Andrew Carnegie’s father was a Scottish weaver. His mother, in addition to her household work use to work as an assistant with a washer man & a cobbler. This covered the household expenses of the Carnegie family. The parents loved each other too deeply. Everyday when his mother went for her menial jobs she was given a send off as if they were just married! This had a great effect on young Carnegie. Carnegie had only one shirt to wear. His mother used to wash it everyday & neatly press it.
Carnegie did not get a chance to have sufficient formal education. But he cultured many good habits from his family which was immersed in love. when he grew a little, he got the job of a hawker in local Telegraph office. Gradually with time he learnt the technique of sending & receiving telegrams. He passed some departmental tests to acquire the job of a telegraph clerk. He subsequently saved some money to purchase a piece of farm land! In addition to farm produce his land gave him an oil well. These & other businesses made him comfortable on financial front.
Many young girls proposed to marry him but he did not relent. He had one answers for all the suitors,”Miss, as my mother is with me, alive, I can not marry, because my ‘time’ and my ‘mind’ will have to be divided for my mother and for my wife. I want to take her care, myself.”
He married at an late age of 52 years after the demise of his mother. When people criticized him for late marriage, some even made fun of him, he gave them a cool reply,”Marriage is not done only for companionship & sex-gratification. I have fulfilled most of the requirements of family life.”
Even after marriage, Andrew Carnegie financially supported communities of orphaned children and even the weaker section of the society, in the field of education. He spent over $1500 million. When he learnt that he has to leave this world, he destroyed all the bonds, people had taken loan in lieu of & made them free of debt.
In any society such people are called Divine Personalities! When their number is more in a society or in a country, the nation flourishes beyond human imaginations.
Pragyapuran3, Pg-19
Categories