The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-12

No picture of his bearded face can ever
be completely ASSOCIATED from a chuckle.
And Andy Carnegie was articulate In
his own behalf as the others were not
He had no mean genius for expression
He had written books of solid worth
anc real charm. He was a ready speak
err and writer for all the grind of his
early years.
And It was a grind. From the mo-
ment he earned his first wage, a dollar
twenty for a week, until he retired, he
ground himself. his associates and his
enemies. But he never ground any one
| harder than he was willing to and did
grind himself Work. readiness to seize
opportunity, daring when opportunity
came. and a supreme ability to organize
the effort of other men were his touch
| stones of success
He himself believed that his genius
was seeded in heredity.
II have often said" he once remarked.
that do not know lineage which /
prefer to that Of library founding
weaver"
His father was one OF those substan-
tial citizens, the artisans of the days
before machinery. He had his own
seven looms in Dunfermline where his
apr entices wove the linen he was COM
missioned to make by the merchants of
the town. Mr.. Carnegie's remark above
quoted was prompted by the discovery
that his father had pooled his books
with the books OF other master weavers
and that from this collection had grown
the first library Of the town.
There In the little Fifeshire city An
drew was born November %, 1897.
When he was 10 came the tragedy out
of which by strange double paradox
| rose his own greatness. Machine weav-
ing was introduced into Scotland. An
drew's father got no more orders for his
hand run looms and disaster faced the
little family, whose eldest son was one
! day to be the overload of most of the
machinery of this earth
Carnegie said he we'll remembered the
family council at which II was decided
| to sell the hand looms for what they
were worth and emigrate to Allegheny
Pa. where the family already had rela-
tives. The decision was taken, he said,
I In the face Of his parents conviction
that It meant nothing but sorrow for
them. but because they were convinced
II spelt better things for the two boys,
Andrew and Thomas Andrew was II
when the little family came to ALLIE
ghany.
Worked From DARK to Dark.
! At IL he was thrust into the factory
system of those days. which he admitted
was little short OF child slavery He
got Job as bobbin' boy in the cotton
factory where his father had found work.
/ He went to work before daylight and
toiled until after dark. But even then
he said. there was a hint of the ideal
| in his canny, young Scotch head
| a'EOr lad NJ ha hos xyrgfta,, .
"to rise and breakfast every morning,
except the blessed Sunday morning, and
go out into the streets and find his way
to the factory and begin work while II
was still dark outside, and not be re-
leased until after darkness came again
! in the evening-forty minutes interval
only being allowed at noon--was a terri
BILE task.
but ! was young and had my dreams,
and something within always told me
! that this would not, could not, should
not last; should some day get into
better position. Besides this, felt my
self no longer boy but quite "a little
man. and this made me happy"
When the change came Carne1tA
seized It, though It seemed at first TO
be 0ut of the frying pan into the fire.
Just before he was Is kind old Scots
man" took him into the factory where
the bobbins were made. His duties. not
yet 13. were to fire the boiler and run
the small steam engine which powered
! the plant. Upon a mind of thirteen
years this task produced a reaction that
might have been expected.
THE firing of the boiler was all eight. /"
he has said. "for, fortunately, we did
not use coal. but the refuse wooden
chips, and l always liked to work in
wood but the responsibility of keeping
the water right and of running the en-.
CINE and the danger OF my making a
mistake and blowing the whole fac
tory to pieces caused too great a strain,
and I often awoke and found myself sit
ting up In bed through the night try
ing the steam gauges.
But I never told them at home that
was having a hard tussle.'"
His third apprenticeship as he calls
It, came when he got a Job as q tele-
graph messenger In Pittsburg at the age
of IA. He greets 1t with his first en-
thusiasm, thus:
This" he said, was a transfer from
darkness TO light, from the desert to
paradise. for here / entered new world,
amid books. newspapers, pencils, pens
and ink, and writing pads, and a clean
office. bright windows and the literary
atmosphere; I was the happiest z Joy