"Oh yes! Steve White was a great man," said the Observer, as he chalked
his cue and reflectively gazed at the balls, "but he was born in that
class. If he hadn't been, Stephen Mallory White would probably have
cut no greater figure in the world than any other man.

"Did you ever hear of a man who wasn't born in some country village,
'of poor but honest parents,' amounting to a row of pins? Not on your
life! It's the true and only essential of greatness. Yes, there are
lots of fellows fixed that way who don't make their mark, but that's
because they don't try.

"Everybody knows how Carnegie got his start; didn't Lincoln use to
chop wood for a living, and Garfield drive a canal boat team? Wasn't
Gould a messenger boy, and General Miles a private? It's a 'cinch,'
a 'kismet.' Fate has posted a great big placard over the door to Fame
and it says, 'None But Impecunious Young Countrymen Need Apply.'

"That is why I always thought reincarnation was a good scheme. The
Theosophists say that every soul must pass through a certain number of
experiences, before it can attain perfection. Now, here's a chance for
some unfortunate scion of wealth or nobility, who has lived a useless
and uneventful life, and wants to do something for his country.

"He can go to some secluded hamlet, inquire as to the probable date
of the next birth in the neighborhood, and, when things are in shape,
he can blow out the gas some night and wake up the next morning as a
new-born babe, with all the elements of greatness strong upon him.

"When this fact becomes generally known, people will donate their
funds to charitable institutions and move to the country to raise