children would hang their heads in shame did they know their father was the author of this trashy stuff."

The listener interrupted with the question, "Do not your children know it?"

"Bless your soul, no; and God forbid that they should ever discover it, at least during my lifetime. Why, there are only five persons who know that I am the author of the stuff I have put out, and they are pledged to secrecy by their friendship for me."

"Why did you start on that line of writing, when you might have taken up something better?" the listener inquired again.

"Because it paid me better to write a murderous story than a clean one; and, once begun, I have kept right on. My first proved so appetizing to its readers that the editor offered me nearly double the price he paid for the first, if I would write a second one. Now I hate to think of the number I have written. I have published my stories under fifteen or twenty different names, male and female, and, if I have written one, I suppose I have written two hundred of these beastly serial novels. They are all in the same vein, and there is not one which has n't a lot of robberies or murders in it. How people can read them, I cannot tell. If they despised their reading as I do their writing, I would be a poor man now. But it is now a thing of the past; I have written my last story."

He let slip the one opportunity of his lifetime to make himself a name for the right and good, and his lamentation shows what a fearful mistake it was. Such an example enforces the divine counsel, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip."

A prominent business man of New York city let the opportunities of his school days slip, without improving them as he might have done. He possessed remarkable executive abilities, was very successful in business, and amassed a fortune; but he was often embarrassed, and even mortified, in the company of other business men, because of his limited education. He did not think of writing an important letter himself, for fear that bad spelling and bad grammar would expose his ignorance. He employed a private secretary for all that sort of work.

"I was like too many other boys," he said; "did not like school as well as I did work or play, and so I was never anything but a poor reader and speller,- poor in most everything in which I should have been proficient, and might have been. But I did not value my opportunities; never stopped to think that they had anything to do with my manhood; and now I would give my present fortune for the acquisitions those lost opportunities would have given me. But it is too late; regrets are of no avail now; I must carry the burden of that early mistake through life."

Conversation with a gentleman from Omaha, Nebraska, upon the remarkable growth of that city, elicited from him the following:

"Four years ago I had three or four thousand dollars to invest, and I had a fine opportunity to invest it in real estate in that city. A piece of land in the suburbs, so near to the business portion of the town as to assure a rapid advance in value, was thrown upon the market. I was urged by interested friends to purchase it, and I thought well of the project, but delayed decision until one morning the papers announced that Mr. C. had bought the land. My opportunity was lost, and too late I saw my mistake. The land has just been sold for fifty thousand dollars, and it might have been mine had I not foolishly let the opportunity slip."

Recently a lady in a Southern city saw a drunken youth of seventeen declaiming to a crowd of loafers on the street from English and Latin classics, showing that he was a young man of culture. While the woman was looking on with sadness, the police arrested the young orator, and lodged him in jail. Interested in his welfare, she sought an interview with him, and found that he was the son of a wealthy judge in Mississippi, and that he ran away from home one year before.

"Were your parents unkind to you that you left them?" she inquired.

“Unkind!” he repeated, bursting into tears. “Oh, I wish I could remember a single unkind word from them! There would be a little excuse. No, they were too indulgent. I was wild then, and I've heard father say after I had sown my wild oats I would come out all right."

"But I can't understand why you left good parents and home," said the lady.

"Wait a minute, and I will tell you. You see I had good school advantages, and was a great reader. For a time I read what was elevating and good, and I might have continued to read such works, but stories of adventure attracted and charmed me. My chances for a noble and successful life were good up to that time, but I swapped the opportunity for the best life for the worst. Bad books made me long to imitate the young heroes. They gave me a start downward and the rest was easy. Warn young people to beware of such reading, for it does great harm; it has ruined me."

There was a crisis in his life. Two ways met; had he chosen the best books, companions, and habits that offered, his brilliant talents and great advantages would have led him to usefulness and renown, but he spurned the opportunity and let it slip. Then, ruin was speedy.

CHAPTER IX.

WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON.

ON THE ELEMENTS OF SUCCESS HIS BIRTH AND ANCESTRY WHERE ADMITTED TO THE BAR- REMOVAL TO IOWA-ACTIVITY IN

EDUCATED

LOCAL POLITICS

ELECTED TO CONGRESS- FIRST IMPORTANT SERVICEBECOMES AN AUTHORITY ON PUBLIC FINANCE A TEMPERATE PARTISAN IN POLITICS -SOME CHARACTERISTICS. POWER OF CHARACTER.

There is no real success without integrity, energy, industry, intelligence, and perseverance in pursuit of the object in hand. It is possible that all of these elements may not be present at the same time and with equal force, but they must nevertheless enter into and become components of that which we call character. They are strong allies and will brook no opposition; he who possesses them will turn aside for no obstacles that are not absolutely insurmountable.

A strong character, thus equipped, above any suspicion, and a reputation without re

proach, is the best capital a business man, a professional man, or any other man can possess. It will command honor, and bring honor anywhere.

W. Ballison

ILLIAM BOYD ALLISON, senior senator from Iowa,

W"

was born on a farm near Ashland, Ohio, March 2, 1829. He removed to Iowa, in February, 1857, making his home in the city of Dubuque, where he has continually resided until the present time. He is of Scotch-Irish descent, not only on his father's side, but also on his mother's. His ancestors were early settlers of Pennsylvania, his father removing from there in 1823 to Ohio, where he purchased a

t of unimproved land in what was then Wayne county

and commenced the making of a farm by clearing away the heavy timber which spread over that entire section. Mr. Allison's early education was acquired at a country school in the neighborhood of his home. The particular school which he attended had the good fortune to have an excellent teacher, who had the faculty of instilling into the minds of his pupils the idea that knowledge is power, and that this could only be secured by careful study. At the age of sixteen he left his home on the farm to attend an academy at Wooster, then the county seat of Wayne county. After this he spent a year at Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pa., and another year at Western Reserve College, then at Hudson, Ohio. Returning to Wooster he entered the office of Hemphill & Turner as a student of law, spending a portion of his time in the office of the auditor of that county, thus earning a portion of his expenses. After reading law two years at Wooster he removed to Ashland, which had then become the county seat of a new county established some years before and which was nearer his father's home than Wooster. He continued the practice of law at Ashland until the spring of 1857, when he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where an older brother had preceded him.

The father of Mr. Allison took an active interest in the politics of the period. He was justice of the peace for the township continuously for more than twenty years, and at that time there were many contested neighborhood cases brought before these minor courts, and the young man thereby had an opportunity of hearing many discussions of the law. His father was a Whig in politics and a great admirer and supporter of Henry Clay, voting for him in 1824 and again in 1844. Mr. Allison took an active part in the local politics of Ashland county after his removal there and was a delegate from that county to the State convention of 1855, presided over by the late Senator Sherman, and was made one of the secretaries of the convention. This convention nominated Salmon P. Chase for governor. In 1856 he took an active part locally in the campaign of Gen. John C. Fremont for president, and was placed upon the ticket for the position of district attorney. The county being Democratic he failed to secure an election. During his residence at Ashland he made the acquaintance of Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood, who was a