way system of New York city. He bought the Staten
Island Ferry, ran it five years, and sold out. He was also much
interested in steam ships. Nearly all these ventures proved profitable,
and at his death his estate amounted to about $15,000,000. He was a
giant in size, being over six feet tall, and his mind compared favorably
with his stature. His whole energies were concentrated on money-getting
and, of course, he succeeded. It has been said that he walked until he
could ride, and lived humbly until his wealth would more than warrant
his living on Fifth Avenue. He carried the hod until he found better
work, and never left one position until he had found a better one, no
matter what his real or supposed provocation might be. He lived to
return home, as did the boy of whom he early read, and established his
father comfortably on a farm which he had bought for him.

DARIUS O. MILLS.

In Westchester county, New York, was born one bright September day, in
1825, Darius O. Mills. True, it is, that his parents were somewhat
well-to-do people, but Darius O. Mills would have become a wealthy man
had he been born in poverty.

If a man determines to succeed and has a perceptive mind to see
opportunities, if he relies on no one but himself, and follows this up
by hard, persistent work, he will succeed. If he does not he is lacking
in some other vital point, but we have never yet read the life of any
man who possessed these qualities but that he was a success. What one
has done another can do under the same conditions and circumstances. For
some time he was casting about to find his calling, and finally
determined to become a banker. In this sphere he has proven himself a
phenomenon. His talent for money-making was early apparent, and he was
appointed cashier of a bank in Buffalo when only twenty-one. Now it must
not be imagined that Darius O. Mills was picked up indiscriminately and
placed in so responsible a position. Things do not come by chance. It is
evident the case under consideration did not happen through 'good luck.'
He was a young man of unusual ability, of which he has always made the
most. The bank flourished and at twenty-three he resigned and, taking
what money he had, he was soon on his way to California. He did not go
there to dig gold. Darius O. Mills knew that gold was the object of
nearly every one who went; he also knew that the people must live; he
perceived the chance to make a fortune as a merchant.