The Lafayette Dollars

1900

Readers of The Companion have not forgotten the American monument to the Marquis de Lafayette, which is to be erected in the city of Paris by the aid of subscriptions raised by the school children of the United States. By an act of the last Congress, the United States mint was authorized to strike off fifty thousand silver dollars with a special design commemorating the setting up of this monument, and to turn the coins over to the association which has in charge the erection of the monument in Paris.

By this association the dollars will be sold for two dollars apiece. The sum of one hundred thousand dollars thus realized will be added to the fund for the monument.

On December 27, 1899, the director of the mint, Mr. Roberts, presented to President McKinley the first of these dollars which came from the mint, and Mr. McKinley announced his intention of presenting it in turn to the President of the French Republic, Monsieur Loubet. This, in fact, was done on the third of March.

On one side of the coin are the heads of Washington and Lafayette, and on the other is a reproduction of the proposed monument. Across the face of the monument is this inscription: "Erected in the Name of the School Children of the United States, Paris, 1900." — Youth's Companion.

Grafting In a New Root — Renew Your Old Life, Do Something New

1921

By DR. WM. E. BARTON

IF THE top of a tree dies down, or does not bear a satisfactory kind of fruit, new branches can be grafted in. But what if it be the root that dies? Is there any way of grafting in a new root?

In Riverside, California, stand the two parent navel orange trees. If I have the information correctly, the entire navel orange industry on the Pacific coast began with the successful propagation of that kind of orange from these two trees.

One of them stands on Magnolia avenue, and the other was transplanted by President Theodore Roosevelt, and stands in front of the Mission Inn.

Both these trees are very old and manifestly dying. But they are trying the experiment of creating a new root for one of them. If that succeeds, I presume they will do the same for the other.

They take a vigorous young tree, cut off its top, plant it as close to the old tree as possible and at an angle, and graft the top into the side of the old tree a little above the root.

They have grafted in several such young roots, and they appear to be growing and to be saving the life of the old tree.

Such an undertaking lends itself to reflection. There are men who are dying at the top because they have not sufficient root. Why not dig down near the root, and put in a new one?

You can learn Greek at forty, or study Browning at fifty, or become an expert on psychoanalysis at sixty, or make yourself either a learned man or a fool at seventy.

Maybe you do not care for those particular studies — in that case there are others.

Why should not a man who lacked opportunities, in his youth for higher education, set about it in middle life, and pursue a course of good reading? Why not study astronomy, or botany, or literature?

Many men die a good many years before the undertaker carts them away. A man begins to die when he ceases to grow. Why not graft in a new root?

Have Confidence in Yourself and You Will Succeed

1920

TWO ONE-LEGGED MEN
By Napoleon Hill

In the town of Wichita Falls, Texas, I saw a one-legged man sitting on the side-walk begging for alms.

A few questions brought out the fact that he had a fair education. He said he was begging because no one would give him work. "The world is against me and I have lost confidence in myself," he said.

Ah, there was the rub!

"I have lost confidence in myself."

Across the hall from my office is another one-legged man. I have known him for several years and I know that his schooling was slight. He has less training than the one-legged beggar.

But he is earning a thousand dollars a month. As Sales Manager of a manufacturing concern he is directing the efforts of fifty men.

The beggar displayed the stump of his amputated leg as evidence that he needed alms. The other one legged man covered up the stump of his lost leg so it would not attract attention.

The difference between the two men exists merely in viewpoint. One believes in himself and the other does not! The one who believes in himself could give up the other leg and both arms and still earn a thousand dollars a month. He could even give up both eyes, to boot, and still earn the money.

The world never defeats you until you defeat yourself. Milo C. Jones, of "Little Pig Sausage" fame, became a wealthy man out of the sausage business after paralysis had stricken him down and taken away the use of nearly every muscle in his body. He couldn't turn over in bed without aid.

As long as you have faith in yourself and that wonderful mind of yours continues to function properly, YOU CANNOT BE DEFEATED IN ANY LEGITIMATE UNDERTAKING. This statement is made without qualifications, because it is true.

—The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, February 13, 1920, page 6.

Note: $1,000 a month in 1920 was a tremendous amount. It meant doing really really well.