Some succeed while others fail. This is a recognized fact; yet history tells us that seven-tenths of our most successful men began life poor. A selection of mini-biographies teaches us how some successful men have overcome odds to make their mark on history. There need neither reasons to be given nor apologies to be made where the benefit of our fellow-men is our aim. Henry Clay Trumbull says: At no time in the world's history, probably, has there been so general an interest in biography as that which has been shown of late. Just here lies a weighty obligation upon these who write, and those who read, of the lives of men who have done something in the world.
