West-Jersey pioneer., 1870-12-30
HUMBLE ORIGIN OF GREAT MEN.

Many of the great men and women Of
all ages have sprung from the lowest ORR
gin, proving the truth of the familiar
lines Of Pope:-
| Honor and shame from no condition rise:
Act well your part, and there the honor liesr
Confuscius, the great Chinese philoso-
pher, was carpenter; he lived about
five hundred years before the Christian
era; yet so highly is he esteemed in
China that there are more than 1850
temples dedicated to him, and $4,000
animals are annually sacrificed to his
memory.
The Emperor of Morocco was pawn
broker. Bernadotte, King of Sweden,
was surgeon in the garrison of Martin
que when the English took that island.
Madame Bernadotte was washerwo-
man of Paris. The great Napolean was the
descendant of an obscure family in Cor
sica; was an army officer when he mar
ried Josephine Beauharnais, the daugh-
ter of a Creole, Of Martinique. Benja-
min Franklin was printer. President
Tyler was captain of militia. Oliver
Cromwell was a brewer. President Polk
was an inn keeper; and Abraham Lin
coin was "railsplitter"
The step-father OF Isabella, ex Queen
of Spain, was once a bar-keeper. General.
Espartero was a vestry clerk. Bolivar
was druggist. General Paez was cow
keeper. Columbus was a sailor. John
Jacob Astor used to sell apples through
the streets of New York. Louis Phillip
pc was teacher of French in Switzer-
land, Boston, and Havana. Cincinnatus
was ploughing his field when the dictator
ship of Rome was offered him. A Gov
erner of the island of Madeira was tai
lor, $50 was our President, Andrew john
son;) and Minister of Finance in Portu-
gal was dealer in bottles Of Madeira
wine. Shakespeare was born of poor pa
rents, and labored hard through all his
youth and manhood; and not until he was
between the age of forty and fifty years
was he able to build house for himself
and family.
Many men who have attained eminence
in various callings have in youth con-
tended with dullness as we'll as poverty
Douglas Jerrold was very dull boy, and
at the age of nine years, could scarcely
read. Oliver Goldsmith was most un-
promising boy, and gave little evidence
Of such talent as should eventually pro-
ducc the "Vicar of Wakefield" and the
"Deserted Village" a
Dryden, Swift, and Gibbon waited long
before the world gave them credit for ex-
traordinary abilities. The mother of
Sheridan, herself literary woman, pro-
nounced him to be the dullsst and most
helpless of her sons. The father of Bar
row is said to have exclaimed: ssIf it
please God to take away any of my chill
dren, hope it will be Isaac" This lad,
regarded by his father as miracle of stu
pidity, lived to be the glory of his family.
Toussant L Overture, the negro pat
riot of Hayti, spent fifty years of his life
in slavery, before he became the vindica-
tor of his brethren's rights Elihu Bur-
rett is styled the "Learned Blacksmith;"
because, while hammering at the anvil,
he was filling his mind with the treasures
Of ages.
Some years ago, in leather and sad
die store, in Galena, Illinois, political
discussion arose, in which the quiet store
keeper was vainly urged to participate.
At length the silent man spoke, and said,
gentlemen, J. don't know anything of
party politics, and don't want to; but
there is one subject on which feel per-
fectly at home, and that is, tanning leath-
er." That man is now President of the
United States