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.
IV
Philip D. Armour’s Business Career
I MET Mr. Armour 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—reading with his steady gaze such of my characteristics as interested him,—and saying, at the same time, “Well, sir.”
In stating my desire to learn such lessons from his business career as might be helpful to young men, I inquired whether the average American boy of to-day has equally as good a chance to succeed in the world as he had, when he 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 every 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.”