It was into a long room on the ground floor that I was introduced, three of its walls lined with tall, dark walnut book-laden cases, lighted by a bright grate fire and by a student’s lamp on the table by night, and by two heavily-shaded windows by day. As I entered, the great lawyer was busy prodding the fire, and voiced a resonant “good-evening” without turning. In a moment or two he had evoked a blaze, and assumed a standing attitude before the fire, his hands behind him. ARE SPECIAL ADVANTAGES NECESSARY? “Well, sir,” he began, “what do you wish?” “A few minutes of your time,” I answered. “Why?” he questioned succinctly. “I wish to discover whether you believe special advantages at the beginning of a youth’s career are necessary to success?” “Why my opinion?” I was rather floored for an instant, but endeavored to make plain the natural interest of the public in the subject and his opinion, but he interrupted me with the query:— “Why don’t you ask a man who never had any advantages,” at the same time fixing upon me one of his famous “what’s in thy heart?” glances. “Then you have had them?” I said, grasping wildly at the straw that might keep the interviewer afloat. “A few, not many,” he replied. “Are advantages necessary to success to-day?” “Define advantages and success,” he said abruptly, evidently questioning whether it was worth while to talk. A distinguished looking figure he made, looking on, as I collected my defining ability. The room seemed full of his atmosphere. He is a tall man, oaken in strength, with broad, intelligent face, high forehead, alert, wide-set eyes, and firm, even lips expressive of great self-control. His fluency, his wit and humor, his sound knowledge, his strength and perfect self-possession, were all suggested by his face and expression, and by the firmness of his squarely set head and massive shoulders. “Let us,” I said, “say money, opportunity, friends, good advice, and personal popularity for early advantages.” “The first isn’t necessary,” said the jurist, leisurely adjusting his hands in his pockets. “Opportunity comes to everyone, but all have not a mind to see; friends you can do without for a time; good advice we take too late, and popularity usually comes too early or too tardy to be appreciated. Define success.” WHAT SUCCESS MEANS. “I might mention fame, position, income, as examples of what the world deems success.” “Foolish world!” said Mr. Choate. “The most successful men sometimes have not one of all these. All I can say is that early advantages won’t bring a man a knowledge of the law, nor enable him to convince a jury. What he needs is years of close application, the ability to stick until he has mastered the necessary knowledge.” “Where did you obtain your wide knowledge of the law?” I asked. “Reading at home and fighting in the courts,—principally fighting in the courts.” “And was there any good luck about obtaining your first case? Was it secured by special effort?”