Resources for History Buffs
How Faith and the Fadeaway
Changed the Game
Determined to prove that he could help his team win by pitching, Christy practiced secretly behind his house day after day. He threw a baseball at a knothole in the barn wall, and he got better and better with his aim. So good was his control that when he went hunting as a child, he never carried a gun but took round stones instead.
Published in Cadet Quest, Jan. 2018
Emperor of the United States
Norton soon multiplied his business ventures. He opened a cigar factory and erected a large building, renting office space to fellow businessmen. He built a rice mill to meet the growing demands of the increasing Chinese population of the city. By 1855, he had amassed a fortune estimated at more than a quarter of a million dollars. His friends and associates began referring to him as “the emperor.”
Published in True West, Nov. 2016
John Wanamaker: The King of Retail
People conducted business a little differently then than they do today. Retail stores usually specialized in only one or two types of products and had no set business hours. Clerks received no formal training. Clerks and customers haggled over the price of everything. Identical items might have several different prices. People expected merchants to try to cheat them. Merchants made customers feel inferior; shopping was seldom pleasurable. A dissatisfied customer could not return a product for refund or exchange. The business motto was caveat emptor: “Let the buyer beware.” John Wanamaker changed all that.
Published in Homeschooling Today, July-Aug. 2005