Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-10-11
SIR THOMAS Upton.

quick wit, cheery good nature and
innate sensitiveness aud refinement
that are characteristics of the north
of Ireland people. Several years
before the birth of their son, they
moved to Glasgow, because thrifty
Scotland seemed to hold out more
promise for willing workers than
dilapidated Ireland. But the only
prosperity that ever came to the
Liptons came in the form of the son,
whom they named Thomas John
stone. The only luxury that fell to
Thomas Jobpstone's lot was the lux
ury of longing. He played wish
until he was fifteen years old. He
wished he bad million dollars, so
they might have all the good things
other folks had, and so his papa
could stop being sad, and his mama
could stop making believe she wasn't
He wished he was a peer of the
realm, so he could wear ribbon that
would show folks that some one in
his family, at some time, had done
something better than any one else
could do it; and so he could have
prefix to his name and folks would
have to stop calling him just
'Frommy." And he wished-and
this was the best wish he ever did
wish-that some day he would have
a boat all his own, bigger and cleaner
than the ones he saved up to hire by
the hour on the Clyde, and with such
oig sails it would shoot past every
thing those Scotsmen had ever seen,
And often when he had saved up
enough to indulge his only vice, he
hired Clyde catboat for a whole
afternoon; aud when her nose got
we'll mp in the wind and the cockpit
rail well under water, he would
stretch himself fat on deck and gaze
up into the blue sky, and wish and
wish till the catboat grew to a giant
yacht too big for the Clyde and sailed
out into the ocean, and the ribbon on
his breast was so wide it covered the
front of his jacket, and the millions
in the bank multiplied SO fast they
became q weight of responsibility
that almost marrea his care-free
holiday.
When he reached the age of fifteen,
he came to the conclusion his wishes
never would come true in Scotland.
He had been employed in several
small capacities, but these held no
promise for the future. Yet out of
his small and precarious earnings he
had saved little, and he set to work,
with an object in view, to save more.
In three months he had sufficient to
purchase steerage passage to America.
He had not yet outgrown knioker-
bockers nor the boyish leaning
toward parental affection that goes
with them. lie was very inexpe-
rienced, and very homesick, aud very
much disappointed, when he reached
his new land of promise. There
seemed to be nothing for small boy
to do. 1t was the year of '65, just
after the war, and things didn't look
promising, ever for grown folks. For
a while the little immigrant tried his
luck in New York, gaining expert
ence, if nothing more. Then he
worked his way down to South Caro-
lima, and for two years worked in
the rice-fields, doing the maximum
of work for the minimum of pay, yet
sending half of those meager earn
ings every month to two lonely old
people on the banks of the Clyde.
At the close of two years Thomas
Upton decided there was no future
for him in a business which took all
his working energy, and gave him in
return no penny to save, after the
barest necessities of life had been
provided. From the earliest days OF
his career he never wasted mental
activity in solving problems which
he did not pat into practice. Having
resolved there was no future in South
Carolina, he embarked on steamer
from Charleston and worked his way
North. He spent several years in
New York and the northern cities
earning little, but saving a part OF
it, yearning to 60 back to his native
land, yet resolutely turning his face
from temptation until he should have
something to show for the years Of
work.
When he had accumulated fiv,
hundred dollars young Upton turned
toward home. 1t was the first wholly
happy moment he aad known since
his last holiday on the Clyde. HI
was not carrying home fortune, but
it was the foundation for one. HI
had not failed. Thomas Upton wa
not made of the stuff that make,
failures. Even if he had been borr
a peer, instead of acquiring tina
dignity, it is doubtful if the incident
would have proved a serious Inn nedi