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FROM NEWSBOY TO 



MERCHANT PRINCE 



Some talented men are unsuccessful because unable to select the business 

 for which they are best fitted. They cling desperately to the wrong occupa^ 

 Hon or flit unavailingly from one enterprise to another. Not so did Henry 

 Penn; while still a schoolboy, he resolutely chose the path to prosperity. 





IB Joshua Beynolds, on^be- 



Sing asked to state the at- 

 tributes of true genius, re- 

 plied: "Genius is nothing 

 but the intense direction 

 of mind to some intel- 

 V^\^ lectual object — the concen- 

 r*| $*^ tration of all our powers 

 _=!^==-'J to it, which leads to dis- 

 regard of all toils and ob- 

 stacles in the attainment of it and, if 

 strong enough, ultimately will bring 

 success. ' ' 



Many members of the florists' trade 

 today, if measured by such a standard, 

 might rightfully be regarded as 

 geniuses. They have conceived ideals, 

 the attainment of which would tend to 

 the betterment of their vocation. Among 

 such men, Henry Penn, of Boston, Mass., 

 stands forth prominently. Unlike those 

 of our confreres whose ambition in life 

 is to produce two flowers where one 

 formerly was pro- . ■ ' 



duced, he has as- 

 sumed the task of 

 making it possible 

 to sell two flowers 

 where one former- 

 ly was sold. 



The Newsboy. 



As a boy, Henry 

 Penn was poor — 

 so poor, in fact, 

 that necessity di- 

 rected his foot- 

 steps > into the 

 pathways of com- 

 merce at an age 

 when most boys 

 are giving much 

 proud attention to 

 the manliness of 

 appearance that 

 they have attained 

 in passing from 

 short trousers to 

 long. The natural 

 playtime of his 

 youth was spent 

 selling newspapers 

 on the streets of 

 Boston. Competi- 

 tion was stiff and 

 strong-arm meth- 

 ods frequently 



were used in restraining members of the 

 craft when their ambition led them to 

 seek business beyond understood terri- 

 torial limits. This fact did not deter 

 Penn in the legitimate extension of his 

 business. So his ready smile, with the 

 unconscious use of the principles of 

 psychology in creating a favorable im- 



By CHARLES N. COTTER. 



pression on the public, soon won for 

 him a clientele that afforded remunera- 

 tion in excess of that earned by his 

 most persistent competitors. 



Natural thrift caused him to set aside 

 a reserve from his meager earnings, and 

 an inherited commercial instinct kept 

 him alert to take advantage of oppor- 

 tunities wherein a dollar invested might 

 earn a dollar. 



The Street Vender of Flowers. 



The florists' business in those days 

 was of uncertain standards. The de- 

 mand for flowers was centered among a 

 few of the well-to-do of the community, 

 and retail stores were few and far be- 

 tween. Wholesale stores were conspicu- 

 ous by their absence and the prevail- 

 ing custom was for the growers either 



Penn was President of the Class of 1892, Eliot Grammar School, Boston. 



In preparation for this class plctnre, Henry Penn (in circle) bedecked himself and two of his chums with 



white carnations left from his prevloas night's sales, for he had already 



embarked in the florists' trade. 



to carry their flowers from store to store, 

 or, as memory recalls, to congregate in 

 the back of a saloon, where the buyers 

 for the stores would come and select 

 the flowers they needed for the day's 

 business. 



The popular rendezvous of the grow- 

 ers was located in the center of Henry 



Penn's newspaper area and a tremen- 

 dous love for flowers would attract him 

 there whenever a lull in his newspaper 

 business permitted. His pleasing per- 

 sonality soon won him a warm spot in 

 the hearts of the florists who daily met 

 there, and a strong friendship between 

 them and the smiling newsboy came into 

 being. 



Business with the florists was not 

 always what it might have been, and 

 loss of stock, through inability to mar- 

 ket it, was a frequent occurrence. This 

 fact loomed up in Penn 's mind as a won- 

 derful opportiinity • for gain. ' * Why 

 wouldn 't it be possible to buy such stock 

 and exploit it among my newspaper cus- 

 tomers?" was his thought. With char- 

 acteristic promptitude, he put the idea 

 to a test. The result was startling to 

 him in the extent of the success 

 achieved, and from then on flowers be- 

 came his business and his hobby. The 



profits soon be- 

 came large enougli 

 to suggest the ad- 

 visability of open- 

 ing a store. 



The Merchant. 



He consulted 

 some of his friends 

 among the growers 

 as to the advisa- 

 bility of such a 

 plan, and their en- 

 thusiastic encour- 

 agement swept 

 away the doubts 

 in his mind regard- 

 ing the logic of so 

 important a step. 



A location was 

 secured in the 

 heart of Boston's 

 financial district, 

 and the former 

 newsboy made his 

 debut as a respon- 

 sible merchant. 



Business was 

 slow at first, pain- 

 fully slow, and 

 there were times 

 when optimism 

 was at a low ebb 

 and the grim spec- 

 ter of failure haunted his vision. Loss 

 of stock, occasioned by lack of oppor- 

 tunities to sell, cut heavily into the 

 meager capital he had to commence 

 business with, and for a while it ap- 

 peared as though the end of Penn as a 

 business man was but a matter of days. 

 As the darkness of night becomes most 



