From his ignominious days as an office boy in post-Civil War Manhattan to a social and corporate position so triumphant that "an eminently successful New York business man, president of one of the largest and oldest concerns in the United States" urged him to pass along his profound lessons on life and work, this is the story of William Ingraham Russell. Simply and enthusiastically, Russell relates investments up and downs, the charms of married life with his beloved wife and children, the difficulties and benefits of working with partners, problems with aggressive creditors, and much more. Husband, father, businessman, and charming teller of his own tale, Russell, in this 1907 book, has given us a rare intimate look at one man's ordinary life in the late 19th and early 20th century.