The Times News

STORIES IN STAMPS
Sickness Netted Him
Health and Wealth
A T 16, Cecil John Rhodes was an invalid. Before he was 19 he had won good health again and enough millions to last him a lifetime.
The amazing story is bound up with the discovery of diamonds in South Africa. At 16 young Rhodes left England because of his poor health, joining his brother in Natal. In that year, 1870, diamonds were discovered at Kimberly, and Rhodes and his brother were listed among the successful diggers. Meantime the dry air of the country had restored Rhodes' health. So at 19 he was well and a millionaire.
Thus was launched one of the great careers of Africa, a career which was eventually to clinch Great Britain's vise-like grip in the rich South Africa, to net Rhodes untold millions, leadership and power in his chosen land, and finally, to leave posterity a system of scholarships which today stands, as Rhodes' chief monument.
These scholarships, worth about $1500 annually, were founded by Rhodes to be held by students from every important British colony and every state and territory of the United States. They rank today as among the most cherished goals of the college student.
Rhodes bequeathed them in the interests of world peace and enlightenment. A coat of arms of Rhodesia, British South Africa, which Rhodes helped so vastly to build, is shown here on an 1896 stamp of the immensely rich colony.