The intense culmination of forces in the busy period of a man's life renders it fruitful in material for a sketch. What a successful man, of marked force of character, has done, may be an incentive and an encouragement to others. Perhaps this was Longfellow's chief thought when he penned the "Psalm of Life:" Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime. The lives of great men, and conspicuously that of the subject of this sketch, prove that, in this country, a boy need not be born with a silver spoon in his mouth, nor with a brilliant speech on his lips, to reach eminent success, and be held in high honor; but that the noblest results of a life of industry and frugality, and the highest honors any worthy ambition can crave, are within reach of the boy who has energy, courage, integrity of purpose, and purity of character. By their native energy some of the most conspicuous men of our time have made their way against obstacles which would have been too much for less sturdy wills. Whatever deficiencies there may have been in their early training were largely atoned for by native energy and force of character. Because this is all true of the subject of this paper, we tell the story in the hope that some other struggling boy may take courage from his example. HIS START IN LIFE. Rodney Wallace was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, December 21, 1823, and is therefore in the full vigor of manhood. We may infer that his boyhood was not blessed with the advantages which usually crown the early life of so many lads, and strew their path with roses, from the fact that at the age of twelve he left home to work on a farm for wages, with agreement for limited opportunities for schooling. He is a son of David and Roxanna Wallace. It seems likely that the family is of Scotch origin. David Wallace seemed to think so, since he dropped the spelling Wallis, and adopted the form in which the name is now written. In 1639, Robert Wallis was living in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Benoni Wallis, of this family, removed to Lunenburg and there married Rebecca Morse, of Lynn, July 2, 1755. She died in Lunenburg August 25, 1790, and he died March 15, 1792. David, son of Benoni and Rebecca Wallis, was born October 16, 1760. He married Susannah Lowe, and lived in Ashburnham where he died January 14, 1842. David, son of David and Susannah Wallis, was born at Ashburnham July 14, 1797. He married July 8, 1821, Roxanna Gower of New Ipswich, where he lived till he removed to Rindge, New Hampshire, in 1846. He died at Rindge, May 29, 1857; and his wife died at Fitchburg, February 27, 1876. He was the first of his family in this country to adopt the spelling Wallace, instead of Wallis. He had eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second.