Hello, my name is Finn, and I'm going to help you understand this book.
Here it is, explained like you are 10:
A farmer hears about diamonds far away, sells his farm, and wanders the world looking for riches. He comes home poor and tired, and learns that diamonds were found in the very farm he sold. A preacher told that story thousands of times to say: look closely at what is already in your hands. This book holds his famous talk and the story of his life, which funded a university.
Our volume is the book form of Conwell's phenomenon: the lecture Acres of Diamonds, plus Robert Shackleton's biography His Life and Achievements in nine chapters and the shorter piece Fifty Years on the Lecture Platform, framed by an appreciation. Conwell, a former Civil War captain turned Baptist minister, told the lecture's story some six thousand times between the 1870s and his death in 1925, and used the proceeds, millions of dollars, to found and endow Temple University in Philadelphia.
The lecture itself is a string of stories proving one thesis, that opportunity lies at home: Ali Hafed, who sold his farm to hunt diamonds and died destitute while diamonds were discovered on the land he sold; the Swiss guide, the Pennsylvania farmers and oil men who nearly saw what was under their feet. It made Conwell the most heard speaker in America before radio.
Read the biography for the man (soldier, lawyer, journalist, preacher, university builder) and the lecture for the voice that filled halls without a microphone. Together they explain a whole era of American optimism, and its price.
Russell Conwell was a Baptist preacher in Philadelphia who delivered his lecture Acres of Diamonds more than six thousand times and used the money to found Temple University. The lecture tells of a farmer who sold his land to search the world for diamonds, which were found, of course, in his own backyard. This volume adds the story of Conwell's life, written by his friend Robert Shackleton.
The first chapter
THOUGH Russell H. Conwell’s Acres of Diamonds have been spread all over the United States, time and care have made them more valuable, and now that they have been reset in black and white by their discoverer, they are to be laid in the hands of a multitude for their enrichment.
In the same case with these gems there is a fascinating story of the Master Jeweler’s life-work which splendidly illustrates the ultimate unit of power by showing what one man can do in one day and what one life is worth to the world.
As his neighbor and intimate friend in Philadelphia for thirty years, I am free to say that Russell H. Conwell’s tall, manly figure stands out in the state of Pennsylvania as its first citizen and “The Big Brother” of its seven millions of people.
From the beginning of his career he has been a credible witness in the Court of Public Works to the truth of the strong language of the New Testament Parable where it says, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place,’ AND IT SHALL REMOVE AND NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE UNTO YOU.”
As a student, schoolmaster, lawyer, preacher, organizer, thinker and writer, lecturer, educator, diplomat, and leader of men, he has made his mark on his city and state and the times in which he has lived. A man dies, but his good work lives.
His ideas, ideals, and enthusiasms have inspired tens of thousands of lives. A book full of the energetics of a master workman is just what every young man cares for.
1915. {signature}
Source: Project Gutenberg. Published 1890. Author died 1925. Public domain worldwide. Share this book: WhatsApp
Starvard