At the age of fourteen he was sufficiently advanced in his studies to
enter college, but judicious friends restrained him in order that his
physique might be brought up to his intellectual growth, and presently
circumstances diverted the boy from his immediate educational
aspirations and thrust him into the arena of business:--the world may
have lost a lawyer, a clergyman, a physician, or an engineer, but by
this change in his youthful plans it certainly has gained a great
publisher--a man whose influence in literature is extended, and who, by
his powerful individuality, his executive force, and his originating
brain has accomplished a literary revolution.

To understand the business career of Daniel Lothrop it will be necessary
to trace the origin and progress of the firm of D. Lothrop and Company.
On reaching his decision to remain out of college for a year he assumed
charge of the drug store, then recently opened by his eldest brother,
James E. Lothrop, who, desiring to attend medical lectures in
Philadelphia, confidently invited his brother Daniel to carry on the
business during his absence.

"He urged the young boy to take charge of the store, promising as
an extra inducement an equal division as to profits, and that the
firm should read 'D. Lothrop & Co.' This last was too much for our
ambitious lad. When five years of age he had scratched on a piece
of tin these magic words, opening to fame and honor, 'D. Lothrop &
Co.,' nailing the embryo sign against the door of his play house.
How then could he resist, now, at fourteen? And why not spend the
vacation in this manner? And so the sign was made and put up, and
thus began the house of 'D. Lothrop & Co.,' the name of which is
spoken as a household word wherever the English language is used,
and whose publications are loved in more than one of the royal