As a boy Daniel is remembered as possessing a retentive and singularly accurate memory; as very studious, seeking eagerly for knowledge, and rapidly absorbing it.  His intuitive mastery of the relations of numbers, his grasp of the values and mysteries of the higher mathematics, was early remarkable.  It might be reasonably expected of the child of seven who was brought down from the primary benches and lifted up to the blackboard to demonstrate a difficult problem in cube root to the big boys and girls of the upper class that he should make rapid and masterful business combinations in later life.

At the age of fourteen he was sufficiently advanced in his studies to enter college, but judicious friends restrained him in order that his physique might be brought up to his intellectual growth, and presently circumstances diverted the boy from his immediate educational aspirations and thrust him into the arena of business:—­the world may have lost a lawyer, a clergyman, a physician, or an engineer, but by this change in his youthful plans it certainly has gained a great publisher—­a man whose influence in literature is extended, and who, by his powerful individuality, his executive force, and his originating brain has accomplished a literary revolution.

To understand the business career of Daniel Lothrop it will be necessary to trace the origin and progress of the firm of D. Lothrop and Company.  On reaching his decision to remain out of college for a year he assumed charge of the drug store, then recently opened by his eldest brother, James E. Lothrop, who, desiring to attend medical lectures in Philadelphia, confidently invited his brother Daniel to carry on the business during his absence.

“He urged the young boy to take charge of the store, promising as an extra inducement an equal division as to profits, and that the firm should read ‘D.  Lothrop & Co.’  This last was too much for our ambitious lad.  When five years of age he had scratched on a piece of tin these magic words, opening to fame and honor, ’D.  Lothrop & Co.,’ nailing the embryo sign against the door of his play house.  How then could he resist, now, at fourteen?  And why not spend the vacation in this manner?  And so the sign was made and put up, and thus began the house of ‘D.  Lothrop & Co.,’ the name of which is spoken as a household word wherever the English language is used, and whose publications are loved in more than one of the royal families of Europe."[A]

[Footnote A:  Rev. Dr. Quint]

The drug store became very lucrative.  The classical drill which had been received by the young druggist was of great advantage to him, his thorough knowledge of Latin was of immediate service, and his skill and care and knowledge was widely recognized and respected.  The store became his college, where his affection for books soon led him to introduce them as an adjunct to his business.