Unfortunately, for him, he lacked in a great measure the two things that are necessary for distinction in any field--magnetism and vision.

He was not destined to be a great financier, though he was marked out to be a moderately successful one.
Mrs.Cowperwood was of a religious temperament--a small woman, with light-brown hair and clear, brown eyes, who had been very attractive in her day, but had become rather prim and matter-of-fact and inclined to take very seriously the maternal care of her three sons and one daughter.

The former, captained by Frank, the eldest, were a source of considerable annoyance to her, for they were forever making expeditions to different parts of the city, getting in with bad boys, probably, and seeing and hearing things they should neither see nor hear.
Frank Cowperwood, even at ten, was a natural-born leader.

At the day school he attended, and later at the Central High School, he was looked upon as one whose common sense could unquestionably be trusted in all cases.

He was a sturdy youth, courageous and defiant.