○  russell conwell : acres of diamonds  ○

i remember another illustration. i would leave it out but for the fact that when you go to the library to read this lecture, you will find this has been printed in it for twenty-five years. i shut my eyes-shut them close-and lo! i see the faces of my youth. yes, they sometimes say to me, “you hair is not white; you are working night and day without seeming ever to stop; you can't be old.” but when i shut my eyes, like any other man of my years, oh, then come trooping back the faces of the loved and lost of long ago, and i know, whatever men may say, it is evening-time.

i shut my eyes now and look back to my native town in massachusetts, and i see the cattle-show ground on the mountain-top; i can see the horse-sheds there. i can see the congregational church; see the town hall and mountaineers’ cottages; see a great assembly of people turning out, dressed resplendently, and i can see flags flying and handkerchiefs waving and hear bands playing. i can see that company of soldiers that had re-enlisted marching up on that cattle-show ground. i was but a boy, but i was captain of that company and puffed out with pride. a cambric needle would have burst me all to pieces. then i thought it was the greatest event that ever came to man on earth. if you have ever thought you would like to be king or queen, you go and be received by the mayor.

the bands played, and all the people turned out to receive us. i marched up that common so proud at the head of my troops, and we turned down into the town hall. then they seated my soldiers down the center aisle and i sat down on the front seat. a great assembly of people-a hundred or two-came in to fill the town hall, so that they stood up all around. then the town officers came in and formed a half-circle. the mayor of the town sat in the middle of the platform. he was a man who had never held office before; but he was a good man, and his friends have told me tha

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