Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son - Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House - of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly - known on 'Change as "Old Gorgon Graham," to his Son, - Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as "Piggy."

George Horace Lorimer

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• Publié par: chuep
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 55
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, by George Horace Lorimer 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: Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly known on 'Change as "Old Gorgon Graham," to his Son, Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as "Piggy." Author: George Horace Lorimer Release Date: June 28, 2007 [EBook #21959] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SELF-MADE MERCHANT *** Produced by Anne Storer, Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net “Young fellows come to me looking for jobs and telling me what a mean house they have been working for.” Letters from A Self-Made Merchant To His Son Being the Letters written by John Graham, Head of the House of Graham & Company, Pork-Packers in Chicago, familiarly known on ’Change as “Old Gorgon Graham,” to his Son, Pierrepont, facetiously known to his intimates as “Piggy.” Boston: Small, Maynard & Company: 1903 Copyright, 1901-1902, by THE CURTIS PUBLISHING CO. Copyright, 1901-1902, by GEORGE HORACE LORIMER Copyright, 1902, by SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY (Incorporated) Entered at Stationers’ Hall Published October, 1902 Sixtieth Thousand December, 1902 Plates by Riggs Printing & Publishing Co. Albany, U.S.A. Presswork by The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A. TO CYRUS CURTIS A SELF-MADE MAN CONTENTS PAGE I. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Mr. Pierrepont has just become a member, in good and regular standing, of the Freshman class. 1 II. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at Harvard University. Mr. Pierrepont’s expense account has just passed under his father’s eye, and has furnished him with a text for some plain particularities. 15 III. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at Harvard University. Mr. Pierrepont finds Cambridge to his liking, and has suggested that he take a post-graduate course to fill up some gaps which he has found in his education. 29 IV. From John Graham, head of the house of Graham & Co., at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont Graham, at the Waldorf-Astoria, in New York. Mr. Pierrepont has suggested the grand tour as a proper finish to his education. 45 V. From John Graham, head of the house of Graham & Co., at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont Graham, at Lake Moosgatchemawamuc, in the Maine woods. Mr. Pierrepont has written to his father withdrawing his suggestion. 57 VI. From John Graham, en route to Texas, to Pierrepont Graham, care of Graham & Co., Union Stock Yards, Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont has, entirely without intention, caused a little confusion in the mails, and it has come to his father’s notice in the course of business. 69 VII. From John Graham, at the Omaha Branch of Graham & Co., to Pierrepont Graham, at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont hasn’t found the methods of the worthy Milligan altogether to his liking, and he has commented rather freely on them. 81 VIII. From John Graham, at Hot Springs, Arkansas, to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont has just been promoted from the mailing to the billing desk and, in consequence, his father is feeling rather “mellow” toward him. 93 IX. From John Graham, at Hot Springs, Arkansas, to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont has been investing more heavily in roses than his father thinks his means warrant, and he tries to turn his thoughts to staple groceries. 113 X. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at the Commercial House, Jeffersonville, Indiana. Mr. Pierrepont has been promoted to the position of traveling salesman for the house, and has started out on the road. 127 XI. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at The Planters’ Palace Hotel, at Big Gap, Kentucky. Mr. Pierrepont’s orders are small and his expenses are large, so his father feels pessimistic over his prospects. 141 XII. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at Little Delmonico’s, Prairie Centre, Indiana. Mr. Pierrepont has annoyed his father by accepting his criticisms in a spirit of gentle, but most reprehensible, resignation. 157 XIII. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, care of The Hoosier Grocery Co., Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Pierrepont’s orders have been looking up, so the old man gives him a pat on the back—but not too hard a one. 177 XIV. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at The Travelers’ Rest, New Albany, Indiana. Mr. Pierrepont has taken a little flyer in short ribs on ’Change, and has accidentally come into the line of his father’s vision. 191 XV. From John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at The Scrub Oaks, Spring Lake, Michigan. Mr. Pierrepont has been promoted again, and the old man sends him a little advice with his appointment. 209 XVI. From John Graham, at the Schweitzerkasenhof, Karlsbad, Austria, to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont has shown mild symptoms of an attack of society fever, and his father is administering some simple remedies. 223 XVII. From John Graham, at the London House of Graham & Co., to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont has written his father that he is getting along famously in his new place. 243 XVIII. From John Graham, at the London House of Graham & Co., to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont is worried over rumors that the old man is a bear on lard and that the longs are about to make him climb a tree. 259 XIX. From John Graham, at the New York house of Graham & Co., to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. The old man, on the voyage home, has met a girl who interests him and who in turn seems to be interested in Mr. Pierrepont. 275 XX. From John Graham, at the Boston House of Graham & Co., to his son, Pierrepont, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. Mr. Pierrepont has told the old man “what’s what” and received a limited blessing. 301 ILLUSTRATIONS By F. R. GRUGER and B. MARTIN JUSTICE 1. “Young fellows come to me looking for jobs and telling me what a mean house they have been working for.” Frontispiece 2. “Old Doc Hoover asked me right out in Sunday School if I didn’t want to be saved.” 4 3. “I have seen hundreds of boys go to Europe who didn’t bring back a great deal except a few trunks of badly fitting clothes.” 20 4. “I put Jim Durham on the road to introduce a new product.” 38 5. “Old Dick Stover was the worst hand at procrastinating that I ever saw.” 50 6. “Charlie Chase told me he was President of the Klondike Exploring, Gold Prospecting, and Immigration Company.” 62 7. “Jim Donnelly, of the Donnelly Provision Company, came into my office with a fool grin on his fat face.” 72 8. “Bill Budlong was always the last man to come up to the mourners’ bench.” 84 9. “Clarence looked to me like another of his father’s bad breaks.” 98 10. “You looked so blamed important and chesty when you started off.” 128 11. “Josh Jenkinson would eat a little food now and then just to be sociable, but what he really lived on was tobacco.” 146 12. “Herr Doctor Paracelsus Von Munsterberg was a pretty high-toned article.” 166 13. “When John L. Sullivan went through the stock yards it just simply shut down the plant.” 184 14. “I started in to curl up that young fellow to a crisp.” 200 15. “A good many salesmen have an idea that buyers are only interested in funny stories.” 216 16. “Jim Hicks dared Fatty Wilkins to eat a piece of dirt.” 248 17. “Elder Hoover was accounted a powerful exhorter in our parts.” 268 18. “Miss Curzon, with one of his roses in her hair, watching him from a corner.” 294 No. 1 F ROM John Graham, at the Union Stock Yards in Chicago, to his son, Pierrepont, at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Mr. Pierrepont has just been settled by his mother as a member, in good and regular standing, of the Freshman class. LETTERS from a SELF-MADE MERCHANT to his SON I C HICAGO , October 1, 189— Dear Pierrepont: Your Ma got back safe this morning and she wants me to be sure to tell you not to over-study, and I want to tell you to be sure not to understudy. What we’re really sending you to Harvard for is to get a little of the education that’s so good and plenty there. When it’s passed around you don’t want to be bashful, but reach right out and take a big helping every time, for I want you to get your share. You’ll find that education’s about the only thing lying around loose in this world, and that it’s about the only thing a fellow can have as much of as he’s willing to haul away. Everything else is screwed down tight and the screw-driver lost. I didn’t have your advantages when I was a boy, and you can’t have mine. Some men learn the value of money by not having any and starting out to pry a few dollars loose from the odd millions that are lying around; and some learn it by having fifty thousand or so left to them and starting out to spend it as if it were fifty thousand a year. Some men learn the value of truth by having to do business with liars; and some by going to Sunday School. Some men learn the cussedness of whiskey by having a drunken father; and