Chapter XIV: Book THREE: Encyclopedic Biographies, (7)

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.”

SIR THOMAS G. SHAUGHNESSY.

One of the most successful railroad men of this continent is Sir Thomas G. Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. By means of a particularly virile personality and a remarkable capacity for hard work, Sir Thomas has raised himself to his present high position from the bottom of the ladder. He owes absolutely nothing to the extraneous circumstances of birth or fortune. His education has been chiefly obtained in the school of experience; yet Sir Thomas adds to his conspicuous knowledge of man and affairs a culture that would do credit to a university graduate.

Though Sir Thomas is always associated in the public mind with Canada for the reason that his most important work has been done in the Dominion, he was born in 1853 in Milwaukee. His school days ended at the age of sixteen, when he obtained a place in the office of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway as a clerk in the purchasing department. During a period of ten years the young man slowly rose in this department until, on the strength of his ability and alertness, he was promoted to the place of a general storekeeper for the railroad. Mr. Shaughnessy took hold with an acceleration of the powers which had brought him his steady promotion. Work in the office began to move more swiftly than ever before. Each man was held to a very strict accountability in the performance of all his duties, and yet with a new spirit of contentment and zeal for the reason that Mr. Shaughnessy was very considerate to those under his direction. He was quick to criticise, but was equally quick to praise. No man who had ever held a position of authority in the company was more popular with his subordinates.

But Mr. Shaughnessy’s abilities were too great for his position. William C. Van Horne, who had recently become general manager of the young Canadian Pacific Railway, had known Mr. Shaughnessy in Milwaukee, and asked him to take a place of purchasing agent in the new company. This was in 1882. He became assistant to the general manager in 1884, and the next year was promoted to the office of assistant to the president. He became a full-fledged vice-president in 1891. Mr. Shaughnessy was the right-hand man of the president of the road, Sir William C. Van Horne, and when the latter resigned the presidency in 1899 it was obvious that the man in all respects best equipped to succeed him in the very important position of executive head of the longest railroad in the world was Mr. Shaughnessy. The latter was knighted by the Prince of Wales, then Duke of York, in Ottawa, Canada, 1901.

The work of Sir Thomas as president has been notable. He has had a careful regard not only for the interest of the line, but also of Canada. During his incumbency of the presidency the Canadian Pacific system has been greatly extended. It now employs over thirty-five thousand persons and buys products of the labor of fifty thousand more. Within the last two years it has paid Canadians over one hundred millions. The progressive management of the line under the direction of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy has greatly stimulated the prosperity of the Dominion, and on this account the Canadians feel that Sir Thomas has been one of the Dominion’s most valuable citizens.

WILLIAM S. FIELDING.

The Hon. William Stevens Fielding, considered one of Canada’s ablest men, stands high in the administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, holding the important place of Minister of Finance. He attained distinction by the path of newspaper work. Mr. Fielding was born in Halifax of English parentage in 1848, and at the age of sixteen entered the business office of the _Morning Chronicle_. This was perhaps the most influential newspaper of the Maritime Provinces, and counted among its contributors numerous men of intellect and influence. It was from them that young Fielding imbibed his political views and became imbued with the spirit of broad patriotism which has since distinguished him.

Soon after he formed his connection with the _Chronicle_ he was promoted to a place as reporter, and was most zealous and thorough in this sphere. Before he was twenty he had commenced to write editorials. For two decades Mr. Fielding remained with the _Chronicle_, rising by degrees to the place of editor, and at the same time taking an active part in the political campaigns in Halifax. He was elected in the elections of 1882 to a seat in the Nova Scotia Legislature, and rose so rapidly that within a few months he was offered the premiership of the Province. He declined the honor on this occasion, but soon afterward organized a government at the request of some of the other leaders, and took upon himself the duties of provincial secretary, which also involved the work of financial administrator. His government was so effective that for years it controlled the affairs of the Province. When Sir Wilfrid Laurier became premier of the Dominion in 1896 he appointed Mr. Fielding Minister of Finance, and the latter was returned by the constituency of Shelbourne and Queens to the Dominion House of Commons. It was Mr. Fielding who introduced the measure for the preferential tariff which has been so conspicuous a feature of the Laurier administration. Mr. Fielding is regarded as one of the strongest members of the cabinet.

CHARLES FITZPATRICK.

The Hon. Charles Fitzpatrick, Minister of Justice in the Canadian Government, and one of the ablest of the Dominion’s lawyers and political leaders, was born of Irish parentage in the Province of Quebec in 1851. His father was a lumber merchant. He was graduated from Laval University in Quebec, studied law and began practice in the city of Quebec, where he rapidly rose to prominence. He had acquired such a reputation at the bar when he was thirty-four years old, that the half-breeds and others who rallied to the support of Louis Riel when the latter was imprisoned and about to be tried for his life, retained Mr. Fitzpatrick as the man best fitted to defend their leader. In this case he opposed a number of the ablest lawyers in Canada, and while his client, Riel, was condemned to death, Mr. Fitzpatrick’s eloquence and command of legal principles attracted wide attention. He has since appeared in many of the most important cases that have been tried within the Dominion.

Mr. Fitzpatrick’s entry into public life was made in 1891, when he was elected a member of the House of Commons of the Province of Quebec, representing his native county. He held this seat until 1896, when he was a successful candidate for the Dominion House of Commons. His general ability and his attainments as a lawyer had by this time become so conspicuous that when in the same year Sir Wilfrid Laurier organized his government he appointed Mr. Fitzpatrick to the position of Solicitor General. In 1900 he was re-elected, by a large majority, a Liberal member from Quebec, in a constituency that was largely Conservative. In 1902, on the elevation of the Hon. David Mills to the Supreme Court bench, Mr. Fitzpatrick was called to his present post of Minister of Justice.

The political success of Mr. Fitzpatrick is made the more notable by the fact that ninety per cent. of the voters of Quebec are French Canadians, while he himself is an Irishman.

In addition to his powers as an orator, his grasp of legal principles and his strong personal magnetism, one of his predominant traits is energy. It has been said of him that in the days of his youth he was in the habit of rising so early in the morning that he had his cases carefully analyzed and his plan of action formulated before other lawyers were out of bed. At present his most absorbing interest is the project for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway line across the continent. It was he who drew up the contract for the undertaking, and he has been its chief defender, in its legal aspects, against the many attacks to which it has been subjected by the opponents of the government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Mr. Fitzpatrick attributes his zest for work to the fact that he has always been an outdoor man. During his early years his reputation as an athlete was as great in Quebec as was his fame as a lawyer. He married a daughter of the late Lieutenant Carors, and thus became intimately identified with one of the oldest of the French-Canadian families, which dates back to the early days in Canadian history.

There is no more enthusiastic believer in the future of Canada than Mr. Fitzpatrick. In 1903 he made a tour of the Northwest, and has expressed himself as astonished at its marvelous resources. It is his opinion that the projected Grand Trunk Pacific line, adding another railway to the transportation facilities of this territory, will develop it into one of the richest and most productive regions, not only in grain, but in minerals, the world has ever known.

GEORGE WILLIAM ROSS.

The Hon. George William Ross, Premier of the Province of Ontario, was born near London, Ontario, in 1841. His father was a Scotchman, who, after migrating to Canada, became a prosperous farmer. Mr. Ross began his active life as a country school teacher. The government of the Province of Ontario established in 1871 a system of school inspectors, and he was appointed to one of these places. In the general election of the following year, Mr. Ross was chosen to represent the Conservative party in the western division of his native county, and was elected to the Dominion House of Commons. It was particularly his ability as an orator that brought him this honor. He was a member at the time of the Sons of Temperance, and it was at the meetings of this society that he seized his first opportunities to develop and display his gifts as a public speaker. He has said since that this experience in talking on his feet was invaluable to him, and he advises all young men who desire to acquire the gift of public speaking to join a debating society or other organization whose members are willing to listen to budding eloquence.

Mr. Ross was made Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario in 1883, and in 1887 succeeded in having passed a law for the federation of the denominational colleges of Toronto into a single unit, The University of Toronto. He inaugurated other educational reforms, and materially raised the standard of public education in the Province. Mr. Ross relinquished his work in this special field in 1900 to become Premier of Ontario. He has been prominently identified with movements in the cause of temperance, and holds honorary degrees in five Canadian universities. One of his distinguishing qualities is versatility. He is interested in astronomy, and has a marked literary bent, having written biographical sketches and some poetry.

LORD MOUNT STEPHEN.

In spite of the fact that Lord Mount Stephen has not resided in Canada for a number of years, he must be included in any group of important workers in the Dominion. He played a leading part in the upbuilding of the Canadian commonwealth. The vital importance of his work for the Canadian Pacific Railway cannot be overlooked. Lord Mount Stephen and Lord Strathcona were the two great personalities which carried the project of the transcontinental line through a dark period of financial storm and stress. Lord Mount Stephen reorganized or built several other railroads in Canada, and was very closely identified with many of the Dominion’s most important commercial movements.

Like so many other men who have achieved remarkable success in Canada, Lord Mount Stephen is a Scotchman, having been born in that country in 1829. In his childhood he was a herdboy on the Highlands, and served as an apprentice in Aberdeen. He afterward obtained employment in London, and in 1850 migrated to Canada, where his uncle, William Stephen, was engaged in the woolen business. The young man was taken into partnership, and upon his uncle’s death bought his interest in the firm, which steadily grew in importance in the manufacture of woolen goods. Lord Mount Stephen’s financial standing at this time is indicated by the fact that he became a director in Canada’s leading banking institution, the Bank of Montreal, of which he was afterward vice-president. It was owing to this financial eminence, as well as to his great ability, that he was able to build a magnificent structure of success out of what appeared at that time to be the wreck of the project for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In recognition of his services for her domain across the ocean, Queen Victoria knighted him in 1886, and a few years afterwards raised him to the peerage with the title of Lord Mount Stephen, a title suggested by the peak in the Rockies called Mount Stephen, which itself had been named after the able Scotchman. Lord Mount Stephen retired from the presidency of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1888, and has spent most of his time since then in England. He has, however, retained some of his interests in Canada, and has remembered numerous hospitals and other institutions with generous contributions.

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.[A]

Page
Abbey, Edwin Austin 311
Abbott, Lyman 714
Acheson, E. G 620
Adams, Maude 681
Ade, George 693
Alden, Cynthia May Westover 683
Alden, Henry Mills 660
Aldrich, Nelson Wilmarth 641
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey 697
Allen, James Lane 702
Allen, T. S 691
Allen, Viola 682
Allison, William Boyd 617
Andrews, Elisha Benjamin 656
Angell, George Thorndike 708
Anthony, Susan Brownell 708
Armour, Philip D. 511
Astor, William Waldorf 638
Atherton, Gertrude Franklin 704

Baer, George F. 629
Baldwin, Evelyn Briggs 652
Bangs, John Kendrick 693
Barr, Amelia Edith 705
Barrymore, Ethel 682
Barton, Clara 684
Bell, Alexander Graham 633
Belmont, August 629
Beveridge, Albert J. 668
Bispham, David Scull 674
Black, Frank Swett 644
Blair, Andrew G. 470
Bok, Edward William 660
Bonsal, Stephen 695
Booth-Tucker, F. St. George de L. 709
Borden, Robert Laird 447
Brush, Charles Francis 633
Bryan, William Jennings 641
Buckley, James Monroe 661
Burnett, Frances Hodgson 705
Burroughs, John 402
Bush, Charles G. 691
Butler, Nicholas Murray 656

Cable, George Washington 702
Calvé, Emma 674
Carman, Bliss 698
Carnegie, Andrew 51
Carter, Leslie (Mrs.) 682
Cassatt, Alexander Johnston 630
Chaffee, Adna Romanza 648
Chisholm, Hugh 624
Choate, Joseph H. 196
Churchill, Winston 703
Clark, Champ 668
Clark, Francis Edward 684
Clemens, Samuel Langhorn 693
Cleveland, Grover 617
Clews, Henry 638
Clowry, Robert C. 144
Cockran, William Bourke 668
Collyer, Robert 441
Comstock, Anthony 709
Conwell, Russell H. 426
Cook, Frederick Albert 652
Cooper, Edward 636
Coudert, Frederick René 644
Cox, George A. 717
Crafts, Wilbur Fiske 709
Craigie, Pearl M. Theresa 705
Cramp, Charles Henry 621
Crane, William H. 677
Crawford, Francis Marion 703
Cuyler, Theodore Ledyard 714

Dalrymple, Louis 691
Damrosch, Walter Johannes 670
Daniels, George Henry 630
Daniels, John Warwick 669
Davenport, Homer 334
Davis, Richard Harding 695
De Koven, Henry L. Reginald 671
De Lussan, Zelie 674
Depew, Chauncey M. 207
De Reszke, Edouard 674
De Reszke, Jean 675
De Thulstrup, Thure 690
De Vinne, Theodore Lowe 625
Dewey, George 648
Dickinson, Mary Lowe 685
Dill, James Brooks 645
Dixon, Thomas, Jr. 685
Dodge, William de Leftwich 690
Dolliver, Jonathan P. (Senator) 219
Doubleday, Frank Nelson 663
Douglas, William Louis 625
Drew, John 678
Drummond, Sir George A. 702
Dumont, Santos 634
Dunne, Finley Peter 694
Duse, Eleanora 682

Eames, Emma 675
Eastman, Charles 626
Eaton, Timothy 718
Edison, Thomas Alva 17
Eliot, Charles William 657
Evans, Robley Dunglison 649

Faunce, William H. P. 657
Field, Marshall 80
Fielding, William S. 721
Fitzpatrick, Charles 721
Flint, Charles Ranlett 621
Folk, Joseph Wingate 643
Ford, Simeon 694
Freeman, Mary E. (Wilkins-Freeman) 706
Frye, William Pierce 618
Fuller, Melville Weston 645
Funk, Isaac Kauffman 664
Funston, Fred 649

Gage, Lyman Judson 131
Garland, Hamlin 696
George, William Reuben 710
Gerry, Elbridge Thomas 710
Gibson, Charles Dana 342
Gilder, Richard Watson 661
Gillette, William Hooker 678
Gilmer, Elizabeth Meriwether 694
Gompers, Samuel 164
Goodwin, Nathaniel C. 679
Gorman, Arthur Pue 642
Gould, George Jay 631
Gould, Helen Miller 413
Grau, Maurice 671
Green, Hetty (Mrs.) 639
Greene, Anna Katherine 706
Griffin, Sydney B. 692
Griggs, John William 646
Griscom, Clement Acton 631
Gunsaulus, Frank W. 432

Hackett, James Keteltas 679
Hadley, Arthur Twining 658
Hale, Edward Everett 715
Hanna, Marcus Alonzo 642
Harned, Virginia 683
Harris, William Torrey 659
Harrison, Burton (Mrs.) 305
Harrison, Carter Henry, Jr. 643
Harrison, Constance Cary 707
Harvey, George B. McClellan 661
Hay, John 618
Hays, Charles Melville 622
Hearst, Phœbe Appersin (Mrs.) 712
Hearst, William Randolph 664
Hedin, Sven Anders 653
Herbert, Victor 672
Herreshoff, John B. 528, 622
Hewitt, Peter Cooper 634
Higgins, Edward Everett 665
Hill, James J. 631
Hoar, George Frisbie 619
Hobart, George V. 694
Hobson, Richmond Pearson 650
Holland, John P. 634
Holmes, E. Burton 653
Holmes, Oliver Wendell 646
Howells, William Dean 283
Hungerford, Herbert 686

Ingalls, Melville Ezra 632
Irving, Sir Henry Brodribb 680
Irwin, May 682

Jackson, Leonora 672
Jefferson, Joseph 680
Jerome, William Travers 646
Jewett, Sarah Orne 707
Johnson, Tom L. 234
Jones, Samuel 498

Keller, Helen 391
Kipling, Rudyard 703
Klopsch, Louis 665
Kneisel, Franz 672

Landon, Melvin De Lancy 695
Landor, A. H. Savage 654
Langtry, Lillie (Mrs.) 683
Laurier, Sir Wilfrid 687
Le Gallienne, Richard 698
Lipton, Sir Thomas 108
Lodge, Henry Cabot 619
Lorimer, George Howard 662
Loudon, James 479

McClure, Samuel Sidney 666
McCracken, Henry Mitchell 659
McKenna, Joseph 647
Mackay, Robert 698
Major, Charles 704
Mansfield, Richard 379
Marconi, William 635
Markham, Edwin 263
Marlowe, Julia 683
Maxim, Hiram Stevens 35
Mente, Charles 690
Miles, Nelson A. (Gen.) 188
Miller, Cincinnatus Heine (Joaquin) 699
Mills, Benjamin Fay 715
Mills, Darius Ogden 117
Mitchell, John 686
Morgan, John Pierpont 639
Mount Stephen, Lord 723
Munsey, Frank Andrew 666

Nansen, Fridtjof 654
Nixon, Lewis 623
Nordica, Lillian 541, 676

Ogden, Robert Curtis 636
Olney, Richard 620
Opper, Frederick Burr 353
Osler, Dr. William 700
Outcault, R. F. 692

Page, Thomas Nelson 704
Parent, S. N. 460
Parker, Alton Brooks 647
Parkhurst, Charles Henry 710
Patterson, John H. 624
Patti, Adelina 676
Pearsons, Daniel Kimball 712
Peary, Robert Edwin 655
Peterson, William 716
Phillips, David G. 696
Pingree, Hazen S. 71
Platt, Thomas Collyer 225
Pope, Albert August 626
Post, C. W. 627
Potter, Henry Codman (Mrs.) 712
Potter, Henry Codman (Rev.) 715
Powell, Maud 673
Pulitzer, Joseph 667

Reid, Whitelaw 662
Remington, Frederic 327
Riley, James Whitcomb 252
Roberts, Chas. George Douglas 696
Rockefeller, John Davison 640
Roosevelt, Theodore 173
Roosevelt, Theodore (Mrs.) 713
Root, Elihu 620
Ross, George William 722
Ruckstuhl, F. Wellington 358

Sage, Russell 125
Sage, Russell (Mrs.) 713
Schley, Winfield Scott 650
Schultze, Carl E. 692
Schurman, Jacob Gould 243
Schurz, Carl 669
Sembrich, Marcella Stengel 677
Seton, Ernest (Thompson-Seton) 687
Shafter, William Rufus 651
Shaughnessy, Sir Thomas G. 720
Shaw, Albert 663
Shrady, Henry Merwin 366
Siegel, Henry 637
Smith, Goldwin 454
Sothern, Edward H. 681
Sousa, John Philip 384
Stanford, Leland (Mrs.) 713
Stanley, Henry Morton 655
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady 711
Stead, William Thomas 696
Stephens, Alice Barber 321
Stokes, Anson Phelps 713
Strathcona, Lord 688
Strauss, Nathan 420

Taylor, William 716
Thomas, Theodore 673
Thompson-Seton, Ernest 687
Thompson, Vance 696

Vanderbilt, Cornelius 138
Van Dyke, Henry 700
Van Horne, Sir William C. 485
Vincent, John Heyl 716
Vreeland, Herbert H. 152

Walker, John Brisben 667
Wallace, Lew (Gen.) 296
Wanamaker, John 92
Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 707
Watterson, Henry 663
Wellman, Walter 655
Westinghouse, George 635
Wheeler, John Wilson 628
Wheeler, Joseph 651
White, Stewart Edward 697
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler 272
Wilder, Marshall P. 371
Wilkins-Freeman, M. Eleanor 706
Wilson, Woodrow 659
Wister, Owen 697
Woolworth, Frank W. 637

Yerkes, Charles Tyson 640

Zimmerman, Eugene 693

FOOTNOTE:

[A] For Topical Index see page 727.

TOPICAL INDEX.

Introductory Note.

“LITTLE VISITS” is not merely a story-book or a collection of biographies and autobiographies. The life stories which it contains are intensely interesting, many of them even dramatic. The _autobiographies_—that is, the life stories of eminent men and women told by themselves—are unique; no such collection is elsewhere in existence. It is not, however, merely a book to be read once for the stories and cast aside.

“LITTLE VISITS” is a collection of IDEAS, each stamped with the mint mark of a great personality. It contains _symposiums_ by fifty-six men and women—who by common consent are considered to have achieved success—on the elements and methods of a successful career. To make this wealth of ideas easily and quickly available as an aid to those of all ages who aspire to achieve something beyond the ordinary in life, we have prepared this Topical Index. It constitutes a _syllabus_ for study of the great problems of human life and destiny.

Early advantages, luck, friends, influence, environment and heredity—defects in which are adduced so often to justify failure—receive little attention. The fact that opportunity exists within the man himself; the possibility of self-culture by reading and home study; the importance of choosing the right career; the methods and the qualities which should be practised and cultivated; and the ideals which should be sought for—these are the perennial seed thoughts which should be planted in the minds and hearts of our own and coming generations, and they constitute the contents of the present volumes.

The teachings of “LITTLE VISITS” are many-sided. Light is thrown upon each problem from every angle. Many points of view are represented by the various speakers. The words of each, weighted by the vast achievements and well-known reputation of all, cannot fail to sink deeply into the mind of every reader. Like begets like. The ideas of great men are essentially great ideas, and in turn they will beget greatness in the lives of all who adopt and follow them.

The attention of parents and teachers, and of the ambitious youth of both sexes, is directed to the usefulness of this Topical Index (and also of the Biographical Index which precedes it) in preparation for the solemn responsibilities of guiding aright the lives which are entrusted to their keeping and for self-guidance. The material here indexed for convenient reference is absolutely invaluable for the preparation of homilies, sermons, addresses and informal talks to the young, or indeed to any audience. The spicy and pithy anecdotes and incidents in the lives of eminent persons, each authenticated by the fact that they are given in the speaker’s own language, are exceedingly valuable for purposes of illustration. The book is especially recommended as a source of material in the preparation of compositions, themes and essays, and also for its cultural value, as _supplementary reading_ for pupils in our common and high schools.

THE PUBLISHERS.

TOPICAL INDEX.[B]

Ability, _see Success Qualities_.

Accommodating, _see Success Qualities_.

=Achievements:=
Acme Sucker Rod, _Jones_, 498
American Federation of Labor, _Gompers_, 168
Appliances for oil production, _Jones_, 503
Automatic gun, _Maxim_, 43
Battle-ships, _Maxim_, 47
“Ben Hur,” _Wallace_, 303
Blue shadows, _Remington_, 331
Books, _Burroughs_, 412
“Broncho Buster,” _Remington_, 331
Business king, _Armour_, 523
Busts, _Ruckstuhl_, 364
Canadian Pacific R. R., _Van Horne_, 490
Employees over ten thousand, _Lipton_, 113
Flying machines, _Maxim_, 47
First iron bridge across Ohio, _Carnegie_, 63
Gas machines, _Maxim_, 42
Guns, _Maxim_, 47
Homestead Steel Works, _Carnegie_, 64
Inventions, six hundred, _Edison_, 30
Laws, _Gompers_, 169
Mayoralty of Detroit, _Pingree_, 75
Metropolitan Street Railway System, _Vreeland_, 163
Minneapolis Tribune, _Conwell_, 428
Mr. Dinkelspiel, _Opper_, 353
My life, _Burroughs_, 411
Operas and Marches, _Sousa_, 386
Partnership, _Field_, 85
Poems, _Wilcox_, 274
Poems, _Markham_, 270
Political honors, _Depew_, 215
“Puck,” _Opper_, 357
Rapid-fire gun, _Maxim_, 36
Scholarship, _Schurman_, 248
Smokeless powder, _Maxim_, 46
Statue, _Remington_, 331
Statues, _Ruckstuhl_, 364
Statue, _Ruckstuhl_, 360
Statues, _Shrady_, 369
Steam motors, _Maxim_, 43
Steel works, _Carnegie_, 63
Stores, _Lipton_, 112
Submarine cable device, _Edison_, 24
“Suburban Resident,” _Opper_, 357
Telegraphic recorder, _Edison_, 23
“The Fair God,” _Wallace_, 302
Titles, _Maxim_, 36
U. S. Express Co., _Platt_, 225
U. S. Express Co., _Platt_, 230
Vanderbilt system, head of, _Depew_, 213
Victories, _Miles_, 189

Acme Sucker Rod, _see Achievements_.

Actors, biographies of, _see Careers_.

Actresses, biographies of, _see Careers_.

Adaptability, _see Success Qualities_.

=Advantage:=
Early, _Choate_, 199
Good advice and personal popularity, _Choate_, 199
Money, opportunity, friends, _Choate_, 198

Ambition, _see Success Qualities_.

America, opportunity in, _see Opportunity_.

America, women singers in, _see Opportunity_.

American Federation of Labor, _see Achievements_.

American stock, _see Heredity_.

Amusement, _see Careers_.

=Anecdotes:=
A Little Story, _Borden_, 453
A Father’s Warning, _Wallace_, 299
American Marshall, _Wilder_, 377
Armour and the Panic, _Armour_, 526
Borrowing a Postage Stamp, _Jones_, 502
Borrowing Five Cents, _Lipton_, 110
Broken “Holt,” _Burroughs_, 407
Burroughs and Gould, _Burroughs_, 406
Captured by Mosby’s Men, _Pingree_, 73
Carnegie and the Sleeping Car, _Carnegie_, 60
Chances for Young Men, _Dolliver_, 222
Chartered Train, _Sousa_, 389
Chinese Medal, _Maxim_, 48
Colonel Anderson’s Library, _Carnegie_, 53
Confidence Man, _Maxim_, 41
Congressman’s Fame, _Dolliver_, 221
Dangerous Crossing, _Blair_, 478
De Mores Incident, _Roosevelt_, 185
Dog’s Tail, _Maxim_, 38
Dowe Scheme, _Maxim_, 49
Dutchman’s Oath, _Wilder_, 376
Elected to the Presidency, _Vreeland_, 160
Emersonian Essays, _Burroughs_, 409
First Patent, _Edison_, 25
First Speech in Congress, _Johnson_, 240
First Trip West, _Platt_, 229
Founding of Armour Institute, _Armour_, 521
Funny Little Man, _Wilder_, 371
How He Became Deaf, _Edison_, 20
How He Learned Telegraphy, _Edison_, 21
How He Joined the Marine Band, _Sousa_, 385
“I’ll be President,” _Vreeland_, 156
Important Mission, _Vreeland_, 158
Joe Jefferson’s Life, _Wilder_, 374
Knighted by the Queen, _Van Horne_, 491
Life Prisoner, _Wilder_, 378
London Physician, _Van Horne_, 495
Lord Wolseley and Smokeless Powder, _Maxim_, 45
Never Mind the Gas, _Wilder_, 376
Nordica’s First Engagement, _Nordica_, 547
Origin of Smokeless Powder, _Maxim_, 45
Rapid-fire Gun in Switzerland, _Maxim_, 46
Richard and the Crown Prince, _Mansfield_, 383
“Salting” a “Hayseed,” _Edison_, 24
Save Me a Spare-rib, _Wilder_, 375
School-boy Compositions, _Burroughs_, 406
Terrific Storm, _Lipton_, 112
Trying the Boss, _Maxim_, 40
Two Small Boys, _Sousa_, 388
Vampire, _Choate_, 200
Volunteer German Friend, _Johnson_, 239
“Your Eyre,” _Harrison_, 309

Application, _see Success Qualities_.

Apprentice, _see Methods_.