He had failed, and
failed often, before that time--failed once humiliatingly and
irretrievably, so the ordinary man would say. So the ordinary man did
say, and say hard and often.
The details of his early catastrophes are not worth while here. The
point is that they did not affect him except to make him stronger.
They were the Thor-like blows with which Fate forged the
unconquerableness of this man. For unconquerable he has become.
He has carried through daring plans; he has brought great financial
institutions that opposed him to their knees; from the throne of his
audacity he has dictated terms to boards of trade, and made the
princes of the houses of commercial royalty his servants.
But if you look at his brow of power, at the merciless and yet
delicate and sensitive lips, you will become conscious of why he
succeeded--why he must eventually have succeeded anywhere. But such a
man is no example for you unless you are such a man yourself--and in
that case, you need no examples of any kind. You are your own example.
I read with keen interest, the other day, a feature article in one of
our great daily newspapers, giving incidents in the careers of fifteen
American millionaires who made their fortunes after they were fifty.
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