“That’s the way to talk, my son. Stick to it, and when you’re graduated from college you’ll be prepared, with a little training and experience, to take my place. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
“All right, Father. You’ve got my promise to do my best, and here’s my hand on it. It’s my chance and I’m going to make the most of it. But I wish—I wish Dan had a chance too.”
“What kind of a chance do you want him to have?”
“I—I don’t just know. Dan’s pretty independent. He wouldn’t take money from you unless he worked for it, and he has to work to help his folks. He wants to be a skipper some day.”
“Do you think he’d like a berth on one of our steamers?”
“Yes, I guess so—if he could go home sometimes to see his folks.”
“That can be arranged.”
And it was arranged. Dan was given a berth on a steamer plying between New York and South American ports, which he gratefully accepted.
Paul was graduated from Princeton six years later, and after a year’s apprenticeship in his father’s office was appointed General Superintendent of the Atlantic and Pacific Steamship Company.