And this is how it came about. A vacancy on the
Board of Directors unexpectedly occurred in October, 1912, while I was in
Paris on my way home from a holiday in Switzerland and Italy. I there
received a letter informing me that the Board would offer me the vacant
seat if it really was my wish to retire so soon. Not a moment did I
hesitate. Such an opportunity might never come again; so like a prudent
man, I "grasped the skirts of happy chance," and the 5th day of November,
1912, saw me duly installed as a Director of the Company which I had
served as Manager for close upon twenty-two years. It was an early age,
perhaps, to retire from that active life to which I had been accustomed,
but as Doctor Johnson says, "No man is obliged to do as much as he can
do. A man is to have a part of his life to himself." I made the plunge
and have never since regretted it. It has given me more leisure for
pursuits I love, and time has never hung heavy on my hands. On the
contrary, I have found the days and hours all too short. Coincident with
this change came a piece of good fortune of which I could not have
availed myself had not this alteration in my circumstances taken place.
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