The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-08-26

grew wild IN the woodlands and pasture
lots, for which he found market in the
villages OF Maiden and Chatham.
When only twelve years of age he dis
PLAYED his ingenuity and enterprise by
building smoke house and wood-house
for his father. and both were constructed
on plans that won for him great deal of
praise for their neatness and convenience.
Before he was fourteen he did not hesitate
TO shoulder his rake and follow the fastest
grain Graders or reaplng machines in the
harvest fields. On one occasion he was
given one of four corners in large field of
wheat and told that he must keep his way
clear OF sheaves down the sides and across
the ends with three crack rakers and bind
ers stationed in the same way. The day
was terribly warm and tie work was pushed
along with rush, but Maurice kept his
ground clear and never flinched.
Pm bound to keep my end up, he told
his fellow workmen, mo matter what it
costs me-.
This indomitable spirit characterized all
he undertook and still marks his actions.
No work that his hands found TO do was
considered beneath his dignity.
In 1864 he entered the Christian Brothers
school in Troy, and with the money he had
saved from industry about his boyhood
home paid for one years tuition. In 1860,
when Is years of age, he went to New
York, determined to make a name and
fortune for himself. He obtained employ
ment in a grocery store in Williamsburg,
but soon became dissatisfied with this. as
he saw 10 future ahead of him there. He
at length secured a situation in the Novelty
iron works, and remained there only week,
when he left TO become a book-keeper with
Guy G. Hotchkiss * Son at salary of IS
per week. In short time his salary was
raised to SO in consideration of his atten-
tiveness to business.
In August, 1865, the Junior member of
the firm died and the sole management of
the business fell on Maurice. Though still
but boy, yet with characteristic indomit-
able pluck and fidelity, he undertook and
successfully bore all the responsibility thus
suddenly thrust upon him, and conducted
the whole busint SIS alone until about two
yesrs afterward. when Mr.. Charles II.
Field, for twenty years n book-keeper for
j. b. ~ w. w. Cornell, bought an interest
in the firm. About this time Mr.. Hotch-
kiss, in recognition of the untlagging in
dustry and business sagacity Of Mr.. Flynn,
gave him small interest in the business.
His talents as a business man proved so
valuable that on May /, 1870, he was adj
mited to the firm as an equal partner.
All this time Mr.. Flynn lived in Brooklyn,
and during his leisure hours he acquired
knowledge of the French, German, and
Spanish languages and also took lessons in
mechanical drawing and elocution and be-
gan to dabble little in politics.
His political experience extended only
over two terms in the Legislature, but it
was sufficient 10 have inculcated in him a
taste for politics which has only grown
keener with years. Before Mr.. Flynn had
any political prominence the firm of Guy
c. Hotchkiss, Field IL Company had city
contracts in New York and Brooklyn ag-
gregating 1927, 56l.5 Since January,
1880, the records show the contracts for
the Department of Public Works have ag-
gregated 1926, 021.21.
In New York he joined the County De-
mocracy and was bosom friend of the
late Hubert o. Thompson. His advice and
his pocket-bo book were sought in equal pro-
portion, and he is said TO have yielded up
both very readily. He was known as the
rich contractor as we'll as the political man
ager and alter ego of II. q. Il.
Mr.. FLYNN is very domestic in his habits,
and by no means convivial in his dispo-
sition. He moves in the best circles of
society, and, with his wife, who is n
charming lady, is n great social favorite.
A year ago last spring he visited France
with Mrs. Flynn, carrying letters of
introduction from President Cleveland
to President Grevy, and was a social
lion during his stay in Paris. In his daily
life Mr.. Flynn is reticent and good list
ener. He has but little 10 say, but that
little is right to the point, and it is said
the same holds true of him in political
matters.