Acres of Diamonds

_By_ RUSSELL H. CONWELL

VOLUME 2

NATIONAL EXTENSION UNIVERSITY

597 Fifth Avenue, New York

ACRES OF DIAMONDS

Copyright, 1915, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America

_An Appreciation of Russell H. Conwell_

AN APPRECIATION

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.

[Illustration: His yoke fellow John Wanamaker]

_Acres of Diamonds_

_Friends._--This lecture has been delivered under these circumstances: I visit a town or city, and try to arrive there early enough to see the postmaster, the barber, the keeper of the hotel, the principal of the schools, and the ministers of some of the churches, and then go into some of the factories and stores, and talk with the people, and get into sympathy with the local conditions of that town or city and see what has been their history, what opportunities they had, and what they had failed to do--and every town fails to do something--and then go to the lecture and talk to those people about the subjects which applied to their locality. "Acres of Diamonds"--the idea--has continuously been precisely the same. The idea is that in this country of ours every man has the opportunity to make more of himself than he does in his own environment, with his own skill, with his own energy, and with his own friends.

Table of contents (by pages)

• 1: Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell
• 2: Ali Hafed heard all about diamonds
• 3: What do you want with diamonds
• 4: There was a man living in Pennsylvania
• 5: And yet he is said to have sold the whole of it for $833
• 6: It is a fact that the diamonds were there
• 7: Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel
• 8: Or by the shortcomings of some one else
• 9: You belong to another denomination
• 10: Why is every one around here asking for jack knives
• 11: I cannot take up the mercantile business
• 12: How much did this limousine cost
• 13: Adjusted his unseeing eye glass
• 14: What was John Jacob Astor doing out there
• 15: There was a poor man out of work living in Hingham
• 16: If a woman can invent a Jacquard loom
• 17: The great inventor sits next to you
• 18: Then Tad and I are going out to Springfield
• 19: Why does New York excel Philadelphia
• 20: Who was an enlisted colored soldier
• 21: Because he assumed an elocutionary attitude
• 22: It happened to be delivered in Philadelphia