Hidden Treasures; Or, Why Some Succeed While Others Fail

PREFACE.

Some succeed while others fail. This is a recognized fact; yet history tells us that seven-tenths of our most successful men began life poor. As our title indicates, we shall endeavor to show "why some succeed while others fail." Knowing that everybody desires success, and recognizing the old adage, "Example is the best of teachers," we have selected representative characters from the multitude of successful men who have climbed the ladder of success, beginning at the bottom round. These we have followed from childhood to manhood, dwelling at length on the traits of character that have made them so rich and successful, believing that a careful study will convince all that the proverbial "luck" had little to do with it. On the contrary, one is taught those lessons of self-helpfulness and self-reliance which are so essential to success in life's struggles. It is fearful to think how many of our young people are drifting without an aim in life, and do not comprehend that they owe mankind their best efforts. We are all familiar with the parable of the slothful servant who buried his talent--all may profit by his example. To those who would succeed, we respectfully present this volume.

_Every young man is now a sower of seed on the field of life. The bright days of youth are the seed-time. Every thought of your intellect, every emotion of your heart, every word of your tongue, every principle you adopt, every act you perform, is a seed, whose good or evil fruit will prove bliss or bane of your after life._--WISE.

INTRODUCTION.

Dear reader, it is a grave undertaking to write a book, especially is it so in writing a treatise on success and failure, as we have attempted to do in the work we hereby present you. It is a solemn thing to give advice. Experience teaches that no one thing will please everybody; that men's censures are as various as their palates; that some are as deeply in love with vice as others are with virtue. Shall I then make myself the subject of every opinion, wise or weak? Yes, I would rather hazard the censure of some than hinder the good of others.

There need neither reasons to be given nor apologies to be made where the benefit of our fellow-men is our aim. Henry Clay Trumbull says: "At no time in the world's history, probably, has there been so general an interest in biography as that which has been shown of late. Just here lies a weighty obligation upon these who write, and those who read, of the lives of men who have done something in the world. It is not enough for us to know WHAT they have done; it belongs to us to discover the WHY of their works and ways, and to gain some personal benefit from the analysis of their successes and failures. Why was this man great? What general intentions--what special traits led him to success? What ideal stood before him, and by what means did he seek to attain it? Or, on the other hand, what unworthy purpose, what lack of conscience and religious sense, what unsettled method and feeble endeavor stood in the way of the 'man of genius' and his possible achievements?" In this volume one sees the barefoot boy rise to the eminent statesman, the great millionaire, the honored inventor. How was this accomplished? We believe that a careful study of the different characters, by the light of the author's opinion of the characteristics essential to success, as shown in Department Fifth, will show why they succeeded.

Let the reader follow each character separately, from childhood to manhood, noting carefully the different changes in the career of each and the motives which actuated and brought them about. If this book shall serve to awaken dormant energies in ONE PERSON who might otherwise have failed, we shall feel abundantly repaid. Doubtless, there are others who are better qualified to write a treatise on such a subject; nevertheless, we have done our best, and this done, we have attained success.

CONTENTS.

ADAMS, JOHN, 129 ARTHUR, CHESTER A., 352 ASTOR, JOHN JACOB, 85 BARNUM, PHINEAS T., 81 BEECHER, HENRY WARD, 404 BENNETT, JAMES GORDON, 77 BENTON, THOMAS HART, 248 BLAINE, JAMES G., 362 BONNER, ROBERT, 45 CALHOUN, JOHN C., 209 CASS, LEWIS, 207 CHILDS, GEORGE W., 72 CLAFLIN, HORACE B., 26 CLAY, HENRY, 256 COOPER, PETER, 95 CORCORAN, WILLIAM W., 119 DISSTON, HENRY, 93 DODGE, WILLIAM E., 27 DOUGLASS, STEPHEN A., 267 DREW, DANIEL, 11 EDISON, THOMAS A., 476 EVERETT, EDWARD, 328 FAIR, JAMES G., 54 FARGO, WILLIAM G., 48 FIELD, CYRUS W., 467 FILLMORE, MILLARD, 281 FLOOD, JAMES C., FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, 429 FULTON, ROBERT, 436 GARFIELD, JAMES A., 342 GIRARD, STEPHEN, 106 GOODYEAR, CHARLES, 457 GOULD, JAY, 30 GRANT, ULYSSES S., 299 GREELEY, HORACE, 61 HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, 179 HANCOCK, WINFIELD S., 293 HARPER, JAMES, 90 HAYNE, ROBERT Y., 216 HOE, RICHARD M., 454 HOWE, JR., ELIAS, 444 JACKSON, ANDREW, 237 JACKSON, STONEWALL, 303 JEFFERSON, THOMAS, 168 JOHNSON, ANDREW, 338 LAW, GEORGE, 101 LAWRENCE, ABBOTT, 271 LAWRENCE, AMOS, 21 LEE, ROBERT E., 306 LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, 312 LOGAN, JOHN A., 357 LONGWORTH, NICHOLAS, 43 MACKAY, JOHN W., 52 MADISON, JAMES, 184 MARSHALL, JOHN, 175 MCCLELLAN, GEORGE B., 297 MILLS, DARIUS O., 103 MONROE, JAMES, 200 MORSE, PROFESSOR S. F. B., 462 PALMER, POTTER, 88 PEABODY, GEORGE, 116 PULLMAN, GEORGE, 473 RALSTON, WILLIAM G., 112 ROTHSCHILD, NATHAN MAYER, 122 SAGE, RUSSELL, 14 SEWARD, WILLIAM H., 204 SEYMOUR, HORATIO, 289 SINGER, ISAAC M., 451 STANTON, EDWIN M., 332 STEPHENS, ALEXANDER H., 272 STEPHENSON, GEORGE, 421 STEWART, ALEXANDER T., 39 TAYLOR, MOSES, 110 TILDEN, SAMUEL J., 396 VAN BUREN, MARTIN, 263 VANDERBILT, CORNELIUS, 16 VASSAR, MATHEW, 84 WANNAMAKER, JOHN, 37 WATT, JAMES, 415 WEBSTER, DANIEL, 218 WEED, THURLOW, 69 WILSON, HENRY, 310 WHITNEY, ELI, 435

WHY SOME SUCCEED WHILE OTHERS FAIL.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE, 481 CONCENTRATION OF EFFORT, 486 SELF-RELIANCE, 490 ECONOMY OF TIME, 495 CAUSES OF FAILURE, 499

QUOTATIONS.

A man, to succeed, must possess the necessary equanimity of temperament to conceive an idea, the capacity to form it into some tangible shape, the ingenuity to put it into practical operation, the ability to favorably impress others with its merits, and the POWER of WILL that is absolutely necessary to force it to success.

--THOMAS A. SCOTT.

Labor rids us of three evils.--Tediousness, Vice and Poverty.

--CARLYLE.

"_Never start upon an undertaking until you are sure it is practicable and ought to be done, and then let nothing stand long in the way of accomplishing that undertaking. It is better to deserve success than to have it; few deserve it who do not attain it._"

"_There is no failure in this country for those whose personal habits are good, and who follow some honest calling industriously, unselfishly, and purely. If one desires to succeed, he must pay the price_--WORK!"

In order to succeed, a man must have a purpose fixed, then let his motto be VICTORY OR DEATH.

--HENRY CLAY.

"_Be liberal but cautious; enterprising but careful._"

"_Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall._"

Fail!--Fail? In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves for a bright manhood, there is no such word _As--fail!_--"RICHELIEU."

Benjamin Franklin has truly said: The road to wealth is as plain as the road to mill.

DANIEL DREW.

Here is a great financier. A man of unusual ability; but who is no exception to the rule, born poor. His success came by hard work and a thorough mastery of his business. It is surprising how many Wall Street operators began life on the farm. In the case of Daniel Drew, at the age of only fifteen, matters were made worse by the death of his father.

At eighteen, he concluded to go to New York; but, after a discouraging time of it, his money giving out, he was obliged to return to his home. However, his trip did not prove a total failure, as subsequent events show. While in the metropolis he heard that fat cattle could be sold there at a profit over what he knew they could be bought for, at his country home. He therefore resolved to go into the cattle business. True, he had no money, he was a poor country lad, but this made little difference with Drew's determination. As he had no money with which to buy a drove for himself, he did the next best thing; this was to induce the neighboring farmers to allow him to drive their cattle to market on a commission plan. By this one act the reader can understand the difference between Daniel Drew and the neighboring farm boys, many of whom were better situated, doubtless, than was he.

Another characteristic he developed was economy; his money was saved and with these small savings he added cattle to his drove which were his own, hence, increased his profits; first one at a time, then two, when at last he abandoned the commission business, becoming a drover on his own account. Later, he took a partner and the firm of Drew & Co. became the cattle kings of America. This was the first firm that ever drove cattle from the West, and Drew, ever watchful for opportunities to add to his already increasing income, bought a tavern which became, as Drew knew it would under good management, the centre of the cattle business in the city on market days.

As time passed, as a matter of course, following such a line of procedure, he became a very rich man, and his disposition being of an enterprising nature, he began to cast about him for new investments, seeking new fields to conquer. The explosion of a boat on the Hudson, discommoding for a time the existing line, offered to Drew the favorable opportunity for which he was looking, and as was characteristic he at once improved his chance. He immediately placed on the river the "Water Witch"; the old line resumed business; the fares were reduced until the profits of both companies were eaten up. The opposition tried to intimidate, they tried to buy out, and then tried to negotiate some other deals, but all in vain. On the contrary Drew put on the "Westchester," and instead of stopping at Peekskill, he extended to Albany. He next bought the "Bright Emerald," and started an evening line. This was a new feature in those days and as it enabled the business men to travel without loss of time, it became eminently popular.

Drew was a man with a fertile mind; he made a study of whatever he undertook; he was a hard man to beat. He bought the "Rochester," and next bought out the old line. For a long time he had things pretty much his own way; then came a new opposition. This time, through negotiations, he won the opposition over and established the celebrated "People's Line," naming their first boat after his new partner, "St. John." Mr. Drew, in connection with others, formed the "Stonington Line" between New York and Boston, and still later he opened the "Champlain Transportation Company" from White Hall, New York, to Rouses Point, Vermont. He next placed his shoulder under Erie, endorsing its paper to the amount of ten millions. Later still he was elected President of this company, and as Erie and Central are natural enemies, Vanderbilt and Drew henceforth became hostile toward each other. Mr. Drew wanted to extend Erie west. To do this he must get a special act of the Legislature. Of course, he had Vanderbilt and Central, with all their patronage, with which to contend, and a bitter fight it proved to be; but in those days Daniel Drew seemed invincible in court, and the bill passed, Erie re-issuing stock and extending its lines.