ELBERT HUBBARD II
ELIZABETH B. BROWNING
MADAME GUYON
HARRIET MARTINEAU
CHARLOTTE BRONTE
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
ROSA BONHEUR
MADAME DE STAEL
ELIZABETH FRY
MARY LAMB
JANE AUSTEN
EMPRESS JOSEPHINE
MARY W. SHELLEY
We are not sent into this world to do anything intowhich we can not put our hearts. We have certainwork to do for our bread and that is to be done strenuously,other work to do for our delight and that is tobe done heartily; neither is to be done by halves orshifts, but with a will; and what is not worth this effortis not to be done at all.
—John Ruskin
I am Elbert Hubbard's son, and Iam entirely familiar with the propositionthat "Genius never reproduces."
Heretofore, it has always been necessaryto sign my name, "ElbertHubbard II"—but now there is anembarrassment in that signature,an assumption that I do not feel.
There is no Second Elbert Hubbard. To five hundredRoycrofters, to the Village of East Aurora, and to afew dozen personal friends scattered over the face ofthe earth, I am Bert Hubbard, plain Bert Hubbard—andas Bert Hubbard I want to be known to you.
I lay no claim to having inherited Elbert Hubbard'sGenius, his Personality, his Insight into the HumanHeart. I am another and totally different sort of man.
I know my limitations.
Also, I am acquainted with such ability as I possess,and I believe that it can be directed to serve you.
I got my schooling in East Aurora.
I have never been to College. But I have traveled acrossthis Country several times with my Father.
I havetraveled abroad with him. One time we walked fromEdinburgh to London to prove that we could do it.
My Father has been my teacher—and I do not at allenvy the College Man.
For the last twenty years Ihave been working in the Roycroft Shops.
I believeI am well grounded in Business—also, in Work.
When I was twelve years old my father transferred AliBaba to the garden—and I did the chores around thehouse and barn for a dollar a week. From that dayforward I earned every dollar that ever came to me.
I fed the printing-press at four dollars a week. Then,when we purchased a gas-engine, I was promoted to beengineer, and given a pair of long overalls.
Two or three years later I was moved into the GeneralOffice, where I opened mail and filled in orders.
Again, I was promoted into the Private Office andpermitted to sign my name under m