PREFACE

“Experience,” says the proverb, “is a dear school, and none but fools learn therein.” The inference is that to be wise one must suffer himself to be taught by the experience of others. This volume contains the life stories, told by themselves, of many successful men and women, with emphasis on those experiences which to them appear to have been the turning points in their lives.

It is not likely that there is anywhere in existence a similar collection of heart-to-heart talks with distinguished people of equal value to this. The idea of requesting the leaders in invention, manufacture, transportation, commerce, finance, in political and public life, and in the professions of the ministry, the law, literature and art, to bequeath in their own words the stories of their lives, their ideals, and the lessons of their experience, to the American public, originated with Orison Swett Marden, and contributed in no small degree to the immediate and remarkable popularity of Success, in which many of these interviews first appeared. The early files of the magazine are long since exhausted, but the interest in, and demand for, these articles is sufficient assurance that they are of enduring merit, and deserve to be collected in permanent form.

We regard them as a trust. We do not feel that we have a right to withhold them from the public. We have accordingly fulfilled our obligation by presenting them in attractive form, and we are well assured that young and old alike who are striving to attain their ideals in life will recognize the fact that the highest form of self-interest will lead them to read and absorb the practical helpfulness contained in these pages. Many and varied careers have been selected, so that each one may find his ideal of success fulfilled in real life, and be aroused to a lofty aspiration and resolute determination to achieve like eminence. With Emerson we say, “Hitch your wagon to a star,” and, with Lowell, “Not failure, but low aim, is crime.”

While for the most part the experiences portrayed in this book occurred upon American soil, in several instances persons born or now living abroad, but prominently identified with American life, have been included.

We acknowledge our indebtedness to the publishers of the “Literary Digest,” of “Collier’s Weekly,” of the “American Review of Reviews,” and others who kindly loaned valuable photographs for reproduction, and also to members of the Success editorial staff for valuable assistance in the preparation of this volume.

The Publishers.

Transcriber's Note: Chapters XXXIV-LVI maybe found in Volume II of this set.

INVENTION.
CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	Hard Work, the Secret of a Great Inventor’s Genius—Thomas Alva Edison	[17]
II.	A “Down-East” Yankee Who Dictates Peace to the Nations—Hiram Stevens Maxim	[35]

MANUFACTURE.
III.	A Poor Boy Who Once Borrowed Books Now Gives Away Libraries—Andrew Carnegie	[51]
IV.	A Good Shoemaker Becomes Detroit’s Best Mayor and Michigan’s Greatest Governor—Hazen S. Pingree	[71]

COMMERCE.
V.	Determination Not to Remain Poor Made a Farmer Boy Merchant Prince—Marshall Field	[80]
VI.	Honesty the Foundation of a Great Merchant’s Career—John Wanamaker	[92]
VII.	A British Boy Wins Fortune and Title by American Business Methods—Sir Thomas Lipton	[108]

FINANCE.
VIII.	A Self-made Man Who Strives to Give Others a Chance—Darius Ogden Mills	[117]
IX.	Thrift, the Secret of a Fortune Built in a Single Lifetime—Russell Sage	[125]
X.	Cut Out for a Banker, He Rose from Errand Boy to Secretary of the United States Treasury—Lyman Judson Gage	[131]
XI.	A Young Millionaire Not Afraid to Work in Overalls—Cornelius Vanderbilt	[138]

TRANSPORTATION.
XII.	A Messenger Boy’s Zeal Lifts Him to the Head of the World’s Greatest Telegraph System—Robert C. Clowry	[144]
XIII.	Enthusiasm for Railroading Makes a Section Hand Head of the Metropolitan System—Herbert H. Vreeland	[152]

LABOR.
XIV.	A Factory Boy’s Purpose to Improve Labor Makes Him a Great Leader—Samuel Gompers	[164]

PUBLIC LIFE.
XV.	A Puny Boy, by Physical Culture, Becomes the Most Vigorous of American Presidents—Theodore Roosevelt	[173]
XVI.	A Brave Volunteer Fights His Way to the Head of the American Army—Nelson A. Miles	[188]
XVII.	Making the Most of His Opportunities Wins a Coveted Embassy—Joseph H. Choate	[196]
XVIII.	A Village Boy’s Gift of Oratory Earns Him Wealth and Fame—Chauncey M. Depew	[207]
XIX.	A Chance-Found Book the Turning Point in a United States Senator’s Career—Jonathan P. Dolliver	[219]
XX.	Varied Business Training the Foundation of a Long Political Career—Thomas C. Platt	[225]
XXI.	A Magnate, the Courage of His Convictions Makes Him a Reformer—Tom L. Johnson	[234]

EDUCATION AND LITERATURE.
XXII.	A Backwoods Boy Works His Way Through College and Becomes University President—Jacob Gould Schurman	[243]
XXIII.	A “Jack of All Trades” Masters One and Becomes the Poet of the People—James Whitcomb Riley	[252]
XXIV.	A Farm Boy Who Devoured Books Writes One of the Greatest Poems of the Century—Edwin Markham	[263]
XXV.	A Famous Authoress Tells Literary Aspirants the Story of Her Struggle for Recognition—Ella Wheeler Wilcox	[272]
XXVI.	A Printer’s Boy, Self-Taught, Becomes the Dean of American Letters—William Dean Howells	[283]
XXVII.	A Famous Novelist Atones for Wasted School Days by Self-Culture—General Lew Wallace	[296]
XXVIII.	A Social Leader, Having “Eyes That See,” Earns Literary Laurels—Mrs. Burton Harrison	[305]

ART.
XXIX.	Painstaking the Secret of a Celebrated Painter’s Success—Edwin Austin Abbey	[311]
XXX.	A School Girl, Not Afraid of Drudgery, Becomes America’s Foremost Woman Illustrator—Alice Barber Stephens	[321]
XXXI.	A Schoolboy’s Sketches Reveal the Bent of a Talented Illustrator—Frederic Remington	[327]
XXXII.	Rebuffs and Disappointments Fail to Repress a Great Cartoonist’s Genius—Homer Davenport	[334]
XXXIII.	Being Himself in Style and Subjects the Secrets of an Artist’s Wonderful Popularity—Charles Dana Gibson	[342]
XXXIV.	A “Printer’s Devil” Whose Perseverance Wins Him Well-Earned Reputation as a Fun-Maker—Frederick Burr Opper	[353]
XXXV.	“A Square Man in a Round Hole” Rejects $5,000 a Year and Becomes a Sculptor—F. Wellington Ruckstuhl	[358]
XXXVI.	During Leisure Hours he “Found Himself” and Abandoned Law for Art—Henry Merwin Shrady	[366]

AMUSEMENT.
XXXVII.	Deformed in Body, His Cheerful Spirit Makes Him the Entertainer of Princes—Marshall P. Wilder	[371]
XXXVIII.	Energy and Earnestness Win an Actor Fame—Richard Mansfield	[379]
XXXIX.	A Father’s Common-Sense Gives America a Great Bandmaster—John Philip Sousa	[384]

PHILANTHROPY.
XL.	Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Patient Effort Wins Her Culture and Rare Womanhood—Helen Keller	[391]
XLI.	Jay Gould’s Chum Chooses “High Thinking, Not Money-Making,” and Wins Success Without Riches—John Burroughs	[402]
XLII.	A Millionaire’s Daughter Makes Inherited Wealth a Blessing to Thousands—Helen Miller Gould	[413]
XLIII.	A Self-Made Merchant Solves the Problem of Practical Philanthropy—Nathan Strauss	[420]

DIVINITY.
XLIV.	A Varied Career Develops the Resourceful Head of a Great Institutional Church and College—Russell H. Conwell	[426]
XLV.	An Inspiring Personality Wins a Noted Preacher Fame—Frank W. Gunsaulus	[432]
XLVI.	From the Forge to the Pulpit, a Life of Devotion and Application—Robert Collyer	[441]

CANADIANS.
XLVII.	Canada’s Leading Conservative Extols “the Country of the Twentieth Century”—Robert Laird Borden	[447]
XLVIII.	An Eminent Scholar Advocates the Union of Canada and the United States—Goldwin Smith	[454]
XLIX.	After Failure as a Grocer, He Becomes the Ablest Administrator Quebec Has Ever Had—S. N. Parent	[460]
L.	Canada’s Leading Economist Tells Her Sons to Seek Fortune in Her Own Domain—Andrew G. Blair	[470]
LI.	A Distinguished Educator Has Found Contentment in the Simple Life—James Loudon	[479]
LII.	Beginning as Telegraph Operator He Built the Canadian Pacific—Sir William C. Van Horne	[485]
LIII.	An Immigrant Boy Becomes a National Figure in Reform—Samuel Jones	[498]
LIV.	A “Forty-niner” who Seized Opportunities Others Failed to See—Philip D. Armour	[511]
LV.	The Blind Yacht Designer Attributes His Conquests to His Mother’s Early Care—John B. Herreshoff	[528]
LVI.	A Great Vocalist Shows that Only Years of Labor Can Win the Heights of Song—Lillian Nordica	[541]

PREFACE

CONTENTS