As a boy Frankie Woolworth believed in the motto, "You can get what you want if you try hard enough." Frankie picked up this motto from Napoleon Bonaparte, one of his favorite heroes.

Mr. Woolworth, Frankie's father, owned a farm near Great Bend, New York. The land was poor and produced very few crops. Frankie and his brother Charles Sumner helped their father on the farm, but Frankie didn't like farming. Even as a small boy he wanted to become a storekeeper.

There was a general store only a few miles from the farm. Frankie never had much money to spend, but he often went to the store to look at things on the counters and shelves. He was fascinated by the many things that he saw in the store. 

One time when he went to the store, he had five pennies to spend for candy. He looked in the show case and was stunned by the array of sweets spread out before him—green spearmint leaves, long peppermint sticks, rainbow-colored jawbreakers, spice balls, gumdrops, lemon drops, licorice whips. He was so overwhelmed that he could hardly decide which kind to buy.

Frankie went to school regularly until he was sixteen years of age. His father had no money to send him away to college, but he attended a near-by commercial school four evenings a week for six weeks. At the end of his course he was granted a certificate for proficiency in bookkeeping.

Finally Frankie broke away from the farm and started to clerk in a store. Soon he obtained a position in a much larger store, where he had an opportunity to set up a counter of five-cent articles. The venture succeeded and gave him the germ of an idea for a big business career.

A few years later Frank W. Woolworth borrowed three hundred dollars to establish a five-cent store in Utica, New York. This store failed and he borrowed three hundred dollars more to start another store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This store succeeded and led to the founding of several other stores. Then in 1912, with the help of his brother Charles Sumner, he formally organized the F. W. Woolworth Company.

Elisabeth P. Myers has written an inspiring story about this famous American merchant. She clearly portrays his determination and perseverance, which combined to enable him to win both fame and riches.

From the dust jacket