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ACRES OF DIAMONDS BY RUSSELL H. CONWELL FOUNDER OF TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PHILADELPHIA
HIS LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS BY ROBERT SHACKLETON With an Autobiographical Note

ACRES OF DIAMONDS

CONTENTS
ACRES OF DIAMONDS HIS LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS I. THE STORY OF THE SWORD II. THE BEGINNING AT OLD LEXINGTON III. STORY OF THE FIFTY-SEVEN CENTS IV. HIS POWER AS ORATOR AND PREACHER V. GIFT FOR INSPIRING OTHERS VI. MILLIONS OF HEARERS VII. HOW A UNIVERSITY WAS FOUNDED VIII. HIS SPLENDID EFFICIENCY IX. THE STORY OF ``ACRES OF DIAMONDS'' FIFTY YEARS ON THE LECTURE PLATFORM

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. {signature}

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. RUSSELL H. CONWELL.

ACRES OF DIAMONDS
[1]
This is the most recent and complete form of the lecture. It happened to be delivered in Philadelphia, Dr. Conwell's home city. When he says ``right here in Philadelphia,'' he means the home city, town, or village of every reader of this book, just as he would use the name of it if delivering the lecture there, instead of doing it through the pages which follow.
WHEN going down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers many years ago with a party of English travelers I found myself under the direction of an old Arab guide whom we hired up at Bagdad, and I have often thought how that guide resembled our barbers in certain mental characteristics. He thought that it was not only his duty to guide us down those rivers, and do what he was paid for doing, but also to entertain us with stories curious and weird, ancient and modern, strange and familiar. Many of them I have forgotten, and I am glad I have, but there is one I shall never forget.
The old guide was leading my camel by its halter along the banks of those ancient rivers, and he told me story after story until I grew weary of his story-telling and ceased to listen.