Read Fireside Stories for Girls in Their Teens Page 17
SELF-MADE MEN
The banqueting hall of Hotel Northland was crowded to its limit. Therewere noted men and women from all walks of life. There were many fromhumble homes. There were those whose beautiful dresses showed that moneymeant little to them; there were others to whom the price of the banquetticket had meant sacrifice. It was a merry company that awaited the comingof the guests of the evening.
Cheer after cheer arose when the tall, fine-looking young man took hisseat near the center of the guest's table. He was the newly elected mayorof the city--the youngest mayor they had ever had. He had risen from theranks and many of the humbler folk knew him well as a boy. Oh, how proudthey were of him!
Then again the cheers sounded as an old white-haired lady entered and wasplaced at the left of the mayor. She it was who had given them theircollege, their library, their playground. For years and years she had beenliving away from the town, but still she loved them all and gave of herwealth to make them happy. Her friends were many in the great banquetinghall.
The supper was served and the tables cleared and then the mayor rose tospeak. He told of his boyhood, of his struggles at school and college, ofhis eagerness to enter the political field, of his happiness at his recentelection.
"I believe that every man is master of his own fate. I believe in being aself-made man and I mean during these next years when I am to serve you tomake it possible for every boy to push his way to a career. One can makehimself what he will if only he has grit and courage. I am here to serveyou all," he said.
Not once during the address had the eyes of the little, white-haired ladybeen taken from the speaker. She seemed studying him rather than hisaddress. So intent was she that she hardly heard the toastmasterintroducing her as the friend whom all delighted to honor. Dreamily shearose and said,
"Years and years ago, in this very town there lived a teacher who had tenbright, happy girls in a club. For four years they had played and workedtogether and they loved each other dearly. Then the husband of the teacherwas taken ill and it became necessary for the teacher to go to anothercontinent to live.
"How hard it was for the girls to have her go! But it was harder still forher, for she had wanted to help them through to womanhood. She had triedto help them to see the best but often she had felt that her efforts wereall too small. The day came nearer for her to leave and she had asked thegirls to spend the last evening with her in her home.
"And they came, each bringing in their hands a little letter, sealedtightly. They were steamer letters for their teacher and they had beenwritten because they had heard her say that she wished she could take withher some idea as to what the girls wanted to be when they had grown, sothat she might be thinking of their plans, even though she could not bethere to help with them. One by one they laid them on the table till therewere ten little letters--heart-to-heart letters to their dear friend.
"Five days later, away out in mid-ocean, the teacher opened the lettersand read them over and over to herself. How much they told of the girls!
"Jennie wanted to be a great singer; she wanted to go to New York andstudy and then go into Grand Opera.
"Katherine wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher. Ah! she had found thatbecause of helping in the church.
"Mary wanted to be a lawyer--a criminal lawyer. Perhaps that desire hadgrown in their debating club.
"Louise wanted to be a nurse. What a dear faithful girl she had been inhelping with the bandages after the great fire in the city!
"So one by one she read their letters and her heart was filled withgratitude that to her it had been given to mold in a little way theirlives."
Then turning to the mayor of the city, the little white-haired lady said,
"Sir, the contents of one of those letters will be of interest to you morethan to the rest. I was the teacher of those girls, so I can give you theexact wording of the last letter that I read,
"'Dear friend: You have asked us to give you our dearest wish. I have manywishes for the future but the wish that I want most of all is to be a finewoman and some day to be a real mother, the kind you have so often told usabout.'
"The girl who wrote that letter, sir, became your mother. Fourteen yearsbefore you were born, your character was being formed, your ideals werebeing molded, your future was being safeguarded. I congratulate you, sir,on being elected to the office of mayor; but I congratulate you more forbeing the child of my little girl of the long ago who at sixteen couldwrite, 'I want most of all to be a fine, noble woman and some day to be areal mother.' To her you owe much. Inspire the girls of the town if youplan for great men. A self-made man needs a real mother to build thefoundations of his character. There is no other way."
Then the speaker sat down and there was silence in the banqueting hall.