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diff --git a/34258.txt b/34258.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfbc992 --- /dev/null +++ b/34258.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1798 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Acres of Diamonds, by Russell H. Conwell + +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: Acres of Diamonds + +Author: Russell H. Conwell + +Release Date: November 9, 2010 [EBook #34258] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ACRES OF DIAMONDS *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, Julia Neufeld, Juliet Sutherland +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Acres of Diamonds + + + _By_ + RUSSELL H. CONWELL + + + VOLUME 2 + + + NATIONAL + EXTENSION UNIVERSITY + + 597 Fifth Avenue, New York + + + + + ACRES OF DIAMONDS + + + Copyright, 1915, by Harper & Brothers + Printed in the United States of America + + + + + _An Appreciation of + Russell H. Conwell_ + + + + +AN APPRECIATION + + +Though Russell H. Conwell's Acres of Diamonds have been spread all over +the United States, time and care have made them more valuable, and now +that they have been reset in black and white by their discoverer, they +are to be laid in the hands of a multitude for their enrichment. + +In the same case with these gems there is a fascinating story of the +Master Jeweler's life-work which splendidly illustrates the ultimate +unit of power by showing what one man can do in one day and what one +life is worth to the world. + +As his neighbor and intimate friend in Philadelphia for thirty years, I +am free to say that Russell H. Conwell's tall, manly figure stands out +in the state of Pennsylvania as its first citizen and "The Big Brother" +of its seven millions of people. + +From the beginning of his career he has been a credible witness in the +Court of Public Works to the truth of the strong language of the New +Testament Parable where it says, "If ye have faith as a grain of +mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Remove hence to yonder +place,' AND IT SHALL REMOVE AND NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE UNTO YOU." + +As a student, schoolmaster, lawyer, preacher, organizer, thinker and +writer, lecturer, educator, diplomat, and leader of men, he has made his +mark on his city and state and the times in which he has lived. A man +dies, but his good work lives. + +His ideas, ideals, and enthusiasms have inspired tens of thousands of +lives. A book full of the energetics of a master workman is just what +every young man cares for. + + 1915. + +[Illustration: His yoke fellow John Wanamaker] + + + + +_Acres of Diamonds_ + + +_Friends._--This lecture has been delivered under these circumstances: I +visit a town or city, and try to arrive there early enough to see the +postmaster, the barber, the keeper of the hotel, the principal of the +schools, and the ministers of some of the churches, and then go into +some of the factories and stores, and talk with the people, and get into +sympathy with the local conditions of that town or city and see what has +been their history, what opportunities they had, and what they had +failed to do--and every town fails to do something--and then go to the +lecture and talk to those people about the subjects which applied to +their locality. "Acres of Diamonds"--the idea--has continuously been +precisely the same. The idea is that in this country of ours every man +has the opportunity to make more of himself than he does in his own +environment, with his own skill, with his own energy, and with his own +friends. + + RUSSELL H. CONWELL. + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS + + +When going down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers many years ago with a +party of English travelers I found myself under the direction of an old +Arab guide whom we hired up at Bagdad, and I have often thought how that +guide resembled our barbers in certain mental characteristics. He +thought that it was not only his duty to guide us down those rivers, and +do what he was paid for doing, but also to entertain us with stories +curious and weird, ancient and modern, strange and familiar. Many of +them I have forgotten, and I am glad I have, but there is one I shall +never forget. + +The old guide was leading my camel by its halter along the banks of +those ancient rivers, and he told me story after story until I grew +weary of his story-telling and ceased to listen. I have never been +irritated with that guide when he lost his temper as I ceased +listening. But I remember that he took off his Turkish cap and swung +it in a circle to get my attention. I could see it through the +corner of my eye, but I determined not to look straight at him for +fear he would tell another story. But although I am not a woman, I +did finally look, and as soon as I did he went right into another +story. + +Said he, "I will tell you a story now which I reserve for my particular +friends." When he emphasized the words "particular friends," I listened, +and I have ever been glad I did. I really feel devoutly thankful, that +there are 1,674 young men who have been carried through college by this +lecture who are also glad that I did listen. The old guide told me that +there once lived not far from the River Indus an ancient Persian by the +name of Ali Hafed. He said that Ali Hafed owned a very large farm, that +he had orchards, grain-fields, and gardens; that he had money at +interest, and was a wealthy and contented man. He was contented because +he was wealthy, and wealthy because he was contented. One day there +visited that old Persian farmer one of those ancient Buddhist priests, +one of the wise men of the East. He sat down by the fire and told the +old farmer how this world of ours was made. He said that this world was +once a mere bank of fog, and that the Almighty thrust His finger into +this bank of fog, and began slowly to move His finger around, increasing +the speed until at last He whirled this bank of fog into a solid ball of +fire. Then it went rolling through the universe, burning its way through +other banks of fog, and condensed the moisture without, until it fell in +floods of rain upon its hot surface, and cooled the outward crust. Then +the internal fires bursting outward through the crust threw up the +mountains and hills, the valleys, the plains and prairies of this +wonderful world of ours. If this internal molten mass came bursting out +and cooled very quickly it became granite; less quickly copper, less +quickly silver, less quickly gold, and, after gold, diamonds were made. + +Said the old priest, "A diamond is a congealed drop of sunlight." Now +that is literally scientifically true, that a diamond is an actual +deposit of carbon from the sun. The old priest told Ali Hafed that if he +had one diamond the size of his thumb he could purchase the county, and +if he had a mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones +through the influence of their great wealth. + +Ali Hafed heard all about diamonds, how much they were worth, and went +to his bed that night a poor man. He had not lost anything, but he was +poor because he was discontented, and discontented because he feared he +was poor. He said, "I want a mine of diamonds," and he lay awake all +night. + +Early in the morning he sought out the priest. I know by experience that +a priest is very cross when awakened early in the morning, and when he +shook that old priest out of his dreams, Ali Hafed said to him: + +"Will you tell me where I can find diamonds?" + +"Diamonds! What do you want with diamonds?" "Why, I wish to be immensely +rich." "Well, then, go along and find them. That is all you have to do; +go and find them, and then you have them." "But I don't know where to +go." "Well, if you will find a river that runs through white sands, +between high mountains, in those white sands you will always find +diamonds." "I don't believe there is any such river." "Oh yes, there are +plenty of them. All you have to do is to go and find them, and then you +have them." Said Ali Hafed, "I will go." + +So he sold his farm, collected his money, left his family in charge of a +neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds. He began his search, +very properly to my mind, at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterward he +came around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last +when his money was all spent and he was in rags, wretchedness, and +poverty, he stood on the shore of that bay at Barcelona, in Spain, when +a great tidal wave came rolling in between the pillars of Hercules, and +the poor, afflicted, suffering, dying man could not resist the awful +temptation to cast himself into that incoming tide, and he sank beneath +its foaming crest, never to rise in this life again. + +When that old guide had told me that awfully sad story he stopped the +camel I was riding on and went back to fix the baggage that was coming +off another camel, and I had an opportunity to muse over his story while +he was gone. I remember saying to myself, "Why did he reserve that story +for his 'particular friends'?" There seemed to be no beginning, no +middle, no end, nothing to it. That was the first story I had ever heard +told in my life, and would be the first one I ever read, in which the +hero was killed in the first chapter. I had but one chapter of that +story, and the hero was dead. + +When the guide came back and took up the halter of my camel, he went +right ahead with the story, into the second chapter, just as though +there had been no break. The man who purchased Ali Hafed's farm one day +led his camel into the garden to drink, and as that camel put its nose +into the shallow water of that garden brook, Ali Hafed's successor +noticed a curious flash of light from the white sands of the stream. He +pulled out a black stone having an eye of light reflecting all the hues +of the rainbow. He took the pebble into the house and put it on the +mantel which covers the central fires, and forgot all about it. + +A few days later this same old priest came in to visit Ali Hafed's +successor, and the moment he opened that drawing-room door he saw that +flash of light on the mantel, and he rushed up to it, and shouted: "Here +is a diamond! Has Ali Hafed returned?" "Oh no, Ali Hafed has not +returned, and that is not a diamond. That is nothing but a stone we +found right out here in our own garden." "But," said the priest, "I tell +you I know a diamond when I see it. I know positively that is a +diamond." + +Then together they rushed out into that old garden and stirred up the +white sands with their fingers, and lo! there came up other more +beautiful and valuable gems than the first. "Thus," said the guide to +me, and, friends, it is historically true, "was discovered the +diamond-mine of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond-mine in all the +history of mankind, excelling the Kimberly itself. The Kohinoor, and the +Orloff of the crown jewels of England and Russia, the largest on earth, +came from that mine." + +When that old Arab guide told me the second chapter of his story, he +then took off his Turkish cap and swung it around in the air again to +get my attention to the moral. Those Arab guides have morals to their +stories, although they are not always moral. As he swung his hat, he +said to me, "Had Ali Hafed remained at home and dug in his own cellar, +or underneath his own wheat-fields, or in his own garden, instead of +wretchedness, starvation, and death by suicide in a strange land, he +would have had 'acres of diamonds.' For every acre of that old farm, +yes, every shovelful, afterward revealed gems which since have decorated +the crowns of monarchs." + +When he had added the moral to his story I saw why he reserved it for +"his particular friends." But I did not tell him I could see it. It was +that mean old Arab's way of going around a thing like a lawyer, to say +indirectly what he did not dare say directly, that "in his private +opinion there was a certain young man then traveling down the Tigris +River that might better be at home in America." I did not tell him I +could see that, but I told him his story reminded me of one, and I told +it to him quick, and I think I will tell it to you. + +I told him of a man out in California in 1847, who owned a ranch. He +heard they had discovered gold in southern California, and so with a +passion for gold he sold his ranch to Colonel Sutter, and away he went, +never to come back. Colonel Sutter put a mill upon a stream that ran +through that ranch, and one day his little girl brought some wet sand +from the raceway into their home and sifted it through her fingers +before the fire, and in that falling sand a visitor saw the first +shining scales of real gold that were ever discovered in California. The +man who had owned that ranch wanted gold, and he could have secured it +for the mere taking. Indeed, thirty-eight millions of dollars has been +taken out of a very few acres since then. About eight years ago I +delivered this lecture in a city that stands on that farm, and they +told me that a one-third owner for years and years had been getting one +hundred and twenty dollars in gold every fifteen minutes, sleeping or +waking, without taxation. You and I would enjoy an income like that--if +we didn't have to pay an income tax. + +But a better illustration really than that occurred here in our own +Pennsylvania. If there is anything I enjoy above another on the +platform, it is to get one of these German audiences in Pennsylvania +before me, and fire that at them, and I enjoy it to-night. There was a +man living in Pennsylvania, not unlike some Pennsylvanians you have +seen, who owned a farm, and he did with that farm just what I should do +with a farm if I owned one in Pennsylvania--he sold it. But before he +sold it he decided to secure employment collecting coal-oil for his +cousin, who was in the business in Canada, where they first discovered +oil on this continent. They dipped it from the running streams at that +early time. So this Pennsylvania farmer wrote to his cousin asking for +employment. You see, friends, this farmer was not altogether a foolish +man. No, he was not. He did not leave his farm until he had something +else to do. _Of all the simpletons the stars shine on I don't know of a +worse one than the man who leaves one job before he has gotten another._ +That has especial reference to my profession, and has no reference +whatever to a man seeking a divorce. When he wrote to his cousin for +employment, his cousin replied, "I cannot engage you because you know +nothing about the oil business." + +Well, then the old farmer said, "I will know," and with most commendable +zeal (characteristic of the students of Temple University) he set +himself at the study of the whole subject. He began away back at the +second day of God's creation when this world was covered thick and deep +with that rich vegetation which since has turned to the primitive beds +of coal. He studied the subject until he found that the drainings really +of those rich beds of coal furnished the coal-oil that was worth +pumping, and then he found how it came up with the living springs. He +studied until he knew what it looked like, smelled like, tasted like, +and how to refine it. Now said he in his letter to his cousin, "I +understand the oil business." His cousin answered, "All right, come on." + +So he sold his farm, according to the county record, for $833 (even +money, "no cents"). He had scarcely gone from that place before the man +who purchased the spot went out to arrange for the watering of the +cattle. He found the previous owner had gone out years before and put a +plank across the brook back of the barn, edgewise into the surface of +the water just a few inches. The purpose of that plank at that sharp +angle across the brook was to throw over to the other bank a +dreadful-looking scum through which the cattle would not put their +noses. But with that plank there to throw it all over to one side, the +cattle would drink below, and thus that man who had gone to Canada had +been himself damming back for twenty-three years a flood of coal-oil +which the state geologists of Pennsylvania declared to us ten years +later was even then worth a hundred millions of dollars to our state, +and four years ago our geologist declared the discovery to be worth to +our state a thousand millions of dollars. The man who owned that +territory on which the city of Titusville now stands, and those +Pleasantville valleys, had studied the subject from the second day of +God's creation clear down to the present time. He studied it until he +knew all about it, and yet he is said to have sold the whole of it for +$833, and again I say, "no sense." + +But I need another illustration. I found it in Massachusetts, and I am +sorry I did because that is the state I came from. This young man in +Massachusetts furnishes just another phase of my thought. He went to +Yale College and studied mines and mining, and became such an adept as a +mining engineer that he was employed by the authorities of the +university to train students who were behind their classes. During his +senior year he earned $15 a week for doing that work. When he graduated +they raised his pay from $15 to $45 a week, and offered him a +professorship, and as soon as they did he went right home to his +mother. _If they had raised that boy's pay from $15 to $15.60 he would +have stayed and been proud of the place, but when they put it up to $45 +at one leap, he said, "Mother, I won't work for $45 a week. The idea of +a man with a brain like mine working for $45 a week!_ Let's go out in +California and stake out gold-mines and silver-mines, and be immensely +rich." + +Said his mother, "Now, Charlie, it is just as well to be happy as it is +to be rich." + +"Yes," said Charlie, "but it is just as well to be rich and happy, too." +And they were both right about it. As he was an only son and she a +widow, of course he had his way. They always do. + +They sold out in Massachusetts, and instead of going to California they +went to Wisconsin, where he went into the employ of the Superior Copper +Mining Company at $15 a week again, but with the proviso in his contract +that he should have an interest in any mines he should discover for the +company. I don't believe he ever discovered a mine, and if I am looking +in the face of any stockholder of that copper company you wish he had +discovered something or other. I have friends who are not here because +they could not afford a ticket, who did have stock in that company at +the time this young man was employed there. This young man went out +there, and I have not heard a word from him. I don't know what became of +him, and I don't know whether he found any mines or not, but I don't +believe he ever did. + +But I do know the other end of the line. He had scarcely gotten out of +the old homestead before the succeeding owner went out to dig potatoes. +The potatoes were already growing in the ground when he bought the farm, +and as the old farmer was bringing in a basket of potatoes it hugged +very tight between the ends of the stone fence. You know in +Massachusetts our farms are nearly all stone wall. There you are obliged +to be very economical of front gateways in order to have some place to +put the stone. When that basket hugged so tight he set it down on the +ground, and then dragged on one side, and pulled on the other side, and +as he was dragging that basket through this farmer noticed in the upper +and outer corner of that stone wall, right next the gate, a block of +native silver eight inches square. That professor of mines, mining, and +mineralogy who knew so much about the subject that he would not work for +$45 a week, when he sold that homestead in Massachusetts sat right on +that silver to make the bargain. He was born on that homestead, was +brought up there, and had gone back and forth rubbing the stone with his +sleeve until it reflected his countenance, and seemed to say, "Here is a +hundred thousand dollars right down here just for the taking." But he +would not take it. It was in a home in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and +there was no silver there, all away off--well, I don't know where, and +he did not, but somewhere else, and he was a professor of mineralogy. + +My friends, that mistake is very universally made, and why should we +even smile at him. I often wonder what has become of him. I do not know +at all, but I will tell you what I "guess" as a Yankee. I guess that he +sits out there by his fireside to-night with his friends gathered around +him, and he is saying to them something like this: "Do you know that man +Conwell who lives in Philadelphia?" "Oh yes, I have heard of him." "Do +you know that man Jones that lives in Philadelphia?" "Yes, I have heard +of him, too." + +Then he begins to laugh, and shakes his sides, and says to his friends, +"Well, they have done just the same thing I did, precisely"--and that +spoils the whole joke, for you and I have done the same thing he did, +and while we sit here and laugh at him he has a better right to sit out +there and laugh at us. I know I have made the same mistakes, but, of +course, that does not make any difference, because we don't expect the +same man to preach and practise, too. + +As I come here to-night and look around this audience I am seeing again +what through these fifty years I have continually seen--men that are +making precisely that same mistake. I often wish I could see the younger +people, and would that the Academy had been filled to-night with our +high-school scholars and our grammar-school scholars, that I could have +them to talk to. While I would have preferred such an audience as that, +because they are most susceptible, as they have not grown up into their +prejudices as we have, they have not gotten into any custom that they +cannot break, they have not met with any failures as we have; and while +I could perhaps do such an audience as that more good than I can do +grown-up people, yet I will do the best I can with the material I have. +I say to you that you have "acres of diamonds" in Philadelphia right +where you now live. "Oh," but you will say, "you cannot know much about +your city if you think there are any 'acres of diamonds' here." + +I was greatly interested in that account in the newspaper of the young +man who found that diamond in North Carolina. It was one of the purest +diamonds that has ever been discovered, and it has several predecessors +near the same locality. I went to a distinguished professor in +mineralogy and asked him where he thought those diamonds came from. The +professor secured the map of the geologic formations of our continent, +and traced it. He said it went either through the underlying +carboniferous strata adapted for such production, westward through Ohio +and the Mississippi, or in more probability came eastward through +Virginia and up the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a fact that the +diamonds were there, for they have been discovered and sold; and that +they were carried down there during the drift period, from some +northern locality. Now who can say but some person going down with his +drill in Philadelphia will find some trace of a diamond-mine yet down +here? Oh, friends! you cannot say that you are not over one of the +greatest diamond-mines in the world, for such a diamond as that only +comes from the most profitable mines that are found on earth. + +But it serves simply to illustrate my thought, which I emphasize by +saying if you do not have the actual diamond-mines literally you have +all that they would be good for to you. Because now that the Queen of +England has given the greatest compliment ever conferred upon American +woman for her attire because she did not appear with any jewels at all +at the late reception in England, it has almost done away with the use +of diamonds anyhow. All you would care for would be the few you would +wear if you wish to be modest, and the rest you would sell for money. + +Now then, I say again that the opportunity to get rich, to attain unto +great wealth, is here in Philadelphia now, within the reach of almost +every man and woman who hears me speak to-night, and I mean just what I +say. I have not come to this platform even under these circumstances to +recite something to you. I have come to tell you what in God's sight I +believe to be the truth, and if the years of life have been of any value +to me in the attainment of common sense, I know I am right; that the +men and women sitting here, who found it difficult perhaps to buy a +ticket to this lecture or gathering to-night, have within their reach +"acres of diamonds," opportunities to get largely wealthy. There never +was a place on earth more adapted than the city of Philadelphia to-day, +and never in the history of the world did a poor man without capital +have such an opportunity to get rich quickly and honestly as he has now +in our city. I say it is the truth, and I want you to accept it as such; +for if you think I have come to simply recite something, then I would +better not be here. I have no time to waste in any such talk, but to say +the things I believe, and unless some of you get richer for what I am +saying to-night my time is wasted. + +I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich. How +many of my pious brethren say to me, "Do you, a Christian minister, +spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to +get rich, to get money?" "Yes, of course I do." They say, "Isn't that +awful! Why don't you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man's +making money?" "Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel." +That is the reason. The men who get rich may be the most honest men you +find in the community. + +"Oh," but says some young man here to-night, "I have been told all my +life that if a person has money he is very dishonest and dishonorable +and mean and contemptible." My friend, that is the reason why you have +none, because you have that idea of people. The foundation of your faith +is altogether false. Let me say here clearly, and say it briefly, though +subject to discussion which I have not time for here, ninety-eight out +of one hundred of the rich men of America are honest. That is why they +are rich. That is why they are trusted with money. That is why they +carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them. +It is because they are honest men. + +Says another young man, "I hear sometimes of men that get millions of +dollars dishonestly." Yes, of course you do, and so do I. But they are +so rare a thing in fact that the newspapers talk about them all the time +as a matter of news until you get the idea that all the other rich men +got rich dishonestly. + +My friend, you take and drive me--if you furnish the auto--out into the +suburbs of Philadelphia, and introduce me to the people who own their +homes around this great city, those beautiful homes with gardens and +flowers, those magnificent homes so lovely in their art, and I will +introduce you to the very best people in character as well as in +enterprise in our city, and you know I will. A man is not really a true +man until he owns his own home, and they that own their homes are made +more honorable and honest and pure, and true and economical and +careful, by owning the home. + +For a man to have money, even in large sums, is not an inconsistent +thing. We preach against covetousness, and you know we do, in the +pulpit, and oftentimes preach against it so long and use the terms about +"filthy lucre" so extremely that Christians get the idea that when we +stand in the pulpit we believe it is wicked for any man to have +money--until the collection-basket goes around, and then we almost swear +at the people because they don't give more money. Oh, the inconsistency +of such doctrines as that! + +Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it. You +ought because you can do more good with it than you could without it. +Money printed your Bible, money builds your churches, money sends your +missionaries, and money pays your preachers, and you would not have many +of them, either, if you did not pay them. I am always willing that my +church should raise my salary, because the church that pays the largest +salary always raises it the easiest. You never knew an exception to it +in your life. The man who gets the largest salary can do the most good +with the power that is furnished to him. Of course he can if his spirit +be right to use it for what it is given to him. + +I say, then, you ought to have money. If you can honestly attain unto +riches in Philadelphia, it is your Christian and godly duty to do so. +It is an awful mistake of these pious people to think you must be +awfully poor in order to be pious. + +Some men say, "Don't you sympathize with the poor people?" Of course I +do, or else I would not have been lecturing these years. I won't give in +but what I sympathize with the poor, but the number of poor who are to +be sympathized with is very small. To sympathize with a man whom God has +punished for his sins, thus to help him when God would still continue a +just punishment, is to do wrong, no doubt about it, and we do that more +than we help those who are deserving. While we should sympathize with +God's poor--that is, those who cannot help themselves--let us remember +there is not a poor person in the United States who was not made poor by +his own shortcomings, or by the shortcomings of some one else. It is all +wrong to be poor, anyhow. Let us give in to that argument and pass that +to one side. + +A gentleman gets up back there, and says, "Don't you think there are +some things in this world that are better than money?" Of course I do, +but I am talking about money now. Of course there are some things higher +than money. Oh yes, I know by the grave that has left me standing alone +that there are some things in this world that are higher and sweeter and +purer than money. Well do I know there are some things higher and +grander than gold. Love is the grandest thing on God's earth, but +fortunate the lover who has plenty of money. Money is power, money is +force, money will do good as well as harm. In the hands of good men and +women it could accomplish, and it has accomplished, good. + +I hate to leave that behind me. I heard a man get up in a prayer-meeting +in our city and thank the Lord he was "one of God's poor." Well, I +wonder what his wife thinks about that? She earns all the money that +comes into that house, and he smokes a part of that on the veranda. I +don't want to see any more of the Lord's poor of that kind, and I don't +believe the Lord does. And yet there are some people who think in order +to be pious you must be awfully poor and awfully dirty. That does not +follow at all. While we sympathize with the poor, let us not teach a +doctrine like that. + +Yet the age is prejudiced against advising a Christian man (or, as a Jew +would say, a godly man) from attaining unto wealth. The prejudice is so +universal and the years are far enough back, I think, for me to safely +mention that years ago up at Temple University there was a young man in +our theological school who thought he was the only pious student in that +department. He came into my office one evening and sat down by my desk, +and said to me: "Mr. President, I think it is my duty sir, to come in +and labor with you." "What has happened now?" Said he, "I heard you say +at the Academy, at the Peirce School commencement, that you thought it +was an honorable ambition for a young man to desire to have wealth, and +that you thought it made him temperate, made him anxious to have a good +name, and made him industrious. You spoke about man's ambition to have +money helping to make him a good man. Sir, I have come to tell you the +Holy Bible says that 'money is the root of all evil.'" + +I told him I had never seen it in the Bible, and advised him to go out +into the chapel and get the Bible, and show me the place. So out he went +for the Bible, and soon he stalked into my office with the Bible open, +with all the bigoted pride of the narrow sectarian, or of one who founds +his Christianity on some misinterpretation of Scripture. He flung the +Bible down on my desk, and fairly squealed into my ear: "There it is, +Mr. President; you can read it for yourself." I said to him: "Well, +young man, you will learn when you get a little older that you cannot +trust another denomination to read the Bible for you. You belong to +another denomination. You are taught in the theological school, however, +that emphasis is exegesis. Now, will you take that Bible and read it +yourself, and give the proper emphasis to it?" + +He took the Bible, and proudly read, "'The love of money is the root of +all evil.'" + +Then he had it right, and when one does quote aright from that same old +Book he quotes the absolute truth. I have lived through fifty years of +the mightiest battle that old Book has ever fought, and I have lived to +see its banners flying free; for never in the history of this world did +the great minds of earth so universally agree that the Bible is +true--all true--as they do at this very hour. + +So I say that when he quoted right, of course he quoted the absolute +truth. "The love of money is the root of all evil." He who tries to +attain unto it too quickly, or dishonestly, will fall into many snares, +no doubt about that. The love of money. What is that? It is making an +idol of money, and idolatry pure and simple everywhere is condemned by +the Holy Scriptures and by man's common sense. The man that worships the +dollar instead of thinking of the purposes for which it ought to be +used, the man who idolizes simply money, the miser that hordes his money +in the cellar, or hides it in his stocking, or refuses to invest it +where it will do the world good, that man who hugs the dollar until the +eagle squeals has in him the root of all evil. + +I think I will leave that behind me now and answer the question of +nearly all of you who are asking, "Is there opportunity to get rich in +Philadelphia?" Well, now, how simple a thing it is to see where it is, +and the instant you see where it is it is yours. Some old gentleman gets +up back there and says, "Mr. Conwell, have you lived in Philadelphia for +thirty-one years and don't know that the time has gone by when you can +make anything in this city?" "No, I don't think it is." "Yes, it is; I +have tried it." "What business are you in?" "I kept a store here for +twenty years, and never made over a thousand dollars in the whole twenty +years." + +"Well, then, you can measure the good you have been to this city by what +this city has paid you, because a man can judge very well what he is +worth by what he receives; that is, in what he is to the world at this +time. If you have not made over a thousand dollars in twenty years in +Philadelphia, it would have been better for Philadelphia if they had +kicked you out of the city nineteen years and nine months ago. A man has +no right to keep a store in Philadelphia twenty years and not make at +least five hundred thousand dollars, even though it be a corner grocery +up-town." You say, "You cannot make five thousand dollars in a store +now." Oh, my friends, if you will just take only four blocks around you, +and find out what the people want and what you ought to supply and set +them down with your pencil, and figure up the profits you would make if +you did supply them, you would very soon see it. There is wealth right +within the sound of your voice. + +Some one says: "You don't know anything about business. A preacher never +knows a thing about business." Well, then, I will have to prove that I +am an expert. I don't like to do this, but I have to do it because my +testimony will not be taken if I am not an expert. My father kept a +country store, and if there is any place under the stars where a man +gets all sorts of experience in every kind of mercantile transactions, +it is in the country store. I am not proud of my experience, but +sometimes when my father was away he would leave me in charge of the +store, though fortunately for him that was not very often. But this did +occur many times, friends: A man would come in the store, and say to me, +"Do you keep jack-knives?" "No, we don't keep jack-knives," and I went +off whistling a tune. What did I care about that man, anyhow? Then +another farmer would come in and say, "Do you keep jack-knives?" "No, we +don't keep jack-knives." Then I went away and whistled another tune. +Then a third man came right in the same door and said, "Do you keep +jack-knives?" "No. Why is every one around here asking for jack-knives? +Do you suppose we are keeping this store to supply the whole +neighborhood with jack-knives?" Do you carry on your store like that in +Philadelphia? The difficulty was I had not then learned that the +foundation of godliness and the foundation principle of success in +business are both the same precisely. The man who says, "I cannot carry +my religion into business" advertises himself either as being an +imbecile in business, or on the road to bankruptcy, or a thief, one of +the three, sure. He will fail within a very few years. He certainly will +if he doesn't carry his religion into business. If I had been carrying +on my father's store on a Christian plan, godly plan, I would have had +a jack-knife for the third man when he called for it. Then I would have +actually done him a kindness, and I would have received a reward myself, +which it would have been my duty to take. + +There are some over-pious Christian people who think if you take any +profit on anything you sell that you are an unrighteous man. On the +contrary, you would be a criminal to sell goods for less than they cost. +You have no right to do that. You cannot trust a man with your money who +cannot take care of his own. You cannot trust a man in your family that +is not true to his own wife. You cannot trust a man in the world that +does not begin with his own heart, his own character, and his own life. +It would have been my duty to have furnished a jack-knife to the third +man, or the second, and to have sold it to him and actually profited +myself. I have no more right to sell goods without making a profit on +them than I have to overcharge him dishonestly beyond what they are +worth. But I should so sell each bill of goods that the person to whom I +sell shall make as much as I make. + +To live and let live is the principle of the gospel, and the principle +of every-day common sense. Oh, young man, hear me; live as you go along. +Do not wait until you have reached my years before you begin to enjoy +anything of this life. If I had the millions back, or fifty cents of it, +which I have tried to earn in these years, it would not do me anything +like the good that it does me now in this almost sacred presence +to-night. Oh, yes, I am paid over and over a hundredfold to-night for +dividing as I have tried to do in some measure as I went along through +the years. I ought not speak that way, it sounds egotistic, but I am old +enough now to be excused for that. I should have helped my fellow-men, +which I have tried to do, and every one should try to do, and get the +happiness of it. The man who goes home with the sense that he has stolen +a dollar that day, that he has robbed a man of what was his honest due, +is not going to sweet rest. He arises tired in the morning, and goes +with an unclean conscience to his work the next day. He is not a +successful man at all, although he may have laid up millions. But the +man who has gone through life dividing always with his fellow-men, +making and demanding his own rights and his own profits, and giving to +every other man his rights and profits, lives every day, and not only +that, but it is the royal road to great wealth. The history of the +thousands of millionaires shows that to be the case. + +The man over there who said he could not make anything in a store in +Philadelphia has been carrying on his store on the wrong principle. +Suppose I go into your store to-morrow morning and ask, "Do you know +neighbor A, who lives one square away, at house No. 1240?" "Oh yes, I +have met him. He deals here at the corner store." "Where did he come +from?" "I don't know." "How many does he have in his family?" "I don't +know." "What ticket does he vote?" "I don't know." "What church does he +go to?" "I don't know, and don't care. What are you asking all these +questions for?" + +If you had a store in Philadelphia would you answer me like that? If so, +then you are conducting your business just as I carried on my father's +business in Worthington, Massachusetts. You don't know where your +neighbor came from when he moved to Philadelphia, and you don't care. If +you had cared you would be a rich man now. If you had cared enough about +him to take an interest in his affairs, to find out what he needed, you +would have been rich. But you go through the world saying, "No +opportunity to get rich," and there is the fault right at your own door. + +But another young man gets up over there and says, "I cannot take up the +mercantile business." (While I am talking of trade it applies to every +occupation.) "Why can't you go into the mercantile business?" "Because I +haven't any capital." Oh, the weak and dudish creature that can't see +over its collar! It makes a person weak to see these little dudes +standing around the corners and saying, "Oh, if I had plenty of capital, +how rich I would get." "Young man, do you think you are going to get +rich on capital?" "Certainly." Well, I say, "Certainly not." If your +mother has plenty of money, and she will set you up in business, you +will "set her up in business," supplying you with capital. + +The moment a young man or woman gets more money than he or she has grown +to by practical experience, that moment he has gotten a curse. It is no +help to a young man or woman to inherit money. It is no help to your +children to leave them money, but if you leave them education, if you +leave them Christian and noble character, if you leave them a wide +circle of friends, if you leave them an honorable name, it is far better +than that they should have money. It would be worse for them, worse for +the nation, that they should have any money at all. Oh, young man, if +you have inherited money, don't regard it as a help. It will curse you +through your years, and deprive you of the very best things of human +life. There is no class of people to be pitied so much as the +inexperienced sons and daughters of the rich of our generation. I pity +the rich man's son. He can never know the best things in life. + +One of the best things in our life is when a young man has earned his +own living, and when he becomes engaged to some lovely young woman, and +makes up his mind to have a home of his own. Then with that same love +comes also that divine inspiration toward better things, and he begins +to save his money. He begins to leave off his bad habits and put money +in the bank. When he has a few hundred dollars he goes out in the +suburbs to look for a home. He goes to the savings-bank, perhaps, for +half of the value, and then goes for his wife, and when he takes his +bride over the threshold of that door for the first time he says in +words of eloquence my voice can never touch: "I have earned this home +myself. It is all mine, and I divide with thee." That is the grandest +moment a human heart may ever know. + +But a rich man's son can never know that. He takes his bride into a +finer mansion, it may be, but he is obliged to go all the way through it +and say to his wife, "My mother gave me that, my mother gave me that, +and my mother gave me this," until his wife wishes she had married his +mother. I pity the rich man's son. + +The statistics of Massachusetts showed that not one rich man's son out +of seventeen ever dies rich. I pity the rich man's sons unless they have +the good sense of the elder Vanderbilt, which sometimes happens. He went +to his father and said, "Did you earn all your money?" "I did, my son. I +began to work on a ferry-boat for twenty-five cents a day." "Then," said +his son, "I will have none of your money," and he, too, tried to get +employment on a ferry-boat that Saturday night. He could not get one +there, but he did get a place for three dollars a week. Of course, if a +rich man's son will do that, he will get the discipline of a poor boy +that is worth more than a university education to any man. He would then +be able to take care of the millions of his father. But as a rule the +rich men will not let their sons do the very thing that made them great. +As a rule, the rich man will not allow his son to work--and his mother? +Why, she would think it was a social disgrace if her poor, weak, little +lily-fingered, sissy sort of a boy had to earn his living with honest +toil. I have no pity for such rich men's sons. + +I remember one at Niagara Falls. I think I remember one a great deal +nearer. I think there are gentlemen present who were at a great banquet, +and I beg pardon of his friends. At a banquet here in Philadelphia there +sat beside me a kind-hearted young man, and he said, "Mr. Conwell, you +have been sick for two or three years. When you go out, take my +limousine, and it will take you up to your house on Broad Street." I +thanked him very much, and perhaps I ought not to mention the incident +in this way, but I follow the facts. I got on to the seat with the +driver of that limousine, outside, and when we were going up I asked the +driver, "How much did this limousine cost?" "Six thousand eight hundred, +and he had to pay the duty on it." "Well," I said, "does the owner of +this machine ever drive it himself?" At that the chauffeur laughed so +heartily that he lost control of his machine. He was so surprised at the +question that he ran up on the sidewalk, and around a corner lamp-post +out into the street again. And when he got out into the street he +laughed till the whole machine trembled. He said: "He drive this +machine! Oh, he would be lucky if he knew enough to get out when we get +there." + +I must tell you about a rich man's son at Niagara Palls. I came in from +the lecture to the hotel, and as I approached the desk of the clerk +there stood a millionaire's son from New York. He was an indescribable +specimen of anthropologic potency. He had a skull-cap on one side of his +head, with a gold tassel in the top of it, and a gold-headed cane under +his arm with more in it than in his head. It is a very difficult thing +to describe that young man. He wore an eye-glass that he could not see +through, patent-leather boots that he could not walk in, and pants that +he could not sit down in--dressed like a grasshopper. This human cricket +came up to the clerk's desk just as I entered, adjusted his unseeing +eye-glass, and spake in this wise to the clerk. You see, he thought it +was "Hinglish, you know," to lisp. "Thir, will you have the kindness to +supply me with thome papah and enwelophs!" The hotel clerk measured that +man quick, and he pulled the envelopes and paper out of a drawer, threw +them across the counter toward the young man, and then turned away to +his books. You should have seen that young man when those envelopes came +across that counter. He swelled up like a gobbler turkey, adjusted his +unseeing eye-glass, and yelled: "Come right back here. Now thir, will +you order a thervant to take that papah and enwelophs to yondah dethk." +Oh, the poor, miserable, contemptible American monkey! He could not +carry paper and envelopes twenty feet. I suppose he could not get his +arms down to do it. I have no pity for such travesties upon human +nature. If you have not capital, young man, I am glad of it. What you +need is common sense, not copper cents. + +The best thing I can do is to illustrate by actual facts well-known to +you all. A. T. Stewart, a poor boy in New York, had $1.50 to begin life +on. He lost 87-1/2 cents of that on the very first venture. How +fortunate that young man who loses the first time he gambles. That boy +said, "I will never gamble again in business," and he never did. How +came he to lose 87-1/2 cents? You probably all know the story how he +lost it--because he bought some needles, threads, and buttons to sell +which people did not want, and had them left on his hands, a dead loss. +Said the boy, "I will not lose any more money in that way." Then he went +around first to the doors and asked the people what they did want. Then +when he had found out what they wanted he invested his 62-1/2 cents to +supply a known demand. Study it wherever you choose--in business, in +your profession, in your housekeeping, whatever your life, that one +thing is the secret of success. You must first know the demand. You must +first know what people need, and then invest yourself where you are most +needed. A. T. Stewart went on that principle until he was worth what +amounted afterward to forty millions of dollars, owning the very store +in which Mr. Wanamaker carries on his great work in New York. His +fortune was made by his losing something, which taught him the great +lesson that he must only invest himself or his money in something that +people need. When will you salesmen learn it? When will you +manufacturers learn that you must know the changing needs of humanity if +you would succeed in life? Apply yourselves, all you Christian people, +as manufacturers or merchants or workmen to supply that human need. It +is a great principle as broad as humanity and as deep as the Scripture +itself. + +The best illustration I ever heard was of John Jacob Astor. You know +that he made the money of the Astor family when he lived in New York. He +came across the sea in debt for his fare. But that poor boy with nothing +in his pocket made the fortune of the Astor family on one principle. +Some young man here to-night will say, "Well, they could make those +fortunes over in New York, but they could not do it in Philadelphia!" My +friends, did you ever read that wonderful book of Riis (his memory is +sweet to us because of his recent death), wherein is given his +statistical account of the records taken in 1889 of 107 millionaires of +New York. If you read the account you will see that out of the 107 +millionaires only seven made their money in New York. Out of the 107 +millionaires worth ten million dollars in real estate then, 67 of them +made their money in towns of less than 3,500 inhabitants. The richest +man in this country to-day, if you read the real-estate values, has +never moved away from a town of 3,500 inhabitants. It makes not so much +difference where you are as who you are. But if you cannot get rich in +Philadelphia you certainly cannot do it in New York. + +Now John Jacob Astor illustrated what can be done anywhere. He had a +mortgage once on a millinery-store, and they could not sell bonnets +enough to pay the interest on his money. So he foreclosed that mortgage, +took possession of the store, and went into partnership with the very +same people, in the same store, with the same capital. He did not give +them a dollar of capital. They had to sell goods to get any money. Then +he left them alone in the store just as they had been before, and he +went out and sat down on a bench in the park in the shade. What was John +Jacob Astor doing out there, and in partnership with people who had +failed on his own hands? He had the most important and, to my mind, the +most pleasant part of that partnership on his hands. For as John Jacob +Astor sat on that bench he was watching the ladies as they went by; and +where is the man who would not get rich at that business? As he sat on +the bench if a lady passed him with her shoulders back and head up, and +looked straight to the front, as if she did not care if all the world +did gaze on her, then he studied her bonnet, and by the time it was out +of sight he knew the shape of the frame, the color of the trimmings, and +the crinklings in the feather. I sometimes try to describe a bonnet, but +not always. I would not try to describe a modern bonnet. Where is the +man that could describe one? This aggregation of all sorts of driftwood +stuck on the back of the head, or the side of the neck, like a rooster +with only one tail feather left. But in John Jacob Astor's day there was +some art about the millinery business, and he went to the +millinery-store and said to them: "Now put into the show-window just +such a bonnet as I describe to you, because I have already seen a lady +who likes such a bonnet. Don't make up any more until I come back." Then +he went out and sat down again, and another lady passed him of a +different form, of different complexion, with a different shape and +color of bonnet. "Now," said he, "put such a bonnet as that in the +show-window." He did not fill his show-window up-town with a lot of hats +and bonnets to drive people away, and then sit on the back stairs and +bawl because people went to Wanamaker's to trade. He did not have a hat +or a bonnet in that show-window but what some lady liked before it was +made up. The tide of custom began immediately to turn in, and that has +been the foundation of the greatest store in New York in that line, and +still exists as one of three stores. Its fortune was made by John Jacob +Astor after they had failed in business, not by giving them any more +money, but by finding out what the ladies liked for bonnets before they +wasted any material in making them up. I tell you if a man could foresee +the millinery business he could foresee anything under heaven! + +Suppose I were to go through this audience to-night and ask you in this +great manufacturing city if there are not opportunities to get rich in +manufacturing. "Oh yes," some young man says, "there are opportunities +here still if you build with some trust and if you have two or three +millions of dollars to begin with as capital." Young man, the history of +the breaking up of the trusts by that attack upon "big business" is only +illustrating what is now the opportunity of the smaller man. The time +never came in the history of the world when you could get rich so +quickly manufacturing without capital as you can now. + +But you will say, "You cannot do anything of the kind. You cannot start +without capital." Young man, let me illustrate for a moment. I must do +it. It is my duty to every young man and woman, because we are all going +into business very soon on the same plan. Young man, remember if you +know what people need you have gotten more knowledge of a fortune than +any amount of capital can give you. + +There was a poor man out of work living in Hingham, Massachusetts. He +lounged around the house until one day his wife told him to get out and +work, and, as he lived in Massachusetts, he obeyed his wife. He went out +and sat down on the shore of the bay, and whittled a soaked shingle into +a wooden chain. His children that evening quarreled over it, and he +whittled a second one to keep peace. While he was whittling the second +one a neighbor came in and said: "Why don't you whittle toys and sell +them? You could make money at that." "Oh," he said, "I would not know +what to make." "Why don't you ask your own children right here in your +own house what to make?" "What is the use of trying that?" said the +carpenter. "My children are different from other people's children." (I +used to see people like that when I taught school.) But he acted upon +the hint, and the next morning when Mary came down the stairway, he +asked, "What do you want for a toy?" She began to tell him she would +like a doll's bed, a doll's washstand, a doll's carriage, a little +doll's umbrella, and went on with a list of things that would take him a +lifetime to supply. So, consulting his own children, in his own house, +he took the firewood, for he had no money to buy lumber, and whittled +those strong, unpainted Hingham toys that were for so many years known +all over the world. That man began to make those toys for his own +children, and then made copies and sold them through the boot-and-shoe +store next door. He began to make a little money, and then a little +more, and Mr. Lawson, in his _Frenzied Finance_ says that man is the +richest man in old Massachusetts, and I think it is the truth. And that +man is worth a hundred millions of dollars to-day, and has been only +thirty-four years making it on that one principle--that one must judge +that what his own children like at home other people's children would +like in their homes, too; to judge the human heart by oneself, by one's +wife or by one's children. It is the royal road to success in +manufacturing. "Oh," but you say, "didn't he have any capital?" Yes, a +penknife, but I don't know that he had paid for that. + +I spoke thus to an audience in New Britain, Connecticut, and a lady four +seats back went home and tried to take off her collar, and the +collar-button stuck in the buttonhole. She threw it out and said, "I am +going to get up something better than that to put on collars." Her +husband said: "After what Conwell said to-night, you see there is a need +of an improved collar-fastener that is easier to handle. There is a +human need; there is a great fortune. Now, then, get up a collar-button +and get rich." He made fun of her, and consequently made fun of me, and +that is one of the saddest things which comes over me like a deep cloud +of midnight sometimes--although I have worked so hard for more than half +a century, yet how little I have ever really done. Notwithstanding the +greatness and the handsomeness of your compliment to-night, I do not +believe there is one in ten of you that is going to make a million of +dollars because you are here to-night; but it is not my fault, it is +yours. I say that sincerely. What is the use of my talking if people +never do what I advise them to do? When her husband ridiculed her, she +made up her mind she would make a better collar-button, and when a woman +makes up her mind "she will," and does not say anything about it, she +does it. It was that New England woman who invented the snap button +which you can find anywhere now. It was first a collar-button with a +spring cap attached to the outer side. Any of you who wear modern +waterproofs know the button that simply pushes together, and when you +unbutton it you simply pull it apart. That is the button to which I +refer, and which she invented. She afterward invented several other +buttons, and then invested in more, and then was taken into partnership +with great factories. Now that woman goes over the sea every summer in +her private steamship--yes, and takes her husband with her! If her +husband were to die, she would have money enough left now to buy a +foreign duke or count or some such title as that at the latest +quotations. + +Now what is my lesson in that incident? It is this: I told her then, +though I did not know her, what I now say to you, "Your wealth is too +near to you. You are looking right over it"; and she had to look over it +because it was right under her chin. + +I have read in the newspaper that a woman never invented anything. +Well, that newspaper ought to begin again. Of course, I do not refer to +gossip--I refer to machines--and if I did I might better include the +men. That newspaper could never appear if women had not invented +something. Friends, think. Ye women, think! You say you cannot make a +fortune because you are in some laundry, or running a sewing-machine, it +may be, or walking before some loom, and yet you can be a millionaire if +you will but follow this almost infallible direction. + +When you say a woman doesn't invent anything, I ask, Who invented the +Jacquard loom that wove every stitch you wear? Mrs. Jacquard. The +printer's roller, the printing-press, were invented by farmers' wives. +Who invented the cotton-gin of the South that enriched our country so +amazingly? Mrs. General Greene invented the cotton-gin and showed the +idea to Mr. Whitney, and he, like a man, seized it. Who was it that +invented the sewing-machine? If I would go to school to-morrow and ask +your children they would say, "Elias Howe." + +He was in the Civil War with me, and often in my tent, and I often heard +him say that he worked fourteen years to get up that sewing-machine. But +his wife made up her mind one day that they would starve to death if +there wasn't something or other invented pretty soon, and so in two +hours she invented the sewing-machine. Of course he took out the patent +in his name. Men always do that. Who was it that invented the mower and +the reaper? According to Mr. McCormick's confidential communication, so +recently published, it was a West Virginia woman, who, after his father +and he had failed altogether in making a reaper and gave it up, took a +lot of shears and nailed them together on the edge of a board, with one +shaft of each pair loose, and then wired them so that when she pulled +the wire one way it closed them, and when she pulled the wire the other +way it opened them, and there she had the principle of the +mowing-machine. If you look at a mowing-machine, you will see it is +nothing but a lot of shears. If a woman can invent a mowing-machine, if +a woman can invent a Jacquard loom, if a woman can invent a cotton-gin, +if a woman can invent a trolley switch--as she did and made the trolleys +possible; if a woman can invent, as Mr. Carnegie said, the great iron +squeezers that laid the foundation of all the steel millions of the +United States, "we men" can invent anything under the stars! I say that +for the encouragement of the men. + +Who are the great inventors of the world? Again this lesson comes before +us. The great inventor sits next to you, or you are the person yourself. +"Oh," but you will say, "I have never invented anything in my life." +Neither did the great inventors until they discovered one great secret. +Do you think it is a man with a head like a bushel measure or a man like +a stroke of lightning? It is neither. The really great man is a plain, +straightforward, every-day, common-sense man. You would not dream that +he was a great inventor if you did not see something he had actually +done. His neighbors do not regard him so great. You never see anything +great over your back fence. You say there is no greatness among your +neighbors. It is all away off somewhere else. Their greatness is ever so +simple, so plain, so earnest, so practical, that the neighbors and +friends never recognize it. + +True greatness is often unrecognized. That is sure. You do not know +anything about the greatest men and women. I went out to write the life +of General Garfield, and a neighbor, knowing I was in a hurry, and as +there was a great crowd around the front door, took me around to General +Garfield's back door and shouted, "Jim! Jim!" And very soon "Jim" came +to the door and let me in, and I wrote the biography of one of the +grandest men of the nation, and yet he was just the same old "Jim" to +his neighbor. If you know a great man in Philadelphia and you should +meet him to-morrow, you would say, "How are you, Sam?" or "Good morning, +Jim." Of course you would. That is just what you would do. + +One of my soldiers in the Civil War had been sentenced to death, and I +went up to the White House in Washington--sent there for the first time +in my life--to see the President. I went into the waiting-room and sat +down with a lot of others on the benches, and the secretary asked one +after another to tell him what they wanted. After the secretary had been +through the line, he went in, and then came back to the door and +motioned for me. I went up to that anteroom, and the secretary said: +"That is the President's door right over there. Just rap on it and go +right in." I never was so taken aback, friends, in all my life, never. +The secretary himself made it worse for me, because he had told me how +to go in and then went out another door to the left and shut that. There +I was, in the hallway by myself before the President of the United +States of America's door. I had been on fields of battle, where the +shells did sometimes shriek and the bullets did sometimes hit me, but I +always wanted to run. I have no sympathy with the old man who says, "I +would just as soon march up to the cannon's mouth as eat my dinner." I +have no faith in a man who doesn't know enough to be afraid when he is +being shot at. I never was so afraid when the shells came around us at +Antietam as I was when I went into that room that day; but I finally +mustered the courage--I don't know how I ever did--and at arm's length +tapped on the door. The man inside did not help me at all, but yelled +out, "Come in and sit down!" + +Well, I went in and sat down on the edge of a chair, and wished I were +in Europe, and the man at the table did not look up. He was one of the +world's greatest men, and was made great by one single rule. Oh, that +all the young people of Philadelphia were before me now and I could say +just this one thing, and that they would remember it. I would give a +lifetime for the effect it would have on our city and on civilization. +Abraham Lincoln's principle for greatness can be adopted by nearly all. +This was his rule: Whatsoever he had to do at all, he put his whole mind +into it and held it all there until that was all done. That makes men +great almost anywhere. He stuck to those papers at that table and did +not look up at me, and I sat there trembling. Finally, when he had put +the string around his papers, he pushed them over to one side and looked +over to me, and a smile came over his worn face. He said: "I am a very +busy man and have only a few minutes to spare. Now tell me in the fewest +words what it is you want." I began to tell him, and mentioned the case, +and he said: "I have heard all about it and you do not need to say any +more. Mr. Stanton was talking to me only a few days ago about that. You +can go to the hotel and rest assured that the President never did sign +an order to shoot a boy under twenty years of age, and never will. You +can say that to his mother anyhow." + +Then he said to me, "How is it going in the field?" I said, "We +sometimes get discouraged." And he said: "It is all right. We are going +to win out now. We are getting very near the light. No man ought to +wish to be President of the United States, and I will be glad when I get +through; then Tad and I are going out to Springfield, Illinois. I have +bought a farm out there and I don't care if I again earn only +twenty-five cents a day. Tad has a mule team, and we are going to plant +onions." + +Then he asked me, "Were you brought up on a farm?" I said, "Yes; in the +Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts." He then threw his leg over the corner +of the big chair and said, "I have heard many a time, ever since I was +young, that up there in those hills you have to sharpen the noses of the +sheep in order to get down to the grass between the rocks." He was so +familiar, so every-day, so farmer-like, that I felt right at home with +him at once. + +He then took hold of another roll of paper, and looked up at me and +said, "Good morning." I took the hint then and got up and went out. +After I had gotten out I could not realize I had seen the President of +the United States at all. But a few days later, when still in the city, +I saw the crowd pass through the East Room by the coffin of Abraham +Lincoln, and when I looked at the upturned face of the murdered +President I felt then that the man I had seen such a short time before, +who, so simple a man, so plain a man, was one of the greatest men that +God ever raised up to lead a nation on to ultimate liberty. Yet he was +only "Old Abe" to his neighbors. When they had the second funeral, I was +invited among others, and went out to see that same coffin put back in +the tomb at Springfield. Around the tomb stood Lincoln's old neighbors, +to whom he was just "Old Abe." Of course that is all they would say. + +Did you ever see a man who struts around altogether too large to notice +an ordinary working mechanic? Do you think he is great? He is nothing +but a puffed-up balloon, held down by his big feet. There is no +greatness there. + +Who are the great men and women? My attention was called the other day +to the history of a very little thing that made the fortune of a very +poor man. It was an awful thing, and yet because of that experience +he--not a great inventor or genius--invented the pin that now is called +the safety-pin, and out of that safety-pin made the fortune of one of +the great aristocratic families of this nation. + +A poor man in Massachusetts who had worked in the nail-works was injured +at thirty-eight, and he could earn but little money. He was employed in +the office to rub out the marks on the bills made by pencil memorandums, +and he used a rubber until his hand grew tired. He then tied a piece of +rubber on the end of a stick and worked it like a plane. His little girl +came and said, "Why, you have a patent, haven't you?" The father said +afterward, "My daughter told me when I took that stick and put the +rubber on the end that there was a patent, and that was the first +thought of that." He went to Boston and applied for his patent, and +every one of you that has a rubber-tipped pencil in your pocket is now +paying tribute to the millionaire. No capital, not a penny did he invest +in it. All was income, all the way up into the millions. + +But let me hasten to one other greater thought. "Show me the great men +and women who live in Philadelphia." A gentleman over there will get up +and say: "We don't have any great men in Philadelphia. They don't live +here. They live away off in Rome or St. Petersburg or London or +Manayunk, or anywhere else but here in our town." I have come now to the +apex of my thought. I have come now to the heart of the whole matter and +to the center of my struggle: Why isn't Philadelphia a greater city in +its greater wealth? Why does New York excel Philadelphia? People say, +"Because of her harbor." Why do many other cities of the United States +get ahead of Philadelphia now? There is only one answer, and that is +because our own people talk down their own city. If there ever was a +community on earth that has to be forced ahead, it is the city of +Philadelphia. If we are to have a boulevard, talk it down; if we are +going to have better schools, talk them down; if you wish to have wise +legislation, talk it down; talk all the proposed improvements down. That +is the only great wrong that I can lay at the feet of the magnificent +Philadelphia that has been so universally kind to me. I say it is time +we turn around in our city and begin to talk up the things that are in +our city, and begin to set them before the world as the people of +Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and San Francisco do. Oh, if we only could +get that spirit out among our people, that we can do things in +Philadelphia and do them well! + +Arise, ye millions of Philadelphians, trust in God and man, and believe +in the great opportunities that are right here--not over in New York or +Boston, but here--for business, for everything that is worth living for +on earth. There was never an opportunity greater. Let us talk up our own +city. + +But there are two other young men here to-night, and that is all I will +venture to say, because it is too late. One over there gets up and says, +"There is going to be a great man in Philadelphia, but never was one." +"Oh, is that so? When are you going to be great?" "When I am elected to +some political office." Young man, won't you learn a lesson in the +primer of politics that it is a _prima facie_ evidence of littleness to +hold office under our form of government? Great men get into office +sometimes, but what this country needs is men that will do what we tell +them to do. This nation--where the people rule--is governed by the +people, for the people, and so long as it is, then the office-holder is +but the servant of the people, and the Bible says the servant cannot be +greater than the master. The Bible says, "He that is sent cannot be +greater than Him who sent Him." The people rule, or should rule, and if +they do, we do not need the greater men in office. If the great men in +America took our offices, we would change to an empire in the next ten +years. + +I know of a great many young women, now that woman's suffrage is coming, +who say, "I am going to be President of the United States some day." I +believe in woman's suffrage, and there is no doubt but what it is +coming, and I am getting out of the way, anyhow. I may want an office by +and by myself; but if the ambition for an office influences the women in +their desire to vote, I want to say right here what I say to the young +men, that if you only get the privilege of casting one vote, you don't +get anything that is worth while. Unless you can control more than one +vote, you will be unknown, and your influence so dissipated as +practically not to be felt. This country is not run by votes. Do you +think it is? It is governed by influence. It is governed by the +ambitions and the enterprises which control votes. The young woman that +thinks she is going to vote for the sake of holding an office is making +an awful blunder. + +That other young man gets up and says, "There are going to be great men +in this country and in Philadelphia." "Is that so? When?" "When there +comes a great war, when we get into difficulty through watchful waiting +in Mexico; when we get into war with England over some frivolous deed, +or with Japan or China or New Jersey or some distant country. Then I +will march up to the cannon's mouth; I will sweep up among the +glistening bayonets; I will leap into the arena and tear down the flag +and bear it away in triumph. I will come home with stars on my shoulder, +and hold every office in the gift of the nation, and I will be great." +No, you won't. You think you are going to be made great by an office, +but remember that if you are not great before you get the office, you +won't be great when you secure it. It will only be a burlesque in that +shape. + +We had a Peace Jubilee here after the Spanish War. Out West they don't +believe this, because they said, "Philadelphia would not have heard of +any Spanish War until fifty years hence." Some of you saw the procession +go up Broad Street. I was away, but the family wrote to me that the +tally-ho coach with Lieutenant Hobson upon it stopped right at the front +door and the people shouted, "Hurrah for Hobson!" and if I had been +there I would have yelled too, because he deserves much more of his +country than he has ever received. But suppose I go into school and say, +"Who sunk the _Merrimac_ at Santiago?" and if the boys answer me, +"Hobson," they will tell me seven-eighths of a lie. There were seven +other heroes on that steamer, and they, by virtue of their position, +were continually exposed to the Spanish fire, while Hobson, as an +officer, might reasonably be behind the smoke-stack. You have gathered +in this house your most intelligent people, and yet, perhaps, not one +here can name the other seven men. + +We ought not to so teach history. We ought to teach that, however humble +a man's station may be, if he does his full duty in that place he is +just as much entitled to the American people's honor as is the king upon +his throne. But we do not so teach. We are now teaching everywhere that +the generals do all the fighting. + +I remember that, after the war, I went down to see General Robert E. +Lee, that magnificent Christian gentleman of whom both North and South +are now proud as one of our great Americans. The general told me about +his servant, "Rastus," who was an enlisted colored soldier. He called +him in one day to make fun of him, and said, "Rastus, I hear that all +the rest of your company are killed, and why are you not killed?" Rastus +winked at him and said, "'Cause when there is any fightin' goin' on I +stay back with the generals." + +I remember another illustration. I would leave it out but for the fact +that when you go to the library to read this lecture, you will find this +has been printed in it for twenty-five years. I shut my eyes--shut them +close--and lo! I see the faces of my youth. Yes, they sometimes say to +me, "Your hair is not white; you are working night and day without +seeming ever to stop; you can't be old." But when I shut my eyes, like +any other man of my years, oh, then come trooping back the faces of the +loved and lost of long ago, and I know, whatever men may say, it is +evening-time. + +I shut my eyes now and look back to my native town in Massachusetts, and +I see the cattle-show ground on the mountain-top; I can see the +horse-sheds there. I can see the Congregational church; see the town +hall and mountaineers' cottages; see a great assembly of people turning +out, dressed resplendently, and I can see flags flying and handkerchiefs +waving and hear bands playing. I can see that company of soldiers that +had re-enlisted marching up on that cattle-show ground. I was but a boy, +but I was captain of that company and puffed out with pride. A cambric +needle would have burst me all to pieces. Then I thought it was the +greatest event that ever came to man on earth. If you have ever thought +you would like to be a king or queen, you go and be received by the +mayor. + +The bands played, and all the people turned out to receive us. I marched +up that Common so proud at the head of my troops, and we turned down +into the town hall. Then they seated my soldiers down the center aisle +and I sat down on the front seat. A great assembly of people--a hundred +or two--came in to fill the town hall, so that they stood up all around. +Then the town officers came in and formed a half-circle. The mayor of +the town sat in the middle of the platform. He was a man who had never +held office before; but he was a good man, and his friends have told me +that I might use this without giving them offense. He was a good man, +but he thought an office made a man great. He came up and took his seat, +adjusted his powerful spectacles, and looked around, when he suddenly +spied me sitting there on the front seat. He came right forward on the +platform and invited me up to sit with the town officers. No town +officer ever took any notice of me before I went to war, except to +advise the teacher to thrash me, and now I was invited up on the stand +with the town officers. Oh my! the town mayor was then the emperor, the +king of our day and our time. As I came up on the platform they gave me +a chair about this far, I would say, from the front. + +When I had got seated, the chairman of the Selectmen arose and came +forward to the table, and we all supposed he would introduce the +Congregational minister, who was the only orator in town, and that he +would give the oration to the returning soldiers. But, friends, you +should have seen the surprise which ran over the audience when they +discovered that the old fellow was going to deliver that speech himself. +He had never made a speech in his life, but he fell into the same error +that hundreds of other men have fallen into. It seems so strange that a +man won't learn he must speak his piece as a boy if he intends to be an +orator when he is grown, but he seems to think all he has to do is to +hold an office to be a great orator. + +So he came up to the front, and brought with him a speech which he had +learned by heart walking up and down the pasture, where he had +frightened the cattle. He brought the manuscript with him and spread it +out on the table so as to be sure he might see it. He adjusted his +spectacles and leaned over it for a moment and marched back on that +platform, and then came forward like this--tramp, tramp, tramp. He must +have studied the subject a great deal, when you come to think of it, +because he assumed an "elocutionary" attitude. He rested heavily upon +his left heel, threw back his shoulders, slightly advanced the right +foot, opened the organs of speech, and advanced his right foot at an +angle of forty-five. As he stood in that elocutionary attitude, friends, +this is just the way that speech went. Some people say to me, "Don't you +exaggerate?" That would be impossible. But I am here for the lesson and +not for the story, and this is the way it went: + +"Fellow-citizens--" As soon as he heard his voice his fingers began to +go like that, his knees began to shake, and then he trembled all over. +He choked and swallowed and came around to the table to look at the +manuscript. Then he gathered himself up with clenched fists and came +back: "Fellow-citizens, we are--Fellow-citizens, we are--we are--we +are--we are--we are--we are very happy--we are very happy--we are very +happy. We are very happy to welcome back to their native town these +soldiers who have fought and bled--and come back again to their native +town. We are especially--we are especially--we are especially. We are +especially pleased to see with us to-day this young hero" (that meant +me)--"this young hero who in imagination" (friends, remember he said +that; if he had not said "in imagination" I would not be egotistic +enough to refer to it at all)--"this young hero who in imagination we +have seen leading--we have seen leading--leading. We have seen leading +his troops on to the deadly breach. We have seen his shining--we have +seen his shining--his shining--his shining sword--flashing. Flashing in +the sunlight, as he shouted to his troops, 'Come on'!" + +Oh dear, dear, dear! how little that good man knew about war. If he had +known anything about war at all he ought to have known what any of my G. +A. R. comrades here to-night will tell you is true, that it is next to a +crime for an officer of infantry ever in time of danger to go ahead of +his men. "I, with my shining sword flashing in the sunlight, shouting to +my troops, 'Come on'!" I never did it. Do you suppose I would get in +front of my men to be shot in front by the enemy and in the back by my +own men? That is no place for an officer. The place for the officer in +actual battle is behind the line. How often, as a staff officer, I rode +down the line, when our men were suddenly called to the line of battle, +and the Rebel yells were coming out of the woods, and shouted: "Officers +to the rear! Officers to the rear!" Then every officer gets behind the +line of private soldiers, and the higher the officer's rank the farther +behind he goes. Not because he is any the less brave, but because the +laws of war require that. And yet he shouted, "I, with my shining +sword--" In that house there sat the company of my soldiers who had +carried that boy across the Carolina rivers that he might not wet his +feet. Some of them had gone far out to get a pig or a chicken. Some of +them had gone to death under the shell-swept pines in the mountains of +Tennessee, yet in the good man's speech they were scarcely known. He did +refer to them, but only incidentally. The hero of the hour was this boy. +Did the nation owe him anything? No, nothing then and nothing now. Why +was he the hero? Simply because that man fell into that same human +error--that this boy was great because he was an officer and these were +only private soldiers. + +Oh, I learned the lesson then that I will never forget so long as the +tongue of the bell of time continues to swing for me. Greatness consists +not in the holding of some future office, but really consists in doing +great deeds with little means and the accomplishment of vast purposes +from the private ranks of life. To be great at all one must be great +here, now, in Philadelphia. He who can give to this city better streets +and better sidewalks, better schools and more colleges, more happiness +and more civilization, more of God, he will be great anywhere. Let every +man or woman here, if you never hear me again, remember this, that if +you wish to be great at all, you must begin where you are and what you +are, in Philadelphia, now. He that can give to his city any blessing, he +who can be a good citizen while he lives here, he that can make better +homes, he that can be a blessing whether he works in the shop or sits +behind the counter or keeps house, whatever be his life, he who would be +great anywhere must first be great in his own Philadelphia. + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Note: + +The following paragraph appears at the bottom of page 3 in the original: + +This is the most recent and complete form of the lecture. +It happened to be delivered in Philadelphia, Dr. Conwell's +home city. When he says "right here in Philadelphia," he means +the home city, town, or village of every reader of this book, just +as he would use the name of it if delivering the lecture there, +instead of doing it through the pages which follow. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Acres of Diamonds, by Russell H. 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