A Varied Career Develops the Resourceful Head of a Great Institutional
Church and College.
IT was misfortune that proved the fortunate turning-point for Dr.
Russell H. Conwell, the pastor of the largest church in America, and
president of Temple College, which has upward of 8,000 students. He had
not been unsuccessful prior to his ordination to the ministry; on the
contrary, he had been a successful newspaper man and lawyer, and had
served with distinction in the Civil War. But, in the panic of 1873, he
lost most of his investments. I quote his own words:—
“I then wondered,—being always of a religious temperament,—why I should
make money my goal.”