He knew that some of these men, too, had been deprived of the advantage of collegiate training, and yet they had risen to the top.

But how?
The boy decided to read about these men and others, and find out.

He could not, however, afford the separate biographies, so he went to the libraries to find a compendium that would authoritatively tell him of all successful men.

He found it in Appleton's _Encyclopaedia_, and, determining to have only the best, he saved his luncheon money, walked instead of riding the five miles to his Brooklyn home, and, after a period of saving, had his reward in the first purchase from his own earnings: a set of the _Encyclopaedia_.

He now read about all the successful men, and was encouraged to find that in many cases their beginnings had been as modest as his own, and their opportunities of education as limited.
One day it occurred to him to test the accuracy of the biographies he was reading.