Company, and share in its justly
deserved prosperity.

Thanking you most sincerely for the uniform kindness shown
toward me, for your zealous efforts made at all times to
meet my wishes, and asking for my successor similar support
at your hands, I bid you all farewell.

Very respectfully

(Signed) ANDREW CARNEGIE

Thenceforth I never worked for a salary. A man must necessarily occupy
a narrow field who is at the beck and call of others. Even if he
becomes president of a great corporation he is hardly his own master,
unless he holds control of the stock. The ablest presidents are
hampered by boards of directors and shareholders, who can know but
little of the business. But I am glad to say that among my best
friends to-day are those with whom I labored in the service of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

In the year 1867, Mr. Phipps, Mr. J.W. Vandevort, and myself revisited
Europe, traveling extensively through England and Scotland, and made
the tour of the Continent. "Vandy" had become my closest companion. We
had both been fired by reading Bayard Taylor's "Views Afoot." It was
in the days of the oil excitement and shares were going up like
rockets. One Sunday, lying in the grass, I said to "Vandy":

"If you could make three thousand dollars would you spend it in a tour
through Europe with me?"

"Would a duck swim or an Irishman eat potatoes?" was his reply.

The sum was soon made in oil stock by the investment of a few hundred
dollars which "Vandy" had saved. This was the beginning of our
excursion. We asked my partner, Harry Phipps, who was by this time
quite a capitalist, to join the party. We visited most of the capitals
of Europe, and in all the enthusiasm of youth climbed every spire,
slept on mountain-tops, and carried our luggage in knapsacks upon our
backs. We ended our journey upon Vesuvius, where we resolved some day
to go around the world.

This visit to Europe proved most instructive. Up to this time I had
known nothing of painting or sculpture, but it was not long before I
could classify the works of the great painters. One may not at the
time justly appreciate the advantage he is receiving from examining
the great masterpieces, but upon his return to America he will find
himself unconsciously rejecting what before seemed truly beautiful,
and judging productions which come before him by a new standard. That
which is truly great has so impressed itself upon h