This is not a biography, it is a sketch; possibly I might say it is an
outline. At any rate the life of our subject can not be written till
other chapters are added, and the end comes. May it be long delayed.

The intense culmination of forces in the busy period of a man's life
renders it fruitful in material for a sketch. What a successful man, of
marked force of character, has done, may be an incentive and an
encouragement to others. Perhaps this was Longfellow's chief thought
when he penned the "Psalm of Life:"

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime.

The lives of great men, and conspicuously that of the subject of this
sketch, prove that, in this country, a boy need not be born with a
silver spoon in his mouth, nor with a brilliant speech on his lips, to
reach eminent success, and be held in high honor; but that the noblest
results of a life of industry and frugality, and the highest honors any
worthy ambition can crave, are within reach of the boy who has energy,
courage, integrity of purpose, and purity of character. By their native
energy some of the most conspicuous men of our time have made their way
against obstacles which would have been too much for less sturdy wills.
Whatever deficiencies there may have been in their early training were
largely atoned for by native energy and force of character. Because this
is all true of the subject of this paper, we tell the story in the hope
that some other struggling boy may take courage from his example.

HIS START IN LIFE.

Rodney Wallace was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, December 21,
1823, and is therefore in the full vigor of manhood. We may infer that
his boyhood was not blessed with the advantages which usually crown the
early life of so many lads, and strew their path with roses, from the
fact that at the age of twelve he left home to work on a farm for wages,
with agreement for limited opportunities for schooling. He is a son of
David and Roxanna Wallace.

It seems likely that the family is of Scotch origin. David Wallace
seemed to think so, since he dropped the spelling Wallis, and adopted
the form in which the name is now written. In 1639, Robert Wallis was
living in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Benoni Wallis, of this family, removed
to Lunenburg and there married Rebecca Morse, of Lynn, July 2, 1755. She
died in Lunenburg August 25, 1790, and he died March 15, 1792. David,
son of Benoni and Rebecca Wallis, was born Oct