Henry Bradley Plant.
THE LIFE OF
HENRY BRADLEY PLANT
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE PLANT SYSTEM
OF RAILROADS AND STEAMSHIPS AND ALSO
OF THE SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY
BY
G. HUTCHINSON SMYTH, D.D.
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1898
Compliments of
The Author.
Copyright, 1898
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
PREFACE.
IF it be asked why another biography is added to the almost endlessnumber now in our bookstores and libraries, an answer is found in thecountless distinctions of individual character, and in the variedexperiences which come to men in different walks of life. The botanistsays that of all leaves in the forests of the world, no two can be foundalike in every particular. The phrenologist says the same of the variousforms of the human head, and the psychologist affirms it of theintellects and dispositions of men and women. Hence each life has itsown peculiar experience to record for the pleasure or profit of others.
Biography is the most universally interesting and instructive branch ofliterature; hence the power of the novel and drama, which are merelybiographies pictured and acted before us. A study of history shows thatthe nations’ great movements are the work of individual men and women.In illustration of this fact it is needful to mention such{iv} names onlyas Abraham, Joseph, Esther, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, and Washington.
The commercial and industrial occupations from which a nation nowderives its strength should be honored as truly as the military exploit,or the scientific achievement. The record of a noble life which, in itssphere of quiet duty, has accomplished much for the good of others, is alesson in patriotism and a legacy to posterity. The best period of thehistory of the Cotton States could only be wr