“To what do you attribute the start you got as a boy on the road to
success?”
“To the principles of truth, honor, love, and labor, which were
instilled into my mind in our quiet village home.”
“Where were you educated?”
“I attended the Owego Academy. There was nothing out of the ordinary
line in teacher or scholar. In the academy I prepared for Yale College,
which I entered in 1849. Ill health compelled me to give up my college
course at the close of my sophomore year. Our class contained some
of the most distinguished men ever graduated from the college. Wayne
McVeigh, Edmund Clarence Steadman, Isaac Brumley, Judge Shiras, of the
Supreme Court of the United States; Andrew D. White, ambassador to the
court of Berlin, were among the number. Yale has grown marvelously
since my day, and the student now has increased opportunity for
knowledge, but I do not think that the grade of talent to-day is any
better than in our time. In 1876, Yale conferred on me the degree of
master of arts.”
“Would you advise a young man, having a business life in view, to
attend college?”
“I would! The intellectual discipline, the social advantages, the
mental stimulus will be of profit to a young man entering business in
times of great enterprises and heated competitions.”