A single day satisfied him that there was no opening for him, and he was strongly tempted to return home, but his stout heart rose in rebellion against the thought. He would not return to his native town discomfited. He had too much force of character for that. He was a live boy, and his energy said, "If I can't find a situation, I will make one."

And he did. He found a board about the right size, which he converted into an oyster stand on the corner of a street. He borrowed a wheelbarrow and went three miles to an oyster smack, where he purchased three bushels of the bivalves, and wheeled them to his place of business.

He was a Boston merchant now. that he could not find.

He had made a situation

He sold all his oysters on the first day, and was well satisfied with his profits.

He continued this method of doing business until he had laid by one hundred and thirty dollars, with which he purchased a horse and cart. He removed his place of business, also, from out of doors, into a convenient room.

On the first day in his new place of traffic, he made seventeen dollars; and from that time he continued to enlarge his business rapidly, taking on other departments, adding daily to his property, until he became a Boston millionaire, blessing others with his money, and leaving hundreds of thousands at his death to found the Boston University, where young men and women are educated for usefulness.

Such was the career of the late Isaac Rich, an example of energy and perseverance worthy of the highest praise.

When Sir Rowell Buxton was a boy, neighbors thought that his great energy, in connection with much waywardness, would be his ruin. But his good mother said, "Never mind; he is self-willed now, but you will see that it will turn out well in the end.”

Subsequently he became very intimate with the Gurney family, who were highly respected for their social qualities, mental culture, and philanthropy. He married one of the daughters, and entered upon his business career with a will. His mother's prophecy, that his will power and mighty energy would be a blessing in the end, proved true. Some said that he would do more work in a given time than any two men in England. He became wealthy, was a member of Parliament

at thirty-two, and a leading spirit of Great Britain thereafter.

One of the Gurney family, Priscilla Gurney, entreated him on her deathbed, in 1821, "to make the cause of the slave the great object of his life." He was already engaged in the cause of British emancipation, but her dying words fired his heart anew, and he resolved to give himself no rest until the shackles were broken from the last slave in the British realm. With unsurpassed energy he gave himself to the work year after year, and, on the day of his daughter's marriage, August 1, 1834, he wrote to a friend: "The bride is just gone; everything has passed off to admiration; and there is not a slave in the British colonies."

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Such men "never strike sails to a fear"; they come into port grandly, or sail with God the seas"; they never join "communities," so-called, where everything is held in common. Their self-reliance, independence, and force of character lifts them high above such dependent relations.

"We love our upright, energetic men. Pull them this way and that way and the other, and they only bend, but never break. Trip them down, and in a trice they are on their feet."

Ferdinand De Lesseps, who is called the Napoleon of engineering, inherited his tireless energy and indomitable perseverance from his father, Count Mathieu De Lesseps, who was the architect of the Edinburgh cathedral. That the son should possess the talent for undertaking great enterprises, and the force of character to push them forward in spite of difficulties, was as natural as it was to be like his father. He built the Suez canal, valued at fifty million dollars; and to his honor a statue was erected at Port Saïd.

OF THE PARIS COMMISSION
SERVICE

BEGINNINGS OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE - MEMBER

PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE HIS PUBLIC LOVE OF OUTDOOR LIFE A FISH STORY -SOME CHARACTER

ISTICS. THE GOSPEL OF HEALTH.

E. P. Whipple, the famous essayist, asks and answers this question: "What common quality distinguishes men of

genius from other men, in practical life, in science, in letters, in every department of human thought and action? This common quality is vital energy of mind, inherent, original force of thought, and vitality of conception. Men in whom this energy glows seem to spurn the limitations of matter, to leap the gulf which separates positive knowledge from discovery, the actual from the possible. They give palpable evidence of infinite capacity, of indefinite power of growth. This life, this energy, this uprising, aspiring flame of thought, has been variously called power of combination, invention, creation, insight; but in the last analysis it is resolved into vital energy of soul to think and to do."

If I were to amend this and state it in fewer words, I should say that the essentials of success are integrity of purpose and persistence in endeavor.

W

уровне

ILLIAM PIERCE FRYE was born at Lewiston, Maine, September 2, 1831. His father, Col. John M. Frye, was one of the early settlers of that town, largely interested in developing its manufacturing industries, and one of its most respected citizens. The grandfather of the

Senator, Gen. Joseph Frye, was a colonel in the English army and a general in the American, during the Revolutionary War, receiving in recognition of his military service a grant of the town of Fryeburg, Maine.

William P. graduated at Bowdoin College in 1850. It must be confessed that he was not a model student. He was too full of animal life and vigor to be content to live laborious days and burn the midnight oil over musty books. Not that he was entirely negligent in this respect; but his ability to grasp the salient points of a page at a single reading allowed him to retain a fair standing in his class and yet to participate largely in the sport and frolic of college life, which were, at that early period, more to his taste. Traditions of his infractions of college discipline, of his valiant leadership of the college forces in battle royal against the untutored hordes of the town, and of personal encounters in which he distinguished himself, still linger about the halls of that venerable institution, and are quoted to his discomfiture by his numerous grandsons, who, in succession, have been there in recent years, devoting as much attention to athletic as to intellectual development.

After his graduation Mr. Frye took up his life work in earnest, finding the study of the law congenial and absorbing. He was fortunate in passing this period of his development in the office of William Pitt Fessenden, a master mind, who stimulated the young man's interest and aroused his ambition.

He began the practice of law in 1853. His fine physique, magnificent voice, logical mind, and acuteness of perception peculiarly fitted him for the duties of an advocate, and his services in this capacity were soon much in demand.

The capacious supreme court room in Androscoggin county was the arena of many a famous legal battle, and, as is usual in New England shire towns, these often called out great numbers of eager listeners. This was especially true when Mr. Frye was of counsel. He was noted, not only for his eloquence, but for the rapidity with which he was able to absorb the facts of a case, and the promptness with which he met any new phase of its development. In the cross-examination of witness he particularly excelled, by virtue of that intuition which alone guides the practitioner safely through these troubled waters.

He continued in active practice until 1871, when he was elected to a seat in the national House of Representatives. During this period he enjoyed a constantly growing business, involving affairs of considerable importance, especially in connection with the cotton manufacturing corporations, which formed the principal industry of the city in which he has always resided. In 1867 he was elected attorney-general of his state and served in that capacity for three years.

He was a member of the state legislature in 1861, 1862, and 1867. In the latter year he held the three offices of representative, mayor, and attorney-general.

Mr. Frye was elected a member of the National Republican Executive Committee in 1872; was re-elected in 1876, and again in 1880; was a delegate to the National Republican Conventions in 1872, 1876, and 1880. In 1881 he was elected chairman of the Republican State Committee, succeeding Hon. James G. Blaine.

He was elected a trustee of Bowdoin College in 1880, and received the degree of LL.D. from that institution in 1889, having previously received the same honor from Bates College.

He was elected a representative in the Forty-second Congress, which assembled in December, 1871. He continued to occupy a seat in that body until his election to the United States Senate, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. James G. Blaine, who had been appointed Secretary of State. Mr. Frye's committee service in the House was such as to necessitate a familiarity with, and a participation in, many important subjects of legislation. He was chairman of the Library Committee; served for several years on the Judiciary, and was a member of the Committee on Ways and Means. During two or three congresses he was chairman of the Executive Committee. He took an active part in debates, especially on political questions, having a keen relish for those exciting impromptu discussions which frequently occurred in that body during those days of more intense party feeling. It was generally conceded that he ·would have been elected Speaker of the House in the Fortyseventh Congress, without opposition on the Republican side, had he not resigned before its meeting on account of his election to the Senate.