e source of his greatness it is necessary
to study his life.

John Mitchell was born in the cottage of a humble coal-miner at
Braidwood, Illinois, in 1870. In those days Braidwood was a dreary,
dirty mining town almost surrounded by broad stretches of swamp.

When John was but three years of age his mother died. His stepmother,
who no doubt meant well, was not affectionate; on the contrary she was
very severe. As they were very poor she had to take in washings, and
day after day it fell to John's lot to help his stepmother with the
washings.

When he was six years of age, his father, the only real friend he had
in the world, was brought home dead, killed in a mine disaster. In
speaking of this period in his life Mr. Mitchell says: "The poverty
and hardships that followed were marked by one circumstance that is
imprinted indelibly upon my memory and which has had an impelling
influence upon my whole life. My father had served a full term of
enlistment as a volunteer in the Civil War. When he was discharged
from the army he brought home with him his soldier's clothes, and I
remember so well that when we had not sufficient bed clothing to keep
us warm in the cold winter nights, I would arise and get the heavy
soldier's coat and spread it over my little half-brother and myself.
When we were snug and warm beneath it I would feel so happy and proud
that my father had been an American soldier. And through all the years
that have passed since then I have felt that same pride in the memory
of my father, and in the love of country which, along with a good
name, was our sole heritage from him."

When John was about ten, his stepmother married again. From the first
his stepfather did not like him, and soon he became so cruel that the
boy's heart was completely broken. With no home, with no one who cared
for him, the big world seemed cold indeed.

Finally, unable to stand the abuse of his stepfather longer, he
gathered his few belongings in a small bundle and started out to make
his own way in the world. For a boy of only ten this was by no means
easy. From house to house he asked for work until finally a farmer
gave him a job. Though the hours were long and the work heavy, John
stuck to it for more than a year when he went to a mine in Braidwood
and got a job as breaker boy. Here he remained until he was twelve
when he decided to go west. With no money and no friends he worked his
way by slow stages all the way from Illinois