Little Visits with Great Americans, Vol. 2 (of 2) Or Success, Ideals and How to Attain Them
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CANADIANS. “Life is an arrow; therefore you must know What mark to aim at and how to use the bow, Then draw it to the head and let it go.” These words, as well as the career of the well-known author and clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, emphasize the fact that he has successfully pursued his all-absorbing ideal. He was born at Germantown, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1852, his father being the Rev. Henry Jackson Van Dyke, who is of Dutch colonial blood. At the age of sixteen, and after graduating from the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, young Van Dyke entered Princeton college and received the degree of A.B., with highest honors, in 1873. While an undergraduate he was awarded the junior oration prize and senior prize in English literature. He was also reception orator on class day, and on commencement delivered the salutatory and belles lettres. Upon graduating in the theological course from Princeton seminary, in 1876, he delivered the master oration. Later he went to Germany to pursue his studies in divinity at the University of Berlin, and, in 1878, returned to the United States, becoming pastor of the United Congregational church, Newport, Rhode Island, and remained there for four years. In 1882 he accepted a call to the Old Brick Presbyterian church, Fifth avenue and Thirty-seventh street, New York, which was founded in 1767. At that time the church membership was small and its financial condition far from satisfactory. But, thanks to the untiring efforts of the new pastor, it became one of importance, spiritually and in other ways. Since 1900 he has been professor in English literature at Princeton university. He is the author of numerous books of wide circulation. CANADIANS. Dr. William Osler. The most eminent medical man of Canada, and perhaps of the world, is Dr. William Osler, who has recently been appointed by King Edward to the exalted position of Regis Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, England. This means that Dr. Osler will be the chairman of the faculty of this great university. He will be its head. No greater distinction than this could come to any medical man. Aside from the honor of his appointment and the salary of $10,000 per year, his position will bring Dr. Osler a private practice which will make him one of the most highly compensated physicians in the world. Dr. Osler was born at Bondhead, Ontario, July 12, 1849. His father was a minister of the Church of England. Dr. Osler went to school at Port Hope, Ont., and afterward entered Trinity University in Toronto, where he received his academic degree. The only distinction he attained at college was the reputation of being a hard student. He followed out then the injunction which he has since often made to students of his own, namely, “love to labor.” After leaving the University, Dr. Osler entered the office of Dr. Bonell in Toronto as an assistant. Here he studied three years and then entered McGill University at Montreal, where he was graduated in 1872. He then went abroad, and returning to Canada in 1875 was elected to the chair of Institute of Medicine at McGill. Some remarks of his apropos of his first plunging into teaching are worth quoting. “My first appearance before the class filled me with tremulous uneasiness and an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. I soon forgot this, however, in my interest in the work. Whatever success I achieved then and throughout my subsequent career has been due to enthusiasm and constitutional energy.” Four years after Dr. Osler became connected with McGill he was appointed a member of the visiting staff of the Montreal General Hospital. In 1883 he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, England. Dr. Osler became in 1884 professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was invited in 1889 to create the chair of Professor of the Practice and Principles of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical School at Baltimore. It was his work here that lifted him into world-wide prominence as a physician. In 1890 he was elected dean of the medical faculty of Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile he had built up a very large private practice, and was one of the doctors called upon to treat President McKinley after he had been shot in Buffalo. In spite of the fact that Dr. Osler’s great powers of concentration have been one of the factors in his remarkable success in his profession, he is a strong believer in having a broad outlook, and avoiding too great an absorption in any one line of work. He has said in an address to students: “Do not become so absorbed in your profession as to exclude all outside interests. Success in my profession depends as much upon the man as upon the physician. The more you see of life, outside the circle of your work, the better equipped you will be for the struggle. While medicine is to be your calling, see to it that you have also some intellectual task which will keep you in touch with the world of art and letters. When tired of anatomy refresh your mind with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Keats, Shelley and Shakespeare. “I advise you to have no ambition higher than to join the noble band of general practitioners. These are generous hearted men, with well balanced, cool heads, who are not scientific always, but are learned in the wisdom of the sick room. No man can stand higher in the love and respect of the community, and wield a more potent influence, than the family doctor.... “As to your work, I have a single bit of advice which I give with the earnest conviction of its paramount influence in any success which may have attended my efforts in life: Take no thought of the morrow. Live neither in the past nor the future, but let each day’s work absorb your entire energy and satisfy your widest ambition.” Sir George A. Drummond. A high and representative type of the Scotchmen who have done so much for Canada is Sir George Alexander Drummond, who for many years has been very actively identified with the best elements in Canadian commercial and social life. Sir George was born in Edinburgh in 1829, and in 1854, after graduation from Edinburgh University, came to Canada to assume the management of the extensive sugar refinery which had been established in Montreal by the late John Redpath. Though the refinery was for some years very successful under the direction of Sir George, it was closed in 1874 because of the appalling effects of a high tariff. It was reopened, however, in 1879, when Sir George founded the Canadian Sugar Refining Company, which has exerted a strong influence in the upbuilding of the prosperity of the Dominion. Sir George steadily grew in commercial power. He became a director of the Bank of Montreal in 1882 and vice-president of the institution in 1887. For two years he was president of the Montreal Board of Trade. He also assumed the presidency of the company which owns very valuable coal and iron mining properties at Londonderry, Nova Scotia, and he has been connected with many other enterprises of importance. His activities, however, have been by no means confined to commerce. He has been president of the Art Association of Montreal, and possesses one of the finest art collections on the continent. He is an enthusiastic golfer and has been president of the Canada Golf Association. He has busied himself with philanthropic projects and was made one of the trustees of Victoria Order of Nurses in 1897. He was called to the Senate of Canada by the Marquis of Lorne and was knighted by the Queen. AUTHORS. James Lane Allen. Among the many literary lights which the south has given us is James Lane Allen. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1849, and comes of one of the old Virginia families. Shortly after the Civil war broke out Mr. Allen’s father lost his fortune, and James in consequence had to work and attend school simultaneously. He graduated with honors from the Transylvania university, Lexington, in 1872. Then he began to teach for a livelihood. Subsequently he was called to a professorship in Transylvania university, and later was a professor of Latin and higher English at Bethany college, West Virginia. In 1884 he went to New York to make literature his profession. He was then unknown in that city, but soon gained recognition as one of the most poetic and dramatic of American novelists. Of his many books The Choir Invisible, A Summer in Arcady, and Aftermath, are perhaps the most in demand by the reading public. George Washington Cable. A novelist who works on original lines is George W. Cable. He was born in New Orleans, October 12, 1844. At the age of fourteen necessity compelled him to seek employment in a store. In 1863 he joined the Confederate army, serving until the close of the war. Returning to New Orleans, he became an employee of a mercantile house, and later studied civil engineering. It was at this time that he began to contribute to the New Orleans Picayune and was at length given a position on its editorial staff. He returned to business life, writing in the meantime, however, for Scribner’s and other magazines. His sketches of Creole life were so well received that he finally decided to devote himself to literature. He has produced a number of works whose chief characters are almost all of the Creole type, is a successful lecturer, and takes an active interest in religious affairs. Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill, the novelist, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, November 10, 1871. He received his early education at the Smith academy in that city, and when seventeen years of age was appointed a cadet of the United States naval academy at Annapolis. Graduating therefrom in 1891, he joined the cruiser San Francisco, but his tastes being more literary than naval he resigned and became a member of the staff of the Army and Navy Journal, of New York. In 1895 he was made editor of the Cosmopolitan magazine, but a few months later resolved to identify himself with independent work on original lines. His first book, The Celebrity, won recognition and a certain amount of popularity. Mr. Churchill’s reputation as a novelist rests for the most part on Richard Carvel and its sequel, The Crisis, which is hardly less popular than was its predecessor. Francis Marion Crawford. A clever and popular writer is Francis M. Crawford, who was born at Bagni-di-Lucca, Italy, August 2, 1854. He is a son of Thomas Crawford, the sculptor, and comes of a long line of literary and artistic ancestors. Francis was educated in New York schools, subsequently entering Harvard, but did not complete his course there. He was also a student at Cambridge university, England, and at the universities of Karlsruhe and Heidelberg, Germany, and the university of Rome, where he gave special attention to Sanscrit. In 1873 Mr. Crawford was compelled by circumstances to adopt journalism as a means of livelihood. Some years later he turned his attention to literature proper, his first book, Mr. Isaacs, appearing in 1882. Among his other well-known works are A Cigarette Maker’s Romance, The Three Fates, Zoroaster, etc. He is also an artist of considerable ability and has traveled extensively. He and his wife and children live near Sorrento, Italy. Rudyard Kipling. Rudyard Kipling, the poet and novelist who, perhaps more than any other writer of this generation, has voiced the militant spirit of the British empire, was born at Bombay, India, December 30, 1865. His father was John Lockwood Kipling. Rudyard was educated at the United Services college, Devonshire, England. Returning to India at the end of his school days, he became the assistant editor of the Civil-Military Gazette, and subsequently was connected with the staff of the Pioneer, a prominent newspaper of the country. The well-known Soldiers Three series and those other of his works which have to do with army life in India were the outcome of his Pioneer experiences. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier at Brattleboro, Vermont. Mr. Kipling has not only a marvelous faculty of describing things as they actually are, but he also has the prophetic instinct of the true poet. As a case in point may be cited his famous Recessional, written at the end of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. The full significance of the poem was only realized by the British during the disastrous and humiliating periods of the Boer war. In prose and poetry he has been alike fruitful. Thomas Nelson Page. Thomas N. Page was born in Oakland, Hanover county, Virginia, April 23, 1853. The Civil war interfered with his education, and left the Page family in an impoverished condition. Nevertheless he, during this period, was gathering material which resulted in the production of those two delightful books of his, Marse Chan and Meh Lady. Later he managed to secure a course at Washington and Lee university. At the law school of the University of Virginia he secured his degree in a year, and, after being admitted to the bar, practiced in Richmond from 1875 to 1893. During his leisure hours he did work which placed him on a high eminence as lecturer and literary man. His books are many, and for the most part have to do with the war between north and south and the reconstruction period following its close. Charles Major. Charles Major, the novelist, was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, July 25, 1856. He was educated at the common schools at Shelbyville and Indianapolis, after which he studied law and engaged in practice at Shelbyville. But his literary tastes were stronger than his legal inclinations, and he began to contribute to magazines and to write novels. His most famous book, When Knighthood was in Flower, was issued in 1898, and reached an edition of several hundred thousand. In 1885 he was married to Alice Shaw. NOVELISTS. Gertrude Franklin Atherton. One of the most vivid and entertaining interpreters of the complex characteristics of American womanhood is the versatile and entertaining writer, Gertrude Franklin Atherton. She was born on Rincon Hill, San Francisco, California, October 30, 1859, daughter of Thomas Lyman Horn, of German descent, and on her mother’s side descended from a brother of Benjamin Franklin. She was educated at St. Mary’s Hall, Benicia, California, also at Sayre Institute, Lexington, Kentucky, and by private tutors. In addition to this, she had obtained a good foundation in the classics, English especially, from the teachings of her grandfather. Before leaving school she was married to George Henry Bowen Atherton, a native of Valparaiso, Chili. After his death, in 1888, Mrs. Atherton went directly to New York city, beginning literary work in earnest. As she never received courteous treatment from the press of her own country, she settled in London in 1895, and there met with gratifying recognition. Some of her most important works are: “The Doomswoman,” 1902; “Patience Sparhawk and Her Times,” 1897; “His Fortunate Grace,” 1897; “American Wives and English Husbands,” 1898; “The Californians,” 1898; “A Daughter of the Vine,” 1899; “Senator North,” 1900. The latter is the first attempt in American fiction at a purely national novel, disregarding section. The Leeds Mercury styled “The Californians” an oasis in fiction, while the British Weekly declared Mrs. Atherton to be the ablest writer of fiction now living. The brilliancy of her portraiture and the humor and freshness of her dialogues are undeniable. A western writer says, “The early days of the missions and Spanish rule have given her a most congenial field, and she has successfully reproduced their atmosphere in her best novels; against the background of their romantic traditions she paints the world, old, strong of passion, vague, dreamy, idyllic, yet strong and elemental.” Amelia Edith Barr. Amelia Edith Barr was born at Ulverton, Lancashire, England, March 29, 1831. She was the daughter of the Rev. William Huddleston. Her mother’s family were among the followers of the noted evangelist, George Fox. She was educated in several good schools and colleges and was graduated, at the age of nineteen, from Glasgow high school. In 1850 she was married to Robert Barr, son of a minister of the Scottish Free Kirk. In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Barr came to America, settling at Austin, and later at Galveston, Texas. Her husband and three sons died in 1857 of yellow fever and Mrs. Barr was obliged to support herself and three daughters with her pen. Two years after Mr. Barr’s death she came to New York city and received immediate encouragement from Mr. Beecher, of the Christian Union, and Robert Bonner, of the New York Ledger. She taught school for two years, meanwhile writing various sketches and miscellaneous articles for magazines and newspapers. The work which gave her the greatest fame, “A Bow of Orange Ribbon,” appeared in serial form in the Ledger. Since 1884 she has devoted her time almost entirely to the writing of novels and short stories. Frances Hodgson Burnett. There are very few who are not acquainted with “Little Lord Fauntleroy,” one of the sweetest children’s stories ever written, but not so many perhaps are acquainted with the interesting life story of its author, Frances Hodgson Burnett. She was born November 24, 1849, in Manchester, England, and while yet attending school she developed a talent for writing short stories and poems and even novels. When her father died her mother brought the family to America in 1865, settling at Newmarket, but a year later removing to Knoxville, Tennessee. She then completed a story which was planned in her thirteenth year, and succeeded in disposing of it to Godey’s Lady’s Book, in which it was published in 1867. Other interesting short stories followed in this and in Peterson’s Magazine, but the turning point of her literary success was “Surly Tim’s Trouble,” which appeared in Scribner’s Monthly in 1872, attracting a great deal of attention. At the invitation of the editor more of her publications were published in Scribner’s, one of the most popular being “That Lass o’ Lowries,” which appeared later in 1877 in book form. Mrs. Hodgson has been twice married, the first time, in 1873, to Dr. Swan M. Burnett, from whom she obtained a divorce in 1898, and the second time, in 1900, to Stephen Townsend, an English author. Mrs. Burnett, by winning a suit against the unauthorized dramatization of “Fauntleroy,” secured for authors of England the control of dramatic rights in their stories, for which Reade and Dickens had spent thousands of pounds in vain. Pearl Mary Theresa Craigie. The authoress, Pearl Mary Theresa Craigie, more familiarly known as John Oliver Hobbes, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, November 3, 1867, daughter of John Morgan and Laura Hortense (Arnold) Richards. She is descended from early settlers of New York. After being educated under private tutors, Miss Richards, in 1883, went to Europe, continuing her studies in Paris. In 1887 she was enrolled as a student at University College, London, where, under the tuition of Professor Goodwin, she obtained an adequate knowledge of the classics and philosophy. In early childhood she was fond of writing. One of her first stories, entitled “Lost, A Dog,” appeared in Dr. Joseph Parker’s paper, The Fountain. This story was signed Pearl Richards, aged nine. Another of her stories, entitled “How Mark Puddler Became an Innkeeper,” appeared in The Fountain of February 10, 1881. At the age of eighteen she decided to make literature her profession and immediately took up a special study of style, especially dramatic dialogues. Her first book, entitled “Some Emotions and a Moral,” 1891, is an excellent example of success under difficulties. This book was composed during months of weary illness and amid the strain of domestic anxiety, but its success was immediate, for over eighty thousand copies were sold in a short time. Since then she has written several other novels. Mary Eleanor Wilkins-Freeman. “Wonderful in concentrated intensity, tremendous in power,” this record of the heart tragedies of a dozen men and women is not surpassed in our literature for its beauty of style, the delicacy of its character delineations, and the enthralling interest of its narrative. It is the praise merited by “Pembroke,” the greatest work that has come from the pen of the author, Mary Eleanor Wilkins. She was born of Puritan ancestors January 7, 1862, in Randolph, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, and received her early education in Randolph, later removing to Brattleboro, Vermont. She afterward attended Mount Holyoke seminary, South Hadley, Massachusetts, but previous to this she had already begun her literary work, writing poems and then prose for Youth’s Companion, St. Nicholas, Harper’s Bazar and finally for Harper’s Magazine. “A Humble Romance and Other Stories,” 1887, placed Miss Wilkins in the class with Mrs. Stowe, Miss Jewett and other conspicuous authors as a delineator of New England character. The simplicity and the astonishing reality of her story brought a new revelation to New England itself. Her literary style displays a fearlessness of the critic and the dominating thought to be true to her ideal. “The Pot of Gold and Other Stories,” 1891, and “Young Lucretia,” 1892, are among her popular juveniles. “The New England Nun and Other Stories,” called forth the most lavish praise. Her next work of importance, as well as her first novel, was “Jane Field,” 1892. When “Pembroke” appeared, in 1894, it was praised almost indiscriminately in England, some critics even venturing to say that George Eliot had never produced anything finer. Anna Katherine Greene. The simple stories and poems, written in her childhood, were the beginning of the career of the authoress, Anna Katherine Greene, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 11, 1846, daughter of James Wilson and Anna Katherine Greene. Her early education was obtained in the public schools of New York city and Buffalo, and she completed her course of study in Ripley Female College, Poultney, Vermont, graduating in 1867. Returning to her native city, she engaged in literary work, and, in 1878, produced her first important novel, “The Leavenworth Case.” She attracted immediate attention in literary circles. It had been carefully prepared and was given to the public only after repeated revisions. It had a phenomenal sale—already, in 1894, exceeding seven hundred and fifty thousand copies. From that time on there was a great demand from the publishers for books from her pen, and during the next seventeen years she wrote and published fifteen novels. The story of “The Leavenworth Case” was dramatized and produced during the season of 1891 and 1892, her husband, Charles Rohlfs, to whom she had been married in 1884, sustaining the leading part, Harwell. The book is also used as a text-book in Yale university to demonstrate the fallacy of circumstantial evidence. Sarah Orne Jewett. A writer paid a just tribute to the subject of this sketch when she wrote: “The secret of Sarah Jewett’s great success outside of its artistic perfection, is the spirit of loving kindness and tender mercy that pervades it.” She was born at South Berwick, Maine, September 3, 1849, daughter of Theodore Herman Jewett. Her parents were both descendants of early English emigrants to Massachusetts. Sarah, owing to delicate health in childhood, spent much of her time communing with nature, where she received material and the inspiration that eventually made her such a popular writer. She was educated at Berwick academy, in her native city. When a mere girl she began her career as an author by contributing to Riverside Magazine and Our Young Folks. At nineteen she sent a story to the Atlantic Monthly, and has been averaging nearly a book a year ever since. Miss Jewett adopted the pseudonym “Alice Elliott” in 1881, but after that she used her own name instead. Constance Cary Harrison. Constance Cary Harrison, who is better known to the reading public as Mrs. Burton Harrison, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, April 25, 1846. She was educated by private governesses, and while under their tuition gave proofs of being the possessor of literary ability. During the Civil war she lived with her family in Richmond, Virginia. At the end of the conflict she went abroad with her mother to complete her studies in music and languages. Mrs. Harrison has traveled much and has lived in nearly all of the continental capitals. She married Burton Harrison, a well-known New York lawyer, and since her union to him has resided in the metropolis. Her works are many and range from children’s fairy stories to works on social questions, and again from small comedies to books on municipal problems. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward. Heredity and environment conspired to make Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward a woman of letters. Her father, the Rev. Austin Phelps, was pastor of the Pine Street Congregational church of Boston at the time of her birth, August 31, 1844. In 1848 he became a professor in the theological seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, and thus his daughter Elizabeth grew up among a circle of thinkers and writers. She received most of her education from her father, but also attended the private school at Andover and the seminary of Mrs. Prof. Edwards, where she took a course of study equal to that of the men’s colleges of to-day. At the age of nineteen she left school and engaged in mission work at Abbott Village and Factory Settlement, a short distance from her home. It was here she began an acquaintance with the lives and needs of working people, which resulted in books such as “Hedged In” and “Jack, the Fisherman.” Her first story was published in the Youth’s Companion when she was only thirteen years old. In 1864 she published “A Sacrifice Consumed,” in Harper’s Magazine, which earned her right to the title “author.” The book which has given her greatest fame, “The Gates Ajar,” was begun in 1862 and was published in 1868. Nearly one hundred thousand copies were sold in the United States, and more than that number in Great Britain. It was also translated into a number of foreign languages. Probably Mrs. Ward has written more books worth while than any other woman writer of her time. In 1888 Miss Phelps was married to Herbert D. Ward, and has co-operated with him in writing several romances. REFORMERS. George Thorndike Angell. George Thorndike Angell was born at Southbridge, Massachusetts, June 5, 1823. He was educated in the public schools and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1846. After study at the Harvard law school he was admitted to the bar in 1851. For thirty-four years he has headed the work for the humane treatment of animals and helpless human beings. In 1868, when a young man of twenty-two, he founded the Massachusetts society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. He has served as its president since its inception, no one being better fitted to fill the position. He has propagated his ideas on humanity to animals by many organizations, and forty-four thousand “bands of mercy” speak for his efficient and zealous management. As an editor and publisher, his activity has been enormous, for in one year his societies sent out 117,000,000 pages of literature. His work for dumb brutes is so well known that it has overshadowed those other forms of philanthropy with which he has to do, and which in the case of an ordinary man would have made him a reputation. The work of the Social Science Association, of which Mr. Angell is a director, is of a varied nature, and ranges from the prevention of crime to the detection of food adulteration, or from the betterment of tenement houses to obtaining a higher standard of citizenship. Susan Brownell Anthony. Susan Brownell Anthony was born at Adams, Massachusetts, February 15, 1820. Her father, a Quaker, was a cotton manufacturer and gave her a liberal education. When she was seventeen years old her father failed in business and she had to support herself by school teaching, which profession she followed for thirteen years. Aroused at the injustice of the inequality of wages paid to women teachers, she made a public speech on the subject at the New York Teachers’ Association, which attracted wide attention. She continued to work in the teachers’ association for equal recognition continuously and enthusiastically. In 1849 she began to speak for the temperance cause, but soon became convinced that women had no power to change the condition of things without being able to vote at the polls, and from that time on she identified herself with the suffrage movement. She has written a great many tracts and was at one time the editor of a weekly paper called the Revolution. Her work, The History of Woman’s Suffrage, which she prepared in conjunction with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage, attracted wide attention. Frederick St. George de Lautour Booth-Tucker. Frederick St. George de Lautour Booth-Tucker was born at Monghyr, India, March 21, 1853. He was educated at the Cheltenham college, England, and, after passing the Indian civil service examination, was appointed assistant commanding magistrate in the Punjab. He resigned in order to join the Salvation army in 1881, inaugurated the Salvation Army work in India in 1882, and had charge of the work of the army there until 1891, when he was made secretary for the international work of the organization in London. Since 1896 he has been in charge of the affairs of the army in the United States, in conjunction with his wife, Emma Moss Booth, whom he married, after which he adopted the name of Booth-Tucker. He is the author of a number of religious and other works and has considerable ability as an orator and organizer. Mr. Booth-Tucker has a magnetic personality, and with the practical side of his nature stands him in good stead in connection with his chosen walk in life. Anthony Comstock. Anthony Comstock, who has been described as the most honest and the best-hated man in New York city, was born in New Canaan, Connecticut, March 7, 1844. He received his education in district schools and academy and later at the High School at New Britain, Connecticut. Early in life he began to earn his own livelihood, and in order to do so followed several vocations in succession. His brother Samuel was killed fighting for the Union cause at Gettysburg, and Anthony, volunteering to fill his place in the regiment, enlisted in the Seventeenth Volunteer Connecticut Infantry and saw much service during the war. He was mustered out in July, 1865. On January 25, 1871, he married Margaret Hamilton. In 1873 he was appointed postmaster inspector in New York, later became prominent in Young Men’s Christian Association affairs, and finally identified himself with the New York society for the suppression of vice. Mr. Comstock’s services in connection with what is his life work are too well known to be recapitulated. Possessing courage, moral and physical, of the highest order and a keen sense of his duties to the community in his official capacity, Mr. Comstock has for years been a terror to evil-doers, especially those who pander to vicious instincts. He has brought nearly 3,000 criminals to justice and has destroyed over 80 tons of obscene literature, pictures, etc. Altogether he is a notable figure in the complex life of New York, and the making of bitter enemies has necessarily followed on Mr. Comstock’s career. But these, many and influential as they are, have never successfully attacked his motives or his integrity. Wilbur Fiske Crafts. The Rev. Wilbur Fiske Crafts was born at Fryeburg, Maine, January 12, 1850. His father was the Rev. A. C. Crafts. In 1869 the future author, lecturer and clergyman graduated from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, subsequently taking the post-graduate course in Boston University. On leaving college he became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, holding charges for several years therein and laying the foundation for the reputation which now attaches to him. Later, however, Mr. Crafts decided that the tenets of the Congregational denomination were more to his liking, and accordingly accepted a call to a Congregational church in Brooklyn. Still later he became a Presbyterian pastor in New York. Resigning from the ministry, he was made superintendent of the International Reform Bureau, the object of which is to secure moral legislation in the United States and Canada with the assistance of lectures, literature and personal example and influence. He is the author of many works, the majority of which are of a religious nature, or deal with social questions. Elbridge Thomas Gerry. Elbridge Thomas Gerry, born in New York city, December 25, 1837, was named after his grandfather, who was one of the vice-presidents of the United States and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Gerry was educated in the New York public schools, and graduated from Columbia college in 1858. He was admitted to the bar in 1860. He acted as vice-president, until 1899, of the American society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. He was chairman of the New York state commission on capital punishment from 1886 to 1888. Since 1891 he has been president of the annual convention of the New York societies for prevention of cruelty. He is trustee of the general theological seminary of the Presbyterian-Episcopal church and also trustee of the American museum of natural history, and of the New York Mutual Life Insurance company. Besides that, he is a member and director of various corporations and societies. Since 1876 he has been president of the New York society for the prevention of cruelty to children, which society is generally known as the Gerry Society. He has one of the largest private law libraries in the United States. Mr. Gerry is one of those conscientious citizens whose work for the public good has been as continuous as it has been successful. William Reuben George. William R. George was born at West Dryden, New York, June 4, 1866. He was educated in the common schools. His parents came to New York city in 1880, where he later engaged in business. Becoming interested in poor boys and girls, he, during the seasons of 1890 to 1894, took two hundred of them to the country for from two weeks to a month to spend a portion of their school vacations with him. Impressed with the large number of children endeavoring to live by charity, he conceived, in 1894, the plan of requiring payment in labor for every favor the youngsters received, and, in addition, instituted a system of self-government. This was the beginning of a junior republic, which was put into practical operation in 1895 and has continued successfully ever since. He was married November 14, 1896, to Esther B. George, of New York. To Mr. George belongs the credit of inaugurating a novel and praiseworthy method of fostering good citizenship. Charles Henry Parkhurst. The Rev. Dr. Charles Henry Parkhurst was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, April 17, 1842. His father worked on a farm in summer and taught school in winter. Until sixteen years of age Charles was a pupil of the Clinton (Mass.) grammar school. The two years following he acted as clerk in a dry goods store. At the age of eighteen he began to prepare for college at Lancaster academy. At the end of the course there, he went to Amherst, from whence he graduated in 1866. The following year he became principal of the Amherst high school, remaining there until 1870, when he visited Germany. On his return he became professor of Greek and Latin in Williston seminary, holding that position for two years, during which period he married a Miss Bodman, a pupil of his while a teacher at Amherst. Accompanied by his wife, he next made a trip to Europe to study at Halle, Leipzig, and Bonn. Again in this country he received a call to the pastorate of the First Congregational church in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he soon gained a reputation as an original and forceful pulpit orator. On March 9, 1880, he became pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian church, New York city, the call being the outcome of his work at Lenox. He immediately began to take a lively interest in city and national politics, and one of his sermons attracted the attention of Dr. Howard Crosby, president of the society for the prevention of crime, in which society Dr. Parkhurst was invited to become a director. A few months later Dr. Crosby died and Dr. Parkhurst was chosen as his successor. Dr. Parkhurst has done more for reform in New York city than any other single individual. His courageous course in connection with the Lexow investigation of certain phases of life in New York will not be readily forgotten. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. That which is popularly, if somewhat vaguely, characterized as the “Cause of women” in this country, is closely identified with the name of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Many years of her life were spent in promoting the cause of her sex politically and legally, and that her work has not been fruitless is proven by the fact that as long ago as 1840 she advocated the passage of the Married Woman’s Property bill, which became a law in 1848. That measure alone is sufficient to obtain for Mrs. Stanton the gratitude of her sex. She was born in Johnstown, New York, November 12, 1815, being the daughter of Daniel C. Cady, judge of the New York State Supreme Court. She obtained her education at the Johnstown academy and the Emma Willard seminary, Troy, New York, graduating from the latter institution in 1832. Eight years later she married Henry Brewster Stanton, a state senator, anti-slavery orator and lawyer. From the first Mrs. Stanton identified herself with “Woman’s Rights,” and she it was who called the first woman’s rights convention, the meeting taking place at Seneca Falls, New York, in July, 1848. Continually working on the lines indicated, she has for the last quarter of a century annually addressed congress in favor of embodying woman suffrage in the constitution of the United States. In 1861 she was president of the Woman’s Loyal League, and through the medium of her personality made it a power in the land. From 1865 to 1893 she held the office of president of the Woman Suffrage Association. In 1868 she was a candidate for congress. Her eightieth birthday, which took place in 1895, was celebrated under the auspices of the National Council of Women, three hundred delegates attending the convention. PHILANTHROPISTS. Mrs. Phoebe Appersin Hearst. Mrs. Phoebe Appersin Hearst was born in 1840. After an education in the public schools she became a teacher in them until 1861, when she married the late United States Senator George F. Hearst from California, who died, in 1891, leaving her and her son, William Randolph Hearst, a fortune of many millions. W. R. Hearst is the well-known newspaper owner and publisher. Mrs. Hearst has established kindergarten classes and the manual training school in San Francisco, kindergartens and the kindergarten training school in Washington, District of Columbia; has made donations to the American university at Washington, gave $200,000 to build a national cathedral school for girls, has established working girls’ clubs in San Francisco, is the patron of a school for mining engineers at the University of California, and, as a memorial to her husband, has built and endowed libraries in a number of mining towns in the west. In connection with the plans for the projected University of California, she has also agreed to erect two buildings to cost between three and four million of dollars. Daniel Kimball Pearsons. Daniel K. Pearsons was born at Bedford, Vermont, April 14, 1820, and was educated in the public schools. Entered college at Woodstock, Vermont, and was graduated as a physician, practicing in Chicopee, Massachusetts, until 1857. He removed to Ogle county, Illinois, and became a farmer, 1857 to 1860, and in the latter year began the real estate business in Chicago, which he continued until 1887, when he retired from business but remained a director of the Chicago City Railway Company and other corporations. He has made handsome donations to various colleges and charities there, including $280,000 to the Chicago theological seminary and $200,000 to Beloit college. He has also contributed to the treasuries of several other educational establishments. Mr. Pearsons seems to be a pupil of Mr. Andrew Carnegie in some respects, inasmuch as he has a profound belief in the wisdom of distributing his money for praiseworthy purposes during his lifetime. Mrs. Henry Codman Potter. The dominant quality of the character of the wife of Bishop Henry Codman Potter, of the diocese of New York, is undoubtedly charity. Her maiden name was Elizabeth L. Scriven, and she was born in 1849 in New York, coming of good American stock. She has been married twice, her first husband being Alfred Corning Clark, who in his lifetime controlled the Singer sewing machine interests and who also had extensive real estate holdings in the metropolis. When Mr. Clark died he left an estate of an estimated value of about $30,000,000, the bulk of which, after a liberal allowance made to his four children, went to his widow. All her life Mrs. Potter has given largely to charity and philanthropic enterprises. She has done excellent work in New York in connection with improvements in tenement houses, those that she owns being ideal dwellings in regard to construction, light, ventilation and sanitary arrangements. At Cooperstown, New York, which is her home, Mrs. Potter has spent large sums of money in beautifying the village. She gives annually a dinner to a thousand poor persons, and has a long list of private pensioners. Her marriage to Bishop Potter took place on October 1, 1902, at Cooperstown. Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt. The maiden name of the wife of President Roosevelt was Edith Kermit Carow, and she, like her husband, comes of one of the most distinguished of the older families of New York. Born in the metropolis in the old Carow mansion, Fourteenth street and Union square, her father was Charles Carow, and her grandfather General Tyler Carow, of Norwich, Connecticut. She was educated at a school kept by a Miss Comstock on West Fortieth street. She was married to the President on December 2, 1886, at St. George’s church, Hanover square, London, the ceremony being performed by Canon Cammadge, who is a cousin of Mrs. Roosevelt. Fortune has never been more kind to Mr. Roosevelt than when she gave him the amiable and beautiful woman who bears his name. The Roosevelt children seem to have inherited many of the attractive qualities of their mother. Mrs. Russell Sage. Mrs. Russell Sage was born at Syracuse, New York, in 1828. She was the daughter of the Hon. Joseph Slocum. Educated at first in private schools of Syracuse, it had been intended that she should go to college later, but financial disaster altered the plans of the family. After working at home to help her mother for some time, she started for Mount Holyoke college, intending to do housework in that institution in order to pay for her board. On her way thither she was taken sick in Troy, and when she recovered she, at the request of her uncle, entered the Troy female seminary. In 1869 she became the second wife of Russell Sage, the financier. Mrs. Sage’s charities are large; she has built a dormitory costing $120,000 in the Emma Willard seminary and gives annually large sums of money to various hospitals and other praiseworthy institutions. Mrs. Leland Stanford. Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford was born at Albany, New York, August 25, 1825. Was educated in the public schools there, and in 1848 married Leland Stanford. In 1855 she went with her husband to California. Mr. Stanford took a prominent part in the public affairs of the state, and in 1861 was elected its governor. A son was born, who died when sixteen years of age in Florence, Italy. Mr. Stanford founded the university which bears his name, in memory of his boy. Since her husband’s demise Mrs. Stanford has given further endowments to the institution, the total amount of which is said to be several million dollars. She has also given liberally to other educational institutions. Anson Phelps Stokes, Sr. Anson Phelps Stokes, Sr., financier and public-spirited citizen, was born in New York, February 22, 1838, being the son of James and Caroline (Phelps) Stokes. He was educated in private schools and in 1855 married Helen Louise, daughter of Isaac Newton Phelps. Becoming connected with the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co., merchants, he afterward became a partner in the banking firm of Phelps, Stokes & Co., of New York. He is director and trustee of a number of philanthropic institutions and hospitals, owns interests in varied corporations and is a prominent member of several clubs whose objects it is to promote municipal and legislative reform. Mr. Stokes has written two books on financial questions. DIVINES. Lyman Abbott. Dr. Lyman Abbott is an illustration of the fact that a young man who is gifted with more than ordinary intellect and even genius need not be discouraged, even if his first intentions regarding his life work come to naught by force of circumstances or unlooked-for developments within himself. He was born December 18, 1835, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, being the son of Jacob and Harriet Abbott. Graduating from the College of the City of New York in 1853, he took a course at Harvard, after which, and in accordance with his prearranged plans, he took a law course, was admitted to the bar and began to practice. But his literary instincts and religious convictions resulted in his finally abandoning the law. After a good deal of writing for a number of publications and more theological studies, he was finally ordained a Congregational minister in 1860, being made pastor of a church at Terre Haute, Indiana, in the same year. Leaving Indiana, he came to New York and took charge of the New England Congregational Church in that city. In 1869 he resigned the pastorate in order to devote himself to literature. He edited the Literary Record Department of Harper’s Magazine and was associate editor with Henry Ward Beecher on the Christian Union. He succeeded Mr. Beecher as pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, in May, 1888, but resigned in 1898 and is once more prominent in religious literary circles. On October 14, 1857, he married Abby F. Hamlin, daughter of Hannibal Hamlin, of Boston. He is the author of a great many works of a religious nature and of others which deal with social problems. At present he is editor of The Outlook, of New York city. Theodore Ledyard Cuyler. Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, the clergyman whose striking sermons have made him famous the world over, was born at Aurora, New York, January 10, 1822. He was educated at Manheim, New Jersey, and Princeton college, from which he graduated in 1841. After spending a brief period in traveling in Europe, he entered the theological seminary at Princeton, from which he graduated in 1846, and was ordained by the presbytery in 1848. His first charge was at a small church near Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, where he remained for six months. He was then called to the Presbyterian church of Burlington, New Jersey. In 1849 he became pastor of the Third Presbyterian church of Trenton, New Jersey, and in 1853 he was invited to the Market Street Dutch Reformed Church, New York city. He was one of the leaders in the great revival of 1858, and in 1860 he was called to the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian church, Brooklyn. This was a young church and was not in a very prosperous condition, but the new pastor infused life into it from the first, and, in 1861, his congregation commenced the building of a new church at the corner of Lafayette avenue and South Oxford street. This building was completed in March, 1862, and cost $60,000. In 1893 Dr. Cuyler withdrew from active charge of the church and determined to devote the remainder of his years to the ministry at large. Dr. Cuyler was married, in 1853, to Annie E. Mathist, of Newark, Ohio, and has two children. His writings and printed sermons have been widely circulated. Among them are: Thought Hives, Stray Arrows, The Empty Crib, The Cedar Christian. One of his most famous tracts, Somebody’s Son, had a circulation of over one hundred thousand copies. Many of his articles and tracts have been translated into several languages, and his contributions to the religious press have been more numerous than those of any living writer. Edward Everett Hale. Edward Everett Hale was born in Boston, April 3, 1822, and after passing through the public schools entered the Boston Latin school. He was graduated from Harvard in 1839, and for two years acted as usher in the Latin school, studying theology in the meantime. On October 13, 1852, he married, at Hartford, Connecticut, Emily Baldwin Perkins. He has been a prominent promoter of Chautauqua circles and was the founder of the “Lend-a-Hand” clubs. He has probably traveled as much and delivered more lectures than any other man in this country. The fact that the catalogue of Harvard university lists more than one hundred and thirty titles of books and pamphlets on varied subjects of which he is the author shows how prolific has been his pen. Fiction, drama, narrative, poetry, theology, philosophy, politics—all are treated by him in a masterly way. He is never dull or common-place, but invariably suggestive and practical. One of his masterpieces is A Man Without a Country, which was written in war time. This story alone would have given him lasting fame. Yet it is not as an author, a great scholar, a great teacher, a great orator, or a great statesman that Dr. Hale will be remembered, but, as William Dean Howells has said, his name will go down in history as “a great American citizen.” Benjamin Fay Mills. Benjamin Fay Mills was born at Rahway, New Jersey, June 4, 1857. His father was a clergyman. Educated in the public schools and at Phillips academy, Andover, he graduated from Lake Forest university, Illinois, in 1879. In the same year he married Mary Russell, and in the year following he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at Rutland, Vermont. From 1886 to 1897 he acted in an evangelistic capacity and conducted meetings throughout the country. In 1897 he withdrew from the orthodox church and inaugurated independent religious movements in the Boston music hall and Hollis street theatre. Since 1889 he has been the pastor of the First Unitarian church, Oakland, California. He is eloquent, magnetic and convincing and has the gift of playing on the emotions of an audience in a manner possessed by few speakers within or without the church. Henry Codman Potter. There have been a great many clergymen in the Potter family, and doubtless the Right Reverend Henry Codman Potter, bishop of the diocese of New York, had an inclination for the pulpit which was an ancestral inheritance. He is the son of Bishop Alonzo Potter, of Pennsylvania, and was born at Schenectady, New York, May 25, 1835. He was educated at the Philadelphia Academy of the Protestant Episcopal church, and later at the theological seminary in Virginia. Graduating therefrom in 1857, he was at once made a deacon and one year later was ordained to the priesthood. Until 1859 he had charge of Christ P. E. church, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, when he was transferred to St. John’s, P. E. church, Troy, New York; for seven years he was rector of that parish. He then became an assistant of Trinity P. E. church, Boston, and in May, 1868, was made rector of Grace P. E. church, New York. For sixteen years he was identified with the affairs of that famous church. In 1883 he was elected an assistant to his uncle, Bishop Horatio Potter, who presided over the diocese of New York. A short time after entering on his duties as such, his uncle withdrew from active work and the care of the diocese fell upon the younger man. On January 2, 1887, Bishop Horatio Potter died and was succeeded by his nephew. His diocese is the largest in point of population in the United States. Eloquent, earnest and devoted to his life work, Bishop Potter commands the love and respect of all of those with whom he comes in contact. William Taylor. William Taylor was born in Virginia May 2, 1821. Reared on a farm, he learned the tanning business. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1842. Going to California with the “Forty-niners” as a missionary, he remained there until 1856. He next spent a number of years traveling in Canada, New England and Europe. After conducting missionary services in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, he visited South Africa and converted many Kaffirs to Christianity. From 1872 to 1876 he organized a number of churches in India and in South America. He also established mission stations on the Congo and elsewhere in Africa. He has written a number of books, the most interesting of which is, without doubt, The Story of My Life. In 1884 he was made missionary bishop for Africa. John Heyl Vincent. John Heyl Vincent, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and chancellor of the Chautauqua system, was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, February 23, 1832. He was educated at Lewisburg and Milton, Pennsylvania, and as a mere boy gave evidence of the religious trend of his nature. When only eighteen years of age he was a preacher, and many of his then sermons are said to have been both eloquent and convincing. After studying in the Wesleyan Institute of Newark, New Jersey, he joined the New Jersey Conference in 1853, was ordained deacon and four years later was made pastor. He had several charges in Illinois between 1857 and 1865, and during the next fourteen years brought into being a number of Sunday school publications. He was one of the founders of the Chautauqua Assembly and was the organizer of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, of which he has held office of chancellor since its inception. In 1900 he was made resident bishop in charge of the European work of the church with which he was associated. He is preacher to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Wellesley and other colleges. As an author of helpful and interesting religious works, Dr. Vincent is well known to all students of American literature. CANADIANS. William Peterson. One of the influential educators in Canada is Dr. William Peterson, President of that powerful and progressive educational institution, McGill University. Dr. Peterson’s policy in the conduct of the university is to maintain a harmonious relationship between classical education and the scientific training which is now so greatly in demand. That the university is kept well abreast of the times in scientific teaching and equipment is indicated by the fact that a recent addition to the institution has been a school for instruction in all branches of railroading. Dr. Peterson keenly realizes that the future development of Canada will depend in a very considerable measure upon the extension of the Dominion’s railway system—that in the railroad business there will, perhaps, be more and greater opportunities for young Canadians than in any other one branch of industry. Another proof of the scientific thoroughness at McGill is the high standing held by the University’s medical and engineering schools, but Dr. Peterson holds fast to the belief that no education is complete without a familiarity with the classics. He is himself an accomplished classical scholar. After spending his boyhood in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was born in 1856, he became a student at the Edinburgh University, and there distinguished himself. He won the Greek travelling fellowship, and continued his classical study at the University of Göttingen. Returning to Scotland, he was elected to the Mackenzie scholarship in the University of Edinburgh and went to Oxford University, where he added to his scholastic laurels. He became assistant Professor of Humanity in Edinburgh University, and in 1882 was appointed Professor of Classical and Ancient History and head of the faculty in University College, Dundee. Here he remained until 1885, when he was chosen to succeed Sir J. W. Dawson as Principal of McGill University, Montreal. He has received honorary degrees from St. Andrews and Princeton universities, and is regarded not only as a scholar of unusual attainments, but as a man possessing in marked degree the executive ability necessary to successfully conduct the affairs of a great university. George A. Cox. Perhaps the most important financier in Canada is Senator George A. Cox of Toronto, who is regarded as the Dominion’s closest parallel, in financial activity, to J. Pierpont Morgan of New York. His interests are extensive and widely varied. He is the president of the Canadian Life Assurance Company, president of two fire insurance companies, president of the Central Canadian Loan and Savings Company, and is one of the ruling spirits in the great project to build the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. He has a very considerable amount of capital invested in the United States. Senator Cox was born sixty-four years ago in the village of Colborne. His father was a shoemaker in humble circumstances. The ability of Senator Cox, as a boy, attracted the attention of a neighbor, who educated him. When he became a young man he went to the town of Peterboro and embarked in the photographic business. He afterwards became an express agent, and also occupied himself with soliciting insurance for the Canadian Life Assurance Company. He engaged in politics, and for seven years was mayor of Peterboro. When the Midland Railway became involved in financial difficulties, he was one of the Canadians asked to reorganize the road. He at once became the dominating factor in this work and in 1878 was made president of the Midland line. The vigor and ability which he brought to his task soon put the decrepit railway company on its feet again. It afterward became the Midland Division of the Grand Trunk Railway. Besides his insurance and railway affiliations Senator Cox is largely interested in Canadian banks and lands. Senator Cox attributes much of his success to the fact that he is a good judge of human nature. He has long made a point of surrounding himself with clever young men who are able to develop and zealously put into operation the hints which he freely gives them. Senator Cox’s personality is of a kind which inspires enthusiasm on the part of those who are working with and for him. He is genial and never stands on formality in his contact with the young men whom he has around him. In this respect he more closely resembles Andrew Carnegie than any other captain of industry. Senator Cox lives in modest style in Toronto. He is quiet in his tastes, and greatly dislikes anything suggestive of display or self-aggrandizement. He is a close personal friend of most of the political leaders in the Canadian Liberal Party, and of many of the financial powers in the United States. The Earl of Aberdeen appointed him to the Senate of Canada in 1896. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Church, and has long interested himself in the welfare of Victoria University in Toronto. Timothy Eaton. The most important retail merchant in Canada is Timothy Eaton. He began his career as an apprentice in a small shop in a village in Ireland, and now has an establishment which employs the services of six thousand persons, and which is by far the largest and best equipped retail store in the Dominion. It was in a shop in the town of Port Gleone, in the north of Ireland, that Mr. Eaton obtained his first experience as a storekeeper. Here he served an apprenticeship of five years, receiving no pay until the end of his term of service, when he was given the sum of one hundred pounds. To convey an idea of the long hours that he used to devote to the services of his employer in Ireland, Mr. Eaton likes to tell about how he used to watch the donkey carts passing through the village streets to the market-town of Ballymena at five o’clock every morning, when he was taking down the shutters. While he had very little time in those days to devote to anything but his regular work, he was fond of books, and read Chambers’s Journal , an unusual literary selection for a lad of his education and position. In this publication he read one day an article on the then almost unknown process of manufacturing artificial gas. This so interested him that with the help of a companion he made with his own hands a small gas plant, and by means of it succeeded in lighting the store. Before that there had been no gas light in that section of Ireland. The innovation of the young apprentice aroused great interest and curiosity on the part of the people of the countryside. They flocked to the shop to view the miracle of the new light. This proved to be a valuable advertisement for the establishment, and it lifted young Eaton into a position of prominence in the community. He felt, however, that there were no chances in Ireland for the degree of success of which he dreamed. The potato famine and other misfortunes had laid the country prostrate. Everybody was talking about the golden prospects in America, and great numbers were emigrating to the promised land. One of Timothy Eaton’s elder brothers decided to join the exodus, and Timothy himself lost no time in making up his mind to go with him. After crossing the Atlantic they made their way to the town of St. Marys, in Ontario, and there started a very small store, being glad to accept produce in payment for their goods. Another brother came to St. Marys. One of these remained there permanently, while Timothy Eaton, not satisfied with the possibilities in St. Marys of the mercantile expansion which he had in mind, went to Toronto, and started a modest store on one of the lower streets. This was in 1869. In 1883 he had a larger establishment. In 1887 he had added to his general store equipment a small factory for the purpose of eliminating the charges of middlemen and thus conserving the interests of his customers by reduced prices. The factory was an unqualified success. By means of it, and through Mr. Eaton’s general methods, the establishment steadily grew until, at the present time, he has a store which from a comparative point of view may be regarded, perhaps, as the most successful in the world. Mr. Eaton’s pay roll includes nearly six thousand names, while the largest retail store on earth, which is located in Chicago, where the population is many times greater than that which can be reached by Mr. Eaton, employs only about twenty-five hundred more persons. It will be seen that this Chicago establishment is only one-half larger than the Eaton store. Indeed, the factories of the latter are larger than those of any establishment which deals directly with retail buyers. The two leading elements in Mr. Eaton’s remarkable success have been his store-system, regarded by leading retail merchants as a model, and his constant endeavor to save money for his customers. It is to this end that he conducts his business on a cash basis, and that he has established his factories. He is a very firm believer in bringing goods direct from the maker to the consumer. In a single department in his manufacturing section, for instance, there are over a thousand sewing machines which produce nearly seven thousand garments a day for sale exclusively in the store. The money which Mr. Eaton has been able to save by this policy of producing his own goods is directly applied to the reduction of prices. The fact that his patrons feel that they are obtaining maximum value at minimum cost is the chief reason of the store’s great and constantly growing trade. Another very prominent factor in his success has been his strict rule of allowing absolutely no misrepresentation. He very strongly feels that truth is a most important element in any permanent success in storekeeping and in life in general. In addition to Mr. Eaton’s constant vigilance in the interest of his patrons, he has always in mind the well-being of his employees. He was one of the pioneers in the movement for shorter hours, believing that opportunities for legitimate rest and recreation give those who are in his service an added zeal and energy which materially increase the satisfaction of buyers and has a direct beneficial effect upon the profits and progress of the store. While Mr. Eaton is proud of his success, he by no means takes all the credit to himself. It is his idea that the quality which has chiefly enabled him to build up this great commercial unit lies in his ability to pick out the right man for the right place. Each employee is held to a personal responsibility, and is given to understand that he or she is considered a possibility for the higher positions in the establishment. Every clerk understands that promotion is to be obtained not by favoritism, but on the strength alone of conscientious and intelligent effort. A celebrated department store proprietor in New York City not long ago remarked to a Canadian merchant who informed him that he had come to the New York establishment to obtain hints on the best system of store management, “Why, it is not at all necessary for you to come down here for this information. You have a man in Canada, Timothy Eaton, who can tell you a good deal more about this than most of us can. In fact, we always keep our eyes on him with a view of obtaining fresh suggestions as to methods.”
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