Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) +-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ [Illustration: NAPOLÉON.] FAMOUS LEADERS AMONG MEN BY SARAH KNOWLES BOLTON AUTHOR OF "POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS," "FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN," "FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE," "FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS," "FAMOUS TYPES OF WOMANHOOD," "STORIES FROM LIFE," "FROM HEART AND NATURE" (POEMS), "FAMOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS," "FAMOUS ENGLISH STATESMEN," ETC., ETC. The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference between men, the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is _energy_ and _invincible determination_.--SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON. NEW YORK: 46 EAST 14TH STREET THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. BOSTON: 100 PURCHASE STREET COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. C. J. PETERS & SON, TYPE-SETTERS AND ELECTROTYPERS, 145 HIGH STREET, BOSTON. TO MY SON Charles Knowles Bolton. PREFACE. Napoleon said, "My maxim has always been, _a career open to talent without distinction of birth_." It will be seen in these pages that most of these men rose to leadership by their own efforts. Napoleon was poor, and often without employment in early life, but his industry, good judgment, will, and ambition carried him to the heights of power. Nelson was the son of a minister, whose salary did not support his numerous family, but his boy had the energy and force that won success. Bunyan, a travelling tinker, twelve years a prisoner in Bedford jail, could, while poor and in prison, write a book that is read more than any other in the world, save the Bible. Arnold, through love for his work, and his untiring energy and good sense, became the ideal teacher. Phillips and Beecher, both eloquent, the latter beginning his labors on a salary of $200 a year, were led into their great careers through a great motive,--their hatred of slavery. Kingsley, the Christian socialist, knowing that the pulpit must help in the solution of the labor problem, lived and preached the brotherhood of man. Sherman, the son of a widow, adopted by his father's friend, had early failures, and won his place of distinction with Grant and Sheridan by his own ability. Spurgeon, whose work was marvellous, was poor, and without a college education. Phillips Brooks, whose death was an irreparable loss, made his way even more by his sincerity and unselfishness than by his eloquence.