ABSTRACT
In the Spring of the year 1871 I realized several new conditions, one of which was that on the 4th of July I should be thirty-three years old. I had been in business six years, commencing with no capital, and could see that I now had assets in hand to an amount somewhat exceeding the, to my mind, magnificent sum of one hundred thousand dollars. I remembered that at the time I left the New Hampshire farm, fifteen years before, it had been my ambition to acquire a fortune of $10,000 and return and be a sort of farmer capitalist, the envy of all my neighbors. I did not then think it desirable to dress better than others, probably $25 a year would provide for that item. To my mind cowhide boots were more serviceable than those made of calfskin, and therefore more desirable. I remember particularly that I did not approve of boots being blacked, except it might be for Sunday or on the occasion of going to a party; but I thought they should be greased—possibly almost every second day. I could go back now with much more than the $10,000 originally aimed at, but it appeared that even before that sum had been put aside, one five times as great had been set up in its place, and before that second goal had been reached it had begun to appear that the limit would have to be again multiplied by at least another five before the legitimate interest on the capital would equal the scale of expenditure, already reached, for what are known as living expenses.
