The morning news., 1899-01-01
Copyright, 1898.

-. York. Dec. 30.-Having earred my
living for fifty years and been my
,ster for thirty lone, rejoice to look
t,.l, mon my start in the world with no
,.r capital than honest poverty and
w., home. No boy can have greater in
.t,ss 10 success in life than these
.,....,, the fruits of my father and moth
t,dusrrv. I learned in my infancy to
ro,t work and longed 10 be contnou-
,or TO the common purse. We hved III Duh-
& s,rrne. thirteen miles from Edinburgh
E e.ot,aod NV father William Carnegie'was
y successful master weaver; my mother
4 s,r7vorl1ing housewife, who yet found
A time to instruct me, until 1 was 8, in
3 ,.s5,rg writing and ciphering-the equip
4 mn that gave me my first betterment.
n If was my first ambition to be a master
weaver. like my father; TO have four looms
If NV own; to employ apprentices; to
make speeches in the evening, as he did,
Fl an n1blic auestons-he was a consistent
,sdiea, And I might have become a
weaver but for something that happened
E when was 10 years old, and had already
n hfen gong 10 SCLlOJi AOl wv ~~NAN'
First Turning Point in His Career.
One evening ] heard my father tell my
4 motber that steam looms were coming into
4 ihe trade and bothering him. This steam
machinery, he said, was best handfed IN
bs factories, which made it bad for the
n iolependent master weavers. His work
3 was falling off. He was not getting SO
4 many orders from the merchants who had
n been in the habit of sending him the raw
a material 10 be woven up.
Not very long afterward-it was III 1S41-
he came in one day from delivering some
VI finished damask, looked at me quizzcally,
n and said:
Andy | have no more work"
Where should we go? The same condi-
n tons that drove US from Dunfermline
q might confront us anywhere else in Scot
& land. But we remembered that we had rel
& atiyes who had crossed the Atlantic aud
settled near Pittsburg. wen go there,
a 100" said my mother; cts best for the
d boys to begin life in a new country"
We reached Allegheny City in 1S48. I was
only Il years old, but my heart was
Il big for the future; l was determined to
make my way in this new country.
Earning His First Money.
My father went to work in a cotton fac
tory and I followed him as bobbin-boy
From sunrise to sunset 1 worked, glad to
feel that each day added twenty cents TO
my credit on the book. Saturday noon 1
drew $12), with a feeling not so much of
pride as Of joy to have money to take
home.
Six days a week 1 breakfasted by candle
light and five days a week L got home af-
ter dark. But nothing could have induced
me to give this up, except an offer of bet
Ter work This l soon got from a good
a.. 1
bobbin-factory. l was set to firing the
n toIer-with wood ehips-and to tend the
n engine. Responsible work, too, for a boy
Of 10, not big for his age. Gradually
! grew nervous under the strain Of mind
< lng this engine, and working ali alone
down in Hays cellar. l would wake up
nights sitting bolt upright in bed, hands
& cIenched, brows knitted, from dreams
about trying the steam gauges, and finding
n them wrong!
Mr.. Hay needed a clerk upstairs in the
Office He knew l could write a good hand
ana he offered me this place. After filing
lhs position for some tinae l heard that
boys We're wanted in the Ohio telegraph
ohlee in Pittsburg. / felt as though my
fortune would be made if / could get into
l4at office, so my father went with me and
PERSUADED the superintendent James D.
Red, to employ me. Mr.. Reid often told
''- "AeSA SNdAos lAleiL ne IStlGulDGItu CA-
n aeIy how l looked that morning in my
hIlie blue jacket, with my white hair.
Proud of n Job at $3.50 Week.
Now that I'd got my job, at $3.50 per
week, | was on thorns for fear couldn't
Keep IT, 1 knew nothing about the streets
Of Pittsburg, and the business houses, 10
winch l had to deliver messages. SO 1
started IN and learned all the addresses by
heart up one side of Wood street, and
DOWN the other. Then l learned the other
BUSINESS streets in the same way Then
Ielt safe. How pleasant it was to me TO
work now in a clean, bright Office, with
uesks and paper and pencils about, in
s''ad Of down in dingy cellar or in a noisy
factory! The tick of the telegraph instru-
"eh's fascinated me. l tried to under
stand il, by listening. by going to the Of
Tce early and playing with the key. Mr..
h'd finally agreed to help me to learn,
ana was soon able TO receive any mes
sase by ear, alone, and at that time there
were possibly only two other people i'm the
country who could do this. had become
an OPERATOR but was still getting a mes
senser's pay.
One morning, when / was in the office
Early heard a death message come over
lhe wires from Philadelphia. knew that
soIt OF message required prompt handling,
~ wrote Vt out and delivered it at the
Noler address. From that time the op-
lol"Is began TO use me to fsub" for
V'sin. Then Mr.. Reid made me an opera
,or' ana | had a great rise in the world.
I'l now got $25 a month $500 year. and
'il that our home rested secure on my
m.'he. For my father, who had been
L1'uralized as an American citizen In 1853.
"'u oled soon afterwards. His naturali-
+,No4 while l was a minor made me an
,t'',Iican citizen. At the age Of 16 1 was
.ne family mainstay.
N"'heEie's First Business Transac-
tiOn.
A'out this time came my first indepeud-
Hhancial operation. don't consider
a'o' saiaried man, no matter what his
vA or his wages is In business. for he
w.. ''A As Tor somebody else, not himself
,te We're SIX newspapers in Plttsburg,
~ mere had to be six copies made of the
~, dispatches received in our office
1 .y man who had the job OF making these
cS got 6 week for H. When he
'el me 81 10 do his work 1 gladly
oT ',d was working for myself now,
'u Independent contract, doing some
FF4Nv M -