Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-07-12
Alphabet Of self-made Men.

Inc following, lFofl ElouSSilolu
Wo:ds," gives IN a brief space the
names and characteristics of eminent
living characters who have raised and
distinguished themselves through the
power of their own exertions:
"To begin with the letter A, and
dash hastily and %skippingIy on thro'
the alphabet, we find that Anderson,
the popular Danish novelist, was the
son of a cobbler, and educated at a
charity school; and that he tried for
years to gain a living by various han
dicraft trades, being frequently on the
very brink of starvation.
Beranger, the celebrated French ly-
ric poet, neglected by his vagabond IA
Their, lived with his godfather, a poor
tailor, and was a "gamin" on the
streets of Paris till promoted for a time
to the dignity of a pot.boy. Elihu
Burritt, as all know, was a black
smiths apprentice.
Carleton, the Irish novelist, who
now enjoys a pension of $4,000 a
year, is the son of q peasant, and beg
ged bis way to knowledge. Raphael
Carrera, President of the Republic of
Guatemala, began life as a drummer
boy and a cattle driver. Mr.. Golden
is the son of a small farmer, and enter
ing a warehouse in London when a
boy, rose though its various grades of
service. Sir William Cubitt was a
working miller, then a joiner, and
then a millwrjght.
Dumas, the French novelist and
dramatist, is the illegitimate son of a
planter and a negress, and was in all
but starvation in Paris, till he hit the
way to distinction.
Faraday, the eminent chemist, is the
son of a poor blacksmith, and began
his career as apprentice to a bookbind-
er. Willard Fillmore, late President
of the United States, was first a p.ow.
boy, then tried the trade of a clothier,
and was then apprenticed to a woods
carder: The present Emperor Of Hay,
ii vas born Il slave.
Herring, the animal painter, began
the profession of art with sign>boards
and coach panels.
Janin, the Burns of the South of
France, is the son of a tailor, and the
of a common beggar.
Mr.. Lindsey, M, p, the great ship
owner, left his home in Ayr with IS.
Sd. in his pocket. to. push his fortune
a ship'boy; he worked his passage
o Liverpool by assisting in the coal.
lole of a steamer; and for a part of the
line after he arrived, begged during
he day, and slept in the sheds and
streets at night. Tough, the dis,in'
sculptor, began the world in
he capacity of a plow-boy.
Minnie, the inventor of the we'll
rifle, was a private soldier.
Robert Owen was a shop-boy to a
srocer, and then a draper.
Johannes Ronge, the leader of the
German Catholic movement, tended
heep when a boy.
Stanfeld, the distinguished land,
cape painter, was a cabin boy, and
he shipmaster was the first patron.
Theirs, the well known historian
nd exoMinister of France, is the son
f a poor blacksmith, and was educa-
g%ratuitously at the public school of
iarseilleS. &,
Thomae Wright, the Manchester .
rison philanthropist, was a weekly =.
yorker in an iron foundery for forty. ,
even years, till a large sum of money +
'as raised by subscription to enable 6
i'm to carry on his philanthropical
lbors.
There is encouragement here, we
to the low and the downtrodr
EN-.