| 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] |
