left undone to produce the finest results. And he followed his
convictions of building as though the trade was going to last, and his
courage in acting up to his beliefs laid strong foundations for later
years.

There are a number of people still alive who will recall the bright,
straightforward young Flagler of those days with satisfaction. At the
time when we bought certain refineries at Cleveland he was very
active. One day he met an old friend on the street, a German baker, to
whom he had sold flour in years gone by. His friend told him that he
had gone out of the bakery business and had built a little refinery.
This surprised Mr. Flagler, and he didn't like the idea of his friend
investing his little fortune in a small plant which he felt sure would
not succeed. But at first there seemed nothing to do about it. He had
it on his mind for some days. It evidently troubled him. Finally he
came to me and said:

"That little baker man knows more about baking than oil refining, but
I'd feel better if we invited him to join us--I've got him on my
conscience."

I of course agreed. He talked to his friend, who said he would gladly
sell if we would send an appraiser to value his plant, which we did,
and then there arose an unexpected difficulty. The price at which the
plant was to be purchased was satisfactory, but the ex-baker insisted
that Mr. Flagler should advise him whether he should take his pay in
cash or Standard Oil certificates at par. He told Mr. Flagler that if
he took it in cash it would pay all his debts, and he would be glad to
have his mind free of many anxieties; but if Mr. Flagler said the
certificates were going to pay good dividends, he wanted to get into