FOOTNOTE:
[A] For Topical Index see [page 727].
TOPICAL INDEX.
Introductory Note.
“Little Visits” is not merely a story-book or a collection of biographies and autobiographies. The life stories which it contains are intensely interesting, many of them even dramatic. The autobiographies—that is, the life stories of eminent men and women told by themselves—are unique; no such collection is elsewhere in existence. It is not, however, merely a book to be read once for the stories and cast aside.
“Little Visits” is a collection of Ideas, each stamped with the mint mark of a great personality. It contains symposiums by fifty-six men and women—who by common consent are considered to have achieved success—on the elements and methods of a successful career. To make this wealth of ideas easily and quickly available as an aid to those of all ages who aspire to achieve something beyond the ordinary in life, we have prepared this Topical Index. It constitutes a syllabus for study of the great problems of human life and destiny.
Early advantages, luck, friends, influence, environment and heredity—defects in which are adduced so often to justify failure—receive little attention. The fact that opportunity exists within the man himself; the possibility of self-culture by reading and home study; the importance of choosing the right career; the methods and the qualities which should be practised and cultivated; and the ideals which should be sought for—these are the perennial seed thoughts which should be planted in the minds and hearts of our own and coming generations, and they constitute the contents of the present volumes.
The teachings of “Little Visits” are many-sided. Light is thrown upon each problem from every angle. Many points of view are represented by the various speakers. The words of each, weighted by the vast achievements and well-known reputation of all, cannot fail to sink deeply into the mind of every reader. Like begets like. The ideas of great men are essentially great ideas, and in turn they will beget greatness in the lives of all who adopt and follow them.