“I think my employer did, anyway.” He laughed.
“I saved my earnings and attended strictly to business, and so made them valuable years to me.”
“Was there no inducement to remain there as you were?”
“Yes; before I went west, my employer offered me a quarter interest in his business if I would remain with him. Even after I had been here several years, he wrote and offered me a third interest if I would go back. But I was already too well placed.”
“Did you fancy that you were destined for some other field than that in which you have since distinguished yourself?”
ALWAYS INTERESTED IN COMMERCE.
“No, I think not. I was always interested in the commercial side of life, and always thought I would be a merchant. To this end, I bent my energies, and soon realized that, successful or not, my labor would always be of a commercial nature.”
“When did you come to Chicago?” I inquired.
“I caught what was then the prevalent fever to come west, and grow up with the country, and west I came. I entered as a clerk in the dry goods house of Cooley, Woodsworth & Co., in South Water street.”
“Did you foresee Chicago’s growth in any way?”