The Saint Paul globe., 1904-11-20

s"~<<<<<<-<<<<> IN
tnelr sires, though not many of them
nave CHOSEN politics for their field
aicndru a Yates, son of the great "war
governor of Illinois, is an excent;on
he also served Illinois as governor biS
inausurauon coming some thirty wears
,ater than his fathers The Rev Dr
Morgan Dix. rector of Trinity ch,,rch
-! new York, who might have been q
SIsnop over and over, is the son of that
80" iork governor, John A. Dix. who
So,e II any man attempts to haul
down the American flag. shoot hin, S.u, ~,
the spot" Sioo' niiil on
Bishop Potter. of New York is. the
son OF one bishop and the nenhew of
dnotner DR.. Lyman Abbott. editor
ana divine, is the son of Jacob Abbott
uIe historian and member of a New
Gilslano family that has made good for
OF Abram S. Hewitt, pubIicist and can
tam OF industry, has made good at
tnlrty or thereabouts most remarkably
IN the yet infant service of electricity.
ne bids fair to enroll his name on the
nst OF inventors along with Watt and
worse and Edison and Tesla. Ambas-
sdoor mccormick, whose name has
Deen In the forefront a good deal of
late because Of his delicate position at
the RUSSIAN court, is a son of one of
the MeCormicks made famous by this
reaper.
Alexander Agassiz, son of Louis
A2assiz. the scientist. has made good
IN more than one way Because he
knew his geology so WELL he has made
Dig fortune in copper, and this has
enabled him to prosecute his scientific
researches with absolute independence.
Ihough modest man-as most
though not all scientists are-he Is not
fITl 0f hfe e
other day when Andrew Carnegie Of
1ered TO share with him the expense
or the latest Agassiz expedition, on
condition that 1t should be known as
the Carnegie -Agassiz expeditions he
declined the offer with spirit and final
ity.
Though most of the famous mems
sons who have made good have done so
along lines similar or akin to those
marked out by their fathers, others
have followed lines entirely new to
the family genius. Oliver Wendell
Holmes, the son of the "Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table" is a case in point.
His father devoted himself to medicine
and literature; the son preferred law,
and by reason of his legal acumen and
profound knowledge has been made a
member OF the supreme court of the
United States.
DR.. S. Weir Mitchell. eminent ply
sician and novelist. belongs to both
classes. His father was a famous
physician in his day, and the son was
divided for time between medicine
and literature. Finally he determined
to work for success with an eye single
to literature, and, curiously enough, it
was Oliver Wendell Holmes the poet
physician, who induced the young man
to do so.
You cannot win success In both,"
said Holmes to him one day when
breakfasting at the Mitchell home in
Philadelphia, apparently forgetting his
own case. win in one or the other
first, medicine preferred. After you
have won, take to literature and win
In that" Weir Mitchell took the poets
advice. made himself one of the worlds
greatest nerve specialists, and then at
fifty set out to win in literature.
To mention the sons of American
military and naval heroes who have
made good and tell how they have
done 1t would fill pages of newspaper
space. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. the SON OF
Commodore Sydney Smith Lee; Lieut..
]. L. Worden, son Of Admiral Worden;
Lieut.. Gushing, son Of the Cushing
who distinguished himself IN the Civil
war, are among them, and the army and
navy registers are brimfull of such
names as Rowan, Perry, Winslow and
Crowninshield that recall the deeds of
fathers and forefathers which shine
of our national history.
1t is worth noting that many of the
successful sons of great Americans
have had in their youth the equivalent
of the training that comes to the young
man without money or influence who
sets out to win. When, as told above
the lad Fred Grant was with his father
before Vicksburg, he endured hunger
thirst and all the discomforts that
come to men In the ranks. Though
forbidden on one occasion to leave the
comparative safety of a gunboat on
the Mississippi river near the Grand
gulf. he slipped ashore on pretense of
chasing rabbit, followed the sound
of the guns and watched the battle,
well within range of the Confederate
shot and shell. lodging behind a tree
that his father should not see him
when the general rode up.
George Gould never went out and
got job as Cornelius the Second had
to, but he was made his fathers as
cen, and had to work harder than any
clerk. He learned telegraph then and
sat at his desk in his shirt sleeves, a
habit which he has never given up.
Young Rockefeller had TO work, too,
going into his fathers office as soon as
he was out of college and plugging
away for dear life hours and hours
every day. Young Morgan had to do
likewise, and of course the sons of ma
val and military heroes who have fol-
lowed in their fathers footsteps have
had to- stand upon the same footing,
both at Annapolis and West Point, as
the sons of the most obscure citizen in
the land.