Evening journal., 1889-02-01
JOHN wANAMAKeR.


erai harrtson's Cabinet.
John Wanamaker was born in Phila- |
delphia county fifty-one years ago of
German father and a mother who was OF
French extraction of Huguenot family
His birthday was July II, 1881 His
father and grandfather had been brick
layers, and John. as boy, used to do oc-
casional work in his fathers briclkyard
The boys home was a comfortable one,
without luxuries, but with the means at
hand for all the necessities of p ain liv-
ing. His mother must have been re-
markable woman, the source of his best
qualities, for he modulates his voice TO a
tone of tenderness when he speaks of her
and he very frequently refers to her
/ Her smile was like bit of heaven. " he
said once, 'and it never faded out of her
, face to her dying day" Possibly even
, this smile has descended to him, Tor a smile
! is his chief charm. His is very hand
some, manly figure, crowned by a large
head well but not thickly covered with
fine dark brown hair, which he combs
precisely but after an old fashion with
one side brushed back and the other
, brought down over his forehead His
face is of the Quaker type-of the sort that
many would call dstinctively Philadel-
a phian. II is round and smooth as a
babys; it has very large features, mild
and kindly expression. and, as so often
! follows with those faces, has no natural
adOrnment except a pair of heavy dark
4 brown eyebrows and long dark eyelashes.
There is a complete good nature in his face
: coupled with every sign of a nerveless, ap-
athletic temperament. There is hint Of
humor in his eyes but it is overmastered
by the downward curve of the corners Of
the mouth and the heavy lines from them
II to the nose, which show that in him
II humor takes the form Of sarcasm He
says bright things and enjoys them, but
4 they are sharp edged rather titan sugar
If coated In his smooth, good natured,
n almost juvenile face with its plump
n cheeks and absence of care lines. one
reads one of the main secrets Of the
l. mans success That is the ability TO
z attend 10 a multiplicity Of cares without
N fretting or friction.
80 II was while he was a public school
e. pupil that he worked in his fathers yard,
X turning the bricks for a pittance. Pres
N emily he started out in the world as a
s. clerk in book store at 81 25 a week,
d increasing that to $3.50 week later on
by obtaining a place AS salesman in a
Is clothing store. He left this TO become
TO errand boy in another store of the same
te sort, called "Tower Hall, where he sue
IS ceeded 50 well that he was again and
again promoted with frequent changes OF
salary. He stayed there FIVE years ano
at night conducted little paper called
4 Every body's Journal, for which he got
subscriptions and advertisements. H,
"A also made cologne and bottled and sold 10
BY instinct money getter, he had saved
IN 81, 900 when he was 20 years old AS fai
4. as that goes his secret is the one common
to ninety nine rich men in every hundred
60 that OF living as far within his income a.
n. possible.
OF kindly disposition, be has said oil
10 himself that It was his custom to pick M
n. drunken men whom he found in the
street ut night and TO take them to theil
homes. Noadventure of this sort made AM
impress on his life beyond teaching hin
the virtues of temperance, but another
ce adventure at the same time was more
r. potent He drifted into a Presb, terar
an chu-ch on Broad street one night when h,
'r- heard singing in there, aud after the ser
ny vice the Rev John Chambers talked will
lis him, became interested in him. aud il
as turn directed his thoughts toward re
zee ligious life and church work Will
~ mere lad he became known as Al
m active worker and talker at re
~ ligious meetings. AT about the time 0
"
70 years before the war, his health brok
Or down, aud he travelled in the South
Is With his health repaired after a vacatio
nd Of several months, he returned TO Phila
OF delphia became secretary of the Youn
Mems Christian Association, and was IN
ne duced by his father TO become a maste
OF briclSmaker The work and life were to
ne monotOnous. In partnership with hi
brother n-law, Nathan Brown, he opene
the coax Hall' clothing store on Apr
s, 1861
One Of tbs first business strokes wa
p. that of securing the contract to furnis
is suits for the Custom House employees
EEK When the clothing was made, he ana tw
Of his clerks wheeled the goods TO tn
lie Custom House on wheelbarrows. Tn
by profits on the order were $3S. which h
ID. at once invested in an advertisement i
in the Inquirer He had some new idea
aud they found favor with the public
re. One was to have but one price plainl
* marked on all goods and adhered to wit
all customers The other was to refun
eek their money to all customers not suite
So. with what they bought The tide o
trade set in his direction in great volume
re- Almost at once his success as a merchan
was secured. II remained for him TO an
On plify that success into what proportion
as he was able.
Mt. During this time the religious side Z
I'M his life led him to become not only secr'
tary Of the Young Mems Christian ASS
or. citation as a lad. but the executive ofiic,
of the Young Mems Association, a power
d. fnl body, of which in after years, he we
president. He had become bushes
man on his own account, and during h
presidency Of this association he erecte
the splendid building which is its hou
and and which is said to be the finest of i
kind IN the country. Il WI
earlier yet, when he returne
ure from his restful trip in Il
ter South that he entered upon missiC
hur work in what were called 1.-THE slums"
sul- Philadelphia, the Bethany district, whe
nge he now conducts the largest Sund'
ing school in the world. The breaking o.
in of the war found him managing these Q
terprses as well as his own bushes
day and yet he added another, possibly
4 Of greater care than all He was one of q
pit. founders of the Christian Commissi
lent which worked side by side with the Sai
tary Commission during the warn,
of York sun.
, re- |
5 a A Lecture Spoiled by Lack Of Oxygs
lneo When Mrs. Eliza Schumacher had :
about half through her lecture on IT
~ Vatican and It's Art Treasures, at q
my Friends Meeting House Yesterday aft,