CHAPTER X 



KIRK B. ARMOUR AS I KNEW HIM 



MANY references in this series have been made 

 to the late Kirk B. Armour. They are inter- 

 woven with his association with men and events in 

 preceding chapters. I shall therefore try to make 

 this sketch resemble an intimate personal portrait. 

 I came in contact with him by chance in 1889. It was 

 one of those chances which confirm the thought that 

 while it is every man's province to figure his future, 

 as one would do a sum, the real influences in our lives 

 usually come from the most unexpected sources. This 

 statement sounds fatalistic, but it is not so intended. 

 Senator Ingalls wrote that "opportunity knocks but 

 once and, passing, knocks no more" ; but he was mis- 

 taken. It is knocking all the time; and intelligence, 

 intuition, or free moral agency decides what oppor- 

 tunity offers. 



I had gone into the Kansas City Armour's office 

 with a Government inspector, who had some business 

 there, while I had none. As I sat waiting, practically 

 without realizing why it was done, I walked into the 

 main office, and asked if the house needed anyone on 

 the trade-getting side. I then came for the first time 

 in contact with a personality which has had a domi- 



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