A Sensitive Nature Place Among Scientists — At Work The Phonograph Economic Features of his Inventions Non-Electrical Experiments - His Principal Inventions - Achieve- On the Important Elements of Success Captains of Industry His Great Wealth Place of his Birth - Parental Qualities Inherited His Boyhood Marked by Indus- try and Economy - Removed to Cleveland Interest in Church Work Education - Beginning of his Industrial Career His Introduction to the Oil Industry - The Standard Oil Company How Educated From County Clerk to Railroad President - Re- organization of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad - Transformation of the Northwest — Fortune Fairly Earned- The Great Northern of To-day His Methods The Training of Young Men Mr. Hill a Many-sided Man His Home at St. Paul - Interest in Agri- cultural Pursuits - Philanthropies - Something of his Personal On the Fundamental Elements of Success - Highest Salaried Man in the World In the Prime of Life Birthplace Boyhood How Educated - Begins Life as a Clerk in a Grocery Store Stake-Driver Early Promotions - Head of Steel Works - An Illustrative Anecdote. How he Works - Secret of his Power GEN. LEW WALLACE AT WORK IN HIS LIBRARY, 349 Photograph by Lacey & Nicholson. COLONEL CONWELL IN CAP AND GOWN, 364 Photograph by Gutekunst. PAGE PORTRAIT OF DR. S. WEIR MITCHELL, Photograph by Meynen. 380 PORTRAIT OF CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT, Photograph by Notman. JOSEPH JEFFERSON AS "BOB ACRES," PORTRAIT OF BISHOP VINCENT, Photograph by Ginter & Cook. PORTRAIT OF JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY, Photograph by Marceau. PORTRAIT OF THOMAS BRACKETT REED, Photograph by Dupont. THE NEW YORK EXCHANGE, Photograph by Rockwood. PORTRAIT OF ANDREW CARNEGIE, Photograph by Rockwood. PORTRAIT OF MARSHALL Field, Photograph by Steffens. PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM A. CLARK, Photograph by Marceau. PORTRAIT OF J. PIERPONT MORGAN, Photograph by Mendelssohn, London. 408 427 446 468 492 Facing p. 507 525 544 563 585 INTRODUCTION. N this stirring age it is difficult to find a sincere advocate of mediocrity. The vast majority desire self-development and self-advancement along the lines which their ambitions mark out for them. The impulses toward betterment come from so many sources, are so comprehensive and so widely prevalent, that the whole modern world is, as it were, infected with a desire for improvement. This desire to excel, whether in a professional career, in business, in statecraft, in artisanship, or in the humbler walks of life, is ennobling, and deserves the highest stimulation, for out of it have come the "shining marks" of history and the most worthy examples of private life. The simple possession of a right desire is not sufficient in itself to procure all that such a desire implies. It must be accompanied by action, and often by the most heroic and self-sacrificing effort. It is true that in the career of every man there are some incontrollable elements, but these bear only a slight proportion, either in number or importance, to the elements which he can control. In other words, the character, the career, and the fortunes of every man are largely in his own keeping. He is what he makes himself. He can have what he desires if he will pay the price. He must take a mental inventory of himself and determine whether he possesses the qualities, either actual or potential, that fit him for a leader or a follower. If it is to be the former, he will need all the heroic virtues-courage, persistency, application, self-recognized honesty-that may come to him as a natural heritage or through acquirement. Shakespeare says, "Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." If this were paraphrased by the substitution of the words successful and success for the words great and greatness, it might form a fairly exhaustive scheme of explanation covering the various causes of success. The point must not be overlooked, however, that success is by no means a correct synonym for greatness. By far the greatest number of successful men have become such through their own achievements; the other two classes mentioned in our paraphrase seem to reach success through a manifest destiny. What, then, are some of the elements that enter into success when self-achieved? Obviously the first essential toward success is a dominating purpose-one that has so fastened itself upon the ambitions that the person so possessed recognizes no obstacle too great to be overcome. To this must be added the executive agencies of courage and industry. John Kitto, an eminent writer, expresses himself in these words: "I am not myself a believer in impossibilities. I think that all the fine stories about natural ability, and so on, are mere rigmarole, and that every man may, according to his opportunities and industry, render himself almost anything he wishes to become." This view may possibly be extreme, if taken literally, but the emphasis put upon industry is certainly borne out in many concrete examples. "It is the worker who dignifies the task, and not the task that ennobles the worker." Mark the following facts from the biographies of the world's celebrities : Thurlow Weed walked two miles through the snow with pieces of rag carpet about his feet for shoes, that he might borrow a book. Samuel Drew went on with his studies when he was too poor to buy bread, and when he could appease the pangs of hunger only by tying a girdle about his body. Lord Eldon, England's greatest Chief Justice, being too |