The story of the early struggles of the labor leader, John Mitchell, is both pathetic and inspiring. A son of the common people, he has risen from being a poor door-boy in the coal mines of Illinois, to a position of great trust and general honor. Mr. Mitchell was born in Braidwood, Brill county, Illinois, February 4, 1869, being the son of Robert and Martha Mitchell. Compelled to leave school at the age of ten, his subsequent education was obtained by night study. He afterward studied law, worked on a farm, became coal miner and was finally attracted to the labor movement, which at that time was directed by the Knights of Labor. In 1888 he took an active part in trade union affairs as president of the local organization of the Knights. Knowing that knowledge is power, he read everything that came within his reach and joined debating societies, athletic associations, independent political reform clubs and various other organizations, in order to take advantage of the several opportunities that they presented to him. When, in January, 1890, the order of United Mine Workers of America was organized, he was among the first to be enrolled, and in January, 1898, was elected its vice-president. He has been re-elected every year since, is also second vice-president of the American Federation of Labor and a member of various committees at the National Civic Federation. During the five years of his leadership the union has grown from a membership of forty-three thousand to a membership of over three hundred thousand. He has brought about many reforms in the interests of labor. His chiefest achievement is that of securing a settlement of the recent great coal mine strike through the arbitration commission appointed by President Roosevelt. He has demonstrated anew the force of the maxim that “It is to him only who has conquered himself it is given to conquer.”
Ernest Thompson-Seton.
Historians of the Wild—of the denizens of fields and woods and rivers—there are and have been, but in the majority of instances their work has been confined to mere descriptions of the personalities of birds and beasts and fish from the standpoint of the museum, rather than from that of the interested, if unscientific, observer. Ernest Thompson-Seton, however, naturalist and artist, has, through the medium of his books, managed to so wed popular interest and scientific data that the result is fascinating in the extreme. He has shown, too, that to a man of talent there is always a new field to be discovered amid the old ones, which, apart from all else, is a lesson that no one can afford to ignore. Thompson-Seton was born in South Shields, England, August 14, 1860. He is a descendant of the famous Setons of Scotland, Thompson being a nom de plume. Coming to this country when a boy, he at first lived in the backwoods of Canada and also had experiences on the plains of the then far west. He was educated at the Toronto collegiate institute and also at the Royal academy, London, England. In 1896 he married Grace, daughter of Albert Gallatin, of San Francisco. His qualifications as a naturalist becoming known to the government of Manitoba, he was made official naturalist therefor, subsequently publishing works on the birds and mammals of that territory. He studied art in Paris and was at one time one of the chief illustrators of the Century dictionary. His works on natural history topics are well known. Thompson-Seton is what may be called a psychological naturalist, inasmuch as he analyzes the mentalities of his subjects. The results are seen in such books as The Biography of a Grizzly, The Trail of the Sand Hill Stag, Wild Animals I Have Known, etc.
CANADIANS.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
The man who stands before the world as Canada’s most distinguished statesman is Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of the Dominion. Sir Wilfrid has very broad and very optimistic ideas as to the destiny of Canada, and these he expresses with a poetic eloquence which never fails to arouse enthusiasm. His oratory takes lofty flights.
Sir Wilfrid was born in the Province of Quebec in 1841. French was the language of his childhood. He went to school in his native parish, and later took the classical course at L’Assomption College. He began in 1860 to study law in the office of the late Hon. R. Laflamme, Q. C., who was Minister of Justice for the Dominion and one of Sir Wilfrid’s colleagues at Ottawa, when the latter became a member of Parliament. He was admitted to the bar in 1864. Eager to succeed, he devoted himself so zealously to his legal work that after three years of practice his health gave way, and he was forced to retire to the country. In the town of L’Avena he became editor of Le Defrecheur, a journal devoted to political and social reform. It was in this work that he first actively interested himself in politics. His articles in the journal were full of the earnestness, enthusiasm and eloquence which have since brought him fame.
Country air agreed with the young lawyer and writer. He regained his health, and opened a law office at St. Cristophe, now Arthabaskaville, where he made his home until he removed to Ottawa as Prime Minister of Canada. He first held office in 1871, when he was elected to the Quebec Assembly. He resigned his seat in the general elections of 1874, was elected by the same constituency to the Dominion House of Commons, and when Parliament assembled was given the honor of seconding the address in reply to the speech from the Throne. His burst of oratory on the occasion attracted wide attention and caused prophecies to be freely made that he was destined for great things.