Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1872-02-15
The Road to Wealth! Or, Story of
a Self Made Man,

| Inc G6OaU 20 W eS4lCllt -OFs SCOFy Oh
| q Self-Made Man.
A little more than fifty years ago,
European vessel anchored in the har-
Dor of New York, after a long and
weary voyage from the Old World
She brought many passengers TO the
| young metropolis the most of whom
came with the intention of making
their fortune in tire land of PROMISE
Among them was a young Irishman
who had left his humble home, in his
native county of Tyrone, Ireland, to
seek in America the means of better
ing his condition. He was possessed
| of a fair education backed by sound
health and an indomitable- dctermina-
ton to succeed. He was poor, how
/ ever, and the openindof our story
found him in a strange city without
money or friends. Those were dark
days to the young adventurer, but
one possesses with such an earnest de-
termination to succeed is not easily
discouraged.
He had been educated with a view
to entering the ministry. and his
first effort after reaching New York.
was to procure school. He was sue
cessful to a certain extent, and for
nearly three years taught a small num-
ber of pupils at No. 50 Rose street.
School teaching. however, did not suit
him, though he managed to save some
money from the proceeds of his Iabors,
with which he determined to enter in
to business for himself, and in the
year 1922, soon after the terrible epi-
demic of yellow fever, he established
himself in the retail Dry Goods bnsi-
ness, in a small frame building on
I Broadway. His capital was very small,
and the prospect before him w, any
thing but inviting. His store was
small, being only about twenty feet
square, and he was situated next door
variety stores of the day.
About this time the. subject of our
story married an estimable lady of New
York, who is still living ard proved a
noble help mate to him in his early
struggles. The young couple lived in
one small room over the store, and
the wife took care of the domestic ar
rangemCnts while her husband attend
ed to his business below. .:-s--s.. 3 =
Without mercantile. experience and
possessing no advantage but his up-
aided determination to succeed, our
hero started boldly, on what proved
to be the Road to- WedltK. No Young
" merchant ever worked harder than did
he. From fourteen to eighteen hours
each day we're given to his business.
He was his own. book keeper, sales
man and porter, for he could not af-
ford to hire help. Credit was hard to
obtain in those days. y oung- mer
chants were not faYorites with those
! who had such favors to bestow,s and
! the subject of our story was one efthe
least favored, inasmuch as he was al
most an entire stranger to the bust
ness community in which he lived
While still engaged in his first
t struggles in his little store, he found
} himself called upon to pay note which
e would soon become due. r.
1t was for considerable amount, and
he had neither the money nor the
5 means of borrowing it. 1t was time
when the commercial community oi
New York regarded failure to pay,a
note as crime, and when such fail
, ure was sure to bring ruin to q new
man. Our hero knew this and felt
that he must act with greater resoIu-
s ton and daring than he had ever he
e fore exhibited if he would save him
= self from dishonor.
u And.now we come to the critical
, Eperiod in our young merchants histo-
ry. With large debt staring him in
the face, and wholly without the
means OF paying it-what was to be
done? There was but one aItern ative,
which was both bold and risky, and
that was to mark down his little stock
: of goods below cost, and sell them al
a sacrifice, and thereby save his cred
l it and honor. He chose this course
= his goods were markell down below
t the original cost, and hand-bills circu
lated announcing the fact. People
! rushed to the little store to avail them
selves of his low prices, and the result
was that long before the expiration OF
the period he had fixed for the dura
ton of his sales he found his shelves
empty and treasury full.
I He paid his note with part of the
money he had thus received, and with
the rest laid in new stock of goods,
This was the decisive victory in the
struggle for wealth, and the prelude to
princely fortune. A half century
has passed since than, and the. subject
? of this story is an old man, and many
hundreds of the poor of New York are
indebted to him for food and shelter
but he is still poss essed of the same
unyielding energy that laid the foun
t dation to his princely fortune fifty
years ago. His name is ALEXANDER
T. STEWART. ...