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10 ROMANCE OF SUCCESS IS THIS CLEVER STORY HOW S. S. M’CLURE, THE MAGAZINE MAN, WON HIS WAY. Bl* Labowious Boyhood on an Indiana Farm—Through College With a Buck Saw—Schoolteacher, Peddler, Bicycle In k atructor —Syndicate Pioneer. I [Special Correspondence.] New York, Nov. 9.—This is the Story of a plucky country boy’s fight to win his way from the farm to a place of his own in the great world. His name is McClure. He was born in the north of Ireland 40 years ago. He was baptized Samuel S., and he is now ed itor and publisher of the magazine that bears his name. If ever there was a Hfe story the perusal of which should en courage every ambitious young man, no matter how great the obstacles with which he has to contend, here it is. A circumstance of that early period stands out bold and distinct in his mem ory. He was taken to a large town by an older member of his family, and the i .WjlSb I i AWfe. i 5 W I s. S. M’CLURE, two put up at a hotel. A Catholic priest, who read a good deal from a Latin book, was a guest of the house at the same time. The Latin book had a strange fascination for the lad, and be fore he slept that night he made a sol emn resolve that some day he, too, would learn to ,re;id in Latin. The McClure family removed to the United States when S. S. was 9 years old, settling on a farm in northern In diana some 16 miles from Valparaiso. It was a good farm, but it had to be paid for, and the McClure boys, of whom S. S. was the oldest, had to help every summer in the fields. As a result he was able to enjoy not more than four or five months’ schooling each year. But he thanked his stars for what he could get and buckled down harder to his work in the hope that sooner or later he would be able to realize his am bition with regard to learning Latin. He help ed plant and harvest the corn. He held the plow handles day after day every spring and fall and could draw as long a furrow between sun and sun as any man in the neighborhood. He did every sort of farm labor before he was 13, ex cept the very heaviest, such as pitching hay and grain, for which, of course, he lacked the weight and muscle. But he “loaded” the hay, which is the same as “trimming” cargo on shipboard, and stacked the grain and straw, and thus practically filled the place of a man on the farm. This sort of life went on till he was 14, and then he determined that the time had arrived for a change. Education Begun. So. bidding adieu to the farm, he Is there any reason for dodging and ig- V? A noring a great and V? < vital fact simply be- cause a few preju -p/ diced, misguided people have anti /'NX I 1 ' & quatedideas of what /. ’ —constitutes morality (I an( l mo d es ty? Rea- /!k son and honesty say ►rl JHRs'-A —certainly not. Men \ \ an d women are at- \ tracted to each other \ because they are men I ail< l women and be- tause it is right and necessary that they jtwfflSSSf'S&S' ' should be so at tracted. The things that make a man at tractive are the char- . acteristics caused by Bl 'W his inherent manli ness—by the strength w which makes him a X perfect man. Th c same is true of wo man. There is strong JwbflHw attractiveness in per feet health. There is fascination and mag '^■^^■^P* Re tism A wo- cannot be en tirely womanly—she cannot be a perfect woman—if she is not in perfect health. In just so much as her sickness affects the organs that make her a woman, in just so much she loses attractive ness. This is the vital part of her health. If anything is wrong there, it may result in all manner of ills all over the body, Care less. or too busy, physicians frequently treat the symptoms of this kind of disorder as separate and distinct ailments. The symp toms are many and varied, so much so that when a woman is sick in any way, the first thought should be given to the organs dis tinctly feminine. About 9 times in 10 the cause of the trouble will be found there. Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription cures all disorders of this kind. There is no guess work about it. There is no chance about it. It is a fact that has been demonstrated in 30 solid years of extensive practice. Thousands of women have written grate ful letters, who have wished the whole world of women to know the wonderful things the “Prescription" has done for them. went to Valparaiso, wbtire a new public school system was just being inaugurat ed. He arrived there quite a stranger, but after some inquiries found a place where he could “do chores for his board” and attend high school, having passed its examination without diffi culty. He did not leave Valparaiso for good until he was nearly 18, but every summer he went out to earn money for his winter expenses. The summer he was 15 he taught school for sl4 a month and boarded round. Ahother summer he worked in a grocery store. While in Valparaiso he spent a good deal of time around the office of 'the local paper, where he learned to set type, to turn the crank of the printing press and to “lock up” a “form. ” Before he left the place he was “doing” local news items and occasional “editorials. ” When he was 17, his stepfather died, and he had to go back to the farm an’d help his brothers carry it on. He re mained there only half a year, but it was a great six months for the farm, for, owing to good weather and the vigorous way in which it was worked, it that year yielded the biggest crops of oats and corn and hay in its history. When fall came, he left the farm for the second time, his purpose being strong to continue.his education, and went to Galesburg, Ills., the seat of Knox college, 200 miles from his home. When he reached Galesburg, young Mc- Clure had only-15 cents in his pocket, and he knew not a soul in the whole town. His plans for the.future were ex tremely misty as to detail, but there was one idea strongly dominant in his mind. “I knew,” he .said the other day, “that Galesburg was situated in the midst of one of the most fertile coun ties in the United States. I knew that no one would be allowed to starve when surrounded by such plenty, and I knew that if I did not starve I should surely succeed in getting through college.” It was young McClure’s intention to work for his board while attending col lege, as he had at Valparaiso, but it was a full month before he was able to find a home. In the meantime, having passed the examinations and been en rolled as a student, he occupied an un used, unfurnished room in one of the dormitories. He made an empty box serve as a chair, but he cannot now re member where he slept. He lived on bread, crackers and grapes at an ex pense of not more than 50 cents a week, which he earned by sawing wood with a buck saw. “I lost a good deal of time hunting for wood to saw and other work to do,” said Mr. McClure "in telling the story, “and so when 1 became a trustee of the college some years ago I inaugurated a plan . by which townsfolk who have work that students can do to give out are registered and classified. Students at Knox college do not now have to waste time looking for odd jobs, and any student who is willing to do a lit tle wholesome work can get through easily on SSOO for the entire course.” Before the second month was over he had found a place where he could work for his board. At the end of the college year he had paid all his own expenses and had $6 to the good. The year he was 18 he worked all summer on a farm at S2O a month. He was offered $25 monthly if he would work eight months, but he declined this dazzling proposi tion, as it would interfere with his col lege work. One summer he peddled needles and pins and tape. Another summer, after having mastered short hand, he taught that mystery to who ever desired to learn it. Owing to some dissensions in the board, he served as editor of the college paper, The Knox Student, during his last year at Gales burg. No one thought he could edit it, but his selection healed the quarrel, and to everybody’s surprise he got out a very creditable little journal. He also acted as publisher, and in that capacity he secured advertisements and looked after the printing and the general ex penses. While conducting The Knox Student he got up a history of western college journalism, which was much and favorably commented upon in west ern colleges generally. S. S. McGlure had no definite plans for the future when his college life was ended. Some of his classmates were go ing to study law, some intended enter ing journalism, others meant to teach and other to go into business. “What are you going to do, Sam?” qpked a friend one day. “I—why, I am going to Boston,” he replied at random, not knowing what else to say. And so it fell out that in June, 1882, when he was 25 years old, S. S. Mc- Clure stepped off a train in the Boston and Albany depot one pleasant, sun shiny morning. He had no personal ac quaintances in the town and his purse was light. After several days’ hard and unsuccessful search for a job, he noticed the name of a famous bicycle maker on a window and concluded to seek a place there. After a little parley with a clerk he succeeded in seeing the president of the company. He told this man that as publisher of a college paper in Gales burg he had printed some advertise ments of the company’s bicycles. The money for the same had been promptly paid. He had then liked the way the house did business; now he wanted to enter its employ. He was perfectly will ing to do anything that was offered. The bicycle maker said that help was plenty and places scarce. Still he seem ed impressed. THE HOM a TRIBLNE. THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11. 1897 ‘ • Would you wash windows and sweep floors?” he asked. The young man said he would will ingly and was told to sit in the office for awhile. This was on July 3, and McClure was told to wait on the supposition that more help might be needed than usual on the 4th at the bicycle rink controlled by the company. Late in the afternoon he was informed that he might work next day and that his pay would be sl. His duties would be to teach greenhorns how to ride the wheel. Now, McClure had never bestrid a bicycle in his life, and it was necessary that he should learn before the next morning. He was so anxious to work that this seemed an easy task. Indeed had any one asked him that afternoon whether he could navigate a transatlantic steamer he would have said yes, and tried it. He might have succeeded too. At all events, he fell off the wheel but once, and in less than ten minutes was sailing round and round the rink as though he were a veteran wheelman. Next day when he went to work he was a veteran. Syndicate and Magazine. The job was to last only one day, but McClure stuck to it for weeks with a tenacity born of desperaton. When there was no one to teach how to ride the wheel, he washed windows and swept floors. After awhile his employer, who often stopped to talk with him, suggest ed that he should edit a monthly period ical, to be called The Wheelman. Mc- Clure undertook this task and performed it creditably for some time, but at the end of a year and six months in Boston —in December, 1882—decided to come to New York. Here he got work in a big printing house, where he had to look after proofs and attend to kindred duties. But he could see no future in that place. So, after fpnr or five months, he found a minor situation on the business staff of The Century Magazine writing circu lars, advertisements, etc. Progress was slow there, too, and feeling that it would always remain so for him, he determined to start a syndicate for the furnishing of fiction and other general matter to newspapers. He got this notion from Mr. Dana of The Sun, who had purchased serial stories from Henry James, Bret Harte, W. D. Howells, etc., and sold them for simultaneous publication in several pa pers. This was in the fall of 1884, 13 years ago, and ever since that time the name of S. S. McClure has been famil iar, alike to authors and publishers, as a dealer in literary wares. He had no capital at the beginning, and the money question was often a most serious prob lem with him. But he stuck to the line he had marked out, worked early and late, systematized his duties, econo mized his minutes and won the fight. Four years ago, in 1893, he started his magazine. Today he is on the high road to really phenomenal success. Dexter Marshall. Tutt’s Pills Cure All Liver Ills. Vo those living •n malarial districts Tutt's Pilis e indispensible, they keep the “.•stem in perfect order and are absolute cure icr sick headache, indigestion, iirdaria, torpid liver, constipa i'onand ail bilious diseases. Tutt’s Liver PiJJs SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ANIMAL EXTRACTS four years ago greater advance has been made in the cure of Nervous Diseases than was obtained in the previous half century. Prejudice, ig norance and incredulity have all been swept aside and the medical profes sion and public alike now recognize io this line of medication the most ef fective means within human power to combat disease. Quickened Circulations Bright eyew/dmproved SpiritsMhese follow witlv in 24 hours after using the Extracts. Cerebrine, from the brain For diseases of the nervous system. 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