A Fleece of Gold

anager of a railroad. At twenty-one Edward Everett was professor of Greek Literature at Harvard, and James Russell Lowell had published a whole volume of his poems; at twenty-two Charles Sumner had attracted the attention of some of the famous men of his day, William H. Seward had entered upon a brilliant political career, while Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry D. Thoreau occupied a conspicuous place in literature. At twenty-three James Monroe was a member of the Executive Council, and one year later was elected to Congress; at twenty-four Thomas A. Edison and Richard Jordan Gatling were inventors. At twenty-five John C. Calhoun made the famous speech that gave him a seat in the Legislature, George William Curtis had traversed Italy, Germany, and the Orient and soon after became known by his books of travel. At twenty-six Thomas Jefferson occupied a seat in the House of Burgesses, John Quincy Adams was minister to The Hague; at twenty-seven Patrick Henry was known as the "Orator of Nature," and Robert Y. Hayne w