Hidden Treasures - Or, Why Some Succeed While Others Fail

Harry A. Lewis

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• Publié par: ostou
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 33
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hidden Treasures, by Harry A. Lewis This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Hidden Treasures Why Some Succeed While Others Fail Author: Harry A. Lewis Release Date: December 20, 2006 [eBook #20151] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN TREASURES*** E-text prepared by Chuck Greif and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/c/) from materials generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/americana) Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/whysucceed00lewirich Transcriber's note: A large number of printer's typographical errors have been corrected. In some cases, questionable spellings, tense and words (e.g.: vindicative) have been retained. ( : vindicative) have been retained. [Page 1] —OR,— WHY SOME SUCCEED WHILE OTHERS FAIL. BY H. A. LEWIS. FINELY ILLUSTRATED. "Not Failure, but low aim is crime." SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. CLEVELAND, OHIO: MOSES, LEWIS & CO. 1888. COPYRIGHT, 1887. BY WRIGHT, MOSES & LEWIS. All rights reserved. CONTENTS. PREFACE. ——— INTRODUCTION. ——— QUOTATIONS. ——— DANIEL DREW. RUSSELL SAGE. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. AMOS LAWRENCE. HORACE B. CLAFLIN. WILLIAM E. DODGE. JAY GOULD. JOHN WANNAMAKER. ALEXANDER T. STEWART. NICHOLAS LONGWORTH. ROBERT BONNER. WILLIAM G. FARGO. JAMES C. FLOOD. JOHN W. MACKAY. JAMES C. FAIR. HORACE GREELEY. THURLOW WEED. GEORGE W. CHILDS. JAMES GORDON BENNETT. PHINEAS T. BARNUM. MATHEW VASSAR. JOHN JACOB ASTOR. POTTER PALMER. JAMES HARPER. HENRY DISSTON. [2] PETER COOPER GEORGE LAW. DARIUS O. MILLS. STEPHEN GIRARD. MOSES TAYLOR. WILLIAM C. RALSTON. GEORGE PEABODY. WILLIAM W. CORCORAN. NATHAN MAYER ROTHSCHILD. JOHN ADAMS. THOMAS JEFFERSON. JOHN MARSHALL. ALEXANDER HAMILTON. JAMES MADISON. JAMES MONROE. LEWIS CASS. JOHN C. CALHOUN. ROBERT Y. HAYNE. DANIEL WEBSTER. ANDREW JACKSON. THOMAS H. BENTON. HENRY CLAY. MARTIN VAN BUREN. STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLASS. ABBOTT LAWRENCE. ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. MILLARD FILLMORE. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. HORATIO SEYMOUR. WINFIELD S. HANCOCK. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN. ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT. STONEWALL JACKSON. GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE. HENRY WILSON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. EDWARD EVERETT. EDWIN M. STANTON. ANDREW JOHNSON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. CHESTER A. ARTHUR. JOHN A. LOGAN. JAMES G. BLAINE. SAMUEL J. TILDEN. HENRY WARD BEECHER. JAMES WATT. GEORGE STEPHENSON. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. ELI WHITNEY. ROBERT FULTON. ELIAS HOWE, JR. ISAAC M. SINGER. RICHARD M. HOE. CHARLES GOODYEAR. PROF. S. F. B. MORSE. CYRUS W. FIELD. GEORGE M. PULLMAN. THOMAS A. EDISON. WHY SOME SUCCEED AND WHILE OTHERS FAIL. SUCCESS AND FAILURE. CONCENTRATION OF EFFORT. SELF-RELIANCE. ECONOMY OF TIME. CAUSES OF FAILURE. PREFACE. Some succeed while others fail. This is a recognized fact; yet history tells us that seven-tenths of our most successful men began life poor. As our title indicates, we shall endeavor to show "why some succeed while others fail." Knowing that everybody desires success, and recognizing the old adage, "Example is the best of teachers," we have selected representative characters from the multitude of successful men who have climbed the ladder of success, beginning at the bottom round. These we have followed from childhood to manhood, dwelling at length on the traits of character that have made them so rich and successful, believing that a careful study will convince all that the proverbial "luck" had little to do with it. On the contrary, one is taught those lessons of self-helpfulness and self-reliance which are so essential to success in life's struggles. It is fearful to think how many of our young people are drifting without an aim in life, and do not comprehend that they owe mankind their best efforts. We are all familiar with the parable of the slothful servant who buried his talent—all may profit by his example. To those who would succeed, we respectfully present this volume. [5] [6] Every young man is now a sower of seed on the field of life. The bright days of youth are the seed-time. Every thought of your intellect, every emotion of your heart, every word of your tongue, every principle you adopt, every act you perform, is a seed, whose good or evil fruit will prove bliss or bane of your after life.—WISE. [7] INTRODUCTION. Dear reader, it is a grave undertaking to write a book, especially is it so in writing a treatise on success and failure, as we have attempted to do in the work we hereby present you. It is a solemn thing to give advice. Experience teaches that no one thing will please everybody; that men's censures are as various as their palates; that some are as deeply in love with vice as others are with virtue. Shall I then make myself the subject of every opinion, wise or weak? Yes, I would rather hazard the censure of some than hinder the good of others. There need neither reasons to be given nor apologies to be made where the benefit of our fellow-men is our aim. Henry Clay Trumbull says: "At no time in the world's history, probably, has there been so general an interest in biography as that which has been shown of late. Just here lies a weighty obligation upon these who write, and those who read, of the lives of men who have done something in the world. It is not enough for us to know WHAT they have done; it belongs to us to discover the WHY of their works and ways, and to gain some personal benefit from the analysis of their successes and failures. Why was this man great? What general intentions —what special traits led him to success? What ideal stood before him, and by what means did he seek to attain it? Or, on the other hand, what unworthy purpose, what lack of conscience and religious sense, what unsettled method and feeble endeavor stood in the way of the 'man of genius' and his possible achievements?" In this volume one sees the barefoot boy rise to the eminent statesman, the great millionaire, the honored inventor. How was this accomplished? We believe that a careful study of the different characters, by the light of the author's opinion of the characteristics essential to success, as shown in Department Fifth, will show why they succeeded. Let the reader follow each character separately, from childhood to manhood, noting carefully the different changes in the career of each and the motives which actuated and brought them about. If this book shall serve to awaken dormant energies in ONE PERSON who might otherwise have failed, we shall feel abundantly repaid. Doubtless, there are others who are better qualified to write a treatise on such a subject; nevertheless, we have done our best, and this done, we have attained success. [8] QUOTATIONS. A man, to succeed, must possess the necessary equanimity of temperament to conceive an idea, the capacity to form it into some tangible shape, the ingenuity to put it into practical operation, the ability to favorably impress others with its merits, and the POWER of WILL that is absolutely necessary to force it to success. —THOMAS A. SCOTT. [9] Labor rids us of three evils.—Tediousness, Vice and Poverty. —CARLYLE. "Never start upon an undertaking until you are sure it is practicable and ought to be done, and then let nothing stand long in the way of accomplishing that undertaking. It is better to deserve success than to have it; few deserve it who do not attain it." "There is no failure in this country for those whose personal habits are good, and who follow some honest calling industriously, unselfishly, and purely. If one desires to succeed, he must pay the price—WORK !" In order to succeed, a man must have a purpose fixed, then let his motto be VICTORY OR DEATH . —HENRY CLAY. "Be liberal but cautious; enterprising but careful. " "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Fail!—Fail? In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such word As—fail! —"RICHELIEU ." Benjamin Franklin has truly said: The road to wealth is as plain as the road to mill. [10] DANIEL DREW. Here is a great financier. A man of unusual ability; but who is no exception to the rule, born poor. His success came by hard work and a thorough mastery of his business. It is surprising how many Wall Street operators began life on the farm. In the case of Daniel Drew, at the age of only fifteen, matters were made worse by the death of his father. At eighteen, he concluded to go to New York; but, after a discouraging time of it, his money giving out, he was obliged to return to his home. However, his trip did not prove a total failure, as subsequent events show. While in the metropolis he heard that fat cattle could be sold there at a profit over what he knew they could be bought for, at his country home. He therefore resolved to go into the cattle business. True, he had no money, he was a poor country lad, but this made little difference with Drew's determination. As he had no money with which to buy a drove for himself, he did the next best thing; this was to induce the neighboring farmers to allow him to drive their cattle to market on a commission plan. By this one act the reader can understand the difference between Daniel Drew and the neighboring farm boys, many of whom were better situated, doubtless, than was he. Another characteristic he developed was economy; his money was saved and with these small savings he added cattle to his drove which were his own, hence, increased his profits; first one at a time, then two, when at last he abandoned the commission business, becoming a drover on his own account. Later, he took a partner and the firm of Drew & Co. became the cattl