No, it was not luck.
It was hard work. Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having,
except as the result of hard work. When Mr. Huntington gave me
the first two dollars, I did not blame him for not giving me
more, but made up my mind that I was going to convince him by
tangible results that we were worthy of larger gifts. For a dozen
years I made a strong effort to convince Mr. Huntington of the
value of our work. I noted that just in proportion as the
usefulness of the school grew, his donations increased. Never did
I meet an individual who took a more kindly and sympathetic
interest in our school than did Mr. Huntington. He not only gave
money to us, but took time in which to advise me, as a father
would a son, about the general conduct of the school.
More than once I have found myself in some pretty tight places
while collecting money in the North. The following incident I
have never related but once before, for the reason that I feared
that people would not believe it. One morning I found myself in
Providence, Rhode Island, without a cent of money with which to
buy breakfast. In crossing the street to see a lady from whom I
hoped to get some money, I found a bright new twenty-five-cent
piece in the middle of the street track. I not only had this
twenty-five cents for my breakfast, but within a few minutes I
had a donation from the lady on whom I had started to call.
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