
  Fitzpatrick, Charles                     721
  Flint, Charles Ranlett                   621
  Folk, Joseph Wingate                     643
  Ford, Simeon                             694
  Freeman, Mary E. (Wilkins-Freeman)       706
  Frye, William Pierce                     618
  Fuller, Melville Weston                  645
  Funk, Isaac Kauffman                     664
  Funston, Fred                            649

  Gage, Lyman Judson                       131
  Garland, Hamlin                          696
  George, William Reuben                   710
  Gerry, Elbridge Thomas                   710
  Gibson, Charles Dana                     342
  Gilder, Richard Watson                   661
  Gillette, William Hooker                 678
  Gilmer, Elizabeth Meriwether             694
  Gompers, Samuel                          164
  Goodwin, Nathaniel C.                    679
  Gorman, Arthur Pue                       642
  Gould, George Jay                        631
  Gould, Helen Miller                      413
  Grau, Maurice                            671
  Green, Hetty (Mrs.)                      639
  Greene, Anna Katherine                   706
  Griffin, Sydney B.                       692
  Griggs, John William                     646
  Griscom, Clement Acton                   631
  Gunsaulus, Frank W.                      432

  Hackett, James Keteltas                  679
  Hadley, Arthur Twining                   658
  Hale, Edward Everett                     715
  Hanna, Marcus Alonzo                     642
  Harned, Virginia                         683
  Harris, William Torrey                   659
  Harrison, Burton (Mrs.)                  305
  Harrison, Carter Henry, Jr.              643
  Harrison, Constance Cary                 707
  Harvey, George B. McClellan              661
  Hay, John                                618
  Hays, Charles Melville                   622
  Hearst, Phœbe Appersin (Mrs.)            712
  Hearst, William Randolph                 664
  Hedin, Sven Anders                       653
  Herbert, Victor                          672
  Herreshoff, John B.                 528, 622
  Hewitt, Peter Cooper                     634
  Higgins, Edward Everett                  665
  Hill, James J.                           631
  Hoar, George Frisbie                     619
  Hobart, George V.                        694
  Hobson, Richmond Pearson                 650
  Holland, John P.                         634
  Holmes, E. Burton                        653
  Holmes, Oliver Wendell                   646
  Howells, William Dean                    283
  Hungerford, Herbert                      686

  Ingalls, Melville Ezra                   632
  Irving, Sir Henry Brodribb               680
  Irwin, May                               682

  Jackson, Leonora                         672
  Jefferson, Joseph                        680
  Jerome, William Travers                  646
  Jewett, Sarah Orne                       707
  Johnson, Tom L.                          234
  Jones, Samuel                            498

  Keller, Helen                            391
  Kipling, Rudyard                         703
  Klopsch, Louis                           665
  Kneisel, Franz                           672

  Landon, Melvin De Lancy                  695
  Landor, A. H. Savage                     654
  Langtry, Lillie (Mrs.)                   683
  Laurier, Sir Wilfrid                     687
  Le Gallienne, Richard                    698
  Lipton, Sir Thomas                       108
  Lodge, Henry Cabot                       619
  Lorimer, George Howard                   662
  Loudon, James                            479

  McClure, Samuel Sidney                   666
  McCracken, Henry Mitchell                659
  McKenna, Joseph                          647
  Mackay, Robert                           698
  Major, Charles                           704
  Mansfield, Richard                       379
  Marconi, William                         635
  Markham, Edwin                           263
  Marlowe, Julia                           683
  Maxim, Hiram Stevens                      35
  Mente, Charles                           690
  Miles, Nelson A. (Gen.)                  188
  Miller, Cincinnatus Heine (Joaquin)      699
  Mills, Benjamin Fay                      715
  Mills, Darius Ogden                      117
  Mitchell, John                           686
  Morgan, John Pierpont                    639
  Mount Stephen, Lord                      723
  Munsey, Frank Andrew                     666

  Nansen, Fridtjof                         654
  Nixon, Lewis                             623
  Nordica, Lillian                    541, 676

  Ogden, Robert Curtis                     636
  Olney, Richard                           620
  Opper, Frederick Burr                    353
  Osler, Dr. William                       700
  Outcault, R. F.                          692

  Page, Thomas Nelson                      704
  Parent, S. N.                            460
  Parker, Alton Brooks                     647
  Parkhurst, Charles Henry                 710
  Patterson, John H.                       624
  Patti, Adelina                           676
  Pearsons, Daniel Kimball                 712
  Peary, Robert Edwin                      655
  Peterson, William                        716
  Phillips, David G.                       696
  Pingree, Hazen S.                         71
  Platt, Thomas Collyer                    225
  Pope, Albert August                      626
  Post, C. W.                              627
  Potter, Henry Codman (Mrs.)              712
  Potter, Henry Codman (Rev.)              715
  Powell, Maud                             673
  Pulitzer, Joseph                         667

  Reid, Whitelaw                           662
  Remington, Frederic                      327
  Riley, James Whitcomb                    252
  Roberts, Chas. George Douglas            696
  Rockefeller, John Davison                640
  Roosevelt, Theodore                      173
  Roosevelt, Theodore (Mrs.)               713
  Root, Elihu                              620
  Ross, George William                     722
  Ruckstuhl, F. Wellington                 358

  Sage, Russell                            125
  Sage, Russell (Mrs.)                     713
  Schley, Winfield Scott                   650
  Schultze, Carl E.                        692
  Schurman, Jacob Gould                    243
  Schurz, Carl                             669
  Sembrich, Marcella Stengel               677
  Seton, Ernest (Thompson-Seton)           687
  Shafter, William Rufus                   651
  Shaughnessy, Sir Thomas G.               720
  Shaw, Albert                             663
  Shrady, Henry Merwin                     366
  Siegel, Henry                            637
  Smith, Goldwin                           454
  Sothern, Edward H.                       681
  Sousa, John Philip                       384
  Stanford, Leland (Mrs.)                  713
  Stanley, Henry Morton                    655
  Stanton, Elizabeth Cady                  711
  Stead, William Thomas                    696
  Stephens, Alice Barber                   321
  Stokes, Anson Phelps                     713
  Strathcona, Lord                         688
  Strauss, Nathan                          420

  Taylor, William                          716
  Thomas, Theodore                         673
  Thompson-Seton, Ernest                   687
  Thompson, Vance                          696

  Vanderbilt, Cornelius                    138
  Van Dyke, Henry                          700
  Van Horne, Sir William C.                485
  Vincent, John Heyl                       716
  Vreeland, Herbert H.                     152

  Walker, John Brisben                     667
  Wallace, Lew (Gen.)                      296
  Wanamaker, John                           92
  Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps            707
  Watterson, Henry                         663
  Wellman, Walter                          655
  Westinghouse, George                     635
  Wheeler, John Wilson                     628
  Wheeler, Joseph                          651
  White, Stewart Edward                    697
  Wilcox, Ella Wheeler                     272
  Wilder, Marshall P.                      371
  Wilkins-Freeman, M. Eleanor              706
  Wilson, Woodrow                          659
  Wister, Owen                             697
  Woolworth, Frank W.                      637

  Yerkes, Charles Tyson                    640

  Zimmerman, Eugene                        693

FOOTNOTE:

[A] For Topical Index see page 727.




TOPICAL INDEX.


Introductory Note.

“LITTLE VISITS” is not merely a story-book or a collection of
biographies and autobiographies. The life stories which it contains
are intensely interesting, many of them even dramatic. The
_autobiographies_—that is, the life stories of eminent men and women
told by themselves—are unique; no such collection is elsewhere in
existence. It is not, however, merely a book to be read once for the
stories and cast aside.

“LITTLE VISITS” is a collection of IDEAS, each stamped with the mint
mark of a great personality. It contains _symposiums_ by fifty-six
men and women—who by common consent are considered to have achieved
success—on the elements and methods of a successful career. To make
this wealth of ideas easily and quickly available as an aid to those of
all ages who aspire to achieve something beyond the ordinary in life,
we have prepared this Topical Index. It constitutes a _syllabus_ for
study of the great problems of human life and destiny.

Early advantages, luck, friends, influence, environment and
heredity—defects in which are adduced so often to justify
failure—receive little attention. The fact that opportunity exists
within the man himself; the possibility of self-culture by reading and
home study; the importance of choosing the right career; the methods
and the qualities which should be practised and cultivated; and the
ideals which should be sought for—these are the perennial seed thoughts
which should be planted in the minds and hearts of our own and coming
generations, and they constitute the contents of the present volumes.

The teachings of “LITTLE VISITS” are many-sided. Light is thrown upon
each problem from every angle. Many points of view are represented
by the various speakers. The words of each, weighted by the vast
achievements and well-known reputation of all, cannot fail to sink
deeply into the mind of every reader. Like begets like. The ideas of
great men are essentially great ideas, and in turn they will beget
greatness in the lives of all who adopt and follow them.

The attention of parents and teachers, and of the ambitious youth of
both sexes, is directed to the usefulness of this Topical Index (and
also of the Biographical Index which precedes it) in preparation for
the solemn responsibilities of guiding aright the lives which are
entrusted to their keeping and for self-guidance. The material here
indexed for convenient reference is absolutely invaluable for the
preparation of homilies, sermons, addresses and informal talks to the
young, or indeed to any audience. The spicy and pithy anecdotes and
incidents in the lives of eminent persons, each authenticated by the
fact that they are given in the speaker’s own language, are exceedingly
valuable for purposes of illustration. The book is especially
recommended as a source of material in the preparation of compositions,
themes and essays, and also for its cultural value, as _supplementary
reading_ for pupils in our common and high schools.

    THE PUBLISHERS.




TOPICAL INDEX.[B]


  Ability, _see Success Qualities_.

  Accommodating, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Achievements:=
    Acme Sucker Rod, _Jones_, 498
    American Federation of Labor, _Gompers_, 168
    Appliances for oil production, _Jones_, 503
    Automatic gun, _Maxim_, 43
    Battle-ships, _Maxim_, 47
    “Ben Hur,” _Wallace_, 303
    Blue shadows, _Remington_, 331
    Books, _Burroughs_, 412
    “Broncho Buster,” _Remington_, 331
    Business king, _Armour_, 523
    Busts, _Ruckstuhl_, 364
    Canadian Pacific R. R., _Van Horne_, 490
    Employees over ten thousand, _Lipton_, 113
    Flying machines, _Maxim_, 47
    First iron bridge across Ohio, _Carnegie_, 63
    Gas machines, _Maxim_, 42
    Guns, _Maxim_, 47
    Homestead Steel Works, _Carnegie_, 64
    Inventions, six hundred, _Edison_, 30
    Laws, _Gompers_, 169
    Mayoralty of Detroit, _Pingree_, 75
    Metropolitan Street Railway System, _Vreeland_, 163
    Minneapolis Tribune, _Conwell_, 428
    Mr. Dinkelspiel, _Opper_, 353
    My life, _Burroughs_, 411
    Operas and Marches, _Sousa_, 386
    Partnership, _Field_, 85
    Poems, _Wilcox_, 274
    Poems, _Markham_, 270
    Political honors, _Depew_, 215
    “Puck,” _Opper_, 357
    Rapid-fire gun, _Maxim_, 36
    Scholarship, _Schurman_, 248
    Smokeless powder, _Maxim_, 46
    Statue, _Remington_, 331
    Statues, _Ruckstuhl_, 364
    Statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 360
    Statues, _Shrady_, 369
    Steam motors, _Maxim_, 43
    Steel works, _Carnegie_, 63
    Stores, _Lipton_, 112
    Submarine cable device, _Edison_, 24
    “Suburban Resident,” _Opper_, 357
    Telegraphic recorder, _Edison_, 23
    “The Fair God,” _Wallace_, 302
    Titles, _Maxim_, 36
    U. S. Express Co., _Platt_, 225
    U. S. Express Co., _Platt_, 230
    Vanderbilt system, head of, _Depew_, 213
    Victories, _Miles_, 189

  Acme Sucker Rod, _see Achievements_.

  Actors, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Actresses, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Adaptability, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Advantage:=
    Early, _Choate_, 199
    Good advice and personal popularity, _Choate_, 199
    Money, opportunity, friends, _Choate_, 198

  Ambition, _see Success Qualities_.

  America, opportunity in, _see Opportunity_.

  America, women singers in, _see Opportunity_.

  American Federation of Labor, _see Achievements_.

  American stock, _see Heredity_.

  Amusement, _see Careers_.

  =Anecdotes:=
    A Little Story, _Borden_, 453
    A Father’s Warning, _Wallace_, 299
    American Marshall, _Wilder_, 377
    Armour and the Panic, _Armour_, 526
    Borrowing a Postage Stamp, _Jones_, 502
    Borrowing Five Cents, _Lipton_, 110
    Broken “Holt,” _Burroughs_, 407
    Burroughs and Gould, _Burroughs_, 406
    Captured by Mosby’s Men, _Pingree_, 73
    Carnegie and the Sleeping Car, _Carnegie_, 60
    Chances for Young Men, _Dolliver_, 222
    Chartered Train, _Sousa_, 389
    Chinese Medal, _Maxim_, 48
    Colonel Anderson’s Library, _Carnegie_, 53
    Confidence Man, _Maxim_, 41
    Congressman’s Fame, _Dolliver_, 221
    Dangerous Crossing, _Blair_, 478
    De Mores Incident, _Roosevelt_, 185
    Dog’s Tail, _Maxim_, 38
    Dowe Scheme, _Maxim_, 49
    Dutchman’s Oath, _Wilder_, 376
    Elected to the Presidency, _Vreeland_, 160
    Emersonian Essays, _Burroughs_, 409
    First Patent, _Edison_, 25
    First Speech in Congress, _Johnson_, 240
    First Trip West, _Platt_, 229
    Founding of Armour Institute, _Armour_, 521
    Funny Little Man, _Wilder_, 371
    How He Became Deaf, _Edison_, 20
    How He Learned Telegraphy, _Edison_, 21
    How He Joined the Marine Band, _Sousa_, 385
    “I’ll be President,” _Vreeland_, 156
    Important Mission, _Vreeland_, 158
    Joe Jefferson’s Life, _Wilder_, 374
    Knighted by the Queen, _Van Horne_, 491
    Life Prisoner, _Wilder_, 378
    London Physician, _Van Horne_, 495
    Lord Wolseley and Smokeless Powder, _Maxim_, 45
    Never Mind the Gas, _Wilder_, 376
    Nordica’s First Engagement, _Nordica_, 547
    Origin of Smokeless Powder, _Maxim_, 45
    Rapid-fire Gun in Switzerland, _Maxim_, 46
    Richard and the Crown Prince, _Mansfield_, 383
    “Salting” a “Hayseed,” _Edison_, 24
    Save Me a Spare-rib, _Wilder_, 375
    School-boy Compositions, _Burroughs_, 406
    Terrific Storm, _Lipton_, 112
    Trying the Boss, _Maxim_, 40
    Two Small Boys, _Sousa_, 388
    Vampire, _Choate_, 200
    Volunteer German Friend, _Johnson_, 239
    “Your Eyre,” _Harrison_, 309

  Application, _see Success Qualities_.

  Apprentice, _see Methods_.

  Arbitration, _see Methods_.

  “Aristocracy,” _see Success Ideals_.

  Art, _see Careers_.

  Artist, _see Careers_.

  Association, with able men, _Borden_, 451

  Attention, _see Success Qualities_.

  Authors, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Automatic gun, _see Achievements_.


  Bad habits, _see Dangers_.

  Banking, _see Careers_.

  Bar, _see Careers_.

  Battle-ships, _see Achievements_.

  Beginning at the bottom, _see Start in Life_.

  “Ben Hur,” _see Achievements_.

  =Bent:=
    Art must be inborn, _Gibson_, 343
    Boyhood sketches, _Opper_, 354
    Leaning toward business, _Field_, 82
    Fitted for railroading, _Vanderbilt_, 141
    Inclination for mechanics, _Vanderbilt_, 139
    Invention born in a man, _Edison_, 27
    Mechanics, natural to, _Clowry_, 146
    Natural bent for singing, _Nordica_, 543
    School-boy sketches, _Remington_, 328
    Talent must be cultivated, _Shrady_, 370

  Best, _see Methods_.

  Blacksmith, _see Careers_.

  Blindness, _see Obstacles_.

  Books, _see Reading_.

  Bottom of the ladder, _see Start in life_.

  British Government, _see Fame_.

  “Broncho Buster,” _see Achievements_.

  Busts, _see Achievements_.

  Business ability, _see Success Qualities_.


  Canada, opportunity in, _see Opportunity_.

  Canadian Pacific R. R., _see Achievements_.

  Canadians, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Canniness, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Careers:=
    Actors, biographies of, 677
    Actresses, biographies of, 681
    Amusements, _Wilder_, 373
    Art, _Ruckstuhl_, 364
    Artist, _Opper_, 354
    Authors, biographies of, 702
    Banking, _Gage_, 133, 135
    Bar, called to, _Borden_, 450
    Blacksmith, _Collyer_, 442
    Canadians, biographies of, 687, 700, 716
    Cartoonists, biographies of, 691
    Choice of, _Abbey_, 314, 315
    Choosing a career, _Herreshoff_, 534
    Commerce, _Field_, 83
    Commercial, mechanical or scientific pursuits in Canada,
        _London_, 483
    Could succeed at anything, _Maxim_, 38
    Decorators, biographies of, 690
    Divines, biographies of, 714
    Editors, biographies of, 660
    Educators, biographies of, 656
    Explorers, biographies of, 652
    Farm, _Van Horne_, 496
    Farmer in politics, simplicity, sense, _Borden_, 452
    Father was a farmer, _Burroughs_, 405
    Farmers, scientific, _Loudon_, 484
    Finance, _Burroughs_, 408
    Financiers, biographies of, 638
    “Finding one’s self,” _Shrady_, 366
    Humorists, biographies of, 693
    Illustrators, biographies of, 690
    Illustrating for girls, _Stephens_, 323, 324
    Industrial leaders, biographies of, 620
    Inventors, biographies of, 633
    Journalism, _Conwell_, 429
    Journalists, biographies of, 695
    Jurists, biographies of, 644
    Law, keep out of, _Platt_, 232
    Law, _Borden_, 451
    Law, _Dolliver_, 220
    Law office politics, _Parent_, 464
    Lawyers, biographies of, 644
    Lawyer, orator, _Gunsaulus_, 433
    Lecturing, _Conwell_, 431
    Lecturers, biographies of, 683
    Literature, _Riley_, 258, 259, 260
    Manufacturers, biographies of, 624
    Mechanics and R. R. finance, _Vanderbilt_, 139, 140, 141
    Merchants, biographies of, 636
    Ministry, _Gunsaulus_, 434
    Music as a vocation, _Nordica_, 543
    Musicians, biographies of, 670
    Novelists, biographies of, 704
    Orators, biographies of, 668
    Oratory, _Depew_, 217
    Organizers, biographies of, 683
    Painting, _Shrady_, 366
    Philanthropists, biographies of, 712
    Poets, biographies of, 697
    Political field, _Depew_, 214
    Political leaders, biographies of, 641
    Political life in Canada, _Blair_, 477
    Politics, _Depew_, 211
    Politics, _Dolliver_, 221
    Politics, _Jones_, 508
    Politics, public utilities, _Jones_, 509
    Politics, young men in, _Roosevelt_, 174
    Practice of law, _Conwell_, 428
    Preacher, merchant, lawyer, politician, doctor, _Gunsaulus_, 433
    Preparation, _Depew_, 210
    Preparation, _Howells_, 286
    Private secretary, _Gould_, 417
    Publishers, biographies of, 663
    Railroad business, _Van Horne_, 493
    Railroad official, _Depew_, 212
    Reformers, biographies of, 708
    Sailors, biographies of, 648
    Sculptor, poet, artist, _Ruckstuhl_, 358
    Sculptors, biographies of, 690
    Singers, biographies of, 674
    Soldiers, biographies of, 648
    Statesmen, biographies of, 617
    Stick to your calling, _Vreeland_, 162
    Teacher, instructor, _Borden_, 450
    Telegraphy, _Carnegie_, 54, 55, 57
    Telegraphy, _Edison_, 21, 23, 24
    Telegraphy, learning, _Clowry_, 145, 146, 147
    Train despatcher, _Van Horne_, 487
    Transportation, leaders, biographies of, 629
    Travellers, biographies of, 652
    Treasury, _Burroughs_, 408
    United States Army, _Miles_, 193
    Writing for children, _Keller_, 393
    Writers, biographies of, 695
    Writers, suggestions to, _Wilcox_, 276, 281

  Cartoonists, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Change, _see Recreation_.

  Character, _see Success Ideals_.

  Character, _see Success Qualities_.

  Chinese Medal, _see Anecdotes_.

  Civil service, _see Careers_.

  Civil War, _Conwell_, 427

  Clerking, _see Start in life_.

  Colleges, _see Education_.

  Common school, _see Education_.

  Commerce, _see Careers_.

  Common sense, _see Success Qualities_.

  Compositor, _see Start in life_.

  Conceit, _see Dangers_.

  Concentration, _see Success Qualities._

  Concentration of business, _see Dangers_.

  Conservatism, _see Success Qualities_.

  Consistency, _see Success Qualities_.

  Content, _see Success Ideals_.

  Contentment, _see Success Ideals_.

  Convictions, _see Success Qualities_.

  Copying records, _see Start in life_.

  Cordiality, _see Success Qualities_.

  Corresponding with papers, _see Start in life_.

  Country school teacher, _see Start in life_.

  Courage, _see Success Qualities_.

  Crippled, _see Obstacles_.

  Cuba, opportunity in, _see Opportunity_.

  Culture, _see Success Ideals_.


  =Dangers:=
    Conceit, _Davenport_, 339
    Concentration of business, _Jones_, 508
    Content in idleness, _Choate_, 204
    Expensive habits, smoking, _Mills_, 120
    Hurry, haste, _Loudon_, 481
    Idleness, _Gould_, 417
    Idleness, _Mills_, 117
    Indulgence, _Herreshoff_, 534
    Inexperience, lack of tact, _Mills_, 123
    Luxuries, wealth, power, _Burroughs_, 410
    Over-estimate of ability, inaction, _Choate_, 202
    Overwork, _Markham_, 269
    Ruts, _Strauss_, 423
    Salary, _Van Horne_, 493
    Weak points, _Herreshoff_, 538

  Dauntlessness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Deafness, _see Obstacle_.

  Decision, _see Turning Point_.

  Decision, _see Success Qualities_.

  Deliberation, _see Success Qualities_.

  Determination, _see Success Qualities_.

  Devotion, _see Success Qualities_.

  Dignity, _see Success Qualities_.

  Discipline, see _Success Qualities_.

  Discipline, _see Methods_.

  Discouragement, _see Failure_.

  Dispatcher, _see Careers_.

  Divines, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Doctor, _see Careers_.

  Doing good, _see Success Ideals_.

  Drink, _see Health_.

  Drug-store, retail, _see Start in life_.

  Dutch parentage, _see Heredity_.


  Early poverty, _see Start in life_.

  Early rising, _see Methods_.

  Early training, _see Methods_.

  Earnestness, see _Success Qualities_.

  Earning his way, _see Start in life_.

  Economy, see _Success Qualities_.

  Economy, _see Methods_.

  Editors, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Educators, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Education, _see Success Ideals_.

  Education, contentment, _Keller_, 401

  =Education:=
    A careless student, _Wallace_, 297
    Advantage of, _Platt_, 227
    Advice how to obtain, _Conwell_, 430
    College an advantage, _Riley_, 260
    College discipline inadequate, _Herreshoff_, 535
    College not necessary, _Field_, 90
    College men in demand, _Schurman_, 250
    College not necessary, _Gompers_, 167
    College profitable, _Platt_, 227
    College practical, _Roosevelt_, 175
    College _vs._ home, _Gage_, 135
    Common school sufficient, _Clowry_, 151
    Cut short, _Armour_, 514
    Education for women, _H. Gould_, 417
    Effects of, _Keller_, 398
    Elementary education, _Schurman_, 245
    High school sufficient, _Field_, 82
    Home study in art, _Opper_, 355
    Of artists, _Abbey_, 319
    Of the blind and deaf, _Keller_, 397
    Necessary for soldiers, _Miles_, 192
    Reading my college course, _Collyer_, 443
    Self-culture, example of, _Howells_, 283
    Self-culture in art, _Gibson_, 344
    Self-culture in art, _Shrady_, 367
    Student life in Paris, _Ruckstuhl_, 361
    Teaching of drawing, _Gibson_, 345
    Training in music, _Nordica_, 545
    Value of, _Gage_, 136
    Village school, _Opper_, 354

  Effort, _see Success Qualities_.

  Eight-hour work day, _see Work_.

  Energy, _see Success Qualities_.

  Enterprise, _see Success Qualities_.

  Enthusiasm, _see Success Qualities_.

  Essays, _see Reading_.

  Evening study, _see Reading_.

  “Evening,” statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 362

  Example, _see Success Ideals_.

  Executive ability, _see Success Qualities_.

  Exercise, _see Health_.

  Experience, _see Methods_.

  Explorers, biographies of, _see Careers_.


  =Failure:=
    Began life with, _Parent_, 464
    Discouragement, _Ruckstuhl_, 363
    Justify failure, _Choate_, 201
    “What a failure I am,” _Davenport_, 338

  Fame, _see Success Ideals_.

  Farming, _see Careers_.

  Farmer’s boy, _see Start in life_.

  Farming conditions, _see Start in life_.

  Fidelity, _see Success Qualities_.

  Finance, _see Careers_.

  Financiers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Flying machines, _see Achievements_.

  “Force,” statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 362

  Forceful, _see Success Qualities_.

  Foresight, _see Success Qualities_.

  Frankness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Freedom, _see Success Ideals_.

  French descent, _see Heredity_.

  French Huguenots, _see Heredity_.

  Friends, _Keller_, 400

  Frugality, _see Success Qualities_.


  Gameness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Gas machine, _see Achievements_.

  Genius, _see Success Qualities_.

  Gift, _see Bent_.

  Goethe, bust, _Ruckstuhl_, 364

  Golden Mean, _see Success Ideals_.

  Golden Rule, _see Methods_.

  Good habits, _see Success Qualities_.

  Good judgment, _see Success Qualities_.

  Grocery clerk, _see Start in life_.


  Habit, _see Methods_.

  Habits, _see Health_.

  Happiness, _see Success Ideals_.

  Hard work, _see Success Qualities_.

  “Hartranft,” statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 364

  Haste, _see Dangers_.

  =Health:=
    A prime requisite, _Roosevelt_, 181
    Good habits, _Sage_, 130
    Habits, _Platt_, 233
    Keeping healthy, _Edison_, 34
    Large and strong, _Maxim_, 40
    Methods of securing, _Smith_, 456
    Powerful physique, _Nordica_, 555

  Heeding advice, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Heredity:=
    American stock, _Platt_, 226
    Chip of the old block, _Vanderbilt_, 142
    Dutch parentage, _Edison_, 19
    French descent, _Parent_, 465
    Heir to Vanderbilt millions, _Vanderbilt_, 138
    Inheritance, _Wanamaker_, 93
    New England annals, _Choate_, 203
    New England stock, _Nordica_, 542
    New England stock, French Huguenots, _Depew_, 209
    Patriot and fighter by inheritance, _Pingree_, 77
    Scotch blood, _Loudon_, 479
    Scotch ancestors, _Armour_, 512
    Scottish ancestors, _Carnegie_, 52
    Spanish ancestors, _Sousa_, 385
    Swiss ancestors, _Keller_, 395
    Training, teaching, _Armour_, 524
    United States stock, _Borden_, 449

  “High Noon,” poem, _Wilcox_, 274

  High school, _see Education_.

  High thinking, _see Success Ideals_.

  Home, _see Success Ideal_s.

  Homestead Steel Works, _see Achievements_.

  Home study, _see Education_.

  Home study, _see Reading_.

  Honesty, _see Success Qualities_.

  Hours of work, _see Work_.

  Humor, _see Success Qualities_.

  Humorists, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Hurry, _see Dangers_.


  Idleness, see _Dangers_.

  “Ike Walton’s Prayer,” _see Success Ideals_.

  Illustrating, _see Careers_.

  Illustrators, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Imagination, _see Success Qualities_.

  Inaction, _see Dangers_.

  Inclination, _see Bent_.

  Income, _see Success Ideals_.

  Independence, _see Success Qualities_.

  Individuality, _see Success Qualities_.

  Indulgence, _see Dangers_.

  Industry, _see Success Qualities_.

  Inexperience, _see Dangers_.

  =Influence:=
    Civilizing “bad men,” _Roosevelt_, 184
    In literature, _Wilcox_, 279
    Mme Maretzek, Brignola, _Nordica_, 546
    Young women who become wives, _Loudon_, 481

  Inheritance, _see Heredity_.

  Initiative, _see Success Qualities_.

  Inspiration, _see Success Qualities_.

  Instructor, _see Careers_.

  Integrity, _see Success Qualities_.

  Intellect, _see Success Qualities_.

  Interest, _see Success Qualities_.

  Inventors, biographies of, _see Careers_.


  Janitor, _see Start in life_.

  “Joe Jefferson’s Life,” _see Anecdotes_.

  Journalism, _see Careers_.

  Journalists, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Jurists, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Justice, _see Success Qualities_.


  Keystone Bridge Works, _see Achievements_.

  Knowledge of different sections, _Smith_, 459

  Knowledge, _see Success Qualities_.


  “Laugh and the World Laughs,” poem, _Wilcox_, 273

  Law, _see Careers_.

  Laws, _see Achievements_.

  Lawyers biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Leaders, _Herreshoff_, 537

  Leaders, industrial, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Leaders, political, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Leaders, transportation, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Leadership, _see Success Qualities_.

  Leaning, _see Bent_.

  Lecturing, _see Careers_.

  Lecturers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Leisure time, _Opper_, 355

  Libraries, _see Reading_.

  Liquors, _see Health_.

  Literature, influence of, _see Influence_.

  Literature, _see Careers_.

  Love for humanity, _Strauss_, 423

  Love your work, _see Success Qualities_.

  Loyalty, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Luck:=
    No such thing, _Sage_, 127
    Of preparation, _Choate_, 199

  Luxuries, _see Dangers_.


  Macaulay, bust, _Ruckstuhl_, 364

  “Man with the Hoe,” poem, _see Work_.

  Manhood, _see Success Qualities_.

  Manliness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Manufactures, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Mathematics, _see Reading_.

  “Mayday Morn,” painting, _Abbey_, 317

  Mayoralty of Detroit, _see Achievements_.

  Mechanics, _see Bent_.

  Mechanics, _see Career_s.

  Memory, _see Mother_.

  Memory, _see Success Qualities_.

  Merchant, _see Careers_.

  Merchants, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Mercury, statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 364

  Merit, _see Success Qualities_.

  Messenger boy, _see Start in life_.

  =Methods:=
    American methods, _Lipton_, 111
    Apprentice system, _Herreshoff_, 535
    Arbitration, _Gompers_, 171
    Artists sketches, _Opper_, 357
    Best known methods, _Armour_, 520
    Clerical work overtime, _Vreeland_, 155
    Combine books and observation, _Lipton_, 116
    “Early rising,” _Armour_, 511
    Early training, _Gunsaulus_, 439
    Economy, discipline, system, _Armour_, 513
    Edison’s day’s work, _Edison_, 33
    Experience, _Wanamaker_, 103
    Develop ability, _Herreshoff_, 536
    Doing my best, _Clowry_, 147
    Getting work before public, _Wilcox_, 277
    Golden Rule, _Jones_, 505
    Habit of thrift, _Mills_, 119
    Habit of studying and thinking, _Gompers_, 167
    High-priced men and one-man power, _Vreeland_, 162
    I always carry a sketch-book, _Opper_, 357
    Imitating writings of others, _Howells_, 286
    In authorship, _Wilcox_, 281
    In building career, _Loudon_, 480
    I never worried, _Pingree_, 75
    I never mapped out my life, _Pingree_, 74
    I perform more services than allotted, _Clowry_, 149
    I work methodically, _Opper_, 354
    Literary methods, _Wilcox_, 275
    Of a bandmaster, _Sousa_, 387
    Of a general, _Miles_, 190
    Of a merchant, _Field_, 86
    Of a governor with petitioners, _Pingree_, 72
    Of an artist, _Remington_, 330
    Of an inventor, _Maxim_, 50
    Of a sculptor, _Ruckstuhl_, 364
    Of a writer, _Harrison_, 307
    Of a writer, _Howell_, 289
    Of composition, _Sousa_, 389
    Of daily work, _Edison_, 33
    Of daily work, _Parent_, 461
    Of drawing cartoons, _Opper_, 354
    Of early training, _Depew_, 209
    Of inventing, _Edison_, 28
    Of naturalist, _Burroughs_, 411
    Of nature study, _Burroughs_, 409
    Of railroad men, _Vanderbilt_, 141
    Of promotion, _Carnegie_, 65
    Of rehearsal, _Mansfield_, 382
    Of the rising man, _Carnegie_, 59
    Of sculpturing horses, _Shrady_, 370
    Of successful men, _Gage_, 135
    Preparation, _Vanderbilt_, 143
    Preparation for practical pursuits, _Loudon_, 483
    Rise early, _Armour_, 522
    Route to success, _Pingree_, 75
    Sacrifices, _Dolliver_, 220
    “Save early, invest securely,” _Carnegie_, 62
    Science of achievement, _Lipton_, 12
    Studied to win promotion, _Armour_, 513
    The true bosses, _Carnegie_, 69
    To get to the top, _Maxim_, 41
    To induce saving, _Carnegie_, 65
    To win promotion, _Carnegie_, 60
    “You strive,” _Ruckstuhl_, 365

  Metropolitan Street Railway System, _see Achievements_.

  Mind stuff, _see Reading_.

  Ministry, _see Careers_.

  Minneapolis Tribune, _see Achievements_.

  Misfortune, _see Obstacles_.

  Modesty, _see Success Qualities_.

  Money, _see Wealth_.

  =Mother:=
    Early teaching, _Platt_, 227
    Home manager, _Stephens_, 324
    Influence of, _Herreshoff_, 534
    Influence of mother, _Markham_, 267
    Interest and care of, _Field_, 82
    Memory of home, _Johnson_, 234
    Select a good mother, _Herreshoff_, 533
    Should study each child, _Herreshoff_, 538
    Strict, but very tender, _Platt_, 226
    Tribute to, _Herreshoff_, 539

  “Mr. Dinkelspiel,” _see Achievements_.

  Musicians, biographies of, _see Careers_.


  Nature, love of, _Burroughs_, 410

  Nature study, _Burroughs_, 409

  New England stock, _see Heredity_.

  Newsboy, _see Start in life_.

  New York, alone in, _see Start in life_.

  New York University, _Gould_, 419

  New York University, _Conwell_, 431

  Night study, _see Reading_.

  Novelists, biographies of, _see Careers_.


  Observation, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Obstacles:=
    Blindness, _Herreshoff_, 539
    Cost of distinction, _Nordica_, 557
    Crippled, _Wilder_, 373
    Deaf, dumb and blind, _Keller_, 396
    Delicate health, _Roosevelt_, 181
    Disappointment, _Davenport_, 336
    Fire of 1871, _Field_, 86
    Glorious to be barred, _Riley_, 259
    Misfortune, advantage of, _Conwell_, 426
    Telegraph was new, _Clowry_, 147

  Ohio, iron bridge across, _see Achievements_.

  Ohio Wesleyan Seminary, _Gunsaulus_, 434

  Operas and marches, _see Achievements_.

  =Opportunity:=
    A chance for all, _Carnegie_, 58
    American new possessions, _Depew_, 216
    Ample, _Jones_, 509
    Better, larger, _Armour_, 512
    Better than ever, _Herreshoff_, 537
    Chances of rising, _Herreshoff_, 537
    Come to all, _Choate_, 200
    Come to every one, _Strauss_, 423
    Commercial better than ever, _Clowry_, 151
    Commercial life heavily handicapped, _Jones_, 508
    Conditions more favorable, _Wanamaker_, 105
    Could start anew and win, _Lipton_, 111
    Countless things to do, _Lipton_, 115
    East and West, _Sage_, 128
    Everyone has good chance, _Sage_, 127
    Everything open to youth, _Howells_, 283
    For art study in America, _Gibson_, 351, 352
    For young preacher, _Gunsaulus_, 439
    For country boys, _Sage_, 129
    For great American women singers, _Nordica_, 556
    For young men, _Dolliver_, 222
    Great Britain _vs._ America, _Lipton_, 114
    Greater than ever before, _Armour_, 527
    Improved by education, _Roosevelt_, 177
    In Canada, _Borden_, 448
    In Canada, _Loudon_, 482
    In Canada, _Smith_, 456
    In Canadian Northwest, _Blair_, 474
    In Canada for young men, _Blair_, 473
    In Cuba, _Van Horne_, 496
    Increased a thousandfold, _Mills_, 120, 121
    In realm of electricity, _Edison_, 30
    In towns and cities, _Roosevelt_, 175
    In Quebec, _Parent_, 466
    In Quebec, Ontario, and Northwest, _Van Horne_, 492
    Less than formerly, _Pingree_, 76
    Make opportunity, _Herreshoff_, 536
    Merit quickly rewarded, _Clowry_, 148
    More than in past, _Depew_, 207
    More things to do, _Depew_, 208
    Moving grain and cattle, _Armour_, 517
    New industries, broader fields, _Sage_, 128
    No time like present, _Mills_, 118
    Of a small church, _Gunsaulus_, 435
    Of becoming proprietor, _Herreshoff_, 538
    Our new possessions, _Gunsaulus_, 439
    Plentiful, _Depew_, 208
    Right men in demand, _Carnegie_, 59
    Seizing opportunities, _Wanamaker_, 98
    To convey water, _Armour_, 517
    To create, to develop, _Van Horne_, 488
    To rise quickly, _Carnegie_, 52
    We are what we choose, _Gunsaulus_, 435

  Ontario, opportunity in, _see Opportunity_.

  Orators, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Oratory, _see Careers_.

  Organizers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Out-of-doors, _see Recreation_.

  Overwork, _see Dangers_.


  Painstaking, _see Success Qualities_.

  Painting, _see Careers_.

  Painting, _see Recreation_.

  Paris, _Nordica_, 551

  Partnership, _see Achievements_.

  Patience, _see Success Qualities_.

  Patriotism, _Gould_, 416

  Peace, _see Success Ideals_.

  Peace of Mind, _Burroughs_, 410

  Perseverance, _see Success Qualities_.

  Persistence, _see Success Qualities_.

  Philanthropists, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Philosophy, _see Success Qualities_.

  Photograph supply store, _see Start in life_.

  Physical strength, _see Success Qualities_.

  Physique, _see Health_.

  Poems, _see Achievements_.

  Poetry, _see Reading_.

  Poets, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Poets, _see Careers_.

  Political honors, _see Achievements_.

  Politics, _see Careers_.

  Poverty, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Poverty:=
    An incentive, _Choate_, 203
    Purpose through poverty, _Choate_, 202
    Want urges to effort, _Edison_, 26

  Position, _see Success Ideals_.

  Power, _see Dangers_.

  Preachers, _see Careers_.

  Preparation, _see Careers_.

  Preparation, _see Method_.

  Principles, _see Success Qualities_.

  Printer’s devil, _see Start in Life_.

  Printing office, _see Start in Life_.

  Progress, _Parent_, 468

  Promotion, _Carnegie_, 58

  Promptness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Public service, _see Success Ideals_.

  Publishers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  “Puck,” _see Achievements_.

  Punctuality, _see Success Qualities_.

  Purpose, _see Success Qualities_.

  Push, _see Success Qualities_.


  Quebec, opportunity in, _see Opportunity_.


  Rapid-fire gun, _see Achievements_.

  =Reading:=
    A great advantage, _Platt_, 228
    Always carried a book, _Conwell_, 427
    Books and the maiden, _Collyer_, 442
    Col. Anderson’s library, _Carnegie_, 53
    “Congressional Record,” _Dolliver_, 219
    Evening study, _Wallace_, 301
    Home study, _Clowry_, 148
    I devoured poetry, _Markham_, 268
    I loved to read, _Wallace_, 298
    I made use of books, _Field_, 82
    Influence of, _Armour_, 513
    Many hours with great authors, _Gage_, 132
    Mathematics, _Edison_, 19
    “Progress and Poverty,” _Johnson_, 238
    Read because I wanted to read, _Howells_, 293
    Reading constantly, _Howells_, 284
    Scientific books, _Edison_, 23
    Study nights, _Gunsaulus_, 434
    Study all the time, _Conwell_, 431
    Taste ran to essays, _Burroughs_, 407
    Tried to read entire free library, _Edison_, 19
    Uses mind-stuff, _Howells_, 288

  =Recreation:=
    Change or recreation, _Herreshoff_, 535
    In painting pictures, _Van Horne_, 495
    Out-of-doors, _Roosevelt_, 176
    Yachting, _Lipton_, 116

  Reformers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Retire early, _see Health_.

  Riches, _see Wealth_.

  Rising in the world, _see Opportunity_.

  Ruts, _see Dangers_.


  Sacrifice, see _Success Qualities_.

  Sailors, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Salary, _see Dangers_.

  Saving, _see Methods_.

  Saving, _see Success Qualities_.

  Scholarship, _see Achievements_.

  School days, _see Education_.

  Sculptor, _see Careers_.

  Seclusion, _Burroughs_, 410

  Secretary, _see Careers_.

  Self-confidence, _see Success Qualities_.

  Self-culture, _see Education_.

  Self-denial, _see Success Qualities_.

  Self-help, _see Success Qualities_.

  Self-reliance, _see Success Qualities_.

  Self-respect, _see Success Qualities_.

  Scotch blood, _see Heredity_.

  Sentiment, _see Success Qualities_.

  Shoe factory, _see Start in Life_.

  Shoveling gravel, _see Start in Life_.

  Shrewdness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Simple life, _see Success Ideals_.

  Simplicity, _see Success Ideals_.

  Sincerity, _see Success Qualities_.

  Singers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Sleeping-car industry, _Carnegie_, 60

  Smokeless powder, _see Achievements_.

  Smoking, _see Health_.

  Smoking, _see Dangers_.

  Society, _Gould_, 418

  Soldiers, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  “Solon,” bust, _Ruckstuhl_, 364

  Spanish ancestors, _see Heredity_.

  =Start in Life:=
    A little barren hut, _Jones_, 501
    Alone in N. Y., _Lipton_, 110
    A newsboy, _Edison_, 20
    A printer’s devil, _Opper_, 355
    As a clerk, _Field_, 83
    Begin at the bottom, _Vanderbilt_, 139
    Bottom of the ladder, _Mills_, 122
    Capital twenty dollars, _Collyer_, 444
    Cattle range and farm, _Markham_, 268
    Clerk, _Mansfield_, 381
    Clerk in store, _Schurman_, 246
    Compositor in N. Y., _Opper_, 355
    Copying records, _Wallace_, 300
    Corresponding with papers, _Howells_, 287
    Country school teacher, _Dolliver_, 220
    Depended early upon self, _Mills_, 119
    Dollar and a half a week, _Wanamaker_, 93
    Early poverty, _Jones_, 502
    Earned his own way, _Depew_, 208
    Farm boy at seventeen, _Pingree_, 72
    Farmer’s boy, _Burroughs_, 405
    Farmer’s boy, _Field_, 81
    Farmer’s boy, _Schurman_, 244
    Farming conditions, _Field_, 81
    Farming, studying, teaching, _Burroughs_, 408
    Grocery clerk, _Sage_, 126
    Introduced to the broom, _Carnegie_, 56
    I used to get my own meals, _Clowry_, 146
    Janitor, _Gage_, 132
    Messenger boy, _Clowry_, 145
    Nordica’s first tour, _Nordica_, 549
    On the farm, _Conwell_, 426
    Photograph supply store, _Ruckstuhl_, 359
    Printing office, _Davenport_, 337
    Retail drug store, _Platt_, 229
    Rich men’s sons, _Carnegie_, 69
    Shoe factory, _Pingree_, 73
    Shoveling gravel, _Vreeland_, 154
    The farm, _Armour_, 514
    Thirty dollars a year, _Schurman_, 245
    Utility boy on railroad, _Van Horne_, 487
    Young men without capital, _Carnegie_, 51, 52

  Statesmen, biographies of, _see Careers_.

  Statues, _see Achievements_.

  Steam motors, _see Achievements_.

  Steel works, _see Achievements_.

  Stick-to-a-tiveness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Stores, _see Achievements_.

  Storey Farm, Oil Creek, Pa., _Carnegie_, 63

  Strict attention, _see Success Qualities_.

  Submarine cable device, _see Achievements_.

  “Suburban resident,” _see Achievements_.

  Success, _see Success Ideals_.

  Success, _Blair_, 473

  Success, _Mansfield_, 380

  =Success Ideals:=
    Achievement, contentment, wealth and power, _Van Horne_, 485
    A comfortable home, _Blair_, 475
    An ideal example, _Burroughs_, 404
    Broaden and enjoy life, _Burroughs_, 410
    Character, _Blair_, 476
    Content, _Burroughs_, 405
    Cultivation, mind and heart, _Jones_, 509
    Doing good, _Depew_, 218
    Education before wealth, _Keller_, 401
    Fame, position, income, _Choate_, 199
    Final aristocracy, _Carnegie_, 66
    Freedom and peace, _Burroughs_, 405
    Golden mean, _Burroughs_, 412
    Great men need little money, _Burroughs_, 403
    Happiness, _Choate_, 204, 205
    Happiness, _Howells_, 294, 295
    High thinking, _Burroughs_, 407
    “Ike Walton’s Prayer,” _Riley_, 253, 254
    Material success, _Depew_, 216
    Money making not a success, _Dolliver_, 223
    Not high enough, _Gunsaulus_, 438
    Of a minister, _Gunsaulus_, 436
    Public service, _Field_, 91
    Simplicity, unconventionality, _Blair_, 477
    Something for others, _Armour_, 527
    “The Creed,” poem, _Wilcox_, 274
    The Simple Life, _Burroughs_, 410
    To do everything, _H. Gould_, 415
    Usefulness to others, _Jones_, 510
    Usefulness to society, _Van Horne_, 486
    Wealth a false ideal, _Parent_, 467
    Wider and greater, _Field_, 89

  =Success Qualities:=
    Ability, energy, will, ambition, _Borden_, 447
    Adaptability, attention, _Platt_, 231
    Ambition, _Sage_, 127
    Ambition, _Vanderbilt_, 143
    Application, _Armour_, 522
    Application, concentration, _Edison_, 29
    Application, honesty, _Conwell_, 431
    Attention, deliberate, consistent, _Strauss_, 425
    Attention, will, stick, energy, industry, _Strauss_, 424
    Canniness, energy, conservatism, sentiment, _Parent_, 469
    Character, _Miles_, 192
    Common sense, _Gunsaulus_, 436
    Common sense, _Roosevelt_, 178
    Concentration, _Edison_, 29
    Concentration of thought, _Wanamaker_, 104
    Consistency, honesty, hard work, _Depew_, 215
    Convictions, desire to achieve, _Gunsaulus_, 435
    Convictions, character, _Jones_, 508
    Convictions, work, public favor, _Gunsaulus_, 433
    Cordiality, dignity, _Borden_, 453
    Courage, honesty, _Roosevelt_, 177
    Courage, _Miles_, 194
    Courage, energy, ambition, _Smith_, 459
    Courage our national virtue, _Miles_, 194
    Dauntlessness, loyal, _Miles_, 191
    Decision, independence, _Mills_, 120
    Determination, application, _Stephens_, 324
    Determination, _Opper_, 353
    Determination, ambition, _Opper_, 354
    Devotion, _Gompers_, 171
    Devotion, time, thought, energy, _Nordica_, 543
    Dignity, self-reliance, self-respect, _Borden_, 450
    Discipline, _Strauss_, 423
    Earnestness, honesty, _Lipton_, 113
    Economy, _Parent_, 461
    Economy, _Strauss_, 422
    Effort, economy, common-sense, _Wanamaker_, 107
    Energy, work hard, _Gunsaulus_, 439
    Enthusiasm, interest, _Van Horne_, 494
    Executive ability, _Herreshoff_, 537
    Fidelity, loyalty, manhood, _Platt_, 232
    Foresight, _Roosevelt_, 176
    Frankness, honesty, energy, perseverance, _Pingree_, 77
    Frugality, honesty, energy, integrity, _Field_, 89
    Gameness, integrity, forceful character, _Roosevelt_, 186
    Genius, devotion, application, _Collyer_, 445
    Good judgment, _Field_, 87
    Good habits, perseverance, _Wilcox_, 281
    Hard work, _Gunsaulus_, 433
    Heeding advice, thought, memory, observation, _Herreshoff_, 540
    Honest dealing, adaptability, strict attention, _Platt_, 231
    Honesty, _Field_, 91
    Honesty, courage, _Roosevelt_, 177
    Honesty, industry and thrift, _Parent_, 466
    Honesty, _Lipton_, 113
    Honesty, _Sage_, 129
    Humility, _Mills_, 122
    Humor, shrewdness, patience, _Loudon_, 479
    Imagination, _Ruckstuhl_, 365
    Imagination, philosophy, _Loudon_, 484
    Independence, interest, concentration, inspiration, _Van Horne_, 493
    Individuality, _Gibson_, 346, 347
    Individuality, energy, will, perseverance, _Pingree_, 77
    Initiative, justice, _Van Horne_, 486
    Inspiration, _Ruckstuhl_, 362
    Integrity, energy, business ability, _Armour_, 520
    Intellect, energy, ambition, _Maxim_, 37
    I would stick to it, _Conwell_, 427
    Knowledge, convictions, attention to details, _Borden_, 452
    Leadership, _Gunsaulus_, 440
    Love your work, _Mansfield_, 380
    Loyalty, _Gompers_, 172
    Manhood, _Platt_, 232
    Manliness, persistency, willingness to work, _Jones_, 501
    Merit, _Herreshoff_, 538
    Modesty, _Armour_, 512
    Modesty, _Gould_, 416
    Painstaking, energy, _Mansfield_, 381
    Painstaking, _Abbey_, 318
    Patience, perseverance, fidelity, _Keller_, 400
    Perseverance, _Gage_, 134
    Persistence, _Riley_, 258
    Persistence and hard work, _Sousa_, 388
    Physical strength, _Depew_, 210
    Poverty, work, _Jones_, 510
    Principles, health, ambition, _Field_, 84
    Prompt, bright, willing, accommodating, _Wanamaker_, 94
    Punctuality, _Parent_, 463
    Purpose, _Choate_, 202
    Purpose, energy, determination, concentration, will, _Borden_, 448
    Push, _Wanamaker_, 106
    Sacrifice, devotion, _Gompers_, 171
    Saving, _Carnegie_, 62
    Saving money, thrift, _Carnegie_, 69
    Self-confidence, _Ruckstuhl_, 361
    Self-denial, industry, economy, attention, purpose,
        _Herreshoff_, 533
    Self-help, recreation, very best work, _Herreshoff_, 534
    Self-respect, _Strauss_, 422
    Sincerity, energy, purpose, perseverance, _Pingree_, 77
    System, _Armour_, 518
    System, good measure, _Armour_, 519
    Talent, persistence, energy, enthusiasm, determination, toil,
        _Riley_, 258
    Temperament, energy, _Herreshoff_, 535
    Thoroughness, _Maxim_, 41
    Thrift, _Carnegie_, 69
    Thrift applied to saving, _Lipton_, 115
    Thrift, hard work, _Carnegie_, 67
    Truth, _Armour_, 520
    Versatility, _Roosevelt_, 176
    Vigilance, _Parent_, 465
    Wide awake, attention to duty, integrity, _Strauss_, 424
    Will, character, determination, _Nordica_, 542
    Will power, _Wilcox_, 282
    Willingness, _Vreeland_, 156
    Work, _Abbey_, 319
    Zeal, determination, enterprise, _Loudon_, 482

  Swiss ancestors, _see Heredity_.

  System, _see Success Qualities_.

  System, _see Methods_.


  Tact, lack of, _see Dangers_.

  Talent, _see Bent_.

  Talent, _see Success Qualities_.

  Teacher, _see Careers_.

  Telegraphic recorder, _see Achievements_.

  Telegraphy, _see Careers_.

  Temperament, _see Success Qualities_.

  Temple College, _Conwell_, 430

  “The Birth of the Opal,” poem, _Wilcox_, 274

  “The Creed,” poem, _see Success Qualities_.

  “The Empty Saddle,” statue, _Shrady_, 369

  “The Fair God,” _see Achievements_.

  “The Two Glasses,” poem, _Wilcox_, 274

  Thoroughness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Thought, _see Success Qualities_.

  Thrift, _see Success Qualities_.

  Time, _see Success Qualities_.

  Titles, _see Achievements_.

  “To an Astrologer,” poem, _Wilcox_, 274

  Toil, see _Success Qualities_.

  Treasury, _see Careers_.

  Truth, _see Success Qualities_.

  =Turning Points:=
    A fortunate misfortune, _Johnson_, 236
    Decision to be a sculptor, _Ruckstuhl_, 360
    Decision to go to college, _Schurman_, 246
    Entered telegraph office, _Carnegie_, 54
    I began to save, _Armour_, 520
    I determined to start for Chicago, _Gage_, 133
    I must go to America, _Collyer_, 444
    I sold my country store, _Sage_, 127
    I went West to Chicago, _Field_, 83
    Law case, _Conwell_, 429
    Making the first note, _Carnegie_, 62
    Saving the first five thousand dollars, _Field_, 87
    Starting grocery store, _Lipton_, 111
    Threw down my pitch-fork, _Armour_, 515


  Unconventionality, _see Success Ideals_.

  United States Army, _see Careers_.

  United States Express Co, _see Achievements_.

  United States stock, _see Heredity_.

  Upper Union Rolling Mills, _see Achievements_.

  Usefulness to others, _see Success Ideals_.

  Usefulness to society, _see Success Ideals_.

  Utility boy, _see Start in Life_.


  Vacation, _Van Horne_, 494

  Vanderbilt millions, _see Heredity_.

  Vanderbilt system, _see Achievements_.

  Versatility, _see Success Qualities_.

  “Victory,” statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 364

  Victories, _see Achievements_.

  Vigilance, _see Success Qualities_.

  Vigor, _see Health_.

  Vitality, _see Health_.


  Walking, _see Health_.

  Want, _see Poverty_.

  Weak points, _see Dangers_.

  =Wealth:=
    A sacred trust, _Carnegie_, 67
    Benefactor to mankind, _Mills_, 118
    Money his servant, _Jones_, 510
    Never disturbs me, _Burroughs_, 403
    Responsibility of, _Mills_, 123
    Rich without money, _Burroughs_, 412
    Slaves of wealth, _Jones_, 510

  Wealth, _see Success Ideals_.

  West, _Conwell_, 427

  “Wherever you are,” poem, _Wilcox_, 274

  Wide awake, _see Success Qualities_.

  Will, _see Success Qualities_.

  Willingness, _see Success Qualities_.

  Will power, _see Success Qualities_.

  “Wisdom,” statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 362

  Wives, influence of, _see Influence_.

  “Woody Crest,” _Gould_, 415

  Women, education for, _see Education_.

  =Work:=
    Ability to work hard, _Roosevelt_, 176
    Eight-hour work day, _Gompers_, 170
    Heart and soul in, _Lipton_, 113
    I like it, _Edison_, 27, 29
    I must work and perfect myself, _Nordica_, 545
    Influence of, _Markham_, 269
    Keynote of success, _Mills_, 117
    Let the work show, _Herreshoff_, 532
    Literary life means work, _Riley_, 260
    Love your work, _Mansfield_, 380
    Making a great voice, _Nordica_, 542
    “Man with the Hoe,” _Markham_, 264
    Moderate number of hours, _Depew_, 214
    Nobility of work, _Collyer_, 445
    Record of steady work, _Abbey_, 317
    Short hours, _Field_, 88
    Twenty hours a day, _Edison_, 27
    Work all the time, _Gibson_, 349
    Work hard on long lines, _Collyer_, 445
    Work incessantly, _Gibson_, 349
    “Work is to my taste,” _Vanderbilt_, 140
    Work long time without sleep, _Wanamaker_, 105
    Working hours, _Gunsaulus_, 438

  Work, _see Success Qualities_.

  Work hard, _see Success Qualities_.

  Writers, biographies of, _see Careers_.


  Yachting, _see Recreation_.

  Yale College, _Conwell_, 427

  Young men, _see Start in life_.


  Zeal, _see Success Qualities_.


FOOTNOTE:

[B] For Biographical Index see page 724.




       *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber’s note:

Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.

Varied hyphenation was retained.

Many minor variations in capitalization, punctuation, etc., were
noted between the table of Contents and the Chapter Headings
themselves. These were retained as printed.

Page 449, “opinons” changed to “opinions” (opinions of right)

Page 465, “adminstrator” changed to “administrator” (as a public
administrator)

Page 504, “busines” changed to “business” (As our business increased)

Page 507, “faithfuly” changed to “faithfully” (faithfully serve the)

Page 574, as this error is on a plate, the correction will only appear
in the text version. “MacCracken” changed to “McCracken” (H. M.
McCracken)

Page 579, as this error is on a plate, the correction will only appear
in the text version. “Calve” changed to “Calvé” (Emma Calvé.)

Page 583, as this error is on a plate, the correction will only appear
in the text version. “Menté” changed to “Mente” (Charles Mente)

Page 617, article on William Boyd Allison states that he served in
Dubuque, Ohio. Actually he was in Dubuque, Iowa. The text has been
preserved as printed but the error is noted here.

Page 623, “1862” changed to “1882” (in 1882 he graduated at the)

Page 643, “Brownville” changed to “Brownsville” (town of Brownsville,
Tenn.)

Page 644, “RENE” changed to “RENÉ” (FREDERICK RENÉ COUDERT.)

Page 650, “WINFIED” changed to “WINFIELD” (WINFIELD SCOTT SCHLEY.)

Page 660, typeface smudged, word “as” assumed (called as the chair of)

Page 671, “Brussels” changed to “Brünn” (born in Brünn, Austria)

Page 674, “CALVE” changed to “CALVÉ” (EMMA CALVÉ.)

Page 685, “emeritns” changed to “emeritus” (emeritus professor and)

Page 719, “establismhent” changed to “establishment” (establishment. In
1887 he had)

Page 723, “unversities” changed to “universities” (five Canadian
universities)

Page 724, “Romanzo” changed to “Romanza” (Chaffee, Adna Romanza)

Page 724, “DeKoven” changed to “De Koven” (De Koven, Henry L.)

Page 724, “DeLessan” changed to “De Lessan” (De Lussan, Zelie)

Page 724, twice, “Reszké” changed to “Reszke” to match text usage (De
Reszke, Edouard) (De Reszke, Jean)

Page 724, “DeL.” changed to “de L.” (St. George de L.)

Page 725, “LeGallienne” changed to “Le Gallienne” (Le Gallienne,
Richard)

Page 725, “De Lancey” changed to “De Lancy” (Melvin De Lancy)

Page 725, “Menté” changed to “Mente” (Mente, Charles)

Page 727, “contain” changed to “contains” (which it contains)

Page 732, twice, “Kellar” changed to “Keller” (Effects of, _Keller_)
(blind and deaf, _Keller_)

Page 739, “Stick-to-a-tive-ness” changed to “Stick-to-a-tiveness”

Page 741, “Qaulities” changed to “Qualities” (Thoroughness, _see
Success Qualities_)

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 48175 ***