小学英语英语故事（名人故事）HenryH.RogersAddedin1909

Henry H.RogersAdded in1909Henry H.Rogers Addedin1909The valueof his advice.His beautifulnature.一一Since hepassed fromlife manymonths havegone by,and stillI have not foundmyself competenttoput intowords myfeelings forhim andmy estimateof him.For heis asyet toonear,the restraintof his spirittoo effective.All throughmy lifeI havebeen theeasy preyof thecheap adventurer.He came,he lied,he robbed,and wenthis way,and the next onearrived by the nexttrain andbegan toscrape upwhat wasleft.I was in thetoils ofone of these creaturessixteen years ago,and it was Mr.Rogers whogotme out.We werestrangers when we met,and friendswhenweparted,half anhour afterward.Themeeting wasaccidental andunforeseen,but it had memorableand fortunateconsequences forme.He draggedme out of thatdifficulty,and alsoout of thenextone-a yearor twolater--whichwas stillmore formidablethan itspredecessor.He didthese savingthings atno costto myself-love,no hurtto mypride;indeed,he didthem withso delicatean artthat Ialmost seemedto havedonethem myself.By nosign,no hint,no worddid heever betrayany consciousnessthat I wasunder obligationsto him.I havenever beenso greatas that,and I havenot known anotherwhowas.I havenever approachedit;it belongsamong theloftiest ofhuman attributes.This isaworld where you getnothing fornothing;whereyou pay valuefor everythingyou getand50percent over;and whenit isgratitude youowe,you haveto pay a thousand.In fact,gratitude isadebt whichusually goeson accumulating,like blackmail;the moreyoupay,the moreis exacted.In timeyou aremade torealize that the kindnessdone youis become a curseand youwish ithadnot happened.You findyourself situatedas wasMr.W.,a friendof friends of mine,yearsago.He wasrich andgood-hearted and appreciative.His wife*s lifewas savedby agrocer，s youngman,who stoppedher runawayhorses.Her husband was gratefulbeyond words.For hesupposedgratitude wasa sentiment;he didnotknowithad a priceand thathe was not theone todeterminethe rate.But byand byhe waseducated.Then hesaid to the grocer，s youngman,“Take thisfivehundred dollarsand vanish;Ihavehad youand yourtribe onmy backthree years,and ifeveranother mansaves mywife，s life,let himbuy acoffin,for hewill needit.〃Mr.Rogers wasa greatman.No onedenies himthat praise.He wasgreat inmore waysthan oneways in whichother menare great,waysinwhich hehad nota monopoly;but inthat finetrait一一which Ihave mentionedhe wasuniquely great;he heldthat highplace almostalone,almost withoutasharer.If nobilitiesof characterwere accordeddecorations symbolizingdegrees ofmerit anddistinction,I thinkthis onecould claimrank,unchallenged,with theGarter and the GoldenFleece.But whatI amtrying toplace beforeunfamiliar eyesis theheart ofhim.When thepublishing houseof WebsterCompany failed,in theearly90s,its liabilitiesexceededits assetsby66per cent.I wasmorally boundfor thedebts,though notlegally.The panicwason,business houseswere fallingto ruineverywhere,creditors weretaking theassets--when therewere any--and lettingthe restgo.Old businessfriendsofmine said:Business is business,sentiment issentiment-and thisisbusiness.Turn theassets over to the creditors andcompromiseon that;other creditorsare notgetting33per cent.〃My wifesaid,〃No,you willpayahundredcents on the dollar.，z Mr.Rogers wascertainly abusiness manno onedoubts that.People who一一know himonly byprinted reportwill think they knowwhat hisattitude would be in the matter.And they will bemistaken.He sidedwith mywife.He wasthe onlyman whohadaclear eyeforthe situation,and could see thatit differedfrom other apparently parallelsituations.Insubstance hesaid this:Business hasits lawsand customs,and theyare justified;but aliteraryman，s reputationis hislife;he canafford to be moneypoor,but hecannot affordtobecharacterpoor;you mustearn thecent per cent,and payit.〃My nephew,the lateSamuel E.Moffett-himselfa literaryman-felt in the sameway,naturally enough;but Ionly mentionhim torecall andrevivifya happyremark whichhe made,and whichtraveled aroundthe globe:Honor knowsno statuteoflimitations.So itwas decided.I mustcease fromidling and take upwork again.I mustwrite abook;alsoI mustreturn tothe lectureplatform.My wifesaid I could clearoff theload ofdebt infouryears.Mr.Rogers wasmore cautious,more conservative,more liberal.He said I couldhave asmanyyears as I wantedseven tostart with.That was his joke.When he was not in thehumor一一for pleasantry,itwasbecause he was asleep.Privately I was afraidhis sevenmight be nearerthe markthan Mrs.Clemenss four.One dayI gota shock-a shockwhich disturbedmea good deal.I overhearda briefconversationbetween Mr.Rogers anda coupleof otherseasoned menof affairs.First Manof Affairs.〃Howold isClemens”Mr.Rogers.Fifty—eight.〃First Manof Affairs.Ninety-five per cent of the menwho failat fifty-eight neverget up again.〃Second Manof Affairs.You canmake itninety-eight percent andbenearerright.，z Thosesayingshaunted mefor severaldays,troubling mewith melancholyforebodings,and would not bereasonedaway byme.There wasntany roomfor reasoning,anyway,so farasI couldsee.If,atfifty-eight,ninety-eight menin ahundred whofailnever getupagain,what chancehad Ito drawNo.99or No.100However,thedepression didnot last;it soonpassed away,because Mrs.Clemens tookheralways-ready penciland paper,when shelearned mytrouble,and clearlyandconvincingly cipheredout theintake ofthe fouryears and the resultantsuccess.I couldseethat she was right.Indeed,shewasalways right.In foresight,wisdom,accurate calculation,good judgment,and theability to see allsides of a problem,she hadno matchamong peopleIhave known,except Mr.Rogers.Necessarily ittook agood whileto arrangethe details and makethe engagementsfor alecturetrip aroundthe globe,but thislabor wascompleted atlast,and wemade ourstart in the middleofJuly,1895,booked aheadfor twelvemonths.Meantime hewasincommand,inthematter ofthe creditors-and hadbeen fromthe beginning.Therewere ninety-six creditors.He hadmeetings with them,discussions,arguments,persuasions,butno quarrels.Mrs.Clemens wantedto turnovertothecreditorsthe houseshe hadbuilt inHartford,and whichstood inher name,but he would notallow it.Neither wouldhe allowmy copyrightstogo tothem.Mrs.Clemens hadlent theWebster firm$65,000upon itsnotes,in itsperishing days,inthehope ofsaving itslife,and Mr.Rogers insistedupon makingherapreferred creditor andletting herhave the copyrights inliquidation ofthe notes.He wouldnot budgefrom thisposition,andthecreditors finallyyielded thepoint.Mr.Rogers insistedupon justtwo thingsbesides therelinquishment ofthe copyrights:thecreditors mustbe contentwiththeWebster assets,for thepresent,and giveme timeto earntherest ofthe firmsdebt.He wonthem over.There werea clarityabout hisreasonings,andacharmabout hismanner,his voice,andthekindness andsincerity thatlooked outofhiseyes,thatcould winanybody thathad brainsin hishead anda heartin hisbody.Of theninety-six creditors,only threeor fourstood outfor rigorousand uncompromisingmeasures againstme andrefused torelent.The otherssaidIcould gofree andtake myown time.They saidthey wouldobstruct meinno wayand wouldbring noactions;and theykept theirword.As tothe threeor four,I haveneverresented theiranimosity,except inmy Autobiography.And eventhere,notinspite,notin malice,but onlyfrankly and in onlya briefchapter--a chapterwhich cannever woundthem,for Ihave everyconfidence that theywillbe inhell beforeit isprinted.The long,long headthat Mr.Rogers carriedon hisshoulders!When hewas sostrenuous aboutmycopyrights,and sodetermined tokeep theminthefamily,I wasnot ableto understandwhy heshouldthinkthematter soimportant.He insistedthattheywereagreat asset.I saidthey werenotan assetat all;I couldn，t evengive themaway.He said,wait--let thepanic subsideandbusiness revive,and Iwould see;they wouldbe worthmore thanthey hadever beenworth before.That washis idea--the ideaof afinancier,familiar withfinance;ofacapitalist,deep inrailroads,oil,banks,iron,copper,telegraphs,and soon,and familiarwith thosethings,butwhat couldhe knowabout booksWhat washis opinionabout copyrightvalues worth,if itclashedwith theopinion ofexperienced oldpublishers Whichit did.The Websterfailure threwsevenof mybooks onmy hands.I hadoffered themto threefirst-class publishers;they didn，t wantthem.If Mr.Rogers hadlet Mrs.Clemens andme haveour way,thecopyrightswould havebeen handedovertothepublishers.I amgrateful tohis memoryfor manya kindnessand manyagoodservice hedid me,but gratefulestofall forthe savingof mycopyrights--a servicewhich savedme andmy familyfrom wantand assureduspermanent comfortand prosperity.How couldhe lookinto thefuture andsee allthat,when themen whosetrade andtraining itwasto exercisethat technicalvision wereforecast blindand sawno vestigeof itThis isonly oneexampleofthewonders ofhis mind;his intimatescould citemany others,products ofthat richtreasury.I wasnever ableto teachhim anythingabout finance,though Itried hardand didthe bestIcould.Iwasnot ableto movehim.Once Ihad hopesfor alittle while.The StandardOil declaredoneof itscustomary fury-breeding40-or50-per-cent dividendson its$100,000,000capital,andthe stormbroke out,as usual.To theunposted publica40-or50-per-cent dividendcould meanonlyone thing--the giant Trust wassqueezing anutterly andwickedly unfairprofit outof thehelplesspeople;whereas intruth thegiantTrustwasnotdoing anythingofthekind,but wasgettingonly5or6percentonthemoney actuallyinvested inits business,which waseight ortentimes ahundred millions.In myquality ofuneducated financialexpert Iurged thatthe nominalcapitalbe raisedto$1,000,000,000;then nextyear，s dividendwould dropto4or5percent,the yearsprofit wouldbe thesame asusual,but theusual stormwouldnothappen.If Irememberrightly,I thinkhe offeredthe objectionthatthetenfold increaseof taxeswouldbetoo heavy,and Irejoined thatbytheill-veiled exultationin hiseye Iknew heregarded mysuggestion asofvast valueand wastrying toinvent someplausible wayof gettingoutofpaying acommissionon it.I oftengave himfresh financialideas,quite uninvited;andinreturn-uninvited-he toldmehow towrite myliterature better;but nothingcame ofit,both ofus remainedas pooras ever.Unconsciously weall havea standardby which we measureother men,and ifwe examinecloselywe findthat thisstandard isa verysimple one,and isthis:we admirethem,we envythem,forgreat qualitieswhichweourselves lack.Hero worshipconsists injust that.Our heroesare themenwho dothings whichwe recognize,with regret,and sometimeswith asecret shame,that wecannotdo.We findnot muchin ourselvesto admire,we arealways privatelywanting tobe likesomebodyelse.If everybodywas satisfiedwith himself,there wouldbe noheroes.Mr.Rogers wasendowed withmany greatqualities;but theone whichI mostadmired,and whichwasto mea constantreproach becauseI lackedit,washisunselfishness wherea friendoracausethat wasnear hisheart wasconcerned,and hisnative readinessto comeforward andtake vigorousholdofthedifficulty involvedand abolishit.Iwasborn toindolence,idleness,procrastination,indifference--the qualitiesthat constitutea shirk;and sohewasalways awonder to me,anda delight-he whonever shirkedanything,but kepthis masterbrain andhis masterhands goingallday long,and everyday,andwashappiest whenhewasbusiest,and apparentlylightest ofheartwhen hisburden oflabor andduty washeaviest.He couldtake trouble;Icouldnot taketrouble,either formyself orfor anyoneelse.I dreadedanythingthat mightdisturb myease andcomfort,and wouldput thatthing fromme evenwhen itcostme shameto doit;and sotoseehim taketrouble,no endof trouble,days anddays oftrouble,andtakeit sopatiently,so placidly,so interestedlyand soaffectionately,too,if itwas一一for somebodyelse wastomea strangeand marvelousthing,and beautiful.It probablynever一一occurred tohim toadmire it;no,hewouldbe occupiedin admiringsome qualityin someone elsewhichwas lackingin hisown composition.The questionof whatisagentleman wasbeing thrashedout inthe newspapersshortly afterMr.Rogers，s death,and manydefinitions werefurnished,but nodecision reached.The largerpartof thedefinitions werein substancealike,differing onlyin smalldetailsanddelicate shadings.They painteda loftyand charmingand lovablepersonality.Mr.Rogers couldhave satfor thatportrait.。