He had known the sons of rich men at college, and some of them had been his friends.

It was quite the natural and accepted order of things that some children should be born to sheltered, pampered lives, while others were obliged to hew their own way to success.

He had observed in college that the sons of the rich had a pretty good time of it; but he had gone his own way unenviously.

It was not easy to classify young Thatcher.

He was clearly an exotic, a curious pale flower with healthy roots and a yearning for clean, free air.